They are watching and listening for the next couple of months. Has anyone else had a "not -so-close encounter" with them over the past couple of days? I couldn't understand their language... all I could make out was "We can neither confirm nor deny our existance" Hmmm.. something to ponder... and it is model railroading related.
Uh, Cal....you feeling ok pal? Taking all your meds? Wanna elaborate just a bit for us sad folks "Not in the Know"?
Phish, I wish... I could elaborate In fact I wouldn't hesitate except that it might precipitate the kind of response I'd really hate. So, for the time, we just have to wait until the powers-that-be communicate the reasons why they no longer exist and tell us exactly why the Forum was dismissed.!
No doubt they are watching to see if the same folks shape this and other boards as they did there. Unless they can figure a way, using minimal resources, to keep postings hobby centred rather than ego centred they may never reopen. I have been lurking here for some time and, now that I look more closely, this board is really a breath of fresh air. Let's keep it so!
Thanks for the compliments Ted, this site is moderated 24 hours a day due to the fact some of us admins live on other parts of the world. although we have been criticised for not allowing flamers etc we believe that trainboard is for the enjoyment of all. We do not apologise for keeping flames down to a minimum.
Did someone at Atlas get terminated? it might explain the abruptness of it all. Your peotry is impecable - and the cryptic secrecy is worthy of an Atlas non- response
Where's Mulder & Scully when you need them?? The truth may be out there, but will we really ever find it?
Or maybe that horrible rumor of Atlas being sold was true and even Paul didn't know when he publicly dismissed it...and now they need to bury access to such remarks! Hope not. The only merger/acquisition of Atlas that I would consider a good move would be with InterMountain. Not sure which company is larger. We know they've worked together previously. Time to tie the knot? Again, SPECULATIVE CONJECTURE!
Hmmmm.....a unified Atlas/Intermountain Merger, eh? That could be a Not-So-Bad thing, honestly. They are the two best providers of N-Scale Motive power (IMO), and together would have an amazingly good range of Rolling Stock in N too, rivaling MT accross the board (and many might say surpassing MT altogether). Certainly, an Atlas/IM Merger would be more palatable that say, a Atlas/Athearn or Atlas/Life-Like or Atlas/Bachman merger would be.....at least I think so.....
Call me paranoid, but after being the victim of numerous corporate buyouts, reorganizations, "Black Fridays", etc., the abrupt hiatus of the Atlas forum system has ominous tones. I really liked the forum and hope that Atlas felt it was worth their while, but in terms of PR the posted reason now on their webpage just doesn't wash with me at all. Reminds me of the notorious "Your call is very important to us..... the next customer service representative will be availailable in .....60....minutes" tech support replies I deal with every day, and while I'm on hold, waiting....repeatedly being told how important I am! I'll keep most of my most outrageous 'wonderings' to myself, but there has to be more to this.... I'd say a fair number of the active forumites are also computer-savvy IT professionals and the 'eight week upgrade' announcement excuse is border-line laughable. Yeah, it had some problems, but.....what's the real story? Not that something isn't justified for various business reasons, just don't expect the crew that was over there to accept THAT reason, and the way it was done, with a smile and a shrug. If they just got tired of playing referee, that's OK and I can sympathize, I just hope it isn't indicative of something more structural to the entire business than that. Been there, done that, and that's no fun at all.
As I had posted in another thread... The Atlas Forum closing is obviously one of choice, and not driven by a software upgrade. Their Forum is hosted by Advanced Networks ( http://advanced-networks.com/ ) and the other forums hosted there continue to function. Therefore, a server upgrade is not (currently) the cause for the downtime.
I am sure that the facts will come out sometime soon, and all this is speculation and does not do much good. I quess old habits die hard and thanks Ted 43 for the insight, you may be on to something. I too, think that if the same thing happens on other boards that was going on at the Atlas board, Atlas will pull the plug for good. It is time for a change and this may just be a good thing. Jeff Shriver
Okay, so after reading through all the theories of Atlas’s sudden forum shutdown, this is what I have concluded is really going on… Atlas received a phone call from Athearn (Horizon) over all the lawsuit conjecture that was being thrown around on the forums. Apparently they (Athearn) are ready to settle with UP to become their first MRR merchandising wholly owned subsidiary. Then there was the routine “please let us buy you” plea, but that was again rebuffed by Atlas because they should know by now that Intermountain is first in line. So Atlas was ready to lock the UP lawsuit topics when someone decides to open up on the code 55 issue again. Still stinging from the last round of code 55 teasing, Paul threw his hands in the air and said “*%#@ -‘em, I’ve had enough of this $#$@!”. So he decides to call Bill Gates at Microsoft to ask him how he would handle the situation. Bill only had to say only two words: “Software Upgrade”. Paul smiled and thought to himself, “And I can probably take the summer off to finish writing my novel. I was going to start work on that Atlantic steamer, but that could wait another year!” The rest is history. I hope this puts an end to all the guessing...
