Large Scale Central

To facebook or not to facebook...

General Discussion
#1

I’m begging anyone who responds to make civil comments and respect different opinions. I don’t want Bob to have to lock this down.

Background:

I was set up at my work on “the new Facebook thing” several years ago because the gal working for me told me social media was the way to go for growing your business. I don’t believe it. My business works on word of mouth; also, artwork does not sell well on Facebook or Ebay type places. So I have not been on Facebook once, not once, in all those years.

Basically I can’t stand social media of any kind and I have a flip phone in my pocket and a telephone with a rotary dial at home. However, I was pretty much forced into Facebook to find a Saint Bernard puppy for our family, and it worked.

Here’s the thing:

Facebook somehow “knew” I’m a model railroader and g-scale at that. So I followed my nose, and, sure enough, there are some incredibly skilled modellers on Facebook who don’t seem be anywhere else. As tempting as the vast scope and skill of modellers on Facebook appears to be, I feel like I’m on the edge of a gigantic black hole and the last thing on earth I need is another time-drain. Facebook feels like it has the potential to be a computer addiction!

I’m happy here on LSC and I electronically love you guys. Is Facebook inevitable for us modellers?, and has anyone used it in moderation?

edit: to correct the capitalization for Facebook. It’s a proper noun and the convention is to capitalize. Sorry about that. Can’t change the title unless Bob thinks it appropriate and wants to quietly do that for me.

#2

John Passaro said:

I’m begging anyone who responds to make civil comments and respect different opinions. I don’t want Bob to have to lock this down.

I’ll be keeping an eye on this thread. Anyone that comes in with a “Bookface is stupid” kind of comments is getting banned out of hand. John is asking for a polite and civil conversation here.

#3

John,

I do not think I have seen a group of links to Facebook G Scale folks pages. like you I am still resisting the urge but do occasionally view only looks. if such list has been posted some where it would be good to know.

If this is truly where the action is I will eventually join. in the FN3 minority.

AL P.

#4

Facebook can be a tremendous time drain, but it can also be a great resource. I find most of my activity on Facebook centers around the various modeling groups I belong to, especially the On30 stuff, for which there seem to be few (any?) dedicated online forums like LSC and MLS for large scale. I don’t know that I’d describe it as “inevitable,” but it’s certainly a tool which has a lot of potential. The thing with Facebook is that it’s very “here and now.” If I post something I’m working on this week to a group, it’s largely going to be gone and forgotten next week. I think to use Facebook as a tool for long-term projects, you’d be well served to start a facebook page for your railroad itself, so you can chronicle things there then share them to the various groups as events warrant. This way folks can see what you’re doing “now” in their daily news feed, and then click on the page you’ve built to see other resources from past posts. (I’ve done this for my On30 stuff.)

Later,

K

#5

John-

You and I are in different tech demographics. I am an early-adopter, use a smartphone, check email multiple times an hour, etc. I am a heavy Facebook user, and find it valuable. I haven’t been very active in any of the G scale groups, but am active in several railfan and rail history groups. For realtime railfanning (reporting movements, etc.), there’s no substitute. I have caught a lot of interesting moves thanks to realtime reporting from other railfans. I have a lot of great friends in the real world railfan (and amateur radio) community who I met through Facebook.

Facebook is undoubtedly changing the way that people interact with each other - particularly young people who have never been without it - but it does have uses for grownups as well.

Eric

#6

in my opinion Facebook is just another nail in the coffin… of my avayable time.

i don’t even read all the interesting railroad- or modeling foras frequently, because that eats time i could better use to actually DO something.

as far as i’m informed, facebook has two main flaws: actual information seems to be mixed with too much background noise, and no orderly memory.

so - nothing for me.

#7

I’m not a big Facebooker, but in addition to the G Scale Swap and Shop and LGB Sales and Trades Facebook pages, I check out this one almost every day:

https://www.facebook.com/USATGScaleGroup/

#8

I have my Facebook setup purely for special interests like trains.

To avoid the political garbage, I unfollowed everyone I personally know or that I am related. I have never regreted it for one second.

#9

Turns out I’m Smart Phone Challenged, one mountain at a time!(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

#10

I seldom go to Facebook to look at something and don’t use it. Maybe one thing to consider is more material for the unscrupulous to harvest for identity theft given revelations borne from the Edward Snowden / NSA controversy - not that that was about Facebook.

-Ted

#11

I avoided it, then I went on for family… now I’m on 2 G scale pages, 2 micro layouts pages, an HOn30 page and several collector car and specialty car pages. Sorry but as long as you avoid the political stuff, it DOES have its draws, but you do need to focus on your interests and nothing else (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-embarassed.gif)

#12

I ended up on Facebook by accident - a few years ago, my lovely young daughter sent me a photo. Accessing said photo meant jumping through multiple signup screens. At the end of the process, the computer told me I now had a Facebook account and that photo was my profile pic.

I use it mostly for news and keeping tabs on the younger extended family members. As an experiment, I did transfer a few pics of the layout to Facebook.

