Gripe about another forum site-Pls Keep Replies Respectful

[tcoat]

Aug 8, 2024 17:14:48 GMT -5 eaglecash867 said:

Something that's been going on over there the past few weeks that is kinda hard to ignore is the fact that the site is barely accessible most of the time, yet the "Welcome-Introduce yourself" section seems to be rife with "new members" that have joined in just the last couple of weeks...many of them during the times when the rest of us couldn't get on. The sudden influx just seems a little strange, given all of the problems with site access, along with strange links being added to posts here and there lately. Coincidence?    Kind of a strange target for scammers though. 

A lot of user names with a seemingly real surname, an initial and some random numbers? More often than not that is a bot infestation. If nobody is paying attention they will spread like mad in just hours since once one get's in they call the other over. They destroyed the car forum I was very active on.

[406 Silverado]

Aug 8, 2024 19:15:06 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Aug 8, 2024 17:14:48 GMT -5 eaglecash867 said:

Something that's been going on over there the past few weeks that is kinda hard to ignore is the fact that the site is barely accessible most of the time, yet the "Welcome-Introduce yourself" section seems to be rife with "new members" that have joined in just the last couple of weeks...many of them during the times when the rest of us couldn't get on. The sudden influx just seems a little strange, given all of the problems with site access, along with strange links being added to posts here and there lately. Coincidence?    Kind of a strange target for scammers though. 

A lot of user names with a seemingly real surname, an initial and some random numbers? More often than not that is a bot infestation. If nobody is paying attention they will spread like mad in just hours since once one get's in they call the other over. They destroyed the car forum I was very active on.

Theyd better pay attention pretty quick because the weekend is coming and those guys take weekends off from the forum

[tcoat]

Aug 8, 2024 19:47:01 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

Aug 8, 2024 19:15:06 GMT -5 tcoat said:

A lot of user names with a seemingly real surname, an initial and some random numbers? More often than not that is a bot infestation. If nobody is paying attention they will spread like mad in just hours since once one get's in they call the other over. They destroyed the car forum I was very active on.

Theyd better pay attention pretty quick because the weekend is coming and those guys take weekends off from the forum

Yep. When the bots find a vulnerable site they flock. Some bot accounts may sit dormit there for months or even years before they start spamming but when they do.... 

[eaglecash867]

Just had another Gateway 504 Timeout message over there. Looks like the lights are on, but nobody's home.

[Tojo72]

Posted today:

UPDATE: We are close to a solution for the chronic, bad, no good, and damned annoying errors that are plaguing the FSM Forum. This has been a long, dreadful road, and I can't apologize enough to all of you who have stuck it out on this march with us. With that said, there is an end in sight, and I have laid eyes upon it. However, I cannot give you a date certain when the solution will be implemented because as soon as I do, of course I'll be made a liar by circumstances well beyond my control. Needless to say, work is underway and improvements are in the offing. Still, there is only so much time in a day, and the team does need sleep. I'll be back when I have more, and it will be much sooner than 3 months from now.

[Medicman71]

[brandonk]

I've deleted my link to it. I'm over it. Tired of 504 errors, never loading and nothing happening.

[tcoat]

Aug 18, 2024 14:33:41 GMT -5 Medicman71 said:

The FSM forum's whole purpose in life was to support and sell magazines. With the company being bought the focus needs to be on the revenue source which the forum is not. I personally would rather see their resources into revamping the hard copy since I really enjoyed it (in a different manner than a forum) for a long time before it changed and I no longer found it interesting. There are plenty of forums out there that do the web stuff really well so let them be a print company and let the internet do the electronic stuff.

[Steve Zuleski]

With what I've read about FSM from your posts, Gents, sounds like I didn't miss much, never paid much attention to it anyway. No loss, no gain, I'm good.

But I will say this, the traffic here is rather difficult to keep up with, so Ruck On, Bby!

[406 Silverado]

Aug 21, 2024 4:28:18 GMT -5 Steve Zuleski said:

With what I've read about FSM from your posts, Gents, sounds like I didn't miss much, never paid much attention to it anyway. No loss, no gain, I'm good.

But I will say this, the traffic here is rather difficult to keep up with, so Ruck On, Bby!

 FSM was like that at one time Steve. Just so much going on that it was impossible to keep up with it all. 

[aaronw]

Aug 21, 2024 4:28:18 GMT -5 Steve Zuleski said:

With what I've read about FSM from your posts, Gents, sounds like I didn't miss much, never paid much attention to it anyway. No loss, no gain, I'm good.

But I will say this, the traffic here is rather difficult to keep up with, so Ruck On, Bby!

Early 2000s to maybe 2009-10 FSM was a great place to talk models. Just about all of the genre areas were active, and the group build section was where all the cool kids hung out. 


