Moderator Manual

[Otto Vondrak]

LOCKING POSTS

From time to time, a Moderator or a Site Administrator will have to lock a thread (for whatever reason). As a courtesy to the users, an explanation should be given by the Moderator as the last post before the thread is locked.

EDITING POSTS

If a post must be edited by a Moderator or a Site Admin, a note should be left behind in the post, something like: "[NOTE: Edited by Moderator]" This is a courtesy to the person who posted.

-otto-

[Otto Vondrak]

General Notice to all RAILROAD.NET Moderators:

In an effort to streamline operations and improve site maintainance, I would like to be personally contacted by all Moderators. In an e-mail to me, please note your real name, your screen name, and the forums you moderate. Let me know if you would like to continue in your duties, or if you seek a replacement or assistant. Please also take a moment to let me know of any issues you would like to raise with us regarding the operation of your specific forums. We welcome suggestions for improvement and promotion.

Please contact me by e-mail before December 31, 2005. Any Moderators who do not respond by December 31, 2005, will be removed from their duties.

We thank you for your time and consideration, and the donation of your spare time to make RAILROAD.NET the best free railroad community on the Internet since 1996...

-otto-

[Otto Vondrak]

INAPPROPRIATE MATERIAL

This is a gray area that will vary slightly from forum to forum. As a group of members gets together regularly on certain forums, most likely they will start to form their own community. As familiarity grows, informality often follows. This should not be misinterpreted as disrespect. One member who knows another very well might say, "Smith, you old sorehead, you know the Pennsy was red and not green! Ha!" Of course, substitute "sorehead" for a colorful word of your choice. Is this inappropriate? Only regular members and the moderator can decide.

This is different from an outright attack. "The members of this board are pathetic losers," is a good example of an attack, though no one person is named. "Smith1654 is a complete ___ for thinking the Pennsy is green and not red. What a pathetic loser," is more obvious. Either one is a candidate for immediate removal.

Clever spellings of popular swear words are also candidates for post removal. There is a filter enabled on this site (please don't try to test it) that eliminates the "seven dirty words," and some other clever iterations. If you have to use foul language to express yourself, you may want to find a better place to do so.

"ANNOYING" MATERIAL

One line posts that add nothing to the discussion are discouraged. This includes popular items such as "Me too," or "I like toast" are good examples.

Questions directed to other members are usually best handled in a PM or e-mail to that member. Asking another member where he got his avatar or some other question about himself not relevant to the conversation are better handled off-list.

Whether or not these posts are removed are up to the Moderator's discretion. Sometimes a follow-up post is all that is needed, sometimes a private note will do.

VAUGE THREAD TITLES

Examples of vauge titles that may need your editing to make sense to the rest of the board:

"HELP!"
"I have a question."
"Derailment yesterday."
"Places to see trains."

"HELP" or "I have a question" should probably be re-worded to reflect the nature of the question.

"Derailment yesterday," should probably be re-worded to reflect the location and date of the incident in question.

"Places to see trains," should again be re-worded to narrow down the scopw of where exactly this person wants to see trains. Use your best judgement.

There will always be unique situations you will encounter as a Moderator. It is up to you to use your discretion and experience as a guide. When in doubt, feel free to contact one of the Site Admins for help.

-otto-

[Otto Vondrak]

MOVING POSTS AND SPLITTING THREADS

From time to time a thread may take a clear tangent in another direction from the original post. Such outgrowth is natural. Sometimes the thread self-corrects within one or two posts. If a separate discussion emerges, it might be a good idea to split the thread into a new topic. If the discussion is outside the forum topic, you might even want to move the thread somewhere more appropriate.

Here's an example, let's say it's in the New York State Forum...

Date: May 31, 2007
From: FuriousYellow
Subject: When did passenger service on the Harlem Division end?

When did passenger service on the Harlem Division end?

Date: May 31, 2007
From: MayorOfNickville
Subject: When did passenger service on the Harlem Division end?

There is still passenger service on the Harlem Division- Metro-North runs trains from Grand Central to Wassaic. Maybe you meant the Upper Harlem? I think that was 1971 with the start of Amtrak.

Date: May 31, 2007
From: FuriousYellow
Subject: When did passenger service on the Harlem Division end?

