Readme First: Amtrak Forum Guidelines

[wigwagfan]

Welcome to the Amtrak forum on Railroad.Net!

For those of you new to the forum or have been a participant in the past, we'd like to welcome you and encourage your participation and input.

As a moderated forum, there are a few guidelines we'd like to ask for your cooperation with. Most of these guidelines have been in place for some time; some are simply clarification points.

1. This forum is not an official Amtrak website, nor is it authorized, sanctioned, or in any other way endorsed by Amtrak or the National Railroad Passenger Corporation.

All views expressed on this forum are strictly those of the author, and not that of Amtrak, the Moderators, or the Railroad.Net staff.

The "Official" web page for Amtrak is www.amtrak.com.

2. Topical Discussions - Amtrak and intercity passenger rail transportation in the United States.

If you are posting for the first time, take a few moments to explore the other topics available at Railroad.net. This forum is reserved for discussion of topics related to Amtrak, and intercity passenger rail service. Discussions which are largely or develop into other topics, such as commuter rail, intra-city rail, freight rail, or any other topic, may be moved to a more appropriate forum - or locked (meaning no further posts).

3. Treat others with respect.

This is a discussion forum, and as such there will be disagreements between participants. Discussion, disagreement, and questions are welcomed. Disrepectful, harassing, and inciteful language is not. If you find yourself responding to another post with the word "you" in it, stop and read what you are writing before you hit "submit". It's OK to challenge a statement, but not the individual who posted it. It's also OK to ask a direct question: "Can you help me by sharing more information?"

Your Moderators will do our best to notify you by Private Message if we Edit, Move, Split, or Delete your post. That said, if you do not pick up your private messages, we will not keep these messages in the Outbox forever. Expect us to keep a maximum of a three month backlog of unreceived PMs.

The Golden Rule applies at all times. It does not matter if you are talking about a fellow Member or a policymaker; criticize the policy, civilly, never criticize the Member or policymaker.

THIS IS OK: "Mr Jackson established a foolish policy. We are not going to be able to sustain our fuel consumption unless we have passenger rail; working to eliminate Amtrak is wrong."

THIS IS NOT OK: Mr Jackson is a jackass; he's just working to kill Amtrak.

Additionally, ad hominem attacks are subject to removal without notice.

Derogatory terms about political parties and affiliations; I.e., "Teabagger" or "Libtard" will not be tolerated. It's great to have a position and be opinionated; but support your positions with facts, not name calling.

4. "Me too" posts subject to removal.

If you have something to add to the discussion, please contribute! If all you want to say is "I think it's a great idea" or "I don't like that" - we aren't conducting a poll, and those who are actively participating in the discussion don't need to know what your vote is.

5. Facts should be facts; opinions should be opinions.

Statements made as "fact" should be verifiable. "Facts" which aren't facts only open up the discussion to challenges and other situations. Opinions are welcome here. If you are quoting a fact or an opinion from another source, please state as such.

6. Photo posts (the IMG tag) will be converted to URL tags after two days or so...

There are other, more suitable web sites for posting your photos. You are welcome to link to photos on other pages, however.

Here is an example:
http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 2&key=1977
Using the bulletin board code makes a sentence into a hyperlink.

For example:
Here is a picture of an E-9 on a 1970s commuter

when assembled without spaces yields the below:
Here is a picture of an E-9 on a 1970s commuter

7. Turboliners

Amtrak has listed the Rohr Turboliners as "for sale" in May 2008. "Bring back the turboliner" threads are subject to swift closure. Their existence, development, cost of operation, etc. has been debated to no end. There are no plans for reactivation of this equipment by Amtrak or any other operator.

See also:

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 46&t=67858

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 46&t=63208

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 37&t=24525

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... &view=next

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... =9&t=46192

8. Quoting fares

RR.net Amtrak forum rules now allow the posting of fares quoted and paid for travel. Forum users must remember that Amtrak fares, like other modes of transportation, vary greatly. Prices are affected by many factors; and fares posted here should be considered for informational purposes only. RR.net is not affiliated with Amtrak, and thus offers no guarantees or promises related to fares posted here. Fares posted here are for informational purposes only.

