Can we PLEASE try to avoid being so negative?
Okay, lets take some deeeeeeeeeep breaths... deeeeeeeeep breaths... deeeeeeeeeeeeeeep breaths.
-_-
Okay now. I noticed things have gotten a little negative over here. There's nothing wrong with sticking with the methods that have worked out for you, nor is there anything wrong in experimenting and discovering a new method (or an improved variation of an existing one). But we need to calm down a little bit when it comes to discussions about different kinds of methods. We don't call it Model Railroad Hobbyist for nothing! We'd be happy to see all the different methods that people have used in order to accomplish the same/similar goals. But for petes sake, please don't take the wind out of anyone's sails because of personal preferences for different methods!
Slips of the tongue aren't anything new either, nor is there anything wrong with them... the other day I was trying to say the word "cherish" and ended up with the word "trellish..." a sort of weird cross between "cherish" and "trellace." We are human beings and don't always know how to say what we mean, don't always manage to say what we mean correctly, and even say more than we mean by mistake from time to time. It's something that we all have experience with... lets not give others a hard time about it.
And as for the above claims concerning Model Railroad Hobbyists marketing relations,
1) Joe was just trying to be helpful by pointing us to the correct products. He's just doing his job and trying to make our lives easier by saving us several google searches.
2) So what if most of the pre-made ballesters are made by Bachmann? I don't see why this merrits the type of heated discussion I've seen above.
3) Model Railroad Hobbyist is FREE. The only money they directly make from "magazine" sales is from running extra. Then you add TMTV and the various book and video publications. Its profit, but its not enough to pay the bills alone. Advertising is the lifeblood of Model Railroad Hobbyist. How could Model Railroad Hobbyist survive without business relations of any kind.
4) Who says MRH is keeping it's business relations a secret? Just check the list of sponsors! Bachmann is one of them.
5) Business relationships do not always indicate bribery and bias!
And then there is one more important fact that nobody has mentioned on this thread here... Joe has just spent the last week wrangling with a new, unfamiliar computer program (Affinity) and completely recreating the Model Railroad Hobbyist format, had to deal with a crashed computer, and who knows what else! The MRH staff is considerably smaller than it once was, giving Joe even more work to do than usual. He's been having to run a business in one of the most financially and socially unstable times in our Nation's history. These hard times haven't been easy for any of us, but when you consider all the hard work Joe has had to put into this issue, all the hard choices he has had to make for the future, and everything else... its easy to suggest that Joe has learned the true definition of fatigue over this past week. Lets all try to show some appreciation for all the work Joe Fugate and all the other editors and staff members of Model Railroad Hobbyist have done to bring us this issue!