The AOL Boards and who has survived

[v8vega]

Niave question, what's the AOL Boards?
For train sites I go here, CTT, and OGRR never heard of MTF. I used to go on Model Railroader trackside diner but Otte moderates it so heavy I was afraid I would get banned and then I couldn't go on CTT.

[Robert Bubeck]

Joined the AOL board in 1995 around the time of the first Lionel Century Club. My emphases these days are American Flyer S gauge and vintage (mostly) prewar 0 and Standard/Wide gauge tinplate. I own and operate a fair amount of TMCC and Legacy trains, but I purchase very little new stuff because I have more than I 'need'. Lionel catalogs a lot of trains that were first done roughly 10 - 20 years ago and that I already own in their earlier incarnations. I have two nice small MTH PS2 engines, which are not likely to be added to. The pieces I do have look and run well, so the impulse to do lots of upgrades is vanishingly weak.

Have fun!

Bob

[Neil]

The AOL Boards are no more. They were amongst the first discussion boards on the internet back 25 years ago and disappeared through an AOL vanishing trick some time ago, perhaps 10 years or so? In their time, they were vigorous if lacking in civilized behavior. Lots of interesting participants, including industry leaders until they were run off by the more flagrantly anti-social personalities that prospered like outlaws before the law came to the West . Clyde Coil made his presence known, but disinformation was also common. Fun but precarious. I was threatened with death once or twice by the late Pat Fusco, aka TRex. Seriously. Then again, I was threatened on the OGR Forum by one of the royalty there, David (Toytrains1), that he would contact my employer if I didn't stop saying critical things about MTH and their business practices.

Guess I'm not everyone's cup of tea, to say the least. While I am not pleased, in retrospect, with everything I wrote, on balance, it was a fruitful time in the hobby, with lots of information and learning. I got to know a bunch of truly decent and knowledgeable people through the AOL Boards (including Bob Bubeck above and Norm Charbonneau, Bob Thompson, Terry Smith, etc.) and subsequent visits to Detroit for the 100th Anniversary of Lionel in 2000 and then at York.

[chuck]

AOL, America On Line. First attempt at really mass dialup, before the internet. Prior to AOL you dialed into GENIE, or Compuserve. These were mainframe based systems with dial in access points. Almost entirely ASCII based (text only). AOL pushed out massive modem pools to make it easier to dial in. Their bulletin board systems (aka "forums") earned the company the dubious nickname of a* holes on line. Bulletin boards were not really new, usenet was way older BUT you needed additional equipment/expertise to use it. This tended to impart a certain amount of discipline, self imposed and not so self imposed under the blanket term of netiquette. AOL opened the flood gates to the masses and perceived anonymity lead to all kinds of bad behavior.

BTW, I was laughing out loud about Big Jim's reference to the book of Proverbs. Made my day, thanks!

[J. S. Bach]

...snip... Compuserve ...snip...

Someone I know is still on Compuserve, or was the last time I emailed him about a year ago.

[chuck]

Compuserve was acquired by AOL and then Verizon acquired AOL. The forums were shut down in 2017.

Compuserve.com is still a valid/active web site. Seems more like Yahoo site.

[Robert Bubeck]

One of the more fun and informative features of the early days of the AOL board was that folks would post reviews of the latest products just as they came out. The trains reviewed were mostly Lionel, but included some of the new trains from other manufacturers, as well. Clyde Coil would take the better Lionel-related postings and place them on his web site. As Neil has stated, it was a good place to first make contact with fellow enthusiasts with whom one later made direct personal meets and greets at York or (in my case) Wild Bill's Trains in Detroit. This was when York (and arguably Lionel) was at its apogee. At its height, many of the AOLer community would get together for barbecues on the York fair grounds and, later on, for buffet dinners close by. Luminaries such as Dick Maddox, Bill Bracy, and Todd Wagner (PaperTRW) would stop by and chew the fat with those assembled. It was an exciting time for the hobby. Unfortunately, the Train Wars and the law suit ultimately led to the end for this happy state of affairs on line.

Bob

[v8vega]

My email I think gotten 14 ears ago is called AOL Mail and my address has verizon .net.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

My email I think gotten 14 ears ago is called AOL Mail and my address has verizon .net.

Verizon owns AOL and moved all their e-mail service over to AOL.

[G3750]

My email I think gotten 14 ears ago is called AOL Mail and my address has verizon .net.

Verizon owns AOL and moved all their e-mail service over to AOL.

That is correct. I remember going through the conversion, which was less than straightforward or easy.

George

[Rufus T. Firefly]

My email I think gotten 14 ears ago is called AOL Mail and my address has verizon .net.

Verizon owns AOL and moved all their e-mail service over to AOL.

That is correct. I remember going through the conversion, which was less than straightforward or easy.

It was a total PITA; I have several Verizon addresses.....

[MartyE]

Compuserve was acquired by AOL and then Verizon acquired AOL. The forums were shut down in 2017.

Compuserve.com is still a valid/active web site. Seems more like Yahoo site.

I started out on Compuserve and their "TrainNet" forum. It was there where I started on the forums and I believe Neil was there and Les Line. Gary Moreau (sp) offered the first TMCC package for something like $125.

SInce then I have joined OGR, MTJ, MTF, and OGF. I haven't posted here much but do read daily. I always enjoy the The Club Car posts "Seen in Print".

I'll try to post more here but sometimes it seems repetitive because most folks read across all forums.

[G3750]

Interesting new thread over on the other board on this very topic.

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/topic/thi ... 2230470695

George

[Neil]

Well, whatever, it's all water over the dam, etc. I think OGR's forum has improved as they no longer have favored posters who can engage in personal attacks at will, which is an improvement. The ending of the MTH vs. Lionel partisan wars has no doubt made it a more peaceful place. It's ironic that in the early years they chastised the MTH bashers and more recently they've rusticated the Lionel bashers. Like modern day Tombstone, the cattle wars are over .

[HONDO74]

Neil... Tell us about this forum you started when you and Fusco got booted off of OGRR.

Just kidding. That was almost 20 years ago. Maybe Rich Melvin is confused and thinks you started MTJ.

At one time years ago both Rich and Alan were actually members of this forum. They don't show up now on the members list but Tony Lash still shows up as a member.