Nothing is "free". Someone is paying for the infrastructure to support any website, be it through subscriptions, selling products and/or advertising, benign benevolence or outright begging. The Trainorders site is able to host high quality video without all the mumbo jumbo on "free" hosting sites.

I subscribe to Trainorders for the nostalgia boards and videos. Also the many "colorful" railroad characters that frequent the place. Some may think the owner/moderator is a little heavy handed at times but its HIS PLACE and he can do WHATEVER he wants with it, just as Mr. Curlee can do WHATEVER he wants with this place. We're just guests here.

The trick is attracting the right clientele to a site - and keeping out the riff raff. This not an easy task. This place is pretty good - I like RYPN too. Other sites are too full of goof balls and there's not much a moderator can do except edit, edit, edit and block, block, block. Then if there's anyone left that wants to say anything you might have something.

For sheer entertainment factor Trainorders is worth the $35/year many times over. Even the stupid crap that goes on is entertaining - watching some folks make absolute fools of themselves. Just ignore the stuff that irritates you.

Me, with my position in a related industry I remain mostly an anonymous lurker. But it is fun to watch.

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