Seems like there was shift around 2008 and things started going down hill. Because it had been a great place it took some time but by 2012 it seemed to have been caught in a death spiral that has led to its present undead state.

[jeaton01]

Posted on the FSM Facebook page:
FineScale Modeler Magazine
·
Hi all!
Sorry for the short notice, but we have put a freeze on the FSM Forum. The Forum is not going away, but we are in the process of updating it and need to temporarily pause posts to the FSM Forum. While the forum can be accessed and viewed, you cannot log in, add posts, or create new threads.
Of course, you're wondering when access will return. The FSM Forum is huge, and we want to make sure that all of that information is preserved and threads maintained. So this is not something we want to rush. We will continue to work on the updates for the rest of the week. The team will keep me apprised of its progress, and I will post here whenever I have new information, no matter how small.
Thanks for your patience and support, and we will have the FSM Forum open and ready for business as soon as can be.
Tim Kidwell, editor, Scale Model Brands, Firecrown Media

[armornutii]

   Taps Taps, Lights out Smoking lamp is out throughout the ship now Taps.

[stikpusher]

[bakster]

What bothered me most the last several years was FSMs near nonexistent communication. The forum was treated like an evil stepchild not worthy of FSMs time. Truly, that is how I felt while there. Problems persisted spanning years with only an occasional, oh, we are working on it. And it was those occasional posts where it seemed that it was done so to silence the dogs of discontent.

You don’t treat customers that way. Yet, they did, almost with a disdain that they had to take the time to quell those bothersome children. I resent that. 

If they manage to fix the site, I won’t be going back. That ship has sailed. I give people a long rope and usually to where they break it. And let me tell you, FSM broke it.

[TJ]

It used to be so good. For me it was probably 10 years ago that it became blah blah. There was still a great bunch of guys but others were just annoying. I'm blame that on the lack of moderation. The GBs at one time were fantastic. Every genre, great comraderie. Other then one or two even those went by the wayside. I miss the way it was, but now we've got MSC. I for one really like what's going on here.

[406 Silverado]

We'll see where all of this goes. The mere fact that Tim Kidwell has been keeping everyone in the loop these days is a testament to the leadership above him to make sure that communication is being sent out. It seems to be a priority to someone up top.

[Tojo72]

Hope they get it straightened out,we know it could never be what it was,after all we're all here now,but seriously,I hope it works.

[406 Silverado]

Aug 23, 2024 6:31:56 GMT -5 Tojo72 said:

Hope they get it straightened out,we know it could never be what it was,after all we're all here now,but seriously,I hope it works.

  Right?! For me it's all about having a place for modelers to meet up and build together. If they can get their platform up and running it'll be one more place that they can do that. It's all about keeping the hobby alive and places like these forums are a great way to promote it.

[bakster]

Aug 23, 2024 5:34:11 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

We'll see where all of this goes. The mere fact that Tim Kidwell has been keeping everyone in the loop these days is a testament to the leadership above him to make sure that communication is being sent out. It seems to be a priority to someone up top.

That s1ounds right. There does seem to be a turn in tone.

[fermis]

[brandonk]

Aug 23, 2024 1:33:04 GMT -5 bakster said:

What bothered me most the last several years was FSMs near nonexistent communication. The forum was treated like an evil stepchild not worthy of FSMs time. Truly, that is how I felt while there. Problems persisted spanning years with only an occasional, oh, we are working on it. And it was those occasional posts where it seemed that it was done so to silence the dogs of discontent.

You don’t treat customers that way. Yet, they did, almost with a disdain that they had to take the time to quell those bothersome children. I resent that. 

If they manage to fix the site, I won’t be going back. That ship has sailed. I give people a long rope and usually to where they break it. And let me tell you, FSM broke it.

This pretty much sums up where I have been for quite a while now. They really never treated the forum members as paying customers, which most were. That doesn't give your brand good staying power.

[bakster]

[/quote]This pretty much sums up where I have been for quite a while now. They really never treated the forum members as paying customers, which most were. That doesn't give your brand good staying power.
[/quote]


Right on. And what is even more shameful and toxic is when they sent people to the doghouse merely for speaking out.

I don't know how many people they did this to and what was said, but one person I know shared with me what he posted. And oh my, there was nothing in that post that warranted action, at all! And when this person contacted FSM, they advised him they don't want people destroying their brand.

I find that laughable. FSM needed to look in the mirror. The people destroying their brand are the same people in that reflection.

I wish them the best. In my opinion, the place needs a good shakeup and it is looking like the new owner is doing just that. Time will tell.

