New Meltdown Looming???


CSX_road_slug said:
I did eventually gey my "author" certificate once Randy Lee published an ore boat article of mine in Model Railroading. I waited 15 months to see it in print - pretty quick turnaround from what I've learned!
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My submissions in the past several years have all been to MRG, mostly because I know they will use it while I still remember doing it! In the past they paid the same per page as did MR and RMC, but for my last article in the March 2005 issue, I only received $60.00 per page, down from the previous $80.00. When I inquired why the reduction, Randy told me it was due to the decline in circulation.

I did send an article to RMC at the same time (first of this year) because the model was based upon a prototype article they did many years ago. Had to hound Bill Schaumburg several times to see if he was interested in the material, and finally did get an OK from him. Now the wait begins.

So my article in the March MRG was only sent 3 months previously; in the past when I was more prolific, I'd had similar fast use of it. I suspect its because they have a lot fewer submissions. Both MRG and RMC pay upon publication.

Anyone notice that a good many of the articles and photos in MR these days are by Lou Sassi and Paul Dolkos? I know MR assigns Lou to photograph layouts, and I think Paul does them too. But their own personal layouts, nice as they are, keep popping up all over the place, even in Trackside Photos and in the annuals too. There doesn't seem to be much space for other modelers. Even the Model of the Month and Along the Line back page features have been discontinued.

Kalmbach's Fine Scale Modeler usually runs two or more pages of photos of readers' models every issue, its too bad MR couldn't do the same with a revised Trackside Photos.

I've more or less given up on submitting to MR. :D
 
Didn't you win a Model of the Month, Bob? I'm thinking it might have been for the FN engine house.

That's one feature that I always looked forward to, renewing my desire every month to build a model of the month some day. I'm not any less motivated to build my own model of the month, but I sure do miss the column.
 
RCH said:
Didn't you win a Model of the Month, Bob? I'm thinking it might have been for the FN engine house.

That's one feature that I always looked forward to, renewing my desire every month to build a model of the month some day. I'm not any less motivated to build my own model of the month, but I sure do miss the column.
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I was very fortunate to win Model of the Month twice in one year, once for the enginehouse and the second time for my machine shop - June and December 1983. They printed that one on two pages, the only time that I've see this treatment for the feature.

I lucked out two times again for the award, for my exploded sawmill (June 1985) and lastly for my CN double ended snowplow in August 1999. It was the second from last Model of the Month, they cancelled it in their September 1999 issue.

It was a nice ride while it lasted! :eek:
 
There was a Boston & Albany 4-4-2 that someone scratchbuilt and it had a full spread, but that's the only time other than your machine shop (which I never saw unfortunately) that I know of.

I remember your snowplow, too. Great work as always.

Folks, if you don't know Bob Boudreau as one of the greats, go back through your old MR magazines and see for yourself. When I was growing up, I read about how others emulated Linn Wescott and John Allen, but I was too young to know who they were. The guys I grew up emulating included Bob Boudreau, Jim Six, Eric Brooman, David Bontrager, George Sellios, et al. To have a living legend like Bob here is great and I enjoy every minute of it!
 
It's honest to goodness (BLEEP) over there! I've e-mailed Erik(Bergie). I doubt I'll receive a reply tonight, though.

I do hope some new members come our way. I love this forum, but they're are never many registered users on. That's why I still hang around at trains.com.

Did anybody notice his user name? Gunit? It could stand for two things: Gun it, or G-Unit, a rap group no longer around known for their angst and gang-like acts. That could explain a lot.
 
grande man said:
Ready for the latest battle in the troll wars?
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But why post a poll on the MR forum to give the troll even more attention?

<sigh> Obviously, most of the MR folks didn't learn a thing from the last troll attack. Don't post to troll threads. Don't post new threads on the MR forum talking about the troll. This isn't rocket science ...

And if you did mistakenly post to a troll thread, go back and delete your post. And if you started an "about the troll" thread, go back and delete as much as you can.

