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On 08/10/2021 at 23:04, Donw said:

Thanks Andy 

I wonder will I get access to the Garden Rail mags I lost when Warners first took it over possibly not I suppose.

 

Don

 

Pre-Warners mags aren't in a format that can be turned into an electronic edition. I doubt they exist in anything other than paper, and there are very few complete sets out there. Even if we had them, they can't just be scanned in as Exact Editions needs electronic words for it's search. We'd have to set each magazine up from scratch, re-typing all the articles etc. - a monumental job.

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1 minute ago, David Schweizer said:

 

I feel the same, and also feel that the constant pop ups are an interference to using the forum. I joined this forum in order to be able to discuss modelling issues with other like minded people. I am not a regular contributor, but have receieved some usefull advice. along with being able to provide information a couple of times. To be honest I do not really understand what Gold membership means, and for £70 a year ???,

 

Well I currently have a subscription to GardenRail so that would be stopped. I would also get access to BRM so a fair deal in my opinion. Perhaps less so for occasional contributers.

 

Don

 

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1 minute ago, Phil Parker said:

 

Pre-Warners mags aren't in a format that can be turned into an electronic edition. I doubt they exist in anything other than paper, and there are very few complete sets out there. Even if we had them, they can't just be scanned in as Exact Editions needs electronic words for it's search. We'd have to set each magazine up from scratch, re-typing all the articles etc. - a monumental job.

 I had several years worth of digital subscriptions to Exact editions  prior to Warners taking it over. They changed to Pocket Mags as I was not going to get the new issues via exact editions I did not continue with the subscription. I was not well pleased with Warners at the time. I later took out the digital subscription with Pocket mags and have a few years issues there.  Then Warners decided to restart with exact editions. Somewhat vexing. 

 

Don

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13 minutes ago, David Schweizer said:

 

I feel the same, and also feel that the constant pop ups are an interference to using the forum. I joined this forum in order to be able to discuss modelling issues with other like minded people. I am not a regular contributor, but have receieved some usefull advice. along with being able to provide information a couple of times. To be honest I do not really understand what Gold membership means, and for £70 a year ???,

 

There's already a thread running for advertising if you want to discuss that and in the postings are a full explanation of what is happening and why.

 

 

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19 hours ago, AY Mod said:

 

You get quite a lot to be honest - https://www.world-of-railways.co.uk/membership and no Google Ads.

 

Until the pop ups started to appear, I had no idea that this forum was sponsored by a Publishing Company, which now seems to want to enhance it's income by charging members for stuff they do not want or need, or penalizing them for not suscribing.

 

I have found this forum useful but do not access it very frequently. I have other intersts which occupy more of my time than Railway Modelling and only rarely even buy a Railway Modelling magazine. I clearly do not fit their "Ideal member" marketing model.

 

I belong to several special interest forums, and none of them have annoying adverts or charge members for use, but they are all run by enthusuiasts rather than a commercial company.  Perhaps I need to find a Railway Modelling forum which is more interested in it's members requirements than profit.

 

 

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8 minutes ago, David Schweizer said:

Perhaps I need to find a Railway Modelling forum which is more interested in it's members requirements than profit.

 

I don't particularly care for such barbed comments; of course we're interested in our members, the site has been going for over 15 years and continues to grow supported by the provision of the platform which doesn't run on fresh air. Even the enthusiast run sites that you laud cost money and I don't suppose you want to help cover their costs either.

 

I note that most of your posts have been questions in the Modelling Questions, Help and Tips sub-forum and if you wish to continue to benefit from the knowledge of the largest forum you either have to accept the adverts or pay for membership.

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1 hour ago, AY Mod said:

 

I don't particularly care for such barbed comments; of course we're interested in our members, the site has been going for over 15 years and continues to grow supported by the provision of the platform which doesn't run on fresh air. Even the enthusiast run sites that you laud cost money and I don't suppose you want to help cover their costs either.

 

I note that most of your posts have been questions in the Modelling Questions, Help and Tips sub-forum and if you wish to continue to benefit from the knowledge of the largest forum you either have to accept the adverts or pay for membership.

 

And I don't particularly care for being patronized. I have just done a quick calculation, and if only 20% of the members payed the annual gold membership, Warners would net well over half a Million pounds. I suspect that will more than adequately cover the forum costs. If there was an access without ads memberhip for it might be more attractive option for occassional visitors like me, but £70 for digital access to magazines I have never even heard of ????

