Becoming an “old Fart”, I have let the technology advancements of Facebook be left to the younger crowd. However, our Gateway Garden Railroad Club has started a “Facebook account”. So now I’m trying to weigh the advantages of Facebook to the advantages of LSC. Can those that know have a short discusion here of the pros and cons? Right now, I can not see an advantage of “Facebook” over “LSC” and they seem to be pretty much the same if you take advantage of the “Freight Shed”, “Article”, “Chat” and, of course, the “Forums” portion of this site.
Ric Golding said:I view Facebook as complimentary. It is not either LSC or Facebook. Facebook has the potential to offer a MUCH-larger target audience. How many people who are interested or participate in model railroad activities of ANY scale have ever heard of LSC or any of the other similar forums as opposed to Facebook? Do you WANT more participation, especially among younger persons ? You better start with Facebook, then. If you look at the membership--at least those who actively participate in LSC and the similar forums, you cannot help but notice a near-complete absence of younger people. Aside from the obvious appeal of this hobby to people who are near the retirement age, it is also true that younger people are not going to be particularly interested in participating in what appear to be old men groups. BUT practically everyone who is younger, which by definition is the computer-savy group, participates in Facebook. So do I. That's where the numbers exist that we do not have here in LSC or the other LS forums.
Becoming an "old Fart", I have let the technology advancements of Facebook be left to the younger crowd. However, our Gateway Garden Railroad Club has started a "Facebook account". So now I'm trying to weigh the advantages of Facebook to the advantages of LSC. Can those that know have a short discusion here of the pros and cons? Right now, I can not see an advantage of "Facebook" over "LSC" and they seem to be pretty much the same if you take advantage of the "Freight Shed", "Article", "Chat" and, of course, the "Forums" portion of this site.
I never really understood the whole point of Facebook. Keeping a tally of “friends”, most of whom are strangers?? Seems kind of “junior high” to me.
Ray Dunakin said:Not unlike "playing with trains?"
I never really understood the whole point of Facebook. Keeping a tally of "friends", most of whom are strangers?? Seems kind of "junior high" to me.
For a hobby group I think its a good idea, much wider range of potential viewers. Personally, the few people I know who are using it have done so mostly to reconnect with freinds from way back that they lost touch with, as for me, I am considering Facebook but mostly to connect with far flung family members. I’ve gotten “freinds” requests from a few old contacts, but I have been reluctant to “follow the herd” so to speak, I really dont know what the point would be other that socializing and I understand ID theft can be a problem if your too open.
I’ve been on Facebook for about a year. It’s a good way to connect with long lost friends and keep tabs on your younger family members. Most of the people my age I have friended on Facebook rarely post. My older son posts 2-3 times a day and some of his stuff is quite humorous.
It’s a totally different venue. Not at all like a forum and in my view could never replace LSC or my other hobby specific forums.
Personally, I don’t care how many Facebook friends I make. I still refuse requests from High School weirdos 
EDIT: So far none of my LSC friends have been found on Facebook, but I haven’t looked either.
I have an account on Facebook but if I ever find any garden railroaders I would try to get them to join LSC if I did! I’m on there every couple weeks compared to being on here a number of times a day.
Not to offend Facebook but it’s just a different crowd.
So if somebody wanted to find out information about “Large Scale Trains”, I would think a Google search of the topic would show this site along with others. Would it show anything from “Facebook” ? Is there something on “Facebook” related to this hobby and would direct you to people with the same interest? From what I understand it is a way to connect with friends and family. My daughter has become a “Facebook Junky” and hardly post emails anymore. We don’t talk as much as we did when she emailed me. Her mother and her share pictures and, I think, conversations that people we don’t even know read. Don’t really care for that. You could say nice pictures, but you wouldn’t say we are going to be out of town for the next 3 weeks.
How far off am I?
I remain faceless 
Okay, I did a Google search of “Large Scale Trains” and the first thing up was “G Scale Trains on Ebay” (I personally really dislike the term “G Scale”) and the second selection was LSC, then it went on to many site including George’s site. Never saw “Facebook” anywhere on the short first 10 or 20 sites I perused.
I signed up with Facebook a few months ago. I did send a note to some old high school buddies but that’s about it except for one funny thing - I am now friends with five other "Brian Donovan"s.
-Brian
Ric Golding said:
So if somebody wanted to find out information about "Large Scale Trains", I would think a Google search of the topic would show this site along with others. Would it show anything from "Facebook" ? Is there something on "Facebook" related to this hobby and would direct you to people with the same interest? From what I understand it is a way to connect with friends and family. My daughter has become a "Facebook Junky" and hardly post emails anymore. We don't talk as much as we did when she emailed me. Her mother and her share pictures and, I think, conversations that people we don't even know read. Don't really care for that. You could say nice pictures, but you wouldn't say we are going to be out of town for the next 3 weeks.How far off am I?