Further; RR.net asks that users not "spam" post fares with no other meaningful details. Fares should be quoted only in the context of a discussion

The best source for fare information is www.amtrak.com.

9. DO NOT FEED THE SPAMBOTS.

a) Railroad.net has implemented user controls which require a moderator to approve posts of new members. Users should not see SPAM; but if you do, please report the post containing spam by clicking the "Report Post" button. This will notify the moderators of a problem.

10. Copyright and quoting material from other sources.

Out of respect to those who write their own material, it is inappropriate to "cut and paste" onto a new message thread. It is OK, however, to link to another website, as well as to quote a short passage (One Paragraph Limit, please) from the original source. If you do, please cite the source and the name of the author, so as to give credit where credit is due.

11. We appreciate proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
Mr Norman, during his tenure, found through his sources our Forum does get read at 60 Mass. Not often, perhaps, but there are some who respect our writing. Most word processors have both spell check and grammar check capability. If needed, draft your post using a word processing package and then cut/paste it into the form railroad.net provides us.

Moderators typically will not edit posts for grammar and spelling; although we reserve the right to do so.

12. Cross-posting from other message forums, such as yahoo(SM) groups:

If you are going to cross-post information from another forum, then take the time to use railroad.net bbcode functions to make the item reader-friendly to our Forum.

If you do not, then expect your post to be removed.

The guidelines for cross-posting from a Forum outside Railroad net are:

- Full citation of the work
- Precis of the content, vice a full cross-post
- Hyperlink to the work.

13. Colorado Railcar closed its doors on December 23, 2008. Any mention of Diesel Multiple Units (DMUs) as an Amtrak option must refer to a vendor other than CRC.

14. Guidelines are subject to change at any time, without further warning, or may be waived.

The Moderators reserve the right to add, change or remove from these guidelines as necessary to ensure the success of this forum. Any post to this forum is subject to review and may be edited or removed if necessary, should the post not meet the guidelines or is otherwise found to be inappropriate for the forum by any means.

15. Private Messaging
While we certainly don't discourage members from initiating or participating in outside communications via PMs or E-mails, please note that some members may not wish to receive private communciations - especially those that are not relevant to topics discussed here on the Amtrak forum or elsewhere on Railroad.Net.

Please honor and respect your fellow members' wishes. If you PM or E-mail a member, and they wish not to carry a conversation (implicitly or explicitly), please honor their request. If you do send an unsolicited PM or e-mail, please be considerate in what you write. Friendliness will go a long way; and it is my personal belief that many participants will welcome such outside communications.

If it is reported to either of us that a member is being harassed using PMs or e-mail, we reserve the right to advise the originator of the PMs/E-mails to "cease and desist" any further conversations with the other member (including within the forum if necessary); if such issues are not promptly resolved, the continued membership of the offending member on this board will be discussed with the management of Railroad.Net.

Thank you for your understanding. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to let one of the Moderators know...


16. Joint Moderators.

This forum is currently being moderated by three individuals and the Creative Director of Railroad.Net; in addition from time-to-time a guest Moderator may assume the role in the absence of the Moderators. A decision by any Moderator should be considered a decision of all Moderators, and no Moderator will overrule the decision made by the other (No "Appeals at Moderator Level"). Per railroad.net policy, please place appeals with Jeff Smith, the Creative Director.

---

With that said, welcome aboard! If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to post your thoughts, or if you prefer you may "private message" or e-mail the Moderators.

Respectfully,

B. Tad Dunville, Greg Primrose, and Jeff Smith

Railroad.Net Amtrak forum Moderators

Guidelines Last Updated: January 4 2012 (added policies and moderator updates)

[wigwagfan]

Many of us are avid Amtrak enthusiasts and passengers, and as such often are more aware of what happens in and around Amtrak trains and facilities, and may even be aware of Amtrak operations, policies and procedures, that are not common knowledge to the "average person".

