Forum issues
michaelrose55
Orange City, FL
I have two things about the forum on my mind right now.
- My blog has hit the 1000 views mark and now the number of views is shown as 1k. That's bad as there is no way to find out how many views the blog really had and even if anybody is even looking at it. I would like to have that changed if possible.
- This forum is dead. If I include myself there seem to be 5 active members to this forum (not counting those annoying spammers). I'm just guessing but to me it looks like my blog accounts for at least 80% of the traffic. I don't know what could be done to motivate people to come here and participate but there really seems to be no point to post anything here.
Comments
Dear Michael:
I agree that the current state of the forum gives me great concerns about its viability. Unfortunately, no one has responded to your comment so far, which in itself is a sign that the forum is in trouble. Not surprisingly, it did not recover from the almost two year hiatus.
As far as the numbering of views is concerned, I do not think that there is a way to avoid this. Probably the software on allows three digits display modes.
Ulrich
I pop on from time to time but don't always log in, just browse anything new. Like Ulrich stated the long down time has killed interest. Anyway to raise the forum's profile ? Highlight on option bar, maybe a note included in any sales offering help/advice via forum ? How about an email to previous users saying it's back and inviting them to rejoin the forum ?
Owen
I'm counting 6 new spam posts this morning. That means that the spammers now outnumber the active members. I think I will stop posting here.
It was nice to meet you guys and if any of you ever makes it to Florida please stop by for a visit.
I have appreciated every one of Michael's posts -- and have followed his progress with great interest -- even if I did not feel compelled to follow-up to each of those posts.
However, with no disrespect to Michael, I think that one of the reasons that his posts have drawn so few follow-ups is that they can be very intimidating to beginners. Very few modelers, particularly most beginners, will have the resources and skills that Michael has. (If I remember correctly, I believe he is a professional engineer and has experience with using many advanced tools from his professional work.)
On the other hand, I have gotten some ideas and picked up some techniques just from following his posts.
Unfortunately, spammers and perpetrators of malware are fact of life. The situation is actually much worse for the (currently dormant) Reynauld's Blog. Some days, there are as many as a hundred spam posts in the form of spam comments to existing Blog articles. Fortunately, the Blog has a very effective spam filter that blocks 99+ per cent of these spam posts.
In the past, the Blog and the Forum have supported each other as each has had strengths. I have not posted any new Blog articles in some time for a variety of reasons, the major one being that there are currently problems with posting images. I had considered posting text-only articles -- but in almost all cases, I found that images would be a key part of what I wanted to present.
I am sure that Rey is doing his best to deal with these issues -- and I appreciate that he is providing the Forum and Blog venues at all. The way I see it, Reynauld's is a very small business with -- my guess -- a small profit margin. IT support is expensive, and Rey can probably only devote so many resources to having a contractor work on support for the Forum and Blog. Support of the main business Web site obviously has to take priority.
There are all sorts of issues we could be discussing here on the Forum, among them:
_If you do want to comment on the above topics, please start a new thread in the appropriate category, rather than replying to this thread. This category is for discussions of the forum itself.
_
Writing long posts for either the Forum or the Blog takes time and effort.
I have spent most of the past few months on chaos-abatement in my work room (my second bedroom), where currently almost all available surface space is taken up by partly-built projects and their components. My main problem is that I have too many ideas. I get an idea for a project and work on it until I get to the point that I have proven the concept works -- or that I have run out of some key materials.
Meanwhile, I get new ideas for even more projects.
-- Ernest
Ernest,
It's not about follow-ups to my posts. It's about nothing else going on at this forum. There used to be a nice number of active members before the hiatus and now they are gone. Even Reynauld's own people like Leif don't post anything as they used to do before. I feel like I'm the only one working on a layout here...
I wish I had more going on with the new layout other than cleaning out the room. I'll post more when I start insulating and sheet rocking. Then look out!Benchwork is next!
Hello Everyone:
Good to see that a discussion is coming to life. Let us try to get the forum back online!