It’s another potential contact that will enable others to find this hobby through other means. That is all. While relatively few will ever become serious LS hobbyists, Facebook offers a means to introduce aspects of this hobby and other railroad-related interests to others. Similarly, almost none of my visitors will enter the LS hobby, but many of them are fascinated with what I have done. Some of them find other ways to contribute to my efforts, such as by donating a piece of historic RR-related paraphernalia or by volunteering a piece of useful historic (perhaps genealogical) information. In any case, Facebook introduces the interest to others. And the numbers are with Facebook, hands down, NOT with any of the LS sites. Also, this has to be viewed as a LONG-term means of spreading the word. These things definitely take time.
Brian and Others,
I don’t have anything against “Facebook”, I’m just trying to understand it. I’m happy that all of you have found old friends and family, but going back to my original question, is “Facebook” a competition to LSC or even a parrallel medium of info? I didn’t think it was and, I guess, I’m not convinced it is. Just trying to learn.
Ric Golding said:
So if somebody wanted to find out information about "Large Scale Trains", I would think a Google search of the topic would show this site along with others. Would it show anything from "Facebook" ? Is there something on "Facebook" related to this hobby and would direct you to people with the same interest? From what I understand it is a way to connect with friends and family. My daughter has become a "Facebook Junky" and hardly post emails anymore. We don't talk as much as we did when she emailed me. Her mother and her share pictures and, I think, conversations that people we don't even know read. Don't really care for that. You could say nice pictures, but you wouldn't say we are going to be out of town for the next 3 weeks.How far off am I?
Ric,
speaking from the still under 40 crowd(tee hee hee) …I personally have no facebook account and kinda agree with Vic. As for checking in on your kids as Jon does…they have to invite you to be their friend first and second of all if they really want to be sneaky they know the ole’ man is watching facebook.(not saying Jons boys are sneaky as I don’t know them).
Personally I feel its a waste and more for women to chatter like a freakin hen house when they should be cleaning the house they live in and the computer screen they are watching or they keyboard they are typing on while the rooster is out earning their stay.
My wife argue’s and states that I chatter on a train board and moderate on a car repair board however my argument back is while I am involved in these boards I usually learn something educational or educate someone everyday I log in. Honey can you tell me anything educational you learned from facebook today other than Barney is sleeping with Wilma and Fred got Dino pregnant?
I dont’ see how this could be beneficial for the LS community.
Waste of time IMO
Based on this discussion…I decided to give it a try. Pretty easy to set up. Found a few of you folks already on it - mostly because they were in my email address book. Also found a bunch of folks I used to work with, went to school with, and who knows what else.
There apparently is the ability to join a group, and I’m sure that there’s lots more folks on facebook then there are on LSC or any of the other specific forums. But, if I’m a newbie, I’m not sure this would help.
Doing a Google search on “Large Scale Trains” generates about 5 million hits; “Garden Railroads” about 4 million; “outdoor railroads” almost 6 million.
I’m not sure how I’d find people interested in this stuff on facebook; but - I am rather new at it.
I think the advantage of a dedicated forum is that it’s a dedicated forum. Sure, with facebook, I can write on my friends page, and IF other people have the same friend, then they MIGHT see that comment; or they might not. There’s no categorization here; or the ability to see what’s new - there’s no CENTRAL place to get the info you need.
Sort of nice, but it’s totally different.
I monitor about 4 sites on different subjects (here, a bike site, a boat site and a marina site) when I have the time. If I don’t have the time, they don’t get looked at.
Ric Golding said:I guess I should have taken a closer look at your original statement to try to understand what you are really asking. It is not all that clear here what you want. If you are ONLY pursuing train-related interests on-line or the sub-category of model railroading, or the sub-sub category of large-scale model railroading, it would probably be pointless for you to create a personal Facebook account.
Becoming an "old Fart", I have let the technology advancements of Facebook be left to the younger crowd. However, our Gateway Garden Railroad Club has started a "Facebook account". So now I'm trying to weigh the advantages of Facebook to the advantages of LSC. Can those that know have a short discusion here of the pros and cons? Right now, I can not see an advantage of "Facebook" over "LSC" and they seem to be pretty much the same if you take advantage of the "Freight Shed", "Article", "Chat" and, of course, the "Forums" portion of this site.
One good thing about Facebook is you have a place to post your pictures of Andy doing keg stands and later passed out in his loin cloth at that college toga party?
David Russell said:See, that's the perfect example. I ALREADY POSTED THEM IN MY FREIGHT SHED HERE. ;-) But you've got to search way back in my Shed. They come up every once in a while on the front page, but you've got to keep looking. ;-)
One good thing about Facebook is you have a place to post your pictures of Andy doing keg stands and later passed out in his loin cloth at that college toga party?
Ric,
My perfect example is “google” “David Russell Volvo mechanic” and see what pops up. I’m not their by choice and glad for the reviews but don’t like to share personal info. I use a screen name on the car boards because of such and would prefer that most info stay private and I watch what my wife posts. I feel safe here as it’s all about what info the server wants to allow by how many hits they get from they way I understand it.
Try this Ric and perhaps you may think again about Facebook.
http://search.comcast.net/?cat=web&con=homepage&form_submit=1&q=Ric+Golding+marina&top_SearchSubmit=