Forum changes

[Mojo]

As a result of our recent user survey and a full meeting of the forum staff we are implementing a few changes to the forum. We hope that these changes will benefit all members and improve the forum.

Communication

Firstly, in response to comments about communication, we are introducing, on a trial basis, a system which automatically sends a private message to you when a thread or post you created in the past 28 days was deleted, with the reason for its deletion. We will be in discussion with members in a few months time to gather feedback on how people think this is working so we can decide whether to introduce it permanently.

User ranks

The ranks which appear below your Username (eg. Passenger, Conductor) which change depending on your post count, and appear below your Username, are going to be removed and replaced with 'New Member' for those with less than five posts, and 'Member' for those with five or more posts. The Administrator and Moderator ranks will not be changing. The possibility of introducing special ranks for certain people such as fares contributors has not been discounted and may be considered in the future. The removal of user ranks is primarily down to the fact that there has been confusion regarding exactly what these mean.

Transport Simulations & Games forum changes

There will be changes to the forums in the 'Transport Simulations & Games' category with the overall number of forums reduced by one. The 'BVE Trainsim' and 'MSTS & EA Rail Simulator' forums will be replaced with a 'Railworks & BVE' forum and an 'Other Simulations & Games' forum, with all MSTS threads to be moved into this forum. Thread prefixes will be changed in these forums to take account of these changes. In addition the 'Multiplayer' subforum is to be removed.

Other forum changes

The 'Forthcoming Galas' subforum will be removed and a sticky thread will be created in the 'Preservation & Heritage' forum.

'International Rail' is to be renamed 'International Transport' for discussion of public transport outside of the UK.

'Stories, Reports & Nostalgia' is to be renamed 'Trip Reports & Nostalgia' to better describe the intended purpose of this forum.

In addition we are also planning to consult regular users of the photography forums about possible changes to these in the future, however they are to remain as they are at present.

 

[kentuckytony]

I, for one, am sorry that I can no longer work my way up the ranks.

I was never confused about what they were.
After all - I started as "New Member" then eventually got to "Passenger" and just recently made "Gate Attendant". Checking other posters' ranks, it was easy to see the progression.

But I can see where frivolous postings to climb the ranks could occur.
And, although fun in a way, I will not let this bother my enjoyment of the forum.

Thanks admins and forum staff for modernizing and managing the forum.

 

[ainsworth74]

Yeah I would second what Kentucky Tony said. I did like the ranking system and given the choice would ask for it to return, but it won't stop me enjoying the forum.

Also thanks to the staff for their work on the board!

 

[Jordy]

A number of people thought that the ranks referred to peoples real life jobs, which was a bit confusing.

 

[Ivo]

I quite liked them as well. I can see why some thought that they reflected real-life jobs, but suerly that could have been cleared up elsewhere?

If that was the problem though, then why not introduce a new set of ranks whose names reflect post totals, as those towards the top end did before (e.g. "Posts a bit too much..."), such as NEW POSTER, POSTER, MODERATE POSTER, MAJOR POSTER, HEAVY POSTER, SUPER POSTER, POSTS TOO OFTEN

 

[wintonian]

All the changes seem quite logical, though I did enjoy seeing what job I ended up with next, but yes I have noticed that it was quite confusing for new members and some people have almost campaigned at times for there removal, as such this also seems to be a sensible move.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I think the changes are good, although I don't really frequent the areas changed, it really does seem like a change for the better.

Does anyone have a list of the previous posting ranks?

 

[Vulcan]

The user ranks confused me when I joined, but then it doesn't take a lot to confuse me.

Perhaps the confusion was because they were job descriptions, maybe something completely different such as loco classes would be less confusing but equally 'fun' (if you find it fun, that is). New members would start off as a lowly 04, and work their way up to being a mighty Deltic

 

[Ivo]

The user ranks confused me when I joined, but then it doesn't take a lot to confuse me.

Perhaps the confusion was because they were job descriptions, maybe something completely different such as loco classes would be less confusing but equally 'fun' (if you find it fun, that is). New members would start off as a lowly 04, and work their way up to being a mighty Deltic

And maybe anyone who gets banned can be changed to "Pacer"

 

[wintonian]

Or just 'scrapped'?

 

[westcoaster]

I quiet liked the old names, do not see the point in it saying member because, well what's the point if I wasn't a member I would not be posting, it's kind of stating the obvious.

