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Posting in Layout Topics - a waste of time?


retroman

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I think by now folk will have noticed there have been at least four layouts amongst the threads on page one for some weeks and that posting in layout topics is not a waste of time. No one is a born caption writer, but folk who are disalusioned by lack of response to their layout threads might care to look at similar topics and analise why some layout threads are popular.

 

Images can capture attention and captions fill in the detail. Something you do routinely without thinking might not be routine to someone else. Think about how you can help others. Okay, so a TMD lineup of every diesel loco you have purchased in every livery since the dawn of man is great for you and will be great for people of a like mind. But after the initial photos and comments, it is futile to expect your thread to run and run. But construction of said TMD, especially if it is obvious you have studied the real thing in detail, will hold a lot of peoples attention and spur some folk on to do something similar.

 

Just random thoughts.

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The small detailing, the tiny almost insignificant that does to raise a model from a simple model to one of great interest are what captivates me. The bits that you miss or don't get chance to observe at a show. As simple as a shovel on the tank of a loco, a bicycle propped up against a wall, that tuft of grass, or the subtle colouring or weathering. The images that raise the question "Now why didn't I think of that" followed by "how was that done" simple things that start the questions and answers that add to a topic's appeal and the posts that add interest to the topic and its sustainability in the top of the VNC or forum.

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I think by now folk will have noticed there have been at least four layouts amongst the threads on page one for some weeks and that posting in layout topics is not a waste of time. No one is a born caption writer, but folk who are disalusioned by lack of response to their layout threads might care to look at similar topics and analise why some layout threads are popular.

 

Images can capture attention and captions fill in the detail. Something you do routinely without thinking might not be routine to someone else. Think about how you can help others. Okay, so a TMD lineup of every diesel loco you have purchased in every livery since the dawn of man is great for you and will be great for people of a like mind. But after the initial photos and comments, it is futile to expect your thread to run and run. But construction of said TMD, especially if it is obvious you have studied the real thing in detail, will hold a lot of peoples attention and spur some folk on to do something similar.

 

Just random thoughts.

 

Larry,

 

A very valid point, but one which surely applies right across the piece which is RMWeb, not just the layout topics thread. For me (and I can only speak for me) it is as much about the content of the thread as the actual subject matter. Yes there are certainly some posters whose writing style, sense of humour and self effacing nature lends itself to very easy reading. Often those same posters also offer the most insight into what they do and how and why they did it.

 

Not everyone is possessed of that free flowing, articulate style but everyone can, perhaps, try and include as much content, as possible, which will engage the reader and prompt the reader to continue to read, and even contribute to, the threads.

 

My plea would also be that posters try as hard as possible to make their photographs clear, reasonably lit and with a blanking background, where blank backgrounds will help. This is probably not the best advice for photographing layouts or any kind of panorama. :no: Oh and posting to the galleries, without any caption indication as to what the photo is about. :nono:

 

It's Sunday, so a day for preaching; oh, perish the thought.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

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Coldgunner Said :

I've come to realise that posting updates on my layout are more for my personal benefit than anyone else. Once pictures and comments are up its easier to criticise my own work.

 

Spot on! I have lost count of the number of times have shot, resized and captioned images, which once on screen cry out "You dipstick!". :swoon: I delete the preview and dash out to correct the mistake before anyone sees it!.... RMweb prevents slapdash...!
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...
  • 3 years later...

Damnit. I didn't realise the thread was 4 years old until reading PLD's post above. I've just read all 8 pages of it. That really was a waste of time! Moderately amusing though. I may waste some more time later and post something in "layout topics".

:no:

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Yes, I find myself reading old threads as if they are up to date, when resurrected by someone for whatever reason - and quite often add 'likes' to some of the posts before realising how long ago they were made.

 

I often wonder what the recipients think on getting a 'like' for something they posted four or five years ago.

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One factor, I find, is that this is a vast site and, so, I am still discovering topics right up my street that have been going on for years but that I have only just stumbled across.  I, too, therefore, am occasionally responsible for a rash of "Likes" on some quite old posts.

 

Layout Topics I think gains you the biggest potential audience, but the corollary of this is that topics might be more likely to be lost in the crowd.

 

For my tentative first efforts, I have chosen a topic in the Pre-Grouping section of the Special Interest part of the site. In that quieter and rather sheltered bay I have been privileged to receive an awful lot of practical and moral support and have been thoroughly educated and entertained.  This leads me to think that a corner of the site dedicated to the subjects your layout depicts is less likely to lose your contribution in the roar of rush-hour traffic that is Layout Topics.

 

Please keep going, though.

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I often wonder what the recipients think on getting a 'like' for something they posted four or five years ago.

 

I can still be impressed on craftsmanship in topics no matter how old they are. Sometimes through having to plough through all the out of date conversations that come with it, even more so when you realise that the contributors have since left RMWeb.

 

I nice to have feature would be able to set an expire by date on a post within a topic.

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