Random Thoughts Thread - Nassau Inter-County Express (NICE)

[NY1635]

The new schedule changes for the summer are up on NICE's website.  N6X trips between Hempstead Transit Center and Hofstra/NCC are discontinued until September, only the n1, n6, n40/n41, n70/n71/n72, get minor adjustments on the weekends.

 

http://www.nicebus.com/Passenger-Information/June-22nd-Service-Change.aspx

[B35 via Church]

Well Westchester gets it more than Nassau, thats why they have more walkable communities & young people moving in, instead of leaving.

But Mangano doesn't want to put the money into that, hence the aging, decaying suburb known as Nassau...

NYC is expensive too, but young people are still moving there, not leaving. Long Island's Brain Drain is due in part to poor public transit & lack of walkable communities. Even Mangano himself brought that up, but he doesn't put his money where his mouth is.

There are more jobs opening up in Westchester county that yuppies are commuting to... It's not necessarily that they're actually moving up there (to Westchester).... As far as walkable communities, I would say there are more westchester folks that are willing to walk to get to where they have to go (that doesn't mean that the county has these walkable communities, per se)... In other words, Nassau county residents are more apt to driving to travel short distances, where in Westchester, more folks are willing to walk, or take the bus..... But I will agree that Nassau does a poor job, as far as attracting possible potential residents to move there, are concerned......

 

Of course yuppies are moving to NYC, because it's far more attractive than moving out to Nassau (or Westchester, for the matter).... Hipsters jump-started gentrification in this city, and yuppies (also, from other states) strengthen efforts of some area to become fully gentrified..... That's how it works....

 

I mean look, You can rant & rave & stand on your head about people leaving Nassau as much as you want - the fact of the matter is, the county is becoming more urbanized & there isn't anything you can do about it..... While it isn't yuppies moving to Nassau, there ARE more lower & more lower-middle class folks moving out to the county (due to those same folks being driven out of areas that are becoming/have become gentrified within NYC).... It is the middle class that's hauling ass out of the county (Nassau)..... Which, for all practical purposes, make it a wash....

 

You make it sound like the county is becoming some sort of ghost town or something, due to the fact that Nassau isn't the suburb that it once was... Then again, you're not beyond exaggerating to convey a point, so there shouldn't be any surprise from anyone here reading your posts.....

 

If you wanna get really real, How is it YOU'RE still living in Nassau county again (especially for as much complaining that you do about people leaving the county)? Because you sure as hell don't represent the upper class, and since (even though you completely quelled your rants regarding hispanics moving into the county) you realize you're being "invaded" in your area of Westbury..... If you think other areas in Nassau county aren't being "invaded", you need to be more keen......

 

I'm not trying to be insulting here, but your tactics are annoying; you keep parroting the same shit..... In short, stop giving out only 1/2 the story.... You love to try to garner sympathy from people in your posts (and it's too bad, since you DO make good points at times).... Nassau isn't becoming as empty as you like to portray on these forums.

 

Nassau County is becoming more urban, not decaying.

When it comes to Nassau county, those are synonymous terms with him.....

(In other words, he deems increasing development in the county as urban decay)

 

So you want to hear something funny? So I was on the n35 and I hear 1651 call in over the radio saying "I'm trying to get back to the depot, bus keeps stalling out, especially when I push it harder". Then about a minute later my n35, 1605, stalls out after pulling away from a stop. The alarm sounded, fortunately the driver restarted it, had to shut the a/c off because the bus was overheating! I wonder if there's going to be any bus service once temps hit 90? You can't make this stuff up! NICE is so bad it's making the former Green Lines look more reliable!

Reliable in terms of what?

 

Because if it's service, GBL was more reliable.....

 

It ain't dutchess LOOP bad or as bad as NJT central division. It's really hard to be THAT BAD even NICE has a hard time being shittier. Get a life dude.

He makes a comparison, and you resort to one-upping his comparison? You do that a lot, and for no other purpose besides conveying that you know of other transit systems outside of NYC.... We get that you do already....

