Goldminer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Smitty195,
> The moderator of this site posted he was going to
> delete this morning's discussion postings after an
> hour because it wasn't an appropriate discussion
> for this board. If one has a beef with other
> railroad discussion websites or people, one must
> resist the temptation to rant or find another
> place to rant to keep things civil on this site.
> Peace, Goldminer

I would agree with your assessment, if the censorship was applied evenly, consistently and objectively. But it's not. Post anything negative about Mr. Clark or his web site here, and you'll see your post deleted. Yet other derogatory, inflammatory or just outright false posts get a free pass. The same mentality exists over on the "other" site. It's similar to a cult mentality, where if you don't agree with the prophet you're not welcome.

As I understand it, this site's original purpose was as an advertising tool for the railbuff timetables published by Altamont Press. Apparently that's become less of a factor as the associated retail sales have petered out. But the site's still here, notwithstanding occasional threats to shut it down completely - even though there have been very public offers to purchase it.

In the case of Thursday morning's deleted thread, the original poster asked if anyone had had similar experiences to him with TO's, to which several people responded. From what I saw, no one posted anything threatening, slanderous or malicious, any or all of which would certainly merit the removal of the post(s). If Mr. Curlee is truly concerned that some readers might think everything that's posted here represents the views of AP or him personally, it seems to me he merely needs to place a disclaimer at the top of the page.

And the "It's his web site, so he can run it as he wants" response doesn't cut it, either. It's not a personal blog. Rather, it's a public bulletin board-type web site that only exists because the public posts on it.

Guess we'll see how long this thread lasts . . .