#13

I am old school. I was drug, kicking and screaming to the internet. I knew I would loose a lot of time as soon as I got onto the information superhighway. But Panasonic required its techs to have an email address, so that we could get the nearly daily firmware updates. So I ended up on AOL dial up, just for email. Then I stated sliding down that slope, and now I spend hours every night online for one reason or another. I would get more done, if I onlined less. So, being old school, I avoid Facebook, simply because I don’t want to spend all of my free time online. I like to actually do things once in a while.

That said. I can see where any form of communication can be an asset, or a liability, depending on how its used. So if its an asset to you, go ahead and use it. If it becomes a liability, then turn it off. But I just have no desire to see what is over on that side of the fence. I don’t need to loose anymore time every night.

My post isn’t political, nor am I making disparaging comments about Facebook users. I am simply stating my (myopic) opinion. TY

#14

As others have said, FB can be a time sink. I find myself “wasting” time of FB, but I also follow a lot of railroad related groups so its a little bit of research too.

I like the focus on speciality groups. For example; there’s a Burlington Northern prototype page. Only stuff related to the BN is posted. Since I model the BN its a great resource to share information.

Here’s a list of some of the groups I follow and find helpful to my modeling; Burlington Northern modelers, Burlington Northern (3 different groups with varied postings), Modelers Guild (high end modeling), 1970’s Railroad modelers, Railroad Roof top madness (tons of photos), G sale swap and shop, G scale modelers, PNW RPM, PNW railroad modelers, etc…

So you can see how I find this useful. For example, I’ve already seen more photos of a specific type of boxcar on the 1970’s page that I’ve been able to find through a Google search.

#15

I have always been of the opinion that Facebook is a “right now” means of communication. (As in, here is the snow I plowed today) Forums such as LSC are long term means. (As in, here is the structure I spent a year building). Now I know people will argue you can track long term projects on FB, but it is not nearly as efficient as doing it on a Forum. I would actually encourage you to use both. You will be surprised how many people you see here, are also on FB.

Here are the groups I belong to: (there are plenty more)

GScale.Net

G Scale Swap and Shop <------- UBER SUPER STUPENDOUS GROUP TO JOIN!!!

1:20.3 Fine Scale Garden Railway

Chris

#16

I still say No thanks to signing to Facebook, since I still frequent likely 7 G-gauge web-forums and have 2.5 email accounts. Quite enough time spent on those !

Occasionally there is a moment/mention to chk a particular facebook acc’t, and find that quite often can view important info w/o being a official face’ member !

doug c

#17

I began using Facebook to communicate with my younger son when he went away to college. For many years I kept my friends list to family and close friends. I expanded that a bit to include train folks I had met personally and have recently expanded that to train folks I’ve known long term on the net. I only use it from home as it is a time trap that will suck you in. I am a member of a few train related groups and wading through those group posts in my feed is where the time goes. I also have a page for my railroad that I update once in a great while.

Like you; I have a flip phone, but now have two tablets - one that stays at work and one at home. It is easier to type on the tablet into FB Messenger (a PM application) then to text from the 10 button keypad. If you don’t have it on a phone it’s easier to control when you use it.

Regarding the political stuff I agree. I have unfollowed a few close friends and a few family members due to out of control political rants. That is a nice feature. You can keep them as friends, but don’t have to see any of their stuff. If you really want to see their stuff you can go to their page.

P.S. As one of the top posters here on LSC; I obviously have a problem with net usage in general; so my opinion is worth exactly what you paid for it.

#18

Jon Radder said:

P.S. As one of the top posters here on LSC; I obviously have a problem with net usage in general; so my opinion is worth exactly what you paid for it.

You ARE the top poster!

#19

I am not a fan of Facebook - have had 3 different accounts since 2008 and each one has been locked and closed by Facebook itself for seemingly legit, yet somehow feeling not quite exactly legit, things FB has done. The first via something FB calls “Malware Checkpoint.” The last in June of this year and I will not use them again.

Read the two-thousand angry comments here then get back to me if you want more detail about what happened to me,

https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-security/malware-checkpoint-for-facebook/10150902333195766/

At the time I joined in 2008, or was it 07, it was specifically for looking for support groups for a few neurological, and endocrine, and musculoskeletal, diseases which as of yet have no cure and the causes are still being researched. I did meet some great people and still occasionally communicate with some of them via email or Google Plus. But Facebook itself, no, I do not have good will toward Facebook.

Also did and do know some authors, photographers, and brick & mortar merchants who have been using FB and finding it very much a mixed blessing/curse thing.

And quite frustrating with how FB periodically changes the rules of the game.

Though from 2014 this still rings true, https://techcrunch.com/2014/04/03/the-filtered-feed-problem/

#20

I think Kevin and Chris have IMO given the best answers to the question. I have family, friends and train friends all on my friends list and it’s nice to hear what else is going on in their lives other than trains sometimes. As an example, the way I interpret this very forum you can only talk about train related stuff and that is fine, so Facebook is another avenue to share more than trains with friends.

One thing you could do to avoid all the political stuff is to go directly to your groups and view them. If you never visit your news feed you can get right to what you want to see.

Oh, and for those of you wanting to avoid any more time drains, stay away from Pinterest! lol

Steve