 

The comparison isn't the sticking point (NICE doesn't have to be as bad as the LOOP buses in dutchess, or parts of central NJT)....

 

This isn't a pissing contest....

Edited June 15, 2014 by B35 via Church

[B35 via Church]

I gotta say, I've been lurking around this forum since I joined, not posting much, but I do have this to say. There is something wrong with the moderation of this place, and comparing this to other transit discussion boards and chats, you guys are just going to keep losing members to other sites unless something changes. I know you have 8,000 members, but clearly, not many of those are active members.

I honestly believe it's the same shit from the same people that's causing folks to diminish their posting activity here, or outright leaving this place.... For starters, get rid of all of the troublemakers, and you don't have this problem.... We also don't have many thread starters/threads being started here, sparking new discussion.... I've said this to a few other folks on here not too long ago about there being a lax vibe about the place, regarding posting in (what I call) the "mega" threads, thread with well over 200 pages of posts in em (the "random thoughts" threads of sections)..... This tells me that folks still want to be a part of NYCTF, but are just.... Bored (with what's going on here).....

 

I can't put this all, or even most of it, on staff.... Members gotta step up their game too.

 

Then I think the staff on here should be re-evaluated. Those who aren't active enough to help out should either retire or relinquish some responsiblities, and those who can donate more time to the site and are willing to help out should be recruited. I've been thinking about inviting some people to this site or advertising it a bit, but what would be an 8,000 member discussion board just isn't there for it to be worth their time when there are forums with less people, but more active discussions. You just had to suspend two people for something that was slowly going on for what looks like weeks if you follow back, and that's probably turned a lot of people off from posting here. Too much drama, and nobody has control over it. Take it from someone who has been an administrator and a moderator on several sites, the staff needs a revamp. I'm going to shoot a message over to the adminstrators of this site (I assume one is the owner) and see what they say.

I don't necessarily think there needs to be a re-evaluation/revamping of the staff (as people).... This isn't Straphangers/Rider Diaries (for example, where you had mods not signing on for months [literally])....

 

I simply think (and always thought) that current staff has too much on its plate.....When I ran forums, I didn't mind having specific people running a particular area of the forum.... With the way Harry has it set up, all the mods are basically what you'd call S-mods (global mods).... I personally never been a fan of them, for a very reason you mention....

 

Trust-worthiness does become an issue, because you do have immature power hungry nuts out here (in the community I used to be a part of [outside of this transit one], there were a plethora of them, for obvious reasons).... So I can understand why Harry might not be as quick to appoint any ole body as staff.....

 

What this forum could benefit from, is new blood.... I notice when Erica ("E for Erica") came here, there was a bit of an uptick in overall posting activity (compared to the timeframe just before she became a member).... May have been the *oh, it's a girl* factor, in the existence of what is a sausage-fest here otherwise (lol), but she's not a ditz either - she actually knows quite a bit about this hobby (or w/e you wanna call it), which really helps..... So yeah, How this site can attract new blood, that I simply don't know..... But I wouldn't cry over spilled milk (as the saying goes); I've never been one for persuading people to do anything anyway; coming back to something they were once a part of -- So let the folks that have left the forum, continue forward with whatever endeavors they're delving in.....

 

And with that said, can a mod move this exchange to another part of the forum....

Don't need it floating within the NICE section of the forum....

[Tom Meadow]

Question how buses is nice getting in the order.

[PinePower]

There are more jobs opening up in Westchester county that yuppies are commuting to... It's not necessarily that they're actually moving up there (to Westchester).... As far as walkable communities, I would say there are more westchester folks that are willing to walk to get to where they have to go (that doesn't mean that the county has these walkable communities, per se)... In other words, Nassau county residents are more apt to driving to travel short distances, where in Westchester, more folks are willing to walk, or take the bus..... But I will agree that Nassau does a poor job, as far as attracting possible potential residents to move there, are concerned......

 

Of course yuppies are moving to NYC, because it's far more attractive than moving out to Nassau (or Westchester, for the matter).... Hipsters jump-started gentrification in this city, and yuppies (also, from other states) strengthen efforts of some area to become fully gentrified..... That's how it works....

