RMweb Premium NGT6 1315 Posted September 27, 2010 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 27, 2010 Just to add my POV to the original topic of this thread... I personally think being courteous - not demanding or otherwise impolite - in whatever you're intending to ask about is about half the money already. I also think it may be helpful for those who might be willing to respond to outline what you do already know about the item you are asking about - however fragmentary it may be - as this may help to avoid redundancies. Case in point - I am currently (on and off) gathering additional information about this Swiss/Italian scenario I am having in mind in order to better flesh it out in detail, but since I haven't been to either Switzerland or Italy in several years my knowledge of, say, current motive power and rolling stock deployments in the region I'm focusing on is most certainly incomplete. Sure, looking at photos may give you important clues, but things may change quickly in today's world of railways. However, I can, and do, of course use that incomplete knowledge to base my inquiries on. That's not to say claiming some artistic licence may be totally wrong, of course, but I would not want to build up an entirely implausible scenario either. I noticed there's been the point of not always being aware of the ideal search phrases for googling information several posts back - which I can well relate to as I definitely am not aware of the complete Italian, or indeed Swiss German, railway vocabulary. Yes, German is spoken in Switzerland, but it is quite different from the kind spoken in Germany itself in various cases! One example I can think of spontaneously would be the thing which is called a "Betriebsbahnhof" in Germany, but "Dienststation" in Switzerland - both terms referring to a kind of station which basically is only there for traffic regulation and does not offer any passenger or goods access. (Is there an English term for that, by the way?) Of course, there may also be the issue of certain items not having a full equivalent in the railway practices of another country - stations being a good example, actually, being largely dependent on signalling practices. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozexpatriate Posted February 23, 2011 Author Share Posted February 23, 2011 I promise that I'm not trying to resuscitate an old thread and am happy to let it fall back into obscurity but I saw the following on the Hornby forum today... The thread was entitled "Your knowledge" I am typing this for you all to tell me anything you know about model railways. It will help me with what i can do to my up and coming layout. This saves me the time trying to find the snipits of information individualy. It seemed to be such the perfect exemplar of what not to do, I felt compelled to save it here as the capstone to this thread. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 It seemed to be such the perfect exemplar of what not to do, I felt compelled to save it here as the capstone to this thread. That must be a p*** take though! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 I dunno, we'll see when he turns up on here............... Best, Pete Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baby Deltic Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 This one takes the biscuit: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/61210-the-rights-to-build-a-set-of-four-worsley-works-n-gauge-gwr-four-wheel-coaches/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Delamar Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted November 15, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 15, 2012 There are one or two regular posters who seem to ask one-liner questions, many of which I think they might answer themselves with a bit of research. Then there are the imponderable questions about an RTR product. But in both cases these often lead to multi-response threads - so I have to accept that other RMwebbers find the response opportunities gratifying. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThaneofFife Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Havent a problem with any questions if I can help. I really dont make any assumptions about what the poster of that question has or has not done in terms of their own research or googling (if googling can really be classed as proper research??) in the same way as I wouldnt if we were face to face. It probably takes the same amount of energy to mock somebody about their apparent lack of research or laziness than it does to just get on with it and answer the question. If anything its probably faster. I disagree with this as all that achieves is to antagonise the poster as 9 times out of 10 peoples responses of their displeasure are made known on the public forum and not via a PM. What does grate is when you do post an answer that pretty much does the job, we have half a dozen people who were thinking the same thing follow on to say "as such and such has touched on earlier..." which just bloats threads up unnecessarily if they dont bring anything else to the table. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Stubby47 Posted November 15, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 15, 2012 What does grate is when you do post an answer that pretty much does the job, we have half a dozen people who were thinking the same thing follow on to say "as such and such has touched on earlier..." which just bloats threads up unnecessarily if they dont bring anything else to the table. Oh, I agree..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debs. Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Oh, I agree..... Stubby47 has that right an` all..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold beast66606 Posted November 15, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 15, 2012 Stubby47 has that right an` all..... Oh, I agree Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold beast66606 Posted November 15, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 15, 2012 Seriously, not all answers are quick to answer as Thane suggests. Take someone who asks about a location - I could spend hours looking through my signalling information and documents, scan them or redraw them only to get "thanks, I was only asking for fun" type response. If the question is not important then say "Can anyone help with an overview of the signalling at Rugby, simple information for now please" rather than "Can anyone supply fully numbered and track circuited diagrams for every signal box that ever existed at Rugby, including the PSB and the SCC if possible" (substitute Rugby signalling for 40 liveries, mineral wagon colours, etc. etc.) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted November 15, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 15, 2012 Seriously, not all answers are quick to answer as Thane suggests. Take someone who asks about a location - I could spend hours looking through my signalling information and documents, scan them or redraw them only to get "thanks, I was only asking for fun" type response. If the question is not important then say "Can anyone help with an overview of the signalling at Rugby, simple information for now please" rather than "Can anyone supply fully numbered and track circuited diagrams for every signal box that ever existed at Rugby, including the PSB and the SCC if possible" (substitute Rugby signalling for 40 liveries, mineral wagon colours, etc. etc.) Exactly, beast. That's why the one-liner question is sometimes the problem. Only after a few answers do we then get the full gist of how much the OP actually knows, which resources he has consulted etc., often rendering the initial replies superfluous. I think we've been here before in this thread! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium MJI Posted November 15, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 15, 2012 I have often referred people to books, but I was reminded recently that some of the books were published donkeys years ago and have to be searched for nowadays. I hadn't considered that. But I usually refer to books was because of the state of information on the web....Garbage in.....garbage out. Some info might have been put there by scholars, but equally some info might have been put there by clubroom graduates who have simply repeated something that was incorrect in the first place. I'll give two examples of garbage.....The South Devon Railway refers to its beautiful GWR brake third No.1645 as a 'toplight' coach. This is repeated elsewhere on websites. It is nothing of the sort. Lights are windows and top lights are top windows, often but not always above main windows. Are there any on 1645? No. It is in fact 'Sunshine' stock, coaches that were built in the later 1930s with large windows that almost reached the gutter. Garbage too is the painting of passenger parcels vans in the 1930s gave rise to the reference 'Brown' Vehicles! Yep, its on the web. That used to be on the Dean Forest Railway! