One of the things that works very well on some sites I frequent is a forum dedicated to a manufacturer or retailer, and the owner of said business has moderation priveleges in that forum. The ones Ive seen work well have had product announcements, sales, maintenance bulletins, and troubleshooting threads. With the forum moderated, it can stay on topic, but with the rest of the site not moderated, you dont end up with a sanitized view of any product or business.
Why not invite Bachmann and USAT and Accucraft and AML to participate with those privs?
The only thing that would probably make it so they would not want to do it other than time is that a ridiculous statement that could not be countered on the manufacturer’s forum might be “taken to task” on another forum on the same site.
I know a manufacturer who withdrew from advertising on a popular site because the site refused to censor critics…
Greg
removed
It takes a LOT of time to keep up with several forums, and I doubt that most manufacturers have that much time. Also, some of the model railroading forums discourage manufacturer participation because the forum owner sees it as “free advertising”. Then there’s the whole issue of people bashing manufacturers, which is hardly conducive to getting them involved.
I have to say I know way too much to think I could be successful to manufacture large scale trains, no thanks, too tough.
But clearly, instead of helping the discussion, you have to try to insult me. Nice. That’s your best contribution to the topic?
That’s what I like about this forum, say anything negative about a manufacturer and you get personally attacked.
Greg
I want to thank everyone for all the replies, the answers seem to be all over the place. I guess in my mind it would be better if there was more participation from publishers \ authors\ vendors and I don’t really buy the argument that the vendors don’t have time, seems they have more to gain than lose, but i’m just a newbie in the large scale train arena.
Thanks to everyone that replied.
What’s a “fora,” Bob? Or should it be, “What are fora?” You Latin scholars crack me up! 
The plural of forum.
Joe Rusz said:
What’s a “fora,” Bob? Or should it be, “What are fora?” You Latin scholars crack me up!
Interesting comment/question, Joe.
Da’ Rooster said:
Greg
…
Uncalled for, Rooz. Flag on the penalty.
Straying back to topic, and to Greg’s first response, I think Ill see who of my current advertisers would want a dedicated forum, and work forward from there if there is interest.
Joe Rusz said:
What’s a “fora,” Bob? Or should it be, “What are fora?” You Latin scholars crack me up!
I thought it refered to Fora Dora girls
WhooHooo! I see ankles!
It seems the vendors like their controlled environments. Can’t blame them though. People can get pretty nasty when they have a keyboard to hide behind. With some of the ‘disputed’ problems with companies products and the forum talk about it you would think there would be an all out brawl at the train shows but there isn’t. People talk. I wouldn’t want to be the guy that has to face an angry mob online, you can’t win.
And Vic, you just ain’t right dude…
Terry
I’m reminded of the blog, “One to Twenty Point Me,” that discussed everything in 1:20.3. For some reason, one of the larger manufacturers took exception to the discussion, and convinced the blogmaster to stop. Nobody seems to know who the principles were, at least I don’t, but I have my suspicions who the manufacturer was.
It was a great source of information, highly reliable.
Terry Burr said:
It seems the vendors like their controlled environments. Can’t blame them though. People can get pretty nasty when they have a keyboard to hide behind. With some of the ‘disputed’ problems with companies products and the forum talk about it you would think there would be an all out brawl at the train shows but there isn’t. People talk. I wouldn’t want to be the guy that has to face an angry mob online, you can’t win.
And Vic, you just ain’t right dude…
Terry
Terry,
I don’t disagree, but then again if manufacturers would acknowledge that problems exist in stead of out right denying they exist, the public might be a bit less harsh on them. To ban a member from a forum because he brings an issue to light is not right either. Being used as the test bed for a manufacturers product is bad enough, but then to have to rely on the purchasing public to find the fixes for the problems in stead of assistance from the manufacturer is just over the top. I would have asked how long an auto manufacturer would stay in business doing business that way, but Gov’t Motors answered that. OHHH wait a minute, we are just a hobby…
Bob C.
The problem with paying vendors having a say is unpaying vendors having no say.
I produce a pre-1969 Chevy/Corvette part(s) alternator mount that I developed at the Corvette Forum that is the best piece of its kind in the industry, yet I can’t post links to my site and must always use caution/disgression in discussion when talking about them.
But, I would sell maybe $50 a month more as a paying vendor (if I was real lucky) and this would quickly die down when those who wanted them had them. Vendor prices start at $350/mo.
Just can’t justify it, so the forum looses out. But those in the know will often refer people to our site and that is legit.
Back to the original post, I guess I think that is what the Vendors website is for. It has a “Contact Us” on most of them and I guess I think that is where business should be handled.
I actually think having manufacturer’s forums would be an asset, and besides the moderation capability on “their” forum, Bob could make it a general policy that if there are “counter arguments” on other forums, that they remain factual, rather than just personal opinions or gripes.
I think it would be great, for example, to somehow get USAT involved, who has no forum, and no formal way to get customer input like a forum gives. I think there are manufacturers that pretty much operated in a vacuum in terms of a well rounded public input …
I’m pretty sure I could get Accucraft and or AML involved too… that and USAT MIGHT be enough to “pull” Bachmann in also, it might take a few months, but if it appeared to be a benefit to USAT and AML, I would think that would help convince them to participate.
I would definitely assist in the effort where I could.
Greg
Greg, isn’t that what we had with the Aristocraft forum, before they went away. That forum is almost vacant now. But Aristo moderated it very closely, preventing a lot of bashing of anything, and everyone was afraid of mentioning another company name.
I just don’t know about this.
Paul
I too think it would be a good idea to at least try a vendors forum.
The problem would be when the Hoi Polloi start asking too many awkward questions that the vendors/makers cannot or do not, want to answer.
If manufacturers want a forum, let them have their own forum on their own site with whatever rules they wish.
I guess vendors won’t have the time to participate in fora. As far as publishers go, how many are there who focus on LS?
But more basically/elementary, I really like the mix of this forum. As far as I can see everything of “vendors and authors” is covered, it’s just a matter of looking in the right places.