Eliminations By Train - do we always need a new topic?

[Stewart]

I know delays due to "collision" are relevant for discussion, but sometimes it may just be that a quick referral to a diversion is all that is needed? I like to visit these forums but it puts me off as most/every times I visit that there is an announcement of some misfortune or other.

 

[tsr]

It has been raised that we could have a separate sub-forum where important and/or interesting disruption-related news could be placed. I would support this idea. Sometimes, an incident causes repercussions or raises thoughts that are worthy of discussion, but I do understand that people may find it distresses them, or, on a lesser note, clutters the forum.

As you know, when an incident occurs, we generally have information from NRE, TOCs' information systems, NR (occasionally) and our own knowledge and experience. Whilst these sources may be enough for us to refer to and deduce facts from on our own, it can sometimes be better to build a bigger picture!

I am sorry that some discussions put you off, and I am sure this opinion is shared by others and we should do all we can to work with it. I hope we can find a constructive method to help people who want or need information and at the same time to avoid distracting or upsetting others. Your post has of course raised a worthwhile point. Thank you.

 

[Darandio]

I can see your point, but dont think there is any harm caused, as distressing as the subject matter is.

Problem is, people do use the forums at times for advance information of problems on the network. Threads that are generally posted with this type of situation can have specific headline information that is relevant, whether that be date/line/location etc. If this was all just put in one thread, that potentially helpful headline would not be easily seen and hidden in a much longer thread.

If you also add that many people would be out on the network and therefore using mobile devices, thread titles become much more important as well.

 

[johnnychips]

I've been impressed how well, and sympathetically, these sorts of incidents have been discussed by members. And if the comments have sometimes gone OTT, the moderators have either closed or deleted the threads.

 

[SS4]

Perhaps a sticky would be in order with details published as necessary although by it's nature there couldn't be many replies (that said most replies are virtually stock replies)

Alternatively a subforum but what would you call it? Obituaries seems very morbid if largely accurate

 

[tsr]

Perhaps a sticky would be in order with details published as necessary although by it's nature there couldn't be many replies (that said most replies are virtually stock replies)

Alternatively a subforum but what would you call it? Obituaries seems very morbid if largely accurate

I meant a "Significant, widespread or interesting disruptions" type of sub-forum.

 

[the sniper]

Alternatively a subforum but what would you call it? Obituaries seems very morbid if largely accurate

Why would you call it that?

'Live Disruption' or 'Current Service Disruption' could be names for a subforum, or something like that.

 

[ushawk]

Why would you call it that?

'Live Disruption' or 'Current Service Disruption' could be names for a subforum, or something like that.

Something like that - could contain all topics regarding all disruption, whether a PHBT at Norbury or OHL wires down at Stevenage for example - keeps the main forums clear.

 

[jopsuk]

this strikes me as a good idea. We often end up getting running commentaries from people affected or on the ground, would be good to keep it in one place (with it being for all disruptions, not just people on the tracks)

 

[SS4]

Why would you call it that?

'Live Disruption' or 'Current Service Disruption' could be names for a subforum, or something like that.

From the topic title of elimination I thought the OP was talking about fatalities.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

I haven't been reading railforums long enough to have much idea of the merits of this particular idea, but as a more general related point - it does seem to me that, considering the number of users, there are surprisingly few subforums on railforums.co.uk, with the result that each subforum contains far too many threads to keep up with easily. I think I'd find it rather easier to use railforums (in particular, to find and follow threads I'm interested in) if there were more subforums. That makes me inclined to vote 'yes' to a subforum for disruptions.

 

[yorkie]

A new topic for a delay is quite common, and can be needed if it's a big incident that may involve several people being delayed, regardless of the cause.

As for a delays sub-forum, this is not the first time I've this suggestion, and enough people want it, then I don't see why not. Sadly, the biggest reason of major delays these days does appear to be suicides. So anyone who does not want to read about the latest suicide could choose not to visit that sub-forum.

 

[Ivo]

As for a delays sub-forum, this is not the first time I've this suggestion, and enough people want it, then I don't see why not. Sadly, the biggest reason of major delays these days does appear to be suicides. So anyone who does not want to read about the latest suicide could choose not to visit that sub-forum.

The question I would ask though is when the definition of a delay blurs into something that would be too "general" for such a sub-forum. Surely topics that stay true to the delay and discuss only it are too rare to justify a sub-forum?

Of course, if you disagree your voice is worth 100 of mine in this sense

 

[wintonian]

Why do we need a new topic about having a new topic?

Personally I wouldn't be in favor of such a sub-fourm and I think that on the whole the team do strike the right balance

Having said that if enough people request one and there are no compelling reasons against, then I don't see why not.

Obviously this is just my opinion and others may feel differently.

Sent from my HTC Desire S using Tapatalk 2

 

[tsr]

A new topic for a delay is quite common, and can be needed if it's a big incident that may involve several people being delayed, regardless of the cause.

As for a delays sub-forum, this is not the first time I've this suggestion, and enough people want it, then I don't see why not. Sadly, the biggest reason of major delays these days does appear to be suicides. So anyone who does not want to read about the latest suicide could choose not to visit that sub-forum.

There are plenty of other problems that we discuss at length, though - ECML issues, TL Core and Brighton ML incidents, derailments, locomotives of a certain class blowing up and causing disruption, cable theft... these can have equally great impacts on services, and there are plenty more incident types. Personally (and this is just from my ongoing reading of threads) I'd say I've noticed that suicides and other PHBT incidents account for around half or actually fewer of the disruption-related threads on here.

 

[yorkie]

Why do we need a new topic about having a new topic?

It is best if suggestions are made to us in our annual survey, the forum staff then consider the suggestions. This takes place in December each year. If we had a new topic for all suggestions, the forum could get clogged up with suggestion topics, and I am keen for that to not happen!

Alternatively a PM can be sent to a member of forum staff.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

There are plenty of other problems that we discuss at length, though - ECML issues, TL Core and Brighton ML incidents, derailments, locomotives of a certain class blowing up and causing disruption, cable theft... these can have equally great impacts on services, and there are plenty more incident types. Personally (and this is just from my ongoing reading of threads) I'd say I've noticed that suicides and other PHBT incidents account for around half or actually fewer of the disruption-related threads on here.

Yes, you are probably right, but it's perhaps the single biggest individual cause.

But the suggestion would be a sub-forum for all major delays, regardless of cause. A side-effect of this would be that if someone did not want to read about suicides, then they could choose not to read that sub-forum, but of course it would also mean they'd miss out reading about other delays too.

More general advice to anyone who is affected by suicide threads would be to stop reading a thread as soon as it becomes apparent what it's about. There was a time last year when it was a particularly upsetting subject for me, due to an experience I had, so during that time I wasn't reading such threads.