Introduction to the Forum

One of the toughest things about getting into a new hobby is finding people who can answer any questions that you might have. This is especially true in model railroading, where there can be multiple solutions for your track or scenicking quandaries. The Atlas Forum is one such place where you can have all your questions answered and learn more about the hobby in general.

An internet forum, for the uninitiated, is a gathering place for people from all over the world to post messages and commune with each other on whatever topics the forum allows. This gives you the ability to tap the minds of people the world over, instead of being shackled by regional limitations and confined to the knowledge of your local hobby store.

The Atlas Forum covers a wide range of subjects in the scales of N, HO and O. There’s also a DCC section for specific questions concerning layouts equipped with that form of wiring. Simply post a question and chances are that before the day is through, you’ll have the answer that you need and several other options as well.

To sign up for the forum, you simply need to click the “Register” link located in upper-right hand corner of the Atlas Forum page located at http://forum.atlasrr.com/. From there, you must agree to the terms of use for the forum and then fill out all the necessary information such as your desired User Name, Password and your Email Address. When you are finished, hit the “Submit” button at the bottom of the page and your request will be sent into the database.

Upon review, your account will be created and an email confirmation will be sent to the email address that you signed up to the forum with. Simply click on the link provided in the email and your account will be fully activated, then you can begin posting at your leisure. Please be advised that this process may take up to a day or more, depending on the workload of our moderators. If you haven’t received your email as quickly as you would have liked, please be patient.

Here are some helpful hints to help you during forum posting:

• Once you’re active, log into the account using the log on fields, also located in the upper-right hand corner of the Atlas Forum.

• To create a new post, enter the appropriate scale forum and click the “New Topic” button.

• The title of the thread should be brief and contain the topic. As logical as this sounds, there are a lot of posts that go up in forums where you can’t be sure about the content until you open it. By using a brief and concise subject line, you alleviate this problem and help people find information the need quickly.

• To reply to a previous post, enter the topic thread* and click the “Reply to Topic” button.

• Make sure your caps lock is turned off before typing. Typing in all caps is considering “shouting” and rude.

• Word your questions and replies carefully so that people can best understand you, helping you get quicker and more accurate replies to your queries.

• Be patient. Sometimes it may take up to a day for someone to reply to your post. Don’t flood the forum with multiple topics concerning the same thing.

• There is a search feature in the forum, located underneath the “Rules” link. Use this to find information before you post and help cut down on the amount of repeat postings.

*Topic thread: a string of consecutive message postings to a newsgroup, mailing list or Internet forum