Oliver Spencer Wrote:
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> I just don't
> understand why all the trash talk about TO.
I once felt the same way that you did. However, all it takes is one nasty encounter with the webmaster and you will feel differently. I have made many friends via TO, but I no longer wish to put up with the crap over there (since it is a PAID site....let's not forget that). I can cite example after example of things that have happened, where I have been privy to both sides of the story, and I can tell you that if you get on the webmaster's s*it list, you will be singing a different tune.
I can tell you of one thing that happened to me. I posted a thread on the passenger board last year about a really cool video on YouTube that took place in the Antwerp train station. If you want to see the video I'm referring to, here it is:
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www.youtube.com]
This particular video has almost 15 million hits, which shows its popularity. When I attempted to post my thread about this neat video, an auto-generated message appeared on my screen that I had not seen before. I don't recall the exact wording of the message, but it basically said that I was posting a bad link. Since I could not post that specific link in my message, I just told folks to go to YouTube and put in the search box, "Antwerp Train Station" and they can view the video that way. Innocent enough, right? Wrong! My account was suspended immediately, and I received an email from the webmaster saying that I was "stupid" and that I was "thumbing my nose" at him. I read his message, and I was thinking "WTF is his problem???". Up until that point, I had heard NUMEROUS similar stories from others about being treated like crap from him, but since it had never happened to me, I really didn't make much of it. But now that I had experienced it personally, I now knew that the stories I had heard were indeed true.
Additionally, if you EVER post ANYTHING that is ever-so-slightly negative about what the webmaster does as it relates to safety around the rails, you will be called names (as I was) and immediately kicked off the website (as I was). I won't go into specifics, but something happened that I knew was downright unsafe, and I made a comment as such. My comment was immediately removed, and I received a nasty email from him once again telling me that I "needed psychological counseling". I did not dip down to his level of name calling, and instead told him how unsafe his actions were and that people could mimic him and get themselves or others killed in the process.
So to answer your question as to why so many people bash Trainorders, there is very good reason to do so. I am only citing two examples that personally happened with me, however, I have a longgggg list of things that have happened with others as well. And that is just not right.