Other railroad boards

[Norm]

This is probably a gripe you've all had before, or maybe I'm just an a-hole  ;D  By the way I'm sure Emmett and Junior don't want a list of other boards people think are crappy, so I won't mention the name of the board at which the following story is set.  You'll probably get bored or fall asleep by the 4-5th sentence anyway!!

It seems like on almost any other board I look at, there is always someone willing to boldly state what he would do in a given situation, usually involving a run-in with railroad employees or the police.  It's always "I would tell them to kiss my ass, I'm on public property" or something like that.  When one fellow, an administrator at another site said something along those lines, my response was that maybe you don't want to smart off to railroad employees, even when you're in the right, because down the road the guy might remember you.  You might just go along with the guy and get your shot some other time.  If you were cordial in the first meeting it, it may build a good rapport to allow you better opportunities in the future, opportunities not normally available, but your previous good nature has paved the way.  Now granted, I said it in a somewhat sarcastic tone, but I was trying to match the tone he used, which in hindsight was probably not the best approach.   Needless to say I was branded an uncivil rabble-rouser, and my latest post will probably get me banned, but my dander was up.!! I quote as my defense the Ky. Supreme court opinion in the case Gibson vs. Commonwealth of Kentucky:  "It is the tradition that a Kentuckian never runs. He does not have to"   ;D

Well my point is this--while it's the first "argument" I've been involved with on a train forum (You all know the old saying about arguing on the internet), it's about the millionth one I've seen.  It could be that railfans are naturally type A personalities who will have their opinion heard no matter what, but it gets old.
This is the only train site I know of where people can disagree and someone not eventually get banned.  Maybe because it's a smaller group with like-minded preferences in railroads (except you all know I prefer basic N&W black to Southern green but let me stick around anyway Or even worse, my favorite--L&N yellow and confederate gray ), but at any rate, it's a refreshing change.  I've disagreed with guys here once or twice, but the conversation kept rolling and no one seemed to have hurt feelings at the end of the day.  That can't seem to happen at some other places.

By the way I know that was long-winded with lots of extras thrown in, but I'm off work today and bored, so I thought I'd give you all some entertainment.  And in that respect, after reading my little diatribe you may see why I am not a comedian or movie writer by profession!!  Anyway, share your thoughts on the attitude of railfans you may have met, or whatever tickles your fancy.

[E.M. Bell]

Thanks for the kind words about the board Norm.. We have had a few problems in the past here, but very few. We do have a few folks banned for various reasons, but for the most part the guys and gals here at Jreb are always well behaved. The group has always has a good rep even back in the days when we where on Yahoo.  I fully believe in letting folks have the right to express there opinions without being censored, and on certain subjects I am probably the worst at that   The one big thing I wont tolerate here is people making public attacks on other members for no reason, at least in public. Everything else is pretty much fair game as long as it dont get to much out of hand.

We are blessed to have a lot of folks here that are on the "inside" and are active. You wont find that on many places that "foamers" hang out. We do all we can to keep it civil, and keep the good informati0n and discussion's flowing.  There are tons of other places that have more traffic, more members and more fame, but we seem to have found our nitch here, and I am very proud of that, and everyone that supports the site should be to.  We are very lucky to have such a good group of members, and a small but outstanding group of folks who help JR and myself run the place.

[JCagle]

I got tired of hearing why people are "victims" or were "harassed" because they were simply questioned. Some people never learn!

The civil nature of the place is one thing that sets this place apart. Differences in opinion make the world go 'round, but it's the egos behind the differences that cause problems. Part of my feeling as why things stay so civil here is the fact that every participating member doesn't feel like they have to be an expert on all aspects of railroading to participate. I have the feeling someone that asked how switches work would get the same level of respect as someone that wants to debate what causes part failures in the electrical system of an sd70m-2. With a nature like that the egos are usually pretty small.

There are definitely a lot of level headed people here, and the few times someone has taken offense at something said it has easily been cleaned up with a couple pm's.

[J484fan]

There was a topic on here last week where Norm and I had to agree to disagree. The hard thing is and I realized when I looked back at my post, is that it is also hard sometimes to get across your point in writing with the 'mood' you wanted to express verses conversation. In conversation it is much easier to not appear hostile or irritated, being a bit of a writer, I know how hard it is to get that same expression across in writing. I have run into this situation more than once. This is just about the only site I go to anymore. There was a RR Historical Society that I was a member of and I dropped my membership because it seemed as though you were treated like a moron for not knowing as much as they did, which is why I joined in the first place. You would email someone a question about the RR and they made it seem like you had asked them to go out of their way to answer you.

[TB4JY]

I understand what your saying.  It can be hard to show emotion when writing.  Though I really don't care much for the "smileys" they can be helpful in those kind of situations.  I use them a lot in another forum (flight sim) where I deal with a lot more people from outside North America.  On this forum I really don't use them much, as our selection really is not that good, but they could help.

[Norm]

This is just about the only site I go to anymore. There was a RR Historical Society that I was a member of and I dropped my membership because it seemed as though you were treated like a moron for not knowing as much as they did, which is why I joined in the first place. You would email someone a question about the RR and they made it seem like you had asked them to go out of their way to answer you.

Exactly, I'm in the same boat.  I post at this site and a modeling site, and that's about it as far as message boards.  I browse a few but only really post at two anymore--like you said, there are plenty of people willing to jump down your throat if you don't know every single detail of every single Class 1 railroad.  I only know alot about one thing, my job, so I don't mind admitting my ignorance about most train stuff, but some people can't seem to grasp the concept of other folks not knowing or having the time to memorize builders plate info for every SD40-2 made.  Until last year I hadn't railfanned since the mid 80s when I was a teenager, so coming back into the game I'm way behind the eight ball.  You Pee is gobbling up everything they can get their hands on, Conrail is history, BN and ATSF have become some kind of orange frankenstein, GE seems to rule the rails these days, CSX seems to be a crappy employer, standard cabs are no longer made (except for those on the ugly genset units) and EMD isn't even made in America anymore.  There's alot of catching up to do.