I've been involved with on-line communities for a long time, dating back to the early '80s, including as a moderator. I thought it might be of interest to say how I view moderation.
As a general rule, the forum works best when moderators are invisible. :) A very light touch is appropriate. Occasionally a thread will degenerate to the point that a few people are just repeating the same thoughts over again, and that's time to lock the thread and move on. Sometimes, we all move into topics that are off limits (e.g. religion, politics). There usually a private reminder works, I don't think anyone here really wants to antagonize others. Often a thread wanders off-topic, and a gentle reminder brings the thread back. But we're a diverse lot, and sometimes the off-topic material is of broad interest and adds value. So, "a light touch."
The one thing that I won't tolerate as a moderator are personal attacks. When someone crosses that line, the group of moderators will converse and decide if a private warning is sufficient, and so far that has worked. But the moderators as a group (including the owner of the site) reserve the right to ban someone for egregious behavior that crosses acceptable bounds. If that happens, it will be a collective decision by the group of moderators, not the decision of one individual.
Remember, no one is getting paid for this, we're all volunteers and hobbyists, trying to help everyone share ideas.
dave
Well put Dave. 2025 was a great year for the Forum. For those in the hobby that like the forum concept in communicating ideas and friendship we were fortunate to have been available when another Forum ceased operations. Our community grew with even more amazing talent now available. The amount of information on site is invaluable but more important the ability to reach out and communicate with others who love the hobby really helps all to enjoy the hobby.
So here is to building on this momentum in 2026. We are a Forum first and foremost for friendship and idea sharing in our love of model railroading. The biggest issue we faced in moderating in 2025 was 'bad' actors (i.e. hackers) attempting to enter the Forum. Dave has done amazing work at keeping these elements out and I thank him personally for his efforts.
Happy New Year Friends, Please enjoy our community of all things model railroading in 2026. We will work hard to keep everything running as smoothly as possible for all.
Jim
I was a moderator back when CompuServe was the place to go along with AOL. I had an Atari 800 with a 300 baud modem. You could read as a person was typing when they had a group meet. My second stint as a Super Moderator was back when Free Rails was up and running. I almost wound up owning that one. Toward the end (first name? John) Garaty from Australia, with one or two others and me where in the process of taking over to keep it running when all went south. Almost lost a $500 donation to buy in to keep it going.
So I understand the moderation issue very well. Sometimes it's tuff to do the right thing. So far, I think this forum has run pretty well and have had no problems.
Happy New Year and I'm enjoying the community very much along with the members that post their wonderful projects. Alway picking up some tips.
Bernd
What spammers look like when applying for membership here:
Screenshot 2026-01-08 at 18.39.59.jpg
(Actually, they're usually not quite this blatant.)
dave
Dave and Jim,
Thank you both for all you do for us. I for one, deeply appreciate your efforts to keep us going.
Tom
One more point: If you talk to people about signing up, please reinforce how important it is they answer the questions on model railroad related topics. That's our primary mechanism for distinguishing real applicants from spammers. When that information isn't provided, we have to do a lot more work and are much more likely to get it wrong
dave