Right idea, wrong wording.

[csxengineer]

Recently I had a thread removed where I vented about my health insurance rising. I guess I got to be a little more politically correct around here. I guess I should have redirected my thoughts this way:

As a child I used to ride my bike 2 miles to watch trains. I was fascinated by them, and built layouts and dreamed like most of you what it would be like to actually run one! When I got hired, I actually said that first week "Wow, I can't believe your actually paying me to do what I would have paid you to let me do!" Now five years later, I'm saying "Wow, I can't believe your only paying me this little, to do this!" and now that I will pay retroactive health benifits, I am really wondering if it's true: BECAREFUL OF WHAT YOU WISH FOR, YOU JUST MAY GET IT!



I do have good news:
I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico.

 

[rsn48]

Those of us who have have been posting for a long time usually will get in some political stuff, but it usually has to do with the thread. For example, on the Atlas forum in the N scale area, some one posted about BC Rail, so I gave a critical critique (political) about why the rail had been taken apart etc.

You can get political stuff in if it some how fits in the thread and you aren't too impassioned about it. And a number of times I have pushed the boundaries at the Atlas forum, but I also have not been overly emotional about the issue or got into flame warfare with some one else.

But to start a thread about something that is entirely unrailroad related that hints of politics will probably get deleted or locked.

Or you can talk about model railroad politics, that usually doesn't get locked or edited unless flame warfare breaks out. Example of this are critiques of the NMRA, feelings on the direction of MR, and the like.

Most of us need a little Salsa in our life to keep it interesting.

 

[Tyson Rayles]

CSX I saw your thread and didn't have a problem with it. If I was in your shoes I would feel the same way.

 

[Bill Stone]

I agree with Tyson
BillS

 

[ezdays]

This section is designated "General forum, talk about anything here." Now I agree that there are other forums on the internet that are more suitable for discussing political beliefs. There are other RR forums around if you want to flame others or be argumentitive. But The Gauge is suppose to be for railroaders of any kind to discuss railroading, modeling, things of concern and a variety of off-topic subjects. How else are we to know more about individuals here than to discuss their needs and frustrations; the good, the bad and the ugly. Someone is out of work or has a medical condition, we all rally around and try to comfort and help. Someone goes away for a while, we miss them and are glad to see them return. All of this is certainly off-topic.

If someone wants to debate politics or crate a fight, then there are other forums that will welcome them, but to simply state their plight and to vent their feelings to friends is a healthy alternate to keeping it bottled up. I answered that thread and posted my own concerns and feelings about the cost of health care and I really wanted to share that with others here. What else it the "General forum, talk about anything here." for if not that?

Don

 

[N Gauger]

Usually I keep my personal Opinions between Myself & the "poster". If anyone wants "my Job" you are most welcome to it. (I spend about 2 hours a day here at different times).

As one of the many Mods on the Gauge, I am faced with decisions sometimes 2 - 3 times a day, on wether to "question" a particular post. As a group we are basically trying our best to Volunteer (No, we don't get paid) our valuable time & energy to keep arguments from starting and flame wars from esculating.

The original post that csx made, "could" have started a flame war about CSX Inc. That was the only thing wrong with the post. It invited people to jump on a bandwagon and badmouth an individual or company. The Gauge does not tolerate these things.

-------------------------------
When any member signs on, the rules say in part:

By clicking the Agree button, you warrant that you will not post any messages that are obscene, vulgar, sexually-orientated, hateful, threatening, or otherwise violative of any laws.

The owners of The Gauge have the right to remove, edit, move or close any thread for any reason.
----------------------------------------------

The original wording of the message was "hateful".. I PM'd csx & he said it was ok to delete it, after voicing his valuable opinion.

As the saying goes, I am sorry...... But you can't please everyone in every situation, so sometimes you must go with what you believe.

~~ Mikey (Moderator)


Again - these are MY PERSONAL OPINIONS - any questions or comments - as always, I can be PM'd or e-mailed..

Also just in case anyone is wondering, in the 2 years I've been here, I have only had to delete 3 posts that were not outright spam - ads. This is a fantastic BB overall with great people!!!!!

 

[Vic]

Beating A Dead Horse

Good Grief!!.....While I took no offense at your orginal post or this one...GIVE IT A BREAK!!....Life is full of "ups and downs"!!!

Be grateful you have A JOB, GOOD HEALTH and HEALTH INSURANCE....some of us have none of the above!!!

 

[Tyson Rayles]

Mikey you are doing a great job and I for one am very thankful you and the others volunteer your time to help here! I wasn't knocking you, I understand why you did what you did, I was merely saying that the post wasn't a problem for me. BTW following on Vic's comments as someone who is on medical disability wiht no job and no insurance his point is well made!

