Full Version: Thoughts and memories
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As I look at all the great compliments and words of encouragement, I’m humbled. What happened to force us to relocate was two-fold. First there was the corporation that knew only how to run boards (still open to opinions) and then, the changes they made that disrupted our normal operation.

We heard some very sincere complaints from both our moderators and regular members. I personally took a “wait and see what happens” attitude and thought that we could convince the new owners that, while they knew about running boards, they knew nothing about the deep set camaraderie and passions of hobbyists in general. I have learned this, over the years, in Car Clubs, Railroad Clubs, Racing Organizations, and in sports fans dedicated to “Their Team”.

I thought that maybe the new owners would learn what we were about, by observing. It seemed, to our dismay and frustration, they observed only from the view from the “Bottom line”, pity.

Soon, the Moderators convinced me that my efforts were being received by a brick wall. ezdays was having his own difficulties, fielding complaints and it seemed that all our efforts and more importantly, our friends here, were going to be lost unless we jumped ship. There were a few of us that voiced our opinions openly on their boards and were dismissed or banned altogether, something I have been against doing on any board.

With all the history of great information and of the past Admins, that I still think about, I finally gave in and decided that the ads and other distractions were too much for all of us to handle. Don & I began talking about our planned exodus and then the real fear set in: Who? How many? When?

To answer these questions, we would have to wait until December 17 2008, because there was no way to tell for sure; who would follow us over here. How many of our great modelers would trust a new board (remember, we were only using our online reputations as a lead-in) and finally “when” – that was the easy one to answer… A quick look at the membership times revealed that Shamus (The first real member) registered on December 17 2000, I came in 3 days later.

So, we started an e-mail tree, we told a few people, they told a few people and we waited…..

I think I refreshed the front page (member counts) about 500 times in 3 days Big Grin Big Grin

~~~~~~ I was more than relieved and more than surprised!!!!

I’d like to thank everyone for being here, for recommending us to other modelers that you know.. and most of all for the moral, modeling and financial support you contribute here.

As the saying goes, If you weren’t here, Don & I and a few mods would be trading stories.. and that would be horrible!!!!

~~~~ Thanks and have a Happy Anniversary Celebration!!
Great stuff, Mikey.
Wow! Two years, time flies when you are having fun! In one sense it seems as though "Big Blue" has been here forever, yet it also seems like just a few months ago that we left the commercial site to come to this one.
Oh... Mikey and Don... I just want to say that the "new" Big Blue feels exactly like the old Big Blue when I first joined. Y'all have done a great job.
sniff...that was...beautiful...sniff... :cry:



Big Grin
Thanks guys!!!! Big Grin Big Grin Big Grin Big Grin
I found the other forum just before zealot made the big changes to the format. I was searching for information about a not so good Internet store and the forum came up on Google. I had never joined a railroad forum but joined this one on the spot. Then the big changes were made and things got confusing and then I got an invitation, and here I am. I'm very grateful for the friends I have found here.
Thanks to everyone that put the work into getting this started once again.
Charlie
I doubt there is a better place for RR modelers to hang out to shoot the breeze, trade tall tales ( 357 ), share how-to's or just spend a few minutes checking out what's going on. There's a fair share of all levels represented, from the very top, to the newbie that needs to know how to make a loco go backwards...And we all enjoy it..!! 2285_

For this we have Don & Mickey to thank, and give them a sound round of applause.

Thanks guys.... Thumbsup
Great thoughts guys, Thanks for the compliments... It was aggravating to say the least, to get this all set up, but the time since has made up for all the hassles Smile Smile

The members and the information here are all top notch! Smile Smile There's lots of compliments going around and lots of fun for all!! LOL Even fun for the ones running the board. We have no worries about coming in and seeing "surprise changes" happening, since "We're" the owners... so we answer to no one but our members, and that's how it Should Be!!!!!!
Mikey, it was a fantastic Idea to start this forum and to give us the chance to stay together as a group. It would have been a shame if that great bunch of people would have ben torn apart. Though I can understand that you and Don were a bit nervous before the start, there was absolutely no reason for it. When I got the invitation, I was more than glad to leave Zealot behind and join our new forum right away. And as you could see in all the comments on the first few days, I was not the only one ... Thank you,and not to forget, Don!
Yesterday marked my 2nd anniversary here...I well remember those interesting daze (and the rather ironic name they settled on) at the other forum. Congratulations on the fruit of your labors. Thumbsup
A lot of members joined from Dec 14th to the 18th, and we're Very Glad you all did!!! Smile

As I commented, we had to do something, since we were destined to lose a lot of great online friends and modelers.. Thanks for the comments!! Big Grin Big Grin We're glad most everyone came along with us! Goldth Misngth Goldth
I don't want to sound too cocky or too confident, but something told me, and probably both of us, that there was no doubt that we would succeed in bringing the old gang back together. There was too much discourse and distrust and little by little we saw our old steadfast forum crumble before our eyes. As we said, we lost members and staff alike, but we were left with the task of making the best of what we had, or start back full circle, the choice was an easy one, and something told us that we were doing the right thing. Yes, it was difficult to jump off all at once and we all actually pulled the plug on ourselves rather than letting someone else do it for us. I remember the days leading up to the opening of Big Blue, all but one of the mods accepted our invitation to move with us, plus we gained a few that left us over those years of turmoil and change. That was a delight in itself, but then when we opened for business, as my wife can attest to it, that both Mikey and me spent the entire day on the computer, extending invites, answering email and PM's and just welcoming familiar friends, some that we hadn't seen in a long time. To say that we were elated is not enough to describe our feelings.

There is an adage that says that you can never go back home, the though being is that it is never the same as when you left. I think we all proved that there are exceptions to that. Mikey and I may have just taken the initiative, you all here did the things that counted, you came, you stayed and you made us all feel like we can come back home.
Excellent thoughts, Don. As I said before, the new Big Blue feels exactly like the old Big blue. Thumbsup

Hmmm... it's not so much "coming back home", it is more like our home was destroyed by a tornado, and it just had to be rebuilt. Big Grin
Gary S Wrote:Excellent thoughts, Don. As I said before, the new Big Blue feels exactly like the old Big blue. Thumbsup

Hmmm... it's not so much "coming back home", it is more like our home was destroyed by a tornado, and it just had to be rebuilt. Big Grin
, and we were able to find all the family heirlooms, however far scattered, all in original condition, and we're still working on getting the third stair to squeak as it used to when stepped on.

Hmmm that brings up the question, Does GERN make a stair "squeaking powder" ?
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