# MLS Changes...



## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

RE: http://forums.mylargescale.com/32-f...ons/87898-google-cloud-move-06-12-2018-a.html

"Terrific: what a terrific explanation to the Mods of potential changes/problems. I'm about 99.9% ready to quit. Your "support team" during the transition form private ownership (Shad Pulley) to the current ownership has been practically nill... most likely because your support people know less about this site than the current mods. In hind site, you know what? After serving as the original mod on this site since 2002, and the chief mod since 2003-2004, "I QUIT!!" I'm done screwing around with you non-professional people who deal in only clicks and numbers and haven't a clue as to your personal audience nor their passions. That isn't what I signed up for as a Moderator in 2002."

Thanks to all for being part of the legend. I made a lot of enemies, but I made a lot more friends. God Bless!!


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

Dwight;

You will be missed by me. Don't know how much longer some of us old timers will continue here.(Last one to leave please turn out the lights.)

Best wishes for you, Dwight. Perhaps I will see you once I roll over to LSC.

Regards,
David Meashey


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

Just this past week I have been considering permantly leaving too. I asked mods to delete my last thread because of a long-time rude obnoxious troll who flamed it for absolutely no reason, just to be a dick. They deleted the thread (thank you) but the troll remains..he should have been banned years ago, he has earned it hundreds of times over..but nothing is ever done. Im tired of it. 

Scot


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## Paul Burch (Jan 2, 2008)

Oh for the good old days, Shad running the forum, the Queen Mary Show, JJ with his stories, 1/29 at Marty's,etc. Don't blame you Dwight, time to move on. I will continue to check in here time to time and help someone if I can, but that will be about it.


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Thanks for your service.


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## R.W. Marty (Jan 2, 2008)

Dwight, 
I admire your determination and grit for hanging on as long as you have, thank you for a job well done.

Lot of water under the bridge since this place was started at the demise of LSOL. Come on over to LSC you'll be welcome there

Rick


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## Larry Green (Jan 2, 2008)

Don't blame you a bit, Dwight.


Now, with that off your shoulders, please make plans to come to Diamondhead next January, so we can swap war stories. I'll buy the beer at the Red Zone next door.


Larry


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

I meant to thank you for posting your largest live steam build, quite the workmanship.


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Dwight,

Sorry to see you go, but I agree with the other comments above. Gone are the "good ole days" when Shad was running the site. Hope we can still have our long phone conversations Dwight. Like Rick said, come on over to LSC. Good bunch over there.

I haven't posted on MLS in quite a while and only check this site once in a great while. Spend most of my time now posting on LSC and mostly in 1/8th scale.

Thanks again for your many years as a moderator here on MLS. Much appreciated by me.


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## lotsasteam (Jan 3, 2008)

Admire your dedication to our hobby,pleasure to read your posts,you 're one of the few who deserve full respect and appreciation for the excellent work you did here on MLS,jeep I agree to move to another trainsite this site run out of steam,period!Manfred Diel,lotsastem,Thanks Dwight for everything!


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## Ironton (Jan 2, 2008)

Dwight,


Thank you for all you have done, moderator, steamaholics, builds, etc. Hope you continue to post as a member.


Yes this site is almost dead. Most of the ones who posted have moved on to other sites or hobbies or whatever. Miss the comradery.


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

Yeah, not much here anymore. I think part of it is fewer entering the hobby and us old guys have what we want and just work on our own. I did just move to Kansas, so building a new layout and hope to join the Wichita club. Want to sell some stuff, hope club members want some. 
LSC has some stuff going on and I like the G scale forum, since it is mostly 1/32 and MTH. Might look there Dwight.


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

There's a great book out there called "Necessary Endings" by Dr. Henry Cloud... 

Really addresses this..... 

Thanks so much, Dwight... Been mostly a good ride..


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## kormsen (Oct 27, 2009)

thank you Dwight.


