modelers location

The one thing I find missing is a listing of members and a way to private em them.  I belong to 3 other forums and each one has the directory and em service.  I see nothing wrong with your thoughts. Where I live in MI everyone seems real quiet about their hobbies, yet at my LHS there are always 5-6 lerking around the train area.

Agree! I live in Apopka, Fl near Orlando

Members location directory?

This would interest me.  Central Wisconsin here!

Bob

Multiple Directories

I would like to see a few directories associated with MRH.

A layout/track plan directory/database that is searchable. This would be based on the tread started a while back where people posted their track plan.  I hate to use MRM as an example, but something like their track plan database.  However instead of track plans from just their articles, anyone can submit a track plan.

A photo directory/database that is searchable.  This database would be made up of the great photos submitted from the weekend update and from the "is it a model" threads.  This database could also be searchable by car type.

and finally

A member database like being discussed here. Name, location (city state), contact info, name of layout, link to the other two databases as appropriate. This could also include club information and links to there websites.

This would make this already great magazine an over the top website.

Art 

I'm all for it. I'm in Orange

I'm all for it. I'm in Orange City, Florida, near Rick .

Absolutely!

If you're ever in the southern part of Norway - please let me know

Ft Lauderdale, Florida

I live in Southern Florida. Ft Lauderdale.

Sikeston, Missouri

Sounds good to me.

Sikeston is on I-55 about halfway between St. Louis and Memphis, and about 30 miles west of the Mississippi River.

Italy

Yes ... I'm living south of you... Italy ... sorry!

Bremerton, WA

We already have this to some degree

First, to send a private message to any subscriber, just click on their name (it's on any post they make just under the subject) and select the contact tab. Voila, you can send them a private message via email. If they want to respond via email, they can - or they can ignore your message.

Second, we do know your timezone, if you elect to set it, since it is on your subscriber profile. The web being what it is - worldwide and wide open - we prefer NOT to provide a list of every place with a model train collection to everyone on the planet.

Because of how sensitive public data like this is, we're not in favor of making anything more specific than country and timezone, and maybe state or province. If you elect to provide anything else more specific to everyone, that's your choice, but do it at your own risk.

Don't mind telling my city

I don't mind telling my city location..Hendersonville, NC. I model in HO the FEC and Southern. 

Bill Michael

formerly lived at MP306.2 on the Florida East Coast

Zionsville, Indiana

I don't mind telling my location

I'm located in Edmonton Alberta and know many of the local modelers from hanging around my local Hobby Shop. I only ask that any potential robbers let me know they are coming, and I'll vacate the house. Of course I'll also make sure I don't feed the dog that day ...  

Randy

Central Indiana

Currently in Muncie. Will be relocating in about a year, but not too far

Near Mt Pleasant, Utah

Would love to find someone near by.

Thanks for starting this thread.

Dave

I live in....

Eatonton Ga. on the shores of beautiful Lake Sinclair...... and it doesn't bother me for folks to know that even if it were someone up to no good because I have three dogs that love to eat intruders But seriously, if anyone ever wants to stop by, let me know and I'll put the dogs out in the fence!!

Regards,

MIchael

Layout open for visits?

The layout that I work on is a private layout in the layout owner's home, but is always open to tours and operating sessions with adequate advanced notice so we could have a few members there. I figure there are other layout owners who would love to have visitors stop in during a business trip or family vacation. What would be the best way to advertise our layout, or anyone with a layout willing to have visitors, on MRH? 

Some way for people to highlight their layouts with a general idea of what part of a start they are in, then use the member contact on here to get in touch to set something up.

If nothing formal on the website, then we could just make a forum post with "LAYOUT TOUR: (insert your name here)' Layout" as the subject line, that would make it easy to search past posts. In the post they could post a few photos and description of the layout, and vague or detailed location info and contact info themselves.

Steven

Moving on

My location is in my signature & I'm moving in March 2014 to another town near Toowoomba, Queensland called Crows Nest, a beautiful, quiet, rural town.

Constituently, I have to redesign my layout, that fortunately I had not started building.

Getting down to state would help if searchable...

The problem with stopping at timezone and country is it doesn't help with knowing who might be worth contacting because they are nearby, other than trolling through all the forums and looking at each poster to see if their timezone is set.  I get the concern over level of info.  But I'd say state probably would still be vague enough that we're not likely to trigger a crime spree.   I suppose signatures could help if the conversation I'm in with Rod Goodwin turns into anything, as we're discussing whether it would make sense for me to work with him to add full text search to his index.  If that goes anywhere, then certainly anyone with their state in their signatures on posts would pull people up, but it could produce a huge number of results in some cases. Just being able to know what other folks are in NH who are willing to be indicated as suchwould accomplish the purpose for me being in a small state. I suppose if someone just said Texas that might be less helpful.  (Of course I know of a couple folks in NH I count as iconic like Mike C., but I can't even imagine at my level of newness having much to offer to generate interest in someone so accomplished wanting to meet up to collaborate.)

On a side note, I see one of the responders was from a certain midwestern area that probably makes today a bad choice of day to mention I live about 30 miles as the crow flies from Fenway park in Boston.   Yeah, definitely the wrong day.

-Ed

Penryn California

That's where I build trains.

On30 layout under construction, but always open for a visit.

John

Such a directory would have to be opt in

I think such a directory would have to be opt in, not mandatory. One challenge these days is if you know roughly where someone lives (read: city), you can use the internet and generally find their precise address if you dig hard enough and are willing to pay a little money for access to what amounts to the internet white pages.

The other lesser-known fact is if I have your device IP address because you are online, I can also find you. Think about it - if the web signal knows enough to make it to your device screen, we know exactly where you are - otherwise how could the signal get to you and only you?

The minute you go online, you've just revealed where you are.

How does that old saying go....

Locks keep honest people honest.

I figure if someone is that desperate to find me they will, even if i do not disclose any information.  Even if I don't go online, it is virtually impossible to not be on the grid some way.

Ken L.

Sure, they can find you ...

... but why make it 'easy' for them?

I suspect the 'real' risk is to those who post showing things that someone else may deem 'valuable' ... i.e., a nice collection of brass or antique trains; perhaps a good selection of 'nifty' tools; electronic or video equipment.  Those are the folks who may end up with unwanted visitors in the middle of the night (or perhaps while they are on vacation if they published that information) ....