 

I mean look, You can rant & rave & stand on your head about people leaving Nassau as much as you want - the fact of the matter is, the county is becoming more urbanized & there isn't anything you can do about it..... While it isn't yuppies moving to Nassau, there ARE more lower & more lower-middle class folks moving out to the county (due to those same folks being driven out of areas that are becoming/have become gentrified within NYC).... It is the middle class that's hauling ass out of the county (Nassau)..... Which, for all practical purposes, make it a wash....

 

You make it sound like the county is becoming some sort of ghost town or something, due to the fact that Nassau isn't the suburb that it once was... Then again, you're not beyond exaggerating to convey a point, so there shouldn't be any surprise from anyone here reading your posts.....

 

 

 

Urbanization IMO means to me more rental housing, development, and better mass transit. Nassau is experiencing neither (unless you consider illegal rentals). When I talk decay I talk about abandoned businesses, and faltering infrastructure. There are areas in Westchester I consider very urban, White Plains, Yonkers, and New Rochelle. And all are major hubs of business, especially White Plains. And like any successful city, all income backgrounds and cultures are represented. Now Nassau really doesn't have any place like that. Where is redevelopment happening in Nassau? Sure there were opportunities, most notably the Lighthouse Project in Uniondale which for sure would have helped improve the area. The whole Hempstead Turnpike corridor is depressing. Lots of empty stores throughout. A good example is the former K-Mart/TSS site in Levittown which has sit unoccupied for many, many years. Hicksville, most of the offices around the train station are vacant. More vacancies abound in Westbury along Old Counrty Road, been to The Source Mall lately? Because it's pretty much dead. Nassau needs to look to Westchester for re-inventing itself. Because when money leaves the county it hits the economy. If it's just poorer folks moving here like you say, then it's going mean more decay. Less money into the economy, since it's all leaving for NYC & elsewhere. This relates to infrastructure since less tax revenue for the county means more cutbacks, in buses, roads, etc. Nassau doesn't want to embrace proper urbanization like Westchester has. Instead of sitting & pretending it's still 1955, we need to redevelop our downtowns. Nassau actually has alot of towns along major LIRR lines, and many of those are already hubs for buses. Of course LIRR's reverse commuting problems with the mainline hurt any potential ridership, which is why the NIMBYs need to get the hell out of the way for the mainline 3rd track. There needs to be new condos and apartments to replace vacant or aging buildings, heck, this could be a good use for some of those vacant office buildings in Hicksville. Getting people to move here & work here is key to improving Nassau. Improving the bus system is also key, since many young people want reliable public transportation. Whether it's NICE or MTA, Nassau needs to realize the value of public transit, and put more money into the system, similar to the level Westchester does. You say there's "nothing I can do about Nassau's problems", well, thats true, I alone cant do anything, other than write elected officials, provide ideas, and share them with others that we are heading in the wrong direction. We all know what happened to Detroit. You cannot have a successful economy on having more & more poor folks moving in and middle and upper class leaving. Detroit is pretty much the result of that. 

Nassau already has areas that would make good towns, Hicksville, Westbury, even Hempstead could become future mini-cities, since they are all hubs for transit. But it's going to take commitment from the county. They have to stand up to the NIMBYs and the special interests. Build those condos and office high rises in Hempstead and it will improve. White Plains still has poor folks too, but it's important to have all income brackets represented. If only poor people remain in Nassau, then the rest of the county will look more like Hempstead. People loitering around drinking, streets that look like war zones, grafitti & trash everywhere, not exactly the kind of urbanization that is good for anyone. Though I dont even refer to it as urbanization, I call it decay.

Urbanization to me means more buildings and a higher population density. Lets get our towns on track with housing options for young people, more apartments, co-ops, and condos and legal multi-family dwellings. Improve bus service and pedestrian access. People will love here. It's been done in some of NYC's worst neighborhoods, certainly, it can be done here as well. I know its alot to read but we need fresh ideas here, the same thinking we've been doing for years isnt going to cut it.

