Random Bollocks From A Semi-Retired Foamer!

RAILFANS/RAILFANNING

What Is It That Went Wrong With Our Hobby?

  I sit here today in my position as 'Semi-Retired Foamer' and again facing the specter of harassment from the loonatic element of the railfan hobby.

  In the past I have had death threats due to the amount of photos published in magazines, while more recently the treat of personal harm because I chose to marry someone from a different country of the human race, instead of my own type, even if it required marrying of a scrag.
  As a 80s-90s railfan, I grew up in a different era. It was before the internet become the in thing and it was in the days when railfans met face to face, got to know each other and pretty much could make a decision on each other from that moment lineside.
  There was none of the faking, the stories, the so called keyboard warrior element back then. What you saw is what you got. There were far more friends in the hobby and we all worked together using a device called the phone.

Why are idiots drawn to the railway hobby?

 Back in the 90s while awaiting a 44 on the Goulburn Day Train my friend Peter Bubb had a theory. He felt that because social outcasts needed to have a purpose in life, they turned to railways, simply because collecting and sharing numbers was so easy 'even an idiot could do it'.
  To this day that has been pretty much my belief, it having sounded so right at the time.
  Keep in mind, this was also in the pre-internet days, when the strange ones were limited to the occasional lineside encounter with someone spitting foam.

Why are idiots now, seemingly, far more violent?

  This time I think to a comment made by my dear friend The Colonel.
  He feels that there is so little human contact, and very little railway interest, in todays hobby that the scraps are fought over like seagull flocks to a single potato chip.

  You are either the King gunzel who gets every single random chip that is offered, or you are just part of the cesspool below.
  Life in the cesspool is awful, the need to destroy others and try to claw back is ever present and this is done with no regard at all for others, their lives or their well being. More recently an example where a business is being placed at risk, in a personal vendetta against a genuine group of people.
  It must indeed be tempting to be in a modern world where the internet can be such a powerful tool for good, and not use it to spread endless rumours and misinformation to further yourself. Especially if you are morally bankrupt, or very low in self worth.
  Equally, it must be horribly frustrating to find people far more used to, and able to identify, continued lies and overuse of the sympathy ccard at the expense of others.
  Violence is probably seen as the only option left.

So what brings me to the topic?

  Well despite taking more of a back seat in the hobby over the last 15 years, the hobby still finds me.
During the intervening years I discovered the Philippines and the Philippine National Railways, I devoted many hours to researching it and promoting (very successfully) a railfan community that thrives to this day.

  I also started, in 2007, an official society there that was charged with preserving rollingstock and railway history. Culture, plus attitudes of outsiders, eventually saw that fall on its arse in a style not unlike the hobby here.
  More recently I have become more interested in the railways here again and modelling of an era I relate to so much, the 80s and 90s.
  While I have taken a small role in magazine publishing through the few groups/publishers I trust, my main aim is to develop a group of railway modellers who work together more like a family than just and not just another group.
  Enter the 'Strange Modelers of Universal Trains' (SMUT) Modelers Group.
  The concept was sound and, despite a few teething hassles, it has worked very well. It has brought forth a group of people that respect each other, have a sense of humour and help each other where possible.

The past chooses to again repeat itself.

  Now our idealic group is under attack.
  I fully accept it is my fault. I opened the group to membership by all the great unwashed, and they came.
  While it was not 100% disappointing, we did find a few worthy of inclusion in our family, I was warned about one.

  My foolhardy belief is that everyone should be given the benefit of the doubt, indeed it has turned out some good friends, but the warnings this time were strong enough to warrant a little more attention.
  I ignored them.
  Today we find our group reported to be closed down (despite no change being noticed) and AVOs taken out (although nothing received, by someone who openly shares ASIO information under the guise of once working for them,threats of suicide, and other quite amazing claims.
  The claims, accusations and threats towards us are like nothing ever before. I think the information/technology era is greatly to be blamed for that. The internet, again, is a great place to claim everything, but why is it, when asked to meet and prove the claims, are you suddenly ignored?

Summary.

  This all seems quite childish and stupid.

  In a hobby where we are all expected to work together to further the common good, you have these childish games and carry on.
  My earlier friends were so very might. Whats more, the declining railways will make it that much more worse.
  The hobby I once promoted so much is not the hobby I warn many to stay away from.
  The vile filthy underbelly of a once great pastime is far to much - don't let these morally corrupt people ruin your life also.

  Together we move on and try our hardest to promote the hobby they set out to ruin. Lets not let them be successful.