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThaneofFife Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Seriously, not all answers are quick to answer as Thane suggests. I didnt. Maybe the context of what I actually said got lost in translation. ......and I think you mean "questions" In all seriousness we know this beast66606, its a given - rarely does one answer hit the nail squarely on the head on here. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave777 Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Well I guess we all find certain aspects irritating. Reviving a thread that is nearly 2 years old to show us a topic that was locked 2 months ago is one of mine, but perhaps others found it massively useful, so who knows. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Kazmierczak Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 I'm too rude, lazy or selfish to read through this thread so this point may already have been answered. I don't mind anyone asking for help on RMweb. I don't think anyone is beholden in answering though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryMeerkat Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 What appear to be simple questions to some, can be very complex to others. I ask many questions on here, usually following very little of my own research. I can hear some of you now readying the gallows for me, but there is a reason for my questions .... How can I research something when I don't know what I'm researching? I know NOTHING of real railways, which makes modelling them extremely challenging. But I enjoy the challenge and I enjoy learning from the members on here who have such an immense knowledge base to draw from. There is also the right type of answer that comes from asking seemingly stupid/repeated questions. I was trying to work out how to signal my small layout, and a search of "railway signalling" threw up endless information, none of which made much sense to somebody who knows nothing to start with. So I checked the pictures, and if I'd used them as my inspiration my 8' layout would have around 20 signals of both semaphore and lights, with feathers and discs and god knows what else. Refining the search to "model railway signalling" didn't really help me any further, so I came on here and asked the same question that has been asked probably 50 times before. The answers I gained, along with the explanations of why and how, and the track specific diagrams were invaluable to me. Yet to a regular the question was probably about as repeated as a night watching UK Gold!! Of course good manners should always be used, they cost nothing and take seconds. But the ONLY stupid question is the one you don't ask!! Mark Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 ....The internet makes people want gratification NOW... Wrong. Yesterday. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
highpeak Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 I may have said this before, but sometimes I ( and no doubt others) ask a question we are pretty sure of the answer to on the basis that others may ask, and it may help them.... Ill answer any wuestion I am capable of doing, thats what a Forum is for surely? Just cos a question has been asked before doesnt make it any less valid at the time it is asked again, and I must say the "search" facility on here and me don't seem to get on that well Search tools can be a bit hit or miss, rephrasing the question sometimes helps. But to get results, there needs to have been questions asked and answers given in the first place, so I like your approach! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cromptonnut Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 Just cos a question has been asked before doesnt make it any less valid at the time it is asked again, and I must say the "search" facility on here and me don't seem to get on that well Also don't forget that, particularly in the context of older questions there may be developments since that have rendered the answer obsolete; two years ago if you wanted a particular thing you had to get out the plasticard and make it yourself, but since then Helbachbypol have bought out an r-t-r version of it, or Widgets Kits make one. I often also learn things I didn't know I needed to ask. Look at my recent thread on how to spray yellow paint - I've got some useful answers which hopefully will solve my problem, and once I've tried the suggestions I'll post an image or two to show what worked best which will hopefully then help anyone else who is having the same problem as me, but also anyone who is about to start spraying up a loco will see the thread and save themselves the hassle I've had to go through with stripping back paint (several times) and get it right first time. Sometimes before asking a question I'll spend time googling, and find conflicting answers which end up with me being no less confused than I was when I started - hence I find it better to ask here as at least you know the people are likely to have the same issues. Going back to my yellow paint problem, for example, people here are far more likely to use Railmatch paints like I am whereas, say, a car or aero modeller (or even car respraying...) using a different brand of yellow paint may have a different solution, or no problem at all - and that solution won't work with Railmatch paints. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Donw Posted November 16, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 16, 2012 It always strikes me as odd when you see a question posted and a few lines below is a very similar thread. I suppose because we respond they get want they want with little effort. I also appologise if some of my posts end up 'me too' often someone answers while I am typing up my reply especially if the kettle boils so I stop halfway through. Don Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted November 16, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 16, 2012 When you haven't googled first (although it helps to ask the right question and I can appreciate that isn't necessarily straightforward sometimes) and it does help to use search but again it's a question of getting the question right. As for 'stupid' questions - they are often far less stupid than they look, folk should never be afraid to ask in my view. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
halfwit Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 What does grate is when you do post an answer that pretty much does the job, we have half a dozen people who were thinking the same thing follow on to say "as such and such has touched on earlier..." which just bloats threads up unnecessarily if they dont bring anything else to the table. I think that depends on the question asked. For example, if someone posts 'what tool to use for this job' and 9 people answer 'x' and 1 person answers 'y', then it can be assumed that 'x' is probably the best tool to used. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
R A Watson Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 It always strikes me as odd when you see a question posted and a few lines below is a very similar thread. I suppose because we respond they get want they want with little effort. I also appologise if some of my posts end up 'me too' often someone answers while I am typing up my reply especially if the kettle boils so I stop halfway through. Don Whilst perusing the forum on this visit I have just read two threads regarding rusty Slaters wheels with start dates many months apart! One is regarding wheels in kits the other wagon wheels I doubt if a quick search query would link them. We should always view each request individually but if in possession of the required information a polite referral may serve to answer the questioner. Wally Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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