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Post by Admin Berty on May 12, 2014 11:32:12 GMT 1
Hi everyone, well I'm happy to say that we have reached a membership of 35 but I'm also sad to say that the lack of contributions could lead to the closure of the forum. This is the downside of using a free forum. I received an email this morning warning me that the forum may be closed due to "low activity". Here's a copy of the message I received: noreply@createaforum.com via smfforfree.com 05:46 (6 hours ago) to me Your forum afrm.createaforum.com is scheduled for deletion due to low activity. If you wish to keep your forum please click the link below to save your forum. afrm.createaforum.com/keepforum.php?forum=afrm&id=82987 Otherwise your forum will be deleted on: May 25, 2014 Need help with getting your forum launched or more members post in our support forums for advice. Create A Forum The forum statistics have shown in the past that many guests came and had a peek at what it was all about but sadly it was left to the few individuals to try and keep the forum alive. I have now restricted the activities of the forum so that there is no more guest facility, anyone who opens the forum must be a member to look or contribute to the activities, non members are automatically redirected to a sign-up page to encourage new members and to try and keep the forum alive and prevent closure. Best regards Berty
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Post by brian on May 14, 2014 15:30:22 GMT 1
Hi all, Come on start using the forum otherwise we lose it, which after the effort that Bertie has put in would be a shame. I am sure many of you have advice to give or stories to tell so please start typing before it is too late. Best wishes Brian
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Post by reichsbahn24 on May 18, 2014 18:30:07 GMT 1
You are right Brian. I am hopefully having the pot taken off my leg tomorrow so I will be able to get upstairs next week. I have the track laid and some scenic base work done so I will get some pictures soon. Dieter
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Post by brian on May 19, 2014 16:52:18 GMT 1
Hi Dieter, Glad to hear you are going to be mobile again and able to get the important jobs done! We look forward to seeing the results of your efforts. I will probably not start before the winter although I brought back all the bits needed to make my DCC layout from the UK last month. I look forward to seeing you soon, Brian
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Post by brian on May 23, 2014 14:22:47 GMT 1
Hi all, as we seem to be threatened with closure may I suggest that every member makes certain that Berty has full contact information so that if the forum is no longer available we can still stay in touch and save some of the work that has been put in to get this far. Brian
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Post by Admin Berty on Jun 29, 2014 10:26:51 GMT 1
Hi everyone and a happy cheerful Sunday morning to you all,
since I created this thread regarding the possible forced closure of the forum due to low activity we have now gone from 35 to 46 members. Brilliant, you might say, but the sad thing is that WE still haven't made any significant improvement on the forum to justify keeping it alive. Thanks to Brian, Dieter and Doug for their efforts but it appears they fell on deaf ears.
I am now making a direct appeal to ALL members to please get involved, not just the stalwarts who have done their best in the past to keep it rolling along. We all need to get involved and frankly, I am getting fed up with having to keep asking, even begging for members to contribute a few words here and there. Although I created this forum, it's not my forum (forum = place for public or private debate), it's yours, it belongs to all members but we must all help to keep it working for each other.
I have also asked members in the past to give me ideas on how to make the forum more interesting or to include more diverse topics but yet again, I received very little feedback. In the end, it's all up to you, don't just sit back and let the other members keep you entertained, any member can open a new topic or thread on this forum so long as it is connected with railways, even the happenings in the world of SNCF or the proposed new HST2 in the UK after all modellers get their motivation and inspiration from the real world. It doesn't matter what country or railway company, whatever scale or gauge takes you fancy, just write something about it and help to get others talking by commenting or replying to each others posts. Some members in the past gave a lot of information about scratch building and it drew many replies and questions but everything seems to have come up against a buffer (yes, the pun was intended)
I'm sorry to say that if this appeal doesn't work then I have to admit to myself that there is not enough interest in the forum and I will have to hand it over to someone who can do a better job of it than me.
As a side note, I am a member of several other forums on subjects as varied as medieval history and castles to military vehicles to genealogy and one rule I came across on at least 2 of those forums was that inactive members i.e. members who don't post or comment for more than 3 months are deemed to be inactive or disinterested and are suspended until they contact the moderator and ask to be reinstated. When I created this forum I wanted it to be accessible to as many people as possible and therefore such drastic rules don't apply here but I just want you all to know how some other forums work and I think that with a bit more effort on your part we can make it work without draconian laws etc.
Whatever happens, please don't forget to lend your support to scrapman on 20th July for his Garden Fete, it's a family day out and it's for a good cause. See "Garden Fete in July" elsewhere on this forum for details.
Best regards and bon weekend.
Berty
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