Hi Mayor-

Yeah, I did mean the Upper Harlem, thanks. When did they start running trains to Wassaic? I thought the end of the line was Dover Plains?

Date: May 31, 2007
From: Mayor of Nickville
Subject: When did passenger service on the Harlem Division end?

They extended service from Dover Plains to Wassaic in 2001.

Date: May 31, 2007
From: Warbucks
Subject: When did passenger service on the Harlem Division end?

Service on the Upper Harlem from Dover Plains to Chatham ended in 1972. The train was operated by Penn Central, and was not part of the MTA funding at the time. A grassroots group kept the train running through 1971 and 1972, but a Federal Judge decided that PC should not be forced to operate the train at a loss, and orded the service shut down. People who took the train to work that day had to find another way home past Dover Plains!

Date: May 31, 2007
From: MayorofNickville
Subject: When did passenger service on the Harlem Division end?

Thanks, Warbucks, I thought it had something to do with Amtrak because it was a considered a long distance route. I wish I could have ridden that train. When I was a kid, teh Dover Plains shuttle was a single Budd RDC.

Date: May 31, 2007
From: Jeff Kurzrock
Subject: When did passenger service on the Harlem Division end?

When Penn Central was running trains on the Harlem, were they still running that RDC from Pittsfield to Danbury on the paralel Housatonic line?

Date: May 31, 2007
From: FuriousYellow
Subject: When did passenger service on the Harlem Division end?

There were passenger trains on the Housatonic? I thought they were a freight railroad?

Date: May 31, 2007
From: MayorOfNickville
Subject: When did passenger service on the Harlem Division end?

Today's Housatonic Railroad is a freight hauler. They originally started as a tourist operation out of Cannan, CT. I think Jeff is asking about the line from Pittsfield to Danbury, which I think was called the Berkshire Line.

Date: May 31, 2007
From: Warbucks
Subject: When did passenger service on the Harlem Division end?

Yes, Penn Central was running a single RDC from Danbury to Pittsfield over the Berkshire route. You would make your connection to a Danbury branch train to South Norwalk, and then another train to New York. Even with all the changes, it was still popular with the weekend crowd. The train was cut in 1972.

Okay, so we went discussing passenger service on the Harlem Division to discussing another train on the Berkshire route in Connecticut. Someone looking for Harlem info won't really care about the Berkshire info. And someone looking for Berkshire info wouldn't be looking for it in a Harlem Division thread, let alone the New York State forum. So you have a few options..

1) Split the thread at the first Berkshire post and title it "Penn Central RDC service on the Berkshire route" or something like that.

2) Move it to the New England Railfan Forum.

3) Move it to the Penn Central Forum (which may be too broad)

4) Move it to the New Haven Forum (even though the service discussed was after NH was merged in 1969, the Berkshire is known as a NH route)

Whatever you decide, a note should be made in the new topic that you split off from the old.

Date: May 31, 2007
From: Otto Vondrak
Subject: Penn Central Berskhire Route RDC service

[split from the "End of Passenger Service on the Harlem Division" thread, moved into New England Railfan Forum- ov]

They are not all this simple, and not all threads require such surgery. However, realizing when another separate discussion is developing is a good way to keep the forums organized and easy to use for everyone.

-otto-

[Otto Vondrak]

DISCUSSING OTHER WEBSITES

To clarify: You can discuss whatever web site you want to in the context of rail operations. What you cannot do it actively solicit our members to join another website. That is against the rules (and in poor taste).

- If you operate a blog, you may post a link to a specific article you would like us to read.

- If you operate a competing forum (that is any forum that is not RAILROAD.NET), you may not advertise it. That is, advertising it in your signature or otherwise drawing attention to it. You may have a link in the "www" field of your profile.

- If you read something on another forum that you think may be of interest to a conversation at hand, you may post a link to that thread. Trust me, we'll know when you're abusing fair usage.

- When discussing news stories or content from another site, you MAY NOT copy and paste ENTIRE articles without permission. Summarize in your own words, provide a link, copy and paste the FIRST PARAGRAPH ONLY, but DO NOT COPY AND PASTE ENTIRE ARTICLES. Most often, these are copyrighted works that we do not have permission to reproduce. When such material is discovered, it will be deleted/edited (Unless you have obtained permission from the author or editor in writing, then please make a note).

Any questions, please direct to me. Thank you!

-otto-