 

 

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40 minutes ago, David Schweizer said:

If there was an access without ads memberhip for it might be more attractive option

 

That is under discussion as referenced in the Advertising topic where your beef would have been better placed initially. Trust me, there are no potential millionaires sitting at this end of the keyboard so please rein in the speculative maths.

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2 hours ago, David Schweizer said:

Until the pop ups started to appear, I had no idea that this forum was sponsored by a Publishing Company, which now seems to want to enhance it's income by charging members for stuff they do not want or need, or penalizing them for not suscribing.

 

... I clearly do not fit their "Ideal member" marketing model.

 

...  Perhaps I need to find a Railway Modelling forum which is more interested in it's members requirements than profit.

 

Some people might regard your analysis as rather harsh.

 

There are significant costs attached to running a site like this one - and that's even when this relies heavily on people spending a lot of their own time (ie unpaid) "policing" the site and whatever stuff other people post on it.

 

I also didn't miss you saying that you don't even buy model railway themed magazines very often (and presumably Warners model railway titles even less often) - this would suggest to a reasonable person that you probably don't contribute very much towards the cost of running this site.

 

For this reason, I would "respectfully" suggest that you might not find too many people around here particularly sympathetic to your viewpoint.

 

 

2 hours ago, AY Mod said:

I don't particularly care for such barbed comments; of course we're interested in our members, the site has been going for over 15 years and continues to grow supported by the provision of the platform which doesn't run on fresh air. Even the enthusiast run sites that you laud cost money and I don't suppose you want to help cover their costs either.

 

I note that most of your posts have been questions in the Modelling Questions, Help and Tips sub-forum and if you wish to continue to benefit from the knowledge of the largest forum you either have to accept the adverts or pay for membership.

 

Fair comment.

 

 

1 hour ago, David Schweizer said:

And I don't particularly care for being patronized. I have just done a quick calculation, and if only 20% of the members payed the annual gold membership, Warners would net well over half a Million pounds. Please dont try and suggest that is just to cover the forum costs.

 

An "interesting" analysis - albeit based on incorrect assumptions.

 

Firstly, a lot of subscriptions won't be at the current "new subscriber" prices. The prices vary over time - and renewals are often based on "rollover" of existing subscription deals, with annual direct debits at the prices originally charged. This is made clear in letters / emails sent to new new subscribers upon "signing up".

 

To be honest, this strikes me as fair - after all, in addition to existing subscribers not getting any "new customer" freebies which might sometimes be offered eg at shows, there's more administrative work involved in setting up a new subscriber (and sorting out any "teething problems) than there would be in allowing an existing contract to auto-renew.

 

 

Apart from staff time (not all of which is likely to be remunerated), web hosting and software also cost money - and I suspect there might well be other costs I don't know about. In other words, I very much doubt if Warners would see very much of this "vault full of dosh" that some people appear to imagine might exist.

 

Let's face it, pal - you are definitely not being patronised - and I somehow doubt if Andy, Phil or anyone else particularly care for being trolled.

 

OK - you might not personally agree with my assessment - and it's reasonable to expect you to have your own viewpoint. However, the tone of some of your recent posts comes across as somewhat combative - verging on abrasive - so a lot of people round these parts would have no complaints about Andy or Phil getting irritated.

 

In fact, you can count yourself lucky - on a number of forum sites, your recent posts would probably have led to a ban, forum suspension, "moderated status" or other disciplinary action.

 

You know what your options are. I would "respectfully" suggest that it's time for you to make your choice.

 

 

Huw.

 

 

 

Edited by Huw Griffiths
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I am not sure why you are defending the owners of this forum, especially as you all appear to be volunteers. I am not accusing any of you of making any money from the forum, but It still appears to me that Warners still stand to make a lot of money from the gold membeship at just under £70 per member.

 

As previously mentioned I belong to other forums also run entirely by volunteers. One of them has a membership of over 30,000 and the annual cost is less than £1500 per annum, all of which is donated by individual members, on a voluntary basis, and contrary to one suggestion by a moderator, I have made such donations in the past. I have also participated financially in fund raising events.

 

I find the suggestion that my observations could lead me to being suspended or disciplined amusing, bordering on the bizzaire. I have seen rudeness and offensive attitudes on this forum going  un-checked by moderators, but it appears that challenging the view of a moderater risks being considered the worst sin possible on this forum. You can think what you like of me it makes me neither a worse or better person.