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## bnsfconductor (Jan 3, 2008)

I guess I should try and save the text from any builds I want. Been over at LSC and don't regret it.


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## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

Dwight, thanks for all the excellent moderation over the years. For the past few I've been on LSC, but have checked in here once in a while because MLS is where I started out and met all my first friends in large scale railroading. I count you as one of them.

The reasons I initially left are twofold. First, when the new owners clearly demonstrated themselves as web automatons having zero heart for our hobby, that was strike one for me. Strike two was the vast failures in preserving photos and other documents. 

In addition, I like to do build threads which have a lot of photo content. For a couple years I went through the hassle of prepping and uploading pics and reworking the links for the two differing formats of MLS and LSC. And it got to a point that I could no longer take the time. So, I had to chose. And my choice, in view of what I said earlier, was LSC.

It took a while to meet new friends. But that was very much eased by the fact that so many on LSC were, and remain, friends I first met here on MLS.

Bottom line, it's all about (large scale) trains, and friends. So thanks Dwight, and everyone here on MLS that I've interacted with over the years. I hope we can continue that interaction on LSC, in my opinion it's by far the best venue for us. 

BTW, I've had great talks with Bob, the (quite human) LSC owner/moderator; wonderful guy there. In marked contrast with big corporations taking over web sites, LSC remains Bob's avocation and passion. It's not his day job. But you can bet he really cares about it and maintains it, and will keep it going in a very professional manner.

My 2 cents, 

Cliff


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Darn Cliff, there is no Thanks button here, nice post.


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## tmejia (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi Dwight,

Ya, I'm not here either.
I just stopped in to say

Thanks


Tommy
Rio Gracie


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## Joe Johnson (Jan 2, 2008)

Thank you Dwight


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## Great Western (Jan 2, 2008)

Sorry you have made your decision Dwight; you seemed part of the furniture for me - and I guess many others. It is a hard, rocky place it seems. for anyone trying to mod a web site full of very different folks and opinions. I think you achieved a great success.
I came here early 2008, so that is ten years and with a post count of 500 now that makes me a less prolific poster. There was a time here, of continual flame wars, usually the same few people, which did alienate many. However you always were on top of it.

Each fora has its own speciality and this one, in recent times, has been a good arena for live steam posts. Whilst not being into live steam I always find the LS posts interesting. Enjoy your freedom!


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

Dwight, sorry to hear you are leaving.
Maybe I am looking at things from a different perspective!
A President once said "ask not what your country can do for you, but rather ask what you can do for your country.
Similarly, maybe we can all try and make MLS more like we expect it to be.
If everyone keeps jumping ship, then of course there will be less threads and discussions on MLS, and it will indeed dry up and die, so should we all not keep trying to make this work?
I left for a while when a now departed member said 'incorrect' things about me, and I realised that I enjoy sharing my hobby with everyone, and I missed that, so I came back.
Let's all not just 'give up' on MLS but keep sharing please.
All the best,
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Dwight and all the rest of you tired of of the absolute clustermuck the techmonkeys running this site have made it, come on over to Large Scale Central. 

Lots of topics, even a fun annual build challenge. Com'on by and even if it's to just lurk. Beats the shotstorm of idiots currently running this site.


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## Chris Scott (Jan 2, 2008)

Let's all remember...

The bad days of today are the good old days of tomorrow. Really, it's just selective memory. The more memory ages the more selective it gets, the better things look in the rear view mirror. But god help you if you got back there. You'd find it really pretty bleak; CPM, BIOS, 8" floppy disks, bytes, 4k memory for $1,000. Serial, parallel. No wifi, bluetooth, usb. Barely internet, 9600 baud. No smart phones, notebooks, tablets. Compatibility - forgetaboutit.

No, I'd rather be here, now. Yes we're getting old. Yeah, life's a b_itch. 

I'd a lot rather suddenly be 10 years old today than any age yesterday.