Having this knowledge has responsibilities as well.

One of those responsibilities is to speak up if something is out of the ordinary. "See something? Say something!" No matter how trivial or minor, please take the few moments to let an Amtrak or station employee know, or call Amtrak Police at (800) 331-0008. If you see something that appears to be an immenient threat or danger, call 9-1-1 immediately. Speaking from personal experience as one who takes emergency phone calls on a daily basis, I'd rather dispatch someone to investigate and clear the call, rather than not know about it until someone's life is endangered.

We also have the right and responsibility to report an alleged fraud, if we believe an Amtrak employee is acting unethically.
The Amtrak Inspector General Fraud Reporting Webpage is:
http://www.amtrakoig.com/reportingfraud.html
The Amtrak IG Fraud Hotline is:
1-800-468-5469
Amtrak investigates allegations of: Bid rigging, Embezzlement, Theft of Amtrak property, Bribery, Conducting an outside business using Company material on Company time, and Harassment.

[Otto Vondrak]

OFFICIAL AMTRAK PHOTO POLICY:

http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentSe ... 1267362248

[Jeff Smith]

1. When linking a news article, please include a brief quotation from the article. You should generally not quote the entire article with few exceptions. One exception would be if the article was extremely brief, i.e. a sentence or two, or a paragraph. Articles linked without quotation or full or lengthy quotations are subject to removal at the discrection of the moderator(s) and site admin(s)..
2. On the flip side, when quoting an article, a link must be provided. Failure to do so subjects the post to removal.
3. Lengthy URL links can be avoided this way:
Ex. 1: url]http://newsok.com/extending-rail-servic ... le/3504545[/url]
Ex. 2: url=http://newsok.com/extending-rail-servic ... le/3504545]Oklahaman]
Note: Open brackets omitted to demonstrate without actually formating; they will look like this:
Ex. 1: http://newsok.com/extending-rail-servic ... le/3504545
Ex. 2: Oklahoman
4. When quoting another post, please quote it properly, i.e. make sure it is sourced to the correct poster. Posts containing quotes without proper attribution are (here it comes) subject to removal.
5. Proper attribution includes omitting any attribution at all, i.e. blank quotes (see exception for "slice and dice" in #5). To add a name for a quote, simply change the open quote from quote][/quote] to quote="Insert Name Here"][/quote] (opening bracket omitted to prevent quote formatting).
6.When quoting a post partially (i.e. the "slice and dice"), please do so in context. Posts containing quotes out of context are subject to removal at the discrection of the moderator(s) and site admin(s). In the case where a quote is responded to in segments, it is okay to omit the name from subsequent quotes, but if quoting multiple posters, please include the name in each quote.
7. Guideline: Please consider using the "Post Reply" radio button rather than the quote button in cases where the reply immediately follows a post, or the quoted post is lengthy and contains pictures and/or graphics. This prevents needless scrolling through posts, especially where the reply is a single sentence.
8. Regarding #6, see wigwagfan's guidelines above regarding "me too" posts, especially where quoting lengthy posts is concerned.
9. Learn to agree to disagree without endless quotes going back and forth. Personally, that's difficult for me as some other moderators have correctly noted.
10. Please note when quoting if a site is a "subscription only" site, and keep the quote brief.

Thanks!

[Otto Vondrak]

See also: http://railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=117&t=59891

[gprimr1]

RAILROAD.NET HAS A FIRM STAND AGAINST TRESPASSING ON RAILROAD PROPERTY.

Do not trespass. It hurts everyone from the father taking his son to see the train to the rail photographer of 20 years.

[Jeff Smith]

Amen, Greg. Trespassing and other obnoxious conduct are why we see the divide on here between railroaders and railfans. It's from there that the derisive term "foamer" arises; i.e. when railfans act like rabid animals in pursuit of their hobby.

We'll be working on a "Code of Conduct" for our members in the near future.