The new Big Blue Facebook page
#1
For those who have inquired about or are interested, we have setup a new Big Blue Trains Facebook group page. This will allow the Big Blue Trains community a different way to stay connected with each other. There you can post comments, keep up to date, ask for advice, and even post pics of your latest project or layout. If you're familiar with Facebook already, this should be and easy jump. If not, it might take some getting used to.

The address for the page can be found here at  https://www.facebook.com/groups/BigBlueTrains/ . It's currently setup as a closed group, which means you'll have to request permission to join. This is to keep out spammers but mostly Russian spies. You do need to have a Facebook account in order to join, so if you don't have one, that should be your first step. Once you locate the page, there will be a button located just below the header graphic titled "Join Group." This will send out a notification to one of the admins who will accept the request.

If you are familiar with how Facebook works, this should be and easy navigation, if you aren't, there is a bit of a learning curve to find you're way around. This is in no way designed to replace the forum. I know there are some who don't like the Facebook platform, and that's fine.

Any questions can be posted in this thread and we'll try to answer them as best we can.

Thanks!
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Creator of the comic Flatt Bear.
A comic about... well... a bear


Flatt Bear
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#2
Just a quickie as I understand things. To start with, I've had a page on Facebook for a few years, I used to visit it about once a year, now I guess I'll check a bit more often since, when you do request to join, Pat, Mikey and myself all get notified, so one of us has to respond and accept your request. If that takes some time, don't be alarmed. Mikey and Pat are probably at work, and I'm probably still trying to figure out how Facebook works.

For those of you not familiar with Facebook, apparently, all posts and photos go one after the other without regard to subject, so you can't keep all related posts in a thread like you can here. It must work since there are a few hundred million folks using Facebook as a way of communicating with the world.

Anyway, fear not, we are not abandoning these forums, we've just added our Facebook page because we know there are people there that would use it and we've had some member move to there and this may be our chance to see them once again...
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
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#3
I've been on Facebook for some time---I just posted a notice that Big Blue Trains is now available on Facebook---I'm pretty sure a number of BB members are also active on FB
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#4
(01-21-2020, 07:37 PM)cn nutbar Wrote: ---I'm pretty sure a number of BB members are also active on FB

This one's not, and unlikely to ever be.

Wayne
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#5
Sometimes I feel like I am one of 12 people on earth who do not use FB. Thank you, Wayne for being one of the other 11.
[Image: np_F-1ani.gif][Image: goog.gif]
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#6
And here's another one of the dozen. Now, having said that I do use my late wife's account to stalk family members about once a month or so.

Tom
Life is simple - Eat, Drink, Play with trains

Occupation: Professional Old Guy (The government pays me to be old.)
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#7
(01-21-2020, 10:04 PM)doctorwayne Wrote: This one's not, and unlikely to ever be.

Wayne

(01-21-2020, 11:27 PM)deckroid Wrote: Sometimes I feel like I am one of 12 people on earth who do not use FB. Thank you, Wayne for being one of the other 11.

There's apparently a product called "Marmite", over on the other side of the pond that has a slogan: "you either love it or hate it". I haven't a clue what it is, but Simon mentioned it the other day on "America's Got Talent". I think you can say that about all social media on the Internet. I see people walking, sitting, driving, all on their cell phones. What are they doing, talking, texting, playing games, buying something, or most likely, they're on Facebook or some other social site checking in. So, we have moved a bit closer to the current social trend with a Facebook page. If you use it, fine, if not, also fine. The Big Blue Train Forum is still going to be the way to go for us all. Whether you love or hate Facebook, we're not going anywhere. Social media has a tendency to be fickle, while forums just seem to plug right along.
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
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#8
Well, we've been inundated with request to join the Big Blue Facebook Group. It's toiling, but I thank all four of you for joining.... Icon_lol Icon_lol

Not any new action there, but time will tell. It's there if anyone wants to use it, but our hearts and time belong here and I doubt that will change anytime soon.
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
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#9
I think we could post albums of pictures for the enjoyment of the BB FB group members.  I am going to try sharing on from my page first. It probably won't work because my privacy settings are really high. 
Charlie
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#10
Facebook is like Guinness beer. It's an acquired taste and not for everyone. It actually has a low end learning curve once you dispose of the preconceived knowledge of the forum is setup and works. Facebook is more linear in it's presentation of threads. Believe it or not, as new as Facebook is to some here, it's not the most current and used platform with he kids these days. They are using Snapchat, Instagram, Tik-Tok. Hell, even Twitter is considered archaic by the youth these days. They consider Facebook as "the social media platform that my parents use." Personally, I hate it. I hardly interact on it anymore. In fact, I wouldn't be on it if it wasn't for my comic strip. I"m more of a Twitter or Instagram person. It's better for what I use social media for. Keeping in contact with fellow artist's work and posting my own stuff.