 

[csxengineer]

wooo

somebody missed "naptime"!

 

[csxengineer]

sense of humor.

Obviously , no one caught the GEICO joke, so hears another:

An unemployeed man searches the want ads only to find that the zoo is hiring. He goes to the zoo and the zookeeper informs him that " The gorilla died and they can't afford a new one, but they have a Gorilla suit if he wants to fil in for a while".

The guy was insulted and leaves, but after two weeks of no luck, he goes back and humbily accepts the job.

He starts pounding his chest, eating bannanas and really getting into it. He swings on a vine, which accidently landed him in the lions cage, where a lion pounces on him!

He screams for help, when the lion says:
"shut up or were both going to get fired"!

 

[N Gauger]

I got the Geico joke... That was good

So was the Gorilla one LOL

 

[MCL_RDG]

I should...

...keep my big fat fingers off the keybird at times- but then I'd be no fun at all!!!

I always enjoy a good, tense moment to relieve the stress and anxiety.

Haaaaaaaaaaaaa- and yeah, I was gonna go read the GEICO reference but I didn't have to because I already did? Thanks for the gorilla joke too- now I have something to go to work with tomorrow.

(Gotta have some fun with the thing not working.

Good luck csx!

Regards,

Mark (complainer emeritis, procrastinator extraordinaire, some other things I can't place here cause they'll hang my nick for sure, and all around swell guy if you don't know me personally, oh yeah- and blowhard)

 

[brakie]

Mikey,As a modulator on 2 other forums I must agree with you.It is a thankless job and you sure can't please everybody.Lock threads do have a way of generating shall we say FAN MAIL? By those that disagrees with you on locking a topic..Now in my experience I will let a topic run until I see its beginning to go south then I will LOCK it and will tell why I locked it..Of course there is exceptions to this such as a trolling topic that is bound to cause a flame war or any other way off topic posts that will cause trouble...One of the best and well hidden troll posts is Which DCC system is better?(sounds innocent enough right?) We have all seen how that usually ends up.. I will let run to see how it goes then lock it if the regular mod doesn't when it starts to go south.

I see nothing wrong with a civilize debate as long as it stays that way..One can learn something new.But all to sadly things get out of hand more often then not with those types of debates..I am sure I have almost cross that line a few times in stating my views but am yet to be called in check by the powers that be on the Atlas forum or any forum I am on..I try to be civilize in my replies but some times a reply pushes the wrong button and I reply in kind or voice my opinion a little to strongly..Thats only human nature..So as a mod I ask myself where is that fine line between ruling with a iron fist or being to relax? So I try to vigilant but try not to over react if disagreements of opinion starts.After all everybody has the right to express their views and opinions of a topic just as long as that line isn't cross between civilize and flame.

 

[ezdays]

Larry,

Well said. I think you have to give people some credit to be able to control themselves. To quote Dr. Phil, "past behavior is a good indication of what future behavior will be." On this fourm, past behavior is exemplary and other forums should try to emulate it. That's why I hang around here rather than some of the more "popular" forums. Great people, great topics and great control.

All you moderators on these forums should be commended. You have to be dedicated and thick skinned, and I'm sure you all do the best job possible. Thanks for being there, all of you.

Don

 

[jawatkins]

Originally posted by csxengineer
[B

As a child I used to ride my bike 2 miles to watch trains. I was fascinated by them, and built layouts and dreamed like most of you what it would be like to actually run one! When I got hired, I actually said that first week "Wow, I can't believe your actually paying me to do what I would have paid you to let me do!" Now five years later, I'm saying "Wow, I can't believe your only paying me this little, to do this!" and now that I will pay retroactive health benifits, I am really wondering if it's true: BECAREFUL OF WHAT YOU WISH FOR, YOU JUST MAY GET IT!



I do have good news:
I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico. [/B]

csnxengineer:

I think many of us can relate to your frustration regarding health insurance issues. Many other people in different industries are feeling the crunch put on them from their employers to "cough up" more money, if you will, toward health benefits. It's a rather thorny subject for many. My Glen will have been out of work for 2 years this coming March and his Cobra benefits ran out at the end of October. Being 51 and with some health problems, he cannot find an individual policy to cover him. While I'm a couple of years younger and healthy as a horse, never get sick or have any problems, I have an individual policy for myself and my children and pay $475.00/month out of my own pocket for health insurance. And beginning December 1st, it goes to $607.00/month. So, it's bad when you can't get insurance at any price and when you can get it, it's so expensive you're not sure you can afford it. Anyway - I can really emphathize with your situation.

And - ah yes - I caught your GEICO joke - very tongue-in-cheek.