 

 

 

 

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25 minutes ago, David Schweizer said:

I am not sure why you are defending the owners of this forum, especially as you all appear to be volunteers.

 

Because it's 'our' forum.

Because the admin of the forum are our friends.

Because everyone is p'd off by the intrusion of the adverts overwriting the content (which I have no doubt is not what the admin's would have wanted) 

Because occasionally some of us get upset by the constant negative comments about the forum.

Because occasionally, a quiet word from a member can help alleviate the situation, before the Admin kicks the member off permanently.

 

I don't care how much Warners make from subscriptions - as long as there is enough to keep the forum going.

I don't care about adverts appearing on the website (as long as they are not in the way or affect the forum's operation - I accept that some have recently, but that will be resolved).

I definitely get more from the forum than I put in, even discounting the SWAG member's Day.  Hence my recent change to pay for Gold membership.  Yes, I too have chipped in before when the hat was passed round.

 

No one wants to see the forum fold, we all need to understand this is now not a hobby site, but a business that needs revenue to survive.

 

Stu 

Edited by Stubby47
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36 minutes ago, David Schweizer said:

You can think what you like of me

 

That's gracious of you to permit what I was already managing to do. The rest of your post is repetition and several people feel you are trolling so I'll put you on moderation so you don't take up any more of anyone's time.

 

No charge.

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8 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

No charge

Andy. Are you sure your not missing something here. Surely there is a whole variety of charging options you could have around moderation. Just look at what your average wheel clamper can get away with. :D 

 

Forget getting the coat. I'm off to sit on the naughty step.

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15 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

No charge.

 

3 minutes ago, pirouets said:

Andy. Are you sure your not missing something here. Surely there is a whole variety of charging options you could have around moderation. Just look at what your average wheel clamper can get away with. :D 

 

Priceless.

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11 minutes ago, pirouets said:

Just look at what your average wheel clamper can get away with. :D 

 

Get out of Jail = Gold.

 

Don't think I haven't already suggested this to Mr. Parker.

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2 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

Get out of Jail = Gold.

 

Don't think I haven't already suggested this to Mr. Parker.

 

Let's guess - did he say he'd prefer a year's supply of cakes?

 

I think we both know which would be the cheaper option ... .

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On 26/05/2021 at 09:02, SteveCole said:

No. All 5 magazines are now available to read via the browser within the WoR Plus membership area so one log-in gives you everything.

 

But still not working properly for I-pads. See thread elsewhere and at least one other post above, not an easy read any more compared with other, none Warner’s, mags I read via PocketMags or ExactEditions. 
 

That said I know there are problems with apps becoming unusable with system upgrades, probably making the browser option sensible, but the single page height is too high.

 

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I dont think any of the long standing users would want to go back to the days of RmWeb relying on donations, and wondering if it would still be there in the morning (no offence Andy, but I bet there were days when you thought it would be easier to just pack it all in).

 

The support of Warners is great for putting this resource on a stable footing - but that doesnt come cheap, and Warners will expect to at least wash their face, if not make a small profit, and I dont know any websites which provide information without adverts - BBC website probably the biggest exception. 

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1 hour ago, JohnR said:

I dont know any websites which provide information without adverts - BBC website probably the biggest exception. 

My regular reading of the BBC News web pages invariably has interspersed ads. Perhaps it's because I'm Johnny Foreigner. The DHL ad for the current Bond film is prevalent, but some inevitably are French. 

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4 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

My regular reading of the BBC News web pages invariably has interspersed ads. Perhaps it's because I'm Johnny Foreigner. The DHL ad for the current Bond film is prevalent, but some inevitably are French. 

And quite right too! ^_^

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1 hour ago, THS92-GWR-NO said:

Hey, need help. 

I started a trial period to get RM gold too, but haven't been upgraded in here and is still bombarded by ads on both web and phone. Help? :help:

Hi,

 

RMweb Gold isn't included within the free trial: https://www.world-of-railways.co.uk/information/about-rm-web-access?openPageId=90281a09-f71c-4046-ab5f-ac20eb0d8380

 

Thanks,

 

Steve

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2 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

My regular reading of the BBC News web pages invariably has interspersed ads.

 

I was surprised how many there were when I've used BBC pages whilst abroad as it obviously doesn't recognise the user as a TV licence holder.

 

RMweb Gold is a lot cheaper than a TV licence and some people spend longer on here. ;)

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