[aaronw]

Aug 23, 2024 6:49:01 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

Aug 23, 2024 6:31:56 GMT -5 Tojo72 said:

Hope they get it straightened out,we know it could never be what it was,after all we're all here now,but seriously,I hope it works.

  Right?! For me it's all about having a place for modelers to meet up and build together. If they can get their platform up and running it'll be one more place that they can do that. It's all about keeping the hobby alive and places like these forums are a great way to promote it.

For me the biggest advantage to a company run forum linked to a magazine, is consistency and visibility as these tend to aid newer hobbyists. These sites are often a bit vanilla for various reasons, advertisers, public image etc. To a point I don't see vanilla as a huge a negative for a large site. They are attracting new people to the hobby, and often younger modelers so maintaining a kinder, gentler environment makes sense. Don't want to drive new people out of the hobby because crotchety old farts with no interest in newer trends, rivet counters, and those providing "constructive" critiques with no tact are running rampant.


Kalmbach has failed on the consistency aspect, but I feel they have also failed with their magazines, Scale Auto quite literally and FSM was (and still may be) on the way out. I hope the new owners turn things around as magazines and sites like FSM have been a plus to growing the hobby.


Private sites like this are generally personality driven. That is great if you get along with the style of personality behind the site. They are much more flexible, they can allow controversial subjects like WW2 German markings or nude figures that corporate sites often ban out of fear of advertiser backlash. The downside is the sites often flounder when the owner / mods who are often doing it as part of a hobby no longer have the time, lose interest, die etc. 

There are many good modelling sites out there that just are not a good fit for me. Many that I have enjoyed are gone, changed personality or are just barely hanging on.



Anyway I hope the new owners can right the ship whether or not I rejoin that community I think it can once again be a good entry point for new people.  


Once again, I am very happy this site found me as it very much offer what FSM did at its peak, and things only seem to be looking up. 

[stikpusher]

Right on. And what is even more shameful and toxic is when they sent people to the doghouse merely for speaking out.

I don't know how many people they did this to and what was said, but one person I know shared with me what he posted. And oh my, there was nothing in that post that warranted action, at all! And when this person contacted FSM, they advised him they don't want people destroying their brand.

I find that laughable. FSM needed to look in the mirror. The people destroying their brand are the same people in that reflection.

I wish them the best. In my opinion, the place needs a good shakeup and it is looking like the new owner is doing just that. Time will tell.


Yeah, I was one of the folks who was “moderated” for like a six month timespan for no known reason stated to me by them. Never was told what my offense was. And since the PM system was down at the time, there was no way to ask. I was running a GB at the time and participating in others. Needless to say, that ended my participation in those, as my posts on Fridays would not be moderated until Monday and nobody would see any work or words of mine by that point. Once my time in the cooler was up I decided it was not worth the effort to actively partake in or run any GBs there anymore, nor post any WIPs. All good things do end. 

[jeaton01]

I hope they can break the link about worrying about advertisers and the brand. I have thought that was maybe so strong because Kalmbach was based in a fairly conservative area of the Midwest. The world has sorta gone beyond that, I think.

The forum is running again today. I also feel that this forum is an excellent place for die hard modellers of all skill levels and interests, but because of the magazine connection FSM is a good magnet for beginners, and for me part of the hobby is imparting the pleasure and satisfaction I have gotten from it for some 68 years to new modelers, and for that reason I will continue posting on FSM. Once the new guys mature there we'll suck them in here!

[project510]

Im just glad that I did not invest enough time over there for it to be an issue. Ive found a great place here, with some awesome builders. I have one or two others places I go to for research, but for posting and actually getting to know people, this is the place to be. Happy for that.

[keavdog]

I think my first post was 2003. I subscribed to the magazine at its inception. Was great - not so much any more. I'll live here.

[TJ]

Aug 23, 2024 21:12:30 GMT -5 project510 said:

Im just glad that I did not invest enough time over there for it to be an issue. Ive found a great place here, with some awesome builders. I have one or two others places I go to for research, but for posting and actually getting to know people, this is the place to be. Happy for that.

Keavdog Stik Jeaton Tojo and I all have 20+ years over there. Maybe more of the guys from here too

[406 Silverado]

Aug 23, 2024 22:41:01 GMT -5 keavdog said:

I think my first post was 2003. I subscribed to the magazine at its inception. Was great - not so much any more. I'll live here.

  This was part of my reason for bringing MSC back to life. After being at several different sites, to include FSM, I grew tired of inflated egos and the belittling associated with communities that had little or no moderation.....OR being run by egotistical staff. When the few of us who remained here got together to bring this place back, it was agreed from the start that we would provide a drama free platform for modelers to enjoy building and conversing in. Moderation and staff presence are "the" key factor in maintaining that aspect of any community and one that I see missing from a good number of online communities.