Sorry Jerry......I think I may have been wedged into a corner. At least it feels like I was!! Anyway.....Another Atlas refugee from Denver checking in. Usually checked into Atlas and read most of the threads of interest. Maybe sending a reply to a couple. Surprised though, to see the Forum down so soon, and for so long. Ah well.........Guess I'll be spending more time here then. At least a thread started here is still on Page on even after a couple of days, or more! And not buried on page 4 after a day. Now then.......As for the BBQ mentioned: When/Where and What to bring are all I need to know!!! Cause I'm in! If everyone is serious about it, what about aiming for July 4, for a get together?? A thought anyway.......
I'll do that, but... Since Atlas hasn't officially killed their Forum, I think it appropriate to wait until August to see what truly does pan out. I think with the two month break, if this forum works out, that the Atlas forum will never recover. But to invite them now, if they plan to reopen, might be seen as a "slap in the face".
Hello, Skip checking in. I had to change my screen name, but I'm still Skip. I sure hope we can continue the SNFF. I think it was the best thing going on any forum.
Another Atlas forum refugee checking in. Formally patmondor on the Atlas forum....still the same guy, but using a profile name that reflects my layout's focus. Excited to be here...looking forward to great modeling discussion. Patrick M.
I see no reason why it couldn't be continued....I enjoyed seeing it as well. If you folks would be kind enough to explain to the Trainboarders who don't frequent Atlas how this SNFF works, I'm sure we could accomodate you.
The Atlas Forum closing is obviously one of choice, and not driven by a software upgrade. Their Forum is hosted by Advanced Networks ( http://advanced-networks.com/ ) and the other forums hosted there continue to function. Therefore, a server upgrade is not (currently) the cause for the downtime.
Perhaps they are changing hosts..........The systems administrator is the same one that sponsored Railroad-Line and shut it down in the same manner several times. If they were changing hosts there might be some contractual obligation preventing a startup before August. An explanation would be the polite thing, though.
Although this year it seemed more sudden and was without much warning, Atlas typically takes a break for a couple of weeks in the summer. So, giving it the benefit of the doubt, I'm going to suggest that all may be OK after all. If you throw a system upgrade and/or redesign in with a regularly-scheduled 2 or 3 week break, August might be a realistic, conservative estimate. Russ
Am I the only one that sees the irony in the username one gets when you try to log into the Atlas N Scale forum directly?? Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][SQL Server]Login failed for user 'ohjoy'. /inc_top.asp, line 75 Looks like someone at Atlas wanted to rub a little salt in the wound, eh??
I, and I'm sure thousands of others just received email from Paul G. at Atlas explaining the reason for the outage. This email would have served better if it was sent a week ago, at it seems to me, at least from the email, that it was known about before hand. It says. QUOTE Welcome to the Atlas E-News Flash! Atlas Forum Temporary Shutdown As we have noted on our web site, the Atlas Forum has been temporarily closed for upgrades to the Atlas Forum software and maintenance to the servers. At the same time, Atlas will also be carrying out a major upgrade to our internal business software, requiring the detailed attention and training of Atlas staff. In addition, the extremely busy schedule of the NMRA convention, preparation of new catalogs and other publications, overseas business travel, normal day -to-day product preparation and the staff summer vacation schedule, necessitated this temporary condition on our popular Atlas Forum. We thank you for your continued support and look forward to seeing and hearing from you on the new Atlas Forum sometime this August. Best regards, Paul Graf Atlas Model Railroad Company Atlas O, LLC UNQUOTE
Yes, thank you. And, yes, Atlas would have served its "constituents" better had they offered this in advance. The Atlas Forum was, for many, and address book for contacting others. Now it is not available! You lose users when you shut down for that long. Other than any direct upgrades to the Forum, they should have at least "tried" to delegate some moderator-authority to some member of the Forum that has demonstrated a cool, calm, and collective demeanor. My opinion.
Well, that's a little bit more believable. I got my copy. At least Paul's still signing his own mail, and that's good news to me! But yeah, this does impress one with the 'could have been announced via the forum' as the Christmas shutdown was.... I'll give 'em the benefit of the doubt..... at least until somebody digs up something better!
I got the same E mail. Still it just does not seem like Atlas to shut it all down with no advance notice. Only time that was done in the past was when someone went way off the deep end. I don't recall that occurring this time. Maybe someone forgot to post the notice of the shutdown? We shall see. Anyway nothing like a good mystery to tide us over the summer until the shays arrive.
And if you believed that e-mail, please check out my auction on E-bay of a great bridge linking Manhattan and Brooklyn!
I am going to take Paul at his word, and I see no reason for the rest of us not to. Until something more solid is uncovered or unvailed, I think Paul has been (any differences I have with his policies aside) a VERY stand up guy in terms of NOT BS'ing with us, the forum-ites over there. The lack of pre-announcement could be nothing more than a error on someones part, a sudden change in something Atlas internal we will never know about (System crash anyone, LOL!) or some other equally routine but unpleasant business event (as routine as big unpleasant business events can be). So if he says that they got lots going on, fine. I'll see them in August on the new forum. Till then......
If you look at the posts in this forum over the past 30 days, you can see that since the closure of the Atlas Forum last week that traffic here has increase... hold on... carry the five... well, uh... gone way up!!! I bet the mods here are hoping Atlas never reopens!
And on that note....whether Atlas ever opens back up again or not....I'd like to extend yet ANOTHER warm welcome to all of you Atlas forumites. Stick around for a while and enjoy yourself. I think you'll like it. I hang my hat here for good reason....and it's certainly not because of the huge Christmas bonus they give us for moderating.
I think the Atlas shutdown is for the best, and my hope would be that it would be permanent. anytime you are so dependent on a vendor it makes it impossible to have an unbiased discussion. these forums SHOULD be used to have unrestricted comments on products from vendors. I agree with Atlas that this would give them a problem. however, even further, I think the comments about Atlas products on the Atlas forum are too mild - the new Mogul for example is a PIECE of Junk when compared to the MDC for example. no trucks on the tender, and the minimum speed is probably faster than that loco usually ran in the prototype. the latest steam offerings from MDC, Bachmann and (yes) Model Power are FAR superior. never heard anything like that raised on the Atlas forum. let's hang out here, and show Atlas that the forum is no longer necessary OR desireable. Michael
