Hi All,

Interesting times indeed !!

Regards Ray

Hi Colin,

It looks like the ME forum is live and kicking 🙂 compared to the MB’s one, I think this is because model engineering involves a very comprehensive workshop and serious investment ££££. I’m glad I have a foot in both camps 🙂 and fly RC aeroplanes 🙂

Regards Ray

And its not just the financial requirements for the forum subscription but the time and resources of an IT nature to simply look after the forum and protect it from various undesirable sources.  Again from the perspective of the owning organisation that is a resource that can be more productively employed elsewhere.

I must admit I was surprised at how naïve some of the comments were on the ME forum when I read it earlier. Some of the members there really seem to think they have a right to the forum without really understanding the basics of what they require to run.

I think forums in general have had their day as more and more turn to the various forms of anti-social media.  I agree with Colin’s comments that they don’t provide the archive that we value in a forum but we are a dying breed and the younger generations are a very much more disposable society.

Ray, having read your comment on ME you need to try your tablet and phone again as I mentioned on another thread.

Chris

Strange, my Android tablet works fine now?

If it wasn’t for forums I doubt I would be building models boats now. This one and Mayhem were my main sources of gaining knowledge on how to build, techniques and RC equipment etc.and the interaction with members was and still is invaluable and maintains enthusiasm.

When you do a Google search many times posts are thrown up from these two forums and others with posts going back years. There’s some things I’ve found out and have done over the last couple of days I wouldn’t have known about otherwise.

I frequent a number of different Facebook groups for my various hobbies and interests but as already said they are a completely different animal and not suited to build blogs and research. And the other trouble is there are too many of them! They are so easy to set up that that the interest is watered down. Take model boats for instance. You have Mayhem FB which covers a quite broad church but then you have other groups for every sub-set you can think of which makes the whole thing disjointed and lessens cross-over between those interested in different aspects of the hobby. On forums I quite often read posts with regards to models that aren’t my particular area of interest. Some of these FB groups have very few members.

I do post the odd bit about my builds but they rarely attract much meaningful interaction apart from where did you get the plans and are soon gobbled up by other posts never to be seen again!

It’s interesting that Kelsey Media publish Ships Monthly.  It’s the only nautical magazine stocked at my local Sainsburys and can be hard to find amongst all the magazines about model railways.  Perhaps we just might see MB and ME on newsagents shelves again.

Len.

Yes, I’ve had similar experiences with vehicles. Part of my mothers estate was a 1927 Austin 7 Chummy which I used to drive in the 1970s which despite being 98 years old wasn’t worth that much. Also my 1962 Lambretta TV 175 which were going for significant sums only a few years ago have dropped in value. Trouble is they have now reached an age where potential buyers have drastically reduced and younger enthusiasts are looking at classics that were everyday cars when we were young!

Hi All,

Yes the bottom has fallen out of the vintage car market and older Dinky toys !!

But if you have an Escort Mk 1 , Cortina or Granada they are really sort after and go for big money, as nostalgia is now becoming quite modern 🙂

My first car being a Bond Bug now go for circa £10k

Regards Ray

Brilliant!

Hi All,

My suggestion of a WhatApp group was to keep in touch with the dozen or so forum friends I’ve made over the last 10 years on here. The facebook groups I belong too are world wide and are quite interesting I find.

I think the forum has had it’s day in reality which is sad, that some of the old hands ie Lifeboat Neil only use Facebook these days.

Regards Ray

As regards a WhatsApp group I suppose it needs to be done sooner rather than later as we probably won’t get much notice if, as is likely, the plug gets pulled.