But they just keep posting and polling and posting ...
 
cuyama said:
But why post a poll on the MR forum to give the troll even more attention?

<sigh> Obviously, most of the MR folks didn't learn a thing from the last troll attack. Don't post to troll threads. Don't post new threads on the MR forum talking about the troll. This isn't rocket science ...

And if you did mistakenly post to a troll thread, go back and delete your post. And if you started an "about the troll" thread, go back and delete as much as you can.

But they just keep posting and polling and posting ...
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If you'll note, I didn't post in any of his threads. I did post the poll to poke fun at him. It's probably some punk kid and, if so, having a little fun at his expense is probably the worst punishment his fragile ego could have to endure. Either way, that place is in BAD need of some oversight.
 
grande man said:
If you'll note, I didn't post in any of his threads. I did post the poll to poke fun at him...
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Quite true Eric, but I think what Byron is saying is, anytime people start posting or replying to ANY type of troll-related topics over there [whether replying directly to the troll or not], it tells the troll that people ARE reacting to him and that in itself is a 'reward' - he knows he has succeeded in wasting our time and bandwidth.

I'm with those who believe we shouldn't even acknowledge the SOB's presence.
 
Jack, that's a useful reference. I'm pretty sure the MR moderators know exactly what constitutes a troll.

This quote from that FAQ is on-target, in my experience:
"Trolls crave attention, and they care not whether it is positive or negative. "

The problem is not with the moderators, IMHO, but with the users who seem intent on drawing more attention to the troll. That's not to say that 24-hour moderation woudln't be great in an ideal world. If MR were to "deputize" some trusted users around the world to help out with trolls, it might help (As Jack and others do on other groups). But that comes with its own set of issues, since the MR forum is the web face of a profit-making enterprise.
 
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My thoughts is that modelrailroader.com lacks moderating.A forum must be moderated 24/7 by moderators and admin for proper policing of the forums.This can be done by having moderators from different time zones and countries.Unfortunately this can not be done without volunteer moderators and I don't think a corporate sponsored forum will allow that.I have notice that the mods on the other popular forum looks in on weekends and Holidays.

Now,a mod or admin must weigh all facts then judge to see if any action should be taken and if action is needed then what type? You see what may have been reported as a bad post may not be and well within the forum's guide lines.There are exceptions that require immediate response such as a troll or flaming.Flaming is not always a rebuttal to a discussion of a given subject.Some times a discussion by the Admin and mods is needed before action can be taken.
Now know and understand on most volunteer forums moderators can lock or delete a topic but,can not lock or delete a member's account only the Administrator(s) has the tools to do that.

The above information is based on my experience as a moderator on 2 forums and a Administrator on another.
 
> it tells the troll that people ARE reacting to him and that in itself is a 'reward'

Yep, rule #1 of trolls: "Please don't feed the energy creature!"
 
Since there was some discussion earlier about material I submitted to MR and "when will it ever appear', here's an update.

It's official, the just announced Realistic Layouts special issue from Kalmbach will feature the Siskiyou Line on its cover. And it's a Siskiyou Line 1986 preview, since the cover shot features the first Kodachrome unit to travel the line that will make its debut during an op session early next year!

mr1-cvr1.JPG

See: https://secure.kalmbach.com/AdvantageWeb/eCirc/Offer.aspx?PromotionCode=IA5BMM1

They're running my ballasting article as the cover story, and then will be providing a special code that will get you access to a 5 minute how-to video on ballasting and weathering your track.

And there's more, lots more coming ... but until we nail things down, that's about all I can say for now.
 
How do I order it? I'm ready NOW!!

Guess it will be on the forum site or I'll get an e-mail like last time.

(My keyboard is screwing up. For a while, it wouldn't put a space in every time I hit the space bar. Madeallthewordsruntogether! Now it's putting in extra spaces here and there. Guess it's time for a new one!)

Darrell, spaced out, and quiet...for now
 
I think MR's planning to release this special issue in May of 2006.

This will be like the 1950s special issue -- all new material all on a specific topic.
 
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