The Gauge

[Nazgul]

I started lurking here in 2005. I read thread after thread for months and was completely blown away, not by the level of modeling (although there were great modelers here:thumb but by the quality of the members and how they responded to each other. No arrogance, no de-structive criticism.......just knowledgeable people sharing that knowledge, always with respect and patience. Because of that, I joined in Jan of 2006.

The Gauge was, in my opinion, the best mrr forum on the internet. I learned so much here, but more importantly, I made friends here.....real friends, who shared my enthusiasm for this hobby and shared their lives as well.

All that is gone now. Visiting here is like walking through a ghost town, completely deserted....except for the memories, and a few lingering spirits who remain. How sad.

I will not get into why this happened, and I know there is no going back...........but I can wish that we could go back, or that things had played out differently, because frankly, I miss this place! I was always excited to check out what everybody was doing, or what "the guys" thought about what I was doing. We all fed off each other, pushed each other to get better. With each new project, you could be certain that there would be, not only advice waiting for you, but a pat on the back no matter if it suceeded or failed to live up to expectations.....
No more.

We all moved on I guess. I am happy where I am now, but it is not the same. I wish it was.

Here's to The Gauge!aussie
Rest in peace old friend

 

[Bill Nelson]

Steve,

I for one am doing my part, over in the logging mining and industrial section. and also some in the narrow gauge section.


This is an excellent way to share projects, techniques, and inspirations, and it is a shame there is not more participation. I have friends from my local club who have problems registering and accessing this site, which I haven't been able to fully understand.

I have seen other sites that seem to have good discussions, but the hoops needed to post pictures has kept me here, hoping others will follow.


Bill Nelson

 

[Elliott]

Bill & Steve & others,

I joined the cardmodeling side before it was bought by Zealot. What you say Steve is entirely true about the cardmodeling folks as well. As you said, for better or worse, there's no going back. Cardmodels.net is long gone. Those of us who remained or returned after The Late Unpleasantness are trying to preserve the irreplaceable information that's here, mend fences, reach out to those who were hurt, etc. It is a monumental task.

After Zealot was formed I became aware of The Gauge and started poking around. To my pleasant surprise there was the same type of camaraderie and vast stores of information. Again we're trying to do what we can to make sure all the information here is not lost.

Bill, when I returned to resume duties, I was introduced to the Logging and Narrow Gauge sections. I'm still having a wonderful time wading through all the posts there. Your posts are chock full of information and you write in a relaxed way that makes them easy to read and understand. Whenever I see you've posted something new I'm there in a hurry. Thank you for shouldering the responsibility for keeping at least those sections alive. If you, Doctor G, Sawdust and a few others weren't doing y'alls parts, I don't know what would become of the MR side of the house.

Little by little......will the cardmodels and old Gauge ever become what they were? Probably not but the precipitous slide in membership has slowed, if not stopped and some old members are returning in dribs and drabs. All we can do is all we can do.

Well, that's more than enough from a cardmodeler and armchair model railroader.

 

[screen48]

I did a lot of reading back 04-05-06 then was out of the Rail modeling for some time with health issues.

There is no forum with the archive this on has! NONE!!!!!

This being said - I was blown away to see so little posting and response upon my return. Thank God for those who keep it going otherwise all would be lost.

What can be done to restore this site for if there are few who use it all it becomes is a storage facility. What a shame. IMHO this was the place to be and if you missed one day you had to wade through hundreds of new posts to keep up to speed on the latest.

That is one problem. When I hit new posts when in the rail section I get all site posts. I am only interested in rail so why do I have to wade through them all?

I also know that many have left for other sites but many review more then one. What can be done to get members to make this site one they visit again?

The backbone of a site is the people then the archive. Where are the people?

 

[ekuth]

I really can't add much to what has already been said...

What I can say is that word is slowly getting around that things have changed here. Some folks credit me with being willing to pick up the guttering torch and relight it. I can't take that credit- the credit belongs to you guys; the members who stayed, the mods who are working hand in hand with me and the die hards who are welcoming new blood into the fold.

The forums are coming back to life; slowly. The hurt was deep and wounds of that sort take long to heal. Trust has to be earned, not given.
I'm doing everything I can to restore that trust.

Any technical issues, just ask me or one of the mods. Best way is to PM us. If we can't figure it out, I'll ask the owners.

How do we rebuild? Word of mouth. Welcoming new members. Doing what we always did; sharing our love of the hobby openly. I, too, would very much like to see the RR part of the forums become active again. The amount of information and build tips that is present here and on the cardmodel side is staggering and represents a invaluable resource for hobbiests.

Protecting that information, the lifeswork of others was why I stepped up to take on the admin job. It's why I'm still chugging along, keeping the promises I outlined. I'm fortunate to have the backing of a wonderful group of mods and members. We will carry on. We will rebuild.

Will things be like they were? Nope.

They'll be better. :thumb:

 

[60103]

Screen48:
go to User CP, then to the Edit Options and then scroll waaaay down to Exclude Options. There's a section to select categories not to see. Highlight all the bits that don't interest you and then save.
I think the last time I did it I had to start from scratch as it didn't keep my previous selection.