However, don't get me wrong. I do like Facebook for the social "life" aspect. Facebook is a great way for folk to stay in contact and see what everyone is up to in their lives. It does embrace a more modern approach to keeping in social contact with other. And a better way to share video and pics.

It'll be there to use if you want.
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Creator of the comic Flatt Bear.
A comic about... well... a bear


Flatt Bear
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#11
I have been using FB for the history of the area. We have been asking people to either post their pictures from the past or donate those old pictures laying in the attic or garage. 
It's working, I have another 3 albums sitting beside me waiting to scan. I have shared most of the railroad related photos with Blue. A treasure trove that was not available before. 
Charlie
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#12
(01-24-2020, 11:49 AM)Charlie B Wrote: I have been using FB for the history of the area. We have been asking people to either post their pictures from the past or donate those old pictures laying in the attic or garage. 
It's working, I have another 3 albums sitting beside me waiting to scan. I have shared most of the railroad related photos with Blue. A treasure trove that was not available before. 
Charlie

Thank you Charlie for what you do share with us. I'm glad that Facebook actually has a positive use rather than just showing others what they had for lunch or for posting selfies....
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
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#13
(01-24-2020, 09:06 AM)Duffy Wrote: Facebook is like Guinness beer. It's an acquired taste and not for everyone...

...Believe it or not, as new as Facebook is to some here, it's not the most current and used platform with he kids these days. They are using Snapchat, Instagram, Tik-Tok. Hell, even Twitter is considered archaic by the youth these days...

Like I said, social media is fickle, on top one day, forgotten the next. Wasn't something called, "Myspace" the rage a few years ago? Does it even exist now? And one must realize, these things are really not free. Someone has to pay while others get rich, so you have to be careful just where you choose to go and how much information you share. I went on one site looking for something to buy, now I get ads for that company that follow me lots of other places where I go. Will ads start to pop up on the Big Blue Facebook page? If so, it's against what we said we'd do when we started these forums. Someone has to pay, and we do that here to keep us ad free, someone else has to pay for us to use Facebook and all those other social sites. I haven't been on Facebook that much to tell, but I tend to be overly cautious about anywhere I go on the Internet, especially there....
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
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#14
That adage, "there's no such thing as a free lunch" is social media to a tee. All these social media platforms that are "free" aren't really free. Yeah, we don't pay cash for them (at least not most of them), but what we pay with is our information. They are all information mining platforms. But everything online is like that. Facebook, Twitter, even Google search, and random pages we visit on the web. That's why I'll do a search on Amazon for dog pooper scoopers, and within two minutes every add on almost every webpage i visit now host pooper-scoopers.

Fortunately, Facebook doesn't have popup adds. They seed your timeline with adds. I found that every third to fifth post on your timeline is some sort of add. Right now, the game is putting those clickbait type stories that you'll click on to take you to another page. I've done some poking around about the new Star Trek show, Picard. Now, almost every one of those posts has to do with "behind the scenes look at Picard' and "ten things you didn't know about Star Trek... No 5 will really make you blush."

It's the way of the internet world. But when you understand what is going on, you need to make a decision. The only way you can ensure not being tracked online is to use what's called a VPN (virtual personal network). Essentially, you dial into a nother server and it gives you a temporary IP address that goes away when you log out. They can't trace you and your information is encrypted and secure. Ive looked into them myself. You pay for them but if security and privacy are what you need, it might be worth the $30-80 a year.
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Creator of the comic Flatt Bear.
A comic about... well... a bear


Flatt Bear
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#15
For those that will use FB congrats. I have not and never will use any form of social media other than these train forums. It will be interesting to see how many will be using the FB page after the newness factor wears off.
Mike

Sent from my pocket calculator using two tin cans and a string
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