FWIW

"clustermuck the techmonkeys" ?
Dweeb


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Chris...
We didn't get ANY recourse or recompensation to restore or recreate the lost 10 YEARS of photo storage, we got an oops we don't know what happened, then oops we're sorry, then oops were trying to fix it and delay and defer until people got frustrated and left, in the end got ABSOLUTELY NO RESOLUTION WHATEVER even today, the effing Home Page is STILL the SAME effing page when Shad sold it. That's how messed up the techmonkeys have left the site. They can't even be bothered to update a YEARS old page. Yes I am still frustrated and angered by VSs apathy, you can keep whistling and telling yourself all is well, just remember, the passengers on the Titanic were absolutely positive the ship couldn't sink as well. Nobody is down below patching the holes and the VS techmonkeys are too busy counting advertising revinue to pay any attention to the situation. Good luck with it.


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## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

Like Vic says, if and when you feel like it, c'mon over to LSC. Vic and I bailed at about the same time, and I believe are far better served. You'll eventually feel just as at home as you do here. And, it's a well-run and maintained site, owned and constantly monitored by one in our hobby (Bob).


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## Dick413 (Jan 7, 2008)

Thanks Dwight you have been a good friend and a great asset to this website
Richard


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

Looks like he's already gone . . . if you get this, thanks, and see you around, Dwight.


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## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

Dwight, I will be sorry to see you go. You have been a great asset to this site and will be sorely missed. I still have my MLS steamers shirt and wear it to all steam-ups. You have been a great friend though I have not had the fortune of meeting you in person. MLS is what really got me focused and all the helpful members are what kept me going. David Fletcher was a godsend when I decided to build a live steam Mason Bogie. Dave Hottmann was supper at instructing how to make things work. There are so many others that I miss and want to thank. 
I plan to be at the garden RR and narrow gage conventions next tear and hope our paths cross.


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## Gary Woolard (Jan 2, 2008)

Wow, I don't know what to say... like many others, I pretty much stopped major posting after the photo fiasco, and became a lurker..

But Dwight LEAVING??? It sets the world spinning!

Yes, I remember the booths we set up at the QM, supporting the live steam track and the first appearance of the Door Hollow Shortline, Dave Fletcher's visit from Australia and introducing him to root beer; Chris Wala's figure class, and the fantastic castle he built at the Fairplex, with a LOT of help from volunteers like Yolanda & Steve.. I grin every time I remember the Asian Buddhists (never did figure out exactly where they were from), with shaved heads and crimson robes, who stopped by our impromptu pizza party on the QM parking lot -- they laughed and pointed with astonishment at Bob Starr's live steam track..

We were all friends, and it felt like family. And now... well, things change, whether we want them to or not.

I AM grateful for everything I've learned here, and the friends I've made. And Dwight, you were always at the core of keeping it running. I'm proud to count you as a personal friend. Maybe we'll meet again at the NSS?

And a request, for Dwight or SOMEBODY -- will someone for God's sake PLEASE be sure to archive all the articles that were posted here -- not just the Dave Fletcher builds, but all the rest of them as well? So when the lights go out and the cobwebs settle in....

thanks,


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Wow I have not been here much latley and to hear of Dwight leaving is a total shocker. You did a lot here over the years and the steam aholic you started was fantastic. Yep guess I'll be moving on to LSC as I wondered what was going on here. Hope to come across some post of yours on LSC. Later RJD


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## Doug C (Jan 14, 2008)

Thanks Dwight for all the time you spent on this site, trying to keep things on the rails !