Ulrich
Hello, my friends and thanks for all your help and comments. It also is a mystery to us that the forum is doing so bad. I spoke to our IT guys and they told me the traffic for modelers using the forum to read articles is really high but that does not help us. We have to figure out how those customers can contribute. We sent out numerous mass e-mails, posted to social media and so on. I will take to a few marketing people to see what we can do to bring it to life. I will get this resolved somehow.
You've got an uphill climb ahead of you considering the difficulties with the previous forum, but it can be done.
My 2 cents. Among other things, take care with wording/phrasing when replying. The last post in my Z scale layout thread reads:
"Looks really good and the pink foam board is really easy to work with. Don't forget to post images when it is complete."
My first thought was, "Well, alrighty then, I'll be back and post images in 2-3 years 'when it is complete'". It was likely not the intention to dissuade additional update posts from now until layout completion, but phrasing like this can be taken literally and reduce visitation to the forum.
Ralph.
Good point, Ralph! I also suggest "like" or "thanks" buttons on posts. That gives encouragement and feedback to posters, thus promoting further participation.
Gordon:
Great idea.
Ulrich
Agreed! A good forum promotes positive feelings and should be a comfortable, non-pretentious place to spend some time in whether a beginner or a seasoned veteran.
My post in my own blog didn't get any reaction so I'm trying again here. How do you post a video? There is no button for it. It must be possible as Rey posted a video when he was trying to sell this layout: https://forum.reynaulds.com/index.php?p=/discussion/884/10x5-german-bavarain-custom-layout-forsale
Or is he the only one who can???
Michael:
I think you can host the video on a different website. Rey is hosting the video on Youtube, and uses a picture to display the link.
Ulrich
I'm hosting the video on youtube. Trying to use the picture button to place the video does not work. Somebody should post a tutorial about how to do it.
Tried to trick the system, but made no headway. Will keep trying.
Ulrich
Rey would know, can't you just ask him?
I will ask him.
Thank you.
Michael:
Here is how I finally did it. The link to the embedded video below is "www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-AlXUx7s0o". You can enter the link directly by putting it into the text with a https:// added to the front of it:
If you use the link function of the forum, you will get
youtube.com/watch?v=e-AlXUx7s0o
which gives you a clickable link without picture.
Ulrich
You mean like this?
"
"
Doesn't seem to work... Still shows it as a link and I did not use the link button, just entered it as text.
Michael :
I took =10& and now it works. It should read
watch?v=
Ulrich
Thanks a lot! I still believe somebody (like you) should post a detailed tutorial...
Michael:
Thanks for the great video. I guess it's my turn to show at least a few train shots!!
Ulrich
Michael, I see your video just fine. All I do is copy a link form youtube and drop it into the text box, works fine.
Great video Michael, it really shows the large size of the layout.
Yes, just make sure there are no symbols between watch? and the letter v which appears to be the case with all links from youtube itself. Anyting between the ? and the v, and the forum software defaults to displaying a link.
Ulrich
Hi everyone, I'm still struggling with my electrical issue regarding my Marklin/Delta layout. I checked my turnouts and track feeders to no avail. Everything seems to work, except for my locomotives. When I select a locomotive on my Delta selector and turn on the transformer knob, the loco remains static and a ping resonates as if it is coming from a turnout. Does this point to the proximity of the short? It's hard to tell. I keep checking all the connectors on the Delta selector and transformer. Could it be that either the transformer or Delta box might be defective? There is definitely a short somewhere, but I don't know where else to look. incidentally, all my track feeders are Marklin 2290 and not the Marklin 2292 with capacitors, which wouldn't work with Delta. Please Help!
Here is what I would try.
This is hard to diagnose from the distance. Remove all locos and cars from the layout. Measure if you have a voltage at the track. If you have a lighted car, try this next. If all of these work, then try a single loco. If the problem occurs with the loco, then I would guess that the delta unit may have a problem. If possible connect the unit to just some track, no switches and see if you can get the loco to run. One of the switches may have a problem.
Ulrich
Thanks BR42! I very much appreciate your input. I'll try the suggested option. Hope that will solve my problem. I'll be in touch.