@Rick

Hi, Rick,

A week or so ago I had sent you a PM via this forum; a question regarding your asphalt road system.  I knew the PM system has a bug, so I wasn't surprised that you didn't reply - I know you are not "stuck up" (your words), based on all the kind and thoughtful advice you give others.

I constantly check my spam folder, because my ISP (msn.com) seems to occasionally lose an incoming e-mail.  Not sure why that happens, but anyway, I constantly check it - nothing from you, so I figured you hadn't actually received my query. 

Anyway, I'm forging ahead with the black-foam-based asphalt road, and maybe I'll post a photo of it if I get it to a satisfactory state.  

Thanks for posting this subject!

Al Carter, Mount Vernon, WA

Hi Al

Yes, I did recover your message and made up a color chart with my pavement paint and returned it.....this system just isn't working.

I saved the color samples and will resend them. Please send a current email address to ricksutton3(at)gmail.(you know what)

Thanks for getting back in touch.

I'm still trying to re-connect with another member ( JLandT Railroad ) about pavement markings.....very frustrating

On second thought..........It probably might be easier to just post my reply here:

Hi Al,

 I remembered that the last time I worked on pavement I saved a jar of the final mix to use on the next batch of roads. I've attached a photo of a quick paint sample that I put together for you.  I don't write down ratios as I work by guess and eyeball. Start with the white and slowly add the black in small amounts checking as you go. When you paint the foam It will take about three coats of the paint to get the proper look. It looks like heck after the first coat...totally normal. Let each coat dry before proceeding, usually overnight. The foam really soaks it up. This actually seems to add to the final effect.

 Best,

 Rick

Contacting Members

The few times I have reached out to folks posting here, I include my personal email just because of all the hassles you all are writing about. It is also worth it to make a quick post to let them know to check their spam folder.

Jack

Contact via forum

If you contact someone here using the forum contact option, the email will be seen as if it came from the email associated with your MRH account. Which means if the recipient of the email has a strict email provider, the chances of it being marked as spam are high. If the recipient then responds, it will go directly to your email, bypassing MRH completely. In this day and age of ever stricter spam filters it will become more and more difficult to guarantee delivery on either side. A different contact Drupal contact plugin that merely sends notifications of a private message being ready for viewing could be a solution. But with everything going on right now, I'm betting on Joe and Patty guarding the core of the business before fixing some of these longer standing issues. I rather have a buggy mail system due to outside forces than no forum or no MRH Magazine.

Yaron

That makes sense......but.......even copying the email address of the sender and trying to do a run around on the original system rarely works let alone getting the reply to work. I think the whole direct messaging system should be scrapped. It causes more misunderstandings than it is helpful. I'm always reluctant to post my email address on the Wild West Internet but if we could use some kind of method to display them (bitmaps? imbedded in images?)) so they couldn't be harvested I'd be more likely to add it to my profile.

 I'm real close to disabling it in my profile.

@Rick

Thanks, Rick,

I replied to the e-mail address you sent me.

Al Carter

Response

The only person I have ever had respond to a private message here on the site is Joe F.  I sent one last week asking about NMRA videos and nothing...not sure if they got it, it was eaten or just ignored..consequently I have zero faith in using it and have no plans to try anymore.

Before ...

... the upgrade to Drupal 6, the email forwarding feature in the contact option provided by MRH worked fairly well. I was able to acquire over a dozen personal email contacts in that way. I have avoided the contact option provided since it was found to have a problem.

My ISP is not very discriminate in spam filtering - it has blocked many important messages that I ended having to resurrect and it is a pain, due to my having to use the web mail interface, a clunky method. I am tempted to turn off their spam filter and do it from within my email client program instead - I hesitate, because my email client program also is somewhat indiscriminate. Artificial Intelligence has a long way to go. Much of the software deemed Artificial Intelligence by the developers is no more than simple predefined algorithms with programmed logic developed for computers "eons" ago. I become bilious when I often see advertisement of products having Artificial Intelligence (AI) - few of them do. (I apologize for the long-winded rant)

Never got it

Never got it. Check spam and junk folders too ... nothing.

We're facing an uphill battle on PM's now. First, I have learned our DNS provider is located in France and they're flagged as being friendly to porn sites, so some email providers simply outright ban any emails from this provider (great).

Second we're finding many legit emails we receive go to spam in our email reader ... it's very annoying.

Bottom line, the spammers deserve a special place in hell, they're destroying email for business communication and made it a very unreliable way to reach someone new. Imagine if only 50% of the letters you mailed ever made it, or if only 50% of your phone calls ever got through -- and you get the idea.

For business communication, email totally sucks as a way to communicate with anyone you do not already have a relationship with.

@Al

I'm still having problems getting my replies to you.....could you check your email inbox and spam and let me know what you find?

I've never been able to find

I've never been able to find a PM function in this forum; if such a thing exists, it's not like any I've used in many other forums since my forum days began in 1977 in college.

PM capability

1. Click on the person's handle (underlined in blue) at the top of their post.
2. Click on the contact tab.
3. Send them a message.

Good luck ... spam filters will make it about a 50-50 proposition. :-(

Not You Joe F.

Joe, you have responded to all of my messages..I sent one to Jeff about the NMRA videos about a week ago and got nothing back. I figured someones dog ate it and moved on..lol..

@Al

That dog really chews up the emails. From your latest message I don't think you got my reply yesterday.

I guess the old "jungle telegraph" method will have to do.

 

email treats

Found the culprit!  You might have to wait a while to retrieve those messages.....

Randy

Yup. He looks guilty all right. Now that I think about it, those emails weren't that important........he can keep 'em.

I've used the PM here on 3

I've used the PM here on 3 different occasions. In all 3 I never received a response so I don't use it anymore. 

PM capabilityWed, 2020-05-27

Dang, I've been on this forum for years now and never noticed that tab - it's kind of subtle.  And I've looked for the PM function on a few other occasions as well and didn't see it.

This forum software is funky in a number of ways that other forum software I've used and doesn't seem to be as intuitive.  Other differences include how pictures are posted (most use , and the spell checker (must hit < alt> key - who would intuitively know that?).  Whoever designed this forum software did things differently than most others I've used.

Thanks for unraveling another mystery.  Now I know how and only have a 50% chance it will work eh?

Cheers, Jim

@Rick

Hi, Rick,

Thanks for the latest photo and explanation of the oil/turp method...  looks great!  I have those supplies on hand, so I'll give them a try.

Did you get my e-mail with my photos?

Also, I've created a contact for you, which apparently msn wants me to do to get you on my "safe senders" list.  Don't know why this is happening (it's been going on for a few months now).  They keep "enhancing" things, which only frustrates and confuses me.  But this has happened to me a couple of other times, when someone would send me an e-mail and I'd never get it, in-box or spam or anyplace.  Then I added them to the contacts and bingo!

Weird.  Anyway, can you send me another test e-mail?

Thanks,

Al Carter, Mount Vernon, WA

@Al

Yes, I got your latest email with the pictures. I also got your query yesterday that clued me that you weren't getting my emails.......very frustrating. I'll send you a test email right now....keeping fingers crossed.