See ya 'round . . . . there are at least 4 other g-gauge websites out there of various interests for individuals. 

doug c


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## David Fletcher (Jan 2, 2008)

It surely is the end of an era, Dwight was the central figure to this site, especially when Shad couldn't always be there. 
Gary Woolard, I do believe the 2003 Queenmary show may have been at the height of MLS, we had visitors from the UK that year as well. I fondly remember that visit to the US and certainly meeting you, although I completely messed up my hand shake with you!, but man those Root Beers were GREAT! I drank them all and LOVED them, its a very strong memory. After the QM show, we drove north to the red woods and to The Sugar Pine RR, at the south edge of Yosemite. There in a log cabin I drank them, and rode the shay (no10) down the hill to a big evening camp fire and sing along! Next morning, I bumped into Charlie Cheng and Cliff Luscher measuring and photographing Shay 15. The model came out some years later, but Charlie never lived to see it. That was when MLS was great. I did 5 Masterclasses in the end, you were always an enthusiastic supporter mate, , and then I kept drafting and developing models with Accucraft. All the Mason Bogie drawings from the MLS class went into the development of the Accucraft Mason. Great times. Thanks for the Memories Gary and thanks so much Dwight. remember also for the Mason class in 2002 we used something new called a 'PDF' to try and get downloadable scale cad drawings to work? Using Frontpage and other early net stuff. Wow we pushed it hard, but what models came out of it all, superb stuff.


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

I wonder how long the hobby will linger on. Fewer things to buy and some places are closing down. We are all aging, a few younger do join, but not enough. If there are any items you want you better buy them now, may be gone tomorrow.


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

There's another nonsense post reviving an old post about composite decking ...
I wonder if admin is reshuffling content ... look how much 'activity' this steam meet gathered.


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## kormsen (Oct 27, 2009)

Jerry Barnes said:


> I wonder how long the hobby will linger on. Fewer things to buy and some places are closing down. We are all aging, a few younger do join, but not enough. If there are any items you want you better buy them now, may be gone tomorrow.


just imagine, what will happen with the anounced trade war. how many modeling companies will be cut off from their own products?

but no problem for the few new largescalers, if companies close.
they just have to buy, what our widows will offer...


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

Fewer active moderators means a longer response time when we get mod alerts about spam. The offending spammers have been dealt with. We used to have active moderators pretty much around the clock due to where we lived. Now, not so much. 

No doubt the site has its difficulties, but in the end, the site is what _we_ make it. We can choose to be active and post updates on the projects we're working on, or we can let it wither on the vine. I can still post photos; I just upload them as I write the post instead of using the FTP interface and linking to them. I can still reply with "That looks great" or "How did you do that?" to others' posts just as easily as at any time in this forum's history. That we choose not to is not the forum owner's or software's fault. The simple reality is that activity--especially in terms of modeling and discussions about that modeling--had been in decline before Shad sold the site. 

Am I bummed to see the decline in activity on this forum over the past 10 years? Sure. Has that stopped me from posting? Nope. Maybe I'll be the last man standing. Who knows. But I'm not giving up the ship just because the owners aren't as attentive as what we had become accustomed to with Shad at the helm. This is the hand we're left to play, and I've still got skin in the game. 

Later,

K


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## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

My latest project, the Mexican Train in 4 parts, has had thousands of looks. I wouldn't exactly call that "dead". Thanks everybody.


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## VictorSpear (Oct 19, 2011)

In America, we have alternatives. Why not simply start another site? Then things dramatically improve ...Visited a McDonald's lately?


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## lotsasteam (Jan 3, 2008)

Nope,eating real food !!!


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

VictorSpear said:


> ...Why not simply start another site?


Time, maintenance, expense... (just to name a few.)  

Sure, this site has developed a lot of warts since it was sold (some were already there before the sale), but it's far less hassle to deal with the minor bumps on a forum as a visitor than it is to run a site yourself. We've had some pretty vociferous critics come through this site over the years--each with the means and technical know-how to launch a site of their own. I know of only one who did, and that site never gained any kind of traction. (I can't even remember what it was called--it was a number of years ago.) 

The grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence, but if it is, it's because it takes a whole lot more work to keep it that way. 

Later,

K


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