 

[At_traction]

Perhaps the confusion was because they were job descriptions, maybe something completely different such as loco classes would be less confusing but equally 'fun' (if you find it fun, that is). New members would start off as a lowly 04, and work their way up to being a mighty Deltic

Personally, I liked the job descriptions as they were sufficiently tongue-in-cheek and yet rather logical in hierarchy. Strange that people got confused, as a fast glance through the other posters' ranks and # of postings would rather quickly establish the basis of "rank" naming. Just like the super poster etc. thingy. Which I personally oppose as being too "copied elsewhere" and unimaginative in a sense.

For me, perhaps the confusing bit was the "moderator" and "administrator" which all have a huge-ish number of postings. Top rank or a true job description (within the forum) there...? You get the drift.

As for the loco classes, that would be a can of worms there. Which is better than other, where is the A4, where is the Pendo, what's the relation and ranking between steams/diesels/elecs, shunts/mainlines, branches/trunks(/HSTs) etc.

That would be a long thread (and be reopened a few times ) to go through and debate the choices for ranks...

 

[wintonian]

We could use stations i.e. start at Teesside Airport and end up at St Pancras?

 

[MrC]

Got to admit I also liked the old rankings - a bit of light humour seeing what was next! I'd also agree that the new Member status is a wee bit pointless unless there are other status options.

Apart from that carry on the good work - these forums are the best run ones by a long way.

 

[jon0844]

I tried to drop user rankings on my forum and it proved unpopular because people do like being recognised for 'posting too much'.

The reason we did it wasn't because of people being confused about the ranking names, as ours were/are along the lines of 'forum member', 'senior forum member', 'hardcore forum member' and the odd custom one for a laugh with individual members - but because we were concerned that reaching a certain level for a new ranking would get too many people posting 'me too' type messages. In other words, writing anything to add to the post count and spoiling the quality of the forum content.

Well, guess what, having people not bothering to post because they don't feel they're being rewarded (even just by a few words below their name) is worse! Moderators can keep tabs on anyone trying to boost their post count with nonsense, but you can't force people to post - and nor would you want to.

Our new user user rank is 'new member - go easy on me' as newbies can sometimes be picked on for posting silly questions or joining in on a thread that existing members might regard as dead/ended. But, it's up to the admins and mods to oversee these things.

 

[flymo]

I actually rather liked the rankings, pity they are gone. What about retaining them but putting a 'sticky' with 'rankings' as the theme and if anyone has any difficulty then refer them to the appropriate section.
Maybe even part of the 'welcome to the forum' message you receive by email when registering could have the rankings explained.

Don't get me wrong. I love this forum and rankings are neither here nor there in the whole scheme of things. Keep up the good work and keep them posts coming.

 

[kentuckytony]

Maybe instead of "New Member" it should have been "Don't get the ranks".

 

[CarterUSM]

Who cares, it is a great forum regardless! Here is to another successful year ahead!

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I would like a feature where I could mark individual forums as "read" rather than only being able to do this for the entire forum.

 

[wintonian]

I would like a feature where I could mark individual forums as "read" rather than only being able to do this for the entire forum.

You already can it’s under forum tools on the menu bar at the top of the page.

I would like a feature that shrinks your image to fit this post box so that it doesn’t extend the width to fit said image so I don't visually break the forum again like I did the first time I posted this image.

 

[Mojo]

Or alternatively double click on the semaphore and watch it return to danger

 

[Peter Mugridge]

The double clicking - just tried it and it doesn't work; as soon as I look at another forum and backspace out to the main menu they all go up again even if no new posts have been made!

 

[westcoaster]

If you backspace out it will not update, it takes you back a page in your history, you have to click on new posts.

 

[90019]

If you backspace out it will not update, it takes you back a page in your history, you have to click on new posts.

Or just reload the page.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Thanks; got it working now.

 

[StoneRoad]

I miss the rankings, it was quite interesting working out the progressions......
and these were quite different from the usual ones.

 

[ainsworth74]

I understand the reason behind removing them but surely we could have something other than just New Member and Member because to be honest the 'Member' rank is pretty pointless as it stands now.

 

[Greenback]

Bring back the rankings! Ainsworth74 is quite right, there's not mcuh point in the member rank if you have to be a member to post!

 

[willas00]

What if it said

RANK: Driver
RANK: Train Manager

etc etc?

That's not confusing if you just add RANK: beforehand

 

[ralphchadkirk]

Does it really matter? Max et al provide a forum for all of us for free, managing it in there free time. We should be grateful for it!