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Post by david1 on Oct 22, 2021 23:31:15 GMT
Btw AA was at York Thursday and Friday after he made announcement that he was not attending.
B Another thing I did not see one person decked out in their gear! Of course I did not see a everybody but being there 2 days I saw alot of members and not one would qualify for their prizes.
Dave
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Post by RFCTrainGarden on Oct 23, 2021 13:57:55 GMT
"I am very spiteful about it. I never did anything wrong, bought a ton on the buy/sell, never engaged in bickering, and always tried to comport myself well on their site."I bet you have a lot of company. Not to worry, this time you get to watch the show and enjoy a nice big bowl of hot popcorn. No doubt. The spitefulness, to be clear, is with regard to the demeaning communications particularly.
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Post by ptc on Oct 23, 2021 15:45:12 GMT
I just read a recent post to this thread with interest. What makes this forum great is we welcome all points of view. I wonder if the rolls were reversed and one of our members posted a glowing report about us on the other forum, what would happen. Well, we all know the answer, poof, gone in seconds. The good news for us is we don’t have to be always on guard with a regiment of tattletales and moderators who must fear the very mention of our name. In a way, there is some humor mixed in with amazement for this practice. The post lists several possible reasons (what a strange way to preview a change in policy by motivating actions leading to a post on another forum) as decreasing magazine subscriptions, increasing expenses, decreasing advertising dollars, cost of buying partners out (note-has no impact on an income statement), and lost talent (note-may have only a very limited indirect impact). However, if it turns out that these possible issues have been correctly described, in my opinion, this boils down to management either dealing with them effectively or not. Excuses seldom solve problems. No question, the OGF is not immune to increased operating expenses as are most businesses, for profit or otherwise. Most of our members know that the other guys are for profit and we are not by design. WE deal with all operating costs very effectively. For anyone to suggest otherwise would be totally incorrect. Suggesting that by removing inactive members from our membership rolls has something to do with cost savings is also incorrect. We just follow rule #7. Makes no sense for us to carry membership records for inactive members as we don’t have to impress advertisers with numbers. Now isn’t that a good thing. In the three Fundraising Appeals we have run, we have exceeded our goal each time. You all know that we are the only O-Gauge Forum that is member owned and member financed, and our members have taken good care of us from the get-go. Take care of our members and they will take care of our Forum. To go further, our management team believes it is prudent to think ahead with many innovations. We have taken necessary steps to ensure that we are very financially sound now and will be in the future. Planning to solve any possible financial problems before they can haunt us is simply good management. I think we can all agree on that. Never an issue here to post experiences (happy or otherwise) no matter what forum they originate from. The post I have been referring to has a story about personal experiences that has a happy face. However, for balance purposes, please let me share a not so happy story. I belonged to another forum for many years. I was one of their most active members. My wife and I for many years hosted an annual Forum Summer outing that did much to promote that forum. It costs us hundreds of dollars each year to fund this entire event that drew between 70-80 folks. It all came to a sudden end when top management decided to take our announcement invitation for this event off the Main Topic Board and move it an obscure area. Despite several appeals to top management to place this invitation back to where it could be seen by most forum members, my requests were simply ignored. It forced us to cancel this annual event. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you, in my opinion, a dumb move. If top management thought so little of a key member, then this was a place I no longer wanted to be part of. I left voluntarily. I am sure most of that forum members are very nice folks, but they don’t run the place. In any event, perhaps we owe the other guys a thank you as they motivated a lot us to start the OGF. There is an old saying about the harvest from the seeds that are sewn. You all get the point.
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Post by rockymountaineer on Oct 23, 2021 17:21:35 GMT
Brian, your post is -- as always -- spot on and very well composed. I remember reading about those Summer Maine outings that you and Elizabeth would host. And why anyone would want to bury the promotion of such a wonderful event in an obscure category is mind-boggling to say the least.
It's impossible for any of us to comprehend WHY things deteriorated over there, aside from the obvious. We can't control it -- but we can control how we respond to it.
There are far too many toxic exchanges I had with the top brass over there -- mostly as a result of the "parent/child culture" they were attempting to establish among adults. Some members were able to conform to anything that was asked of them, because they felt they were a guest in someone's house. So they would just keep quiet... say nothing... do what they were told... just read the posted content quietly, and enjoy the hobby. I get it. Nonetheless, they certainly knew what was going on over there. We all did. But I never bought into the "guest in someone's house" concept -- not when I was providing so much content for them to then parlay into ad revenue, when they went to that new business model.
I guess I wasn't alone in that thinking. So it's no accident that some of the most active and prolific posters over there eventually experienced the kinds of heavy-handedness that we've experienced. The membership over there "tolerates" that style of constant moderation. But NOBODY worth their salt enjoys it. And that's never a healthy situation over the long haul. This latest tactic will undoubtedly push a few more friends into the light... where they belong.
That's the most polite way I can say it.
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Post by ptc on Oct 23, 2021 17:46:06 GMT
"This latest tactic will undoubtedly push a few more friends into the light... where they belong."
David, my opinion, this is more than a game-changer. Again in my opinion, a move like what is proposed changes the entire landscape. It not only effects the entire membership, but I bet the advertisers will have a field day with this one when they consider the impact on them with such a move.
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Post by JKP on Oct 23, 2021 19:50:29 GMT
There are reasons the OGF was started. The OGF is as good as each member makes it. Most of my train forum time is spent on the OGF and trying to help make it the best it can be. I know this forum is in a good position today and for the future because of dedicated unpaid volunteers and management team that puts members first. Lets promote the OGF!!
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Post by ptc on Oct 23, 2021 20:02:28 GMT
Lets promote the OGF!!
Absolutely correct, Joe.
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Post by JDaddy on Oct 24, 2021 1:36:39 GMT
Spoke to venders at York. Did not know about the forum. They do now!
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Post by dlagrua on Oct 24, 2021 14:32:45 GMT
This forum will definitely grow. While I do not believe that it does much advertising as yet, the old fashioned technique word of mouth and grass roots support can go a long way. If we have badges or tags that say "Visit the O Gauge Forum" with the web address and wear them at the meets/shows, people may take notice that there is a better forum alternative.
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Post by ptc on Oct 24, 2021 15:03:48 GMT
We do have beautiful badge holders. I will ask the Big Crab Cake to send you one.
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Post by eddieg on Oct 24, 2021 16:34:33 GMT
Three times Last week I emailed Alan Arnold and asked him why I was kicked off there forum, he never answered me. I brought it up to Alan Miller at the meet, he said that he forwarded my emails to Arnold, and that he didn't know why I was kicked off there forum.
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Post by JDaddy on Oct 25, 2021 16:34:06 GMT
Alan Miller has really become detached from the forum. To bad, because they have made all the wrong moves.
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Post by Joe Saggese on Oct 25, 2021 16:55:24 GMT
There are reasons the OGF was started. The OGF is as good as each member makes it. Most of my train forum time is spent on the OGF and trying to help make it the best it can be. I know this forum is in a good position today and for the future because of dedicated unpaid volunteers and management team that puts members first. Lets promote the OGF!! I remember the day OGF was an idea and then created. It was an honor to have been involved with OGF from day 1 amongst all the naysayers. OGF has remained true to the original founding principles.....A friendly forum where model railroaders can chat, learn, and have fun.
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Post by JDaddy on Oct 25, 2021 18:10:05 GMT
Looks the plan backfired to screen your forum applicants... background checks on where you live? Really? So there was no plan to Pay as you Play?
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2021 19:35:21 GMT
There’s a post that clarifies and confirms new members of the other forum will have a fee.
Lots of other explanations too.
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