General > General Discussion
Model Railroad Hobbyist RailPro Contributor Needed
G8B4Life:
That post of Joe's in MRH forums is almost 2 months old now...
I'd be happy to contribute to the cause but I don't know if I'm an article writer either; user guides and manuals perhaps (and I'm no whiz there) but articles are a different beast. I guess it'd all come down to what articles Joe would be looking for as well, plus I'm not entirely sure I'd like my ugly mug and bio in the magazine. Photo's and videos certainly would be a problem for me, my seven or so year old phone camera probably won't cut it quality-wise.
Perhaps the best course of action is to firstly see what Joe is looking for in an RP article or series of articles and then we can go from there. He'd have to be ok with collaborative efforts too.
- Tim
TwinStar:
--- Quote from: G8B4Life on September 06, 2018, 12:20:09 AM ---That post of Joe's in MRH forums is almost 2 months old now...
--- End quote ---
It takes me awhile to get caught up. My 'online train life' comes in spurts when actual life allows. But two months is pretty good. I 'discovered' the new show Everybody Loves Raymond when it was in it's 9th season!
KPack:
Alright, so we've talked about the general idea of writing articles, but unless we actually plan and get serious about it, it will never happen.
First we need to decide exactly what we want to write first. I believe the general consensus is that we should do a general article going over the basics of Railpro. The question is, what exactly should be included in the "basics"? Thoughts?
And, once that is established, we need to determine who will write the article. I'm happy to contribute photos, videos, screen captures, etc. I'd also be happy to collaborate with someone on the writing of the article. However, I don't think right now is a great time for me to take on the article solely. I just don't physically have enough time in the day to do what needs to be done and still have enough time left over to devote to something like writing.
Volunteers? Jacob, you mentioned you were willing. What if we split the writing and worked on it together?
-Kevin
TwinStar:
--- Quote from: KPack on September 06, 2018, 10:46:36 PM ---Alright, so we've talked about the general idea of writing articles, but unless we actually plan and get serious about it, it will never happen.
First we need to decide exactly what we want to write first. I believe the general consensus is that we should do a general article going over the basics of Railpro. The question is, what exactly should be included in the "basics"? Thoughts?
And, once that is established, we need to determine who will write the article. I'm happy to contribute photos, videos, screen captures, etc. I'd also be happy to collaborate with someone on the writing of the article. However, I don't think right now is a great time for me to take on the article solely. I just don't physically have enough time in the day to do what needs to be done and still have enough time left over to devote to something like writing.
Volunteers? Jacob, you mentioned you were willing. What if we split the writing and worked on it together?
-Kevin
--- End quote ---
Kevin:
Count me in. I agree that an article covering the basics would be a good start. What is RailPro? How does RailPro work? And why should I consider RailPro? Just to throw out a few ideas. I'm trying to think back to my 'I've had enough DCC crap' days and what I was looking for and what appealed to me about RP.
I'll also add that I have zero ego on something like this and have no problem being told 'that sucks' and looking at things from a different perspective or going a different route. I will expect input to be frank and for my fellow RP'ers to not mince their words.
If a 'basics' article is where we want to being then let's solicit some basic/beginner topics and get an outline going.
Alan:
I would suggest you frame the article in a "just the facts, maam" style so as not to rile up the DCC crowd. Take great care in not making it feel like us versus them. It doesn't take much to start the negative comments flowing on MRH or any forum. Even though in essence it is a sales pitch don't make it sound like a sales pitch. Remove superlatives from your vocabulary.
Brevity may also work to your advantage. Just take a look at the DCC article in this month's issue. Holy smokes. All that just to play with trains, you've got to be kidding me. If you can write such that a casual reader will get the fact RP performs all the same functions as those described in the DCC article except with no user involvement required then you will have done RP a great service.
RP being a proprietary system with a sole manufacturer and the exclusion of N scale will likely be the most popular objections. Don't hide from them. An effective presentation style is to admit and address the objections early in the article. This approach tends to convey honesty which then carries through the remainder of the article. Much the same way forum members relate to people who admit their mistakes in layout building threads.
If I may add further comment, good presentations often have a common underlying theme throughout their entirety, something to tie the whole article together. Since it is people reading the article and people are emotional it is wise to use a theme that elicits an emotional connection. Ask yourselves "Why did I buy RP?" Drill the answer down to a single descriptive word. That word then becomes the unifying theme of the article. For me personally it was simplicity. Not that I can't understand complexity but rather why should I when the hardware will do it for me. If simplicity is the theme the article would quietly weave simplicity into the phrasing. For example, compare these paragraphs...
"Locomotive advanced settings can be accessed via the wrench icon found on the locomotive screen. This will display a page showing minimum start speed and momentum settings. Select the minimum start speed and adjust the setting up or down by turning the throttle knob. Repeat the process with the momentum setting and then press exit to return to the locomotive screen. The locomotive will now respond to throttle changes based on the settings you selected."
"A locomotive's minimum start speed and momentum can be easily changed with a simple tap of your finger and twist of the adjustment knob."
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