Edited June 16, 2014 by PinePower

[Real Transit]

It turns out my messaging system hasn't been enabled yet on these boards, probably a waiting period or something like that due to my registration a little less than 30 days ago. No problem, I can reply here:

 

I honestly believe it's the same shit from the same people that's causing folks to diminish their posting activity here, or outright leaving this place.... For starters, get rid of all of the troublemakers, and you don't have this problem.... We also don't have many thread starters/threads being started here, sparking new discussion.... I've said this to a few other folks on here not too long ago about there being a lax vibe about the place, regarding posting in (what I call) the "mega" threads, thread with well over 200 pages of posts in em (the "random thoughts" threads of sections)..... This tells me that folks still want to be a part of NYCTF, but are just.... Bored (with what's going on here).....

 

I can't put this all, or even most of it, on staff.... Members gotta step up their game too.

You're right in the sense that all the blame shouldn't be on the staff, because if there weren't members causing problems, this forum wouldn't have problems for the most part. But I have my reasoning for why the staff here needs a re-evaluation. For one thing, I think whoever owns this site isn't on nearly enough as they should be given the traffic this place was once getting and should still be getting. I have yet to encounter one of the administrators more than once on this site. I've also noticed that there's a good amount of "censoring" and "threatening" on this forum, something that is just going to drive traffic away. The point of a forum is to discuss things that are relevant to the topic and the board. But what I've noticed is that many people are just going to places like Facebook or other boards because they're afraid of retailiation here, being censored, or needless drama. I was in the chatbox here about two weeks ago, mostly idling because I was getting some other stuff done, and some users were talking about something from the boards here. Cait Sith came in, chatted something along the lines of "stop talking about such and such, I'm not in the mood" (obviously, i'm paraphrasing here because I don't remember the topic) and suddenly the discussion got quiet, nothing was said, and users slowly left the chatbox over the next hour. Now, I haven't been here long enough to really see the demographics and the type of community that's on this forum, but it seems that its mostly those who have been here a while and are used to drama and the staff, while new members and those who haven't been here as long seem to be dying down with the postings. I don't think its boredom, I think it's that there are communities out there that are a bit more "welcoming" than what I've seen here recently.

 

I don't necessarily think there needs to be a re-evaluation/revamping of the staff (as people).... This isn't Straphangers/Rider Diaries (for example, where you had mods not signing on for months [literally])....

After what you mentioned above, I was going through the off-topic section and saw four consecutively locked threads on the first page. I decided to go through these and saw, a social experiment supposedly drawn up by a long time member here who then posted an exit letter in the next thread, and an argument between what looks like a member and a former staff member who either left the staff or got let go of the staff, and then a whole argument ensued. This has to be the first transit forum I've been on that this has happened to the extent of paragraphs that were written there. If that had to happen, then that just helps prove my point for a re-evaluation of staff. That's why I made that suggestion.

 

 

I simply think (and always thought) that current staff has too much on its plate.....When I ran forums, I didn't mind having specific people running a particular area of the forum.... With the way Harry has it set up, all the mods are basically what you'd call S-mods (global mods).... I personally never been a fan of them, for a very reason you mention....

 

Trust-worthiness does become an issue, because you do have immature power hungry nuts out here (in the community I used to be a part of [outside of this transit one], there were a plethora of them, for obvious reasons).... So I can understand why Harry might not be as quick to appoint any ole body as staff.....

 

What this forum could benefit from, is new blood.... I notice when Erica ("E for Erica") came here, there was a bit of an uptick in overall posting activity (compared to the timeframe just before she became a member).... May have been the *oh, it's a girl* factor, in the existence of what is a sausage-fest here otherwise (lol), but she's not a ditz either - she actually knows quite a bit about this hobby (or w/e you wanna call it), which really helps..... So yeah, How this site can attract new blood, that I simply don't know..... But I wouldn't cry over spilled milk (as the saying goes); I've never been one for persuading people to do anything anyway; coming back to something they were once a part of -- So let the folks that have left the forum, continue forward with whatever endeavors they're delving in.....

 

And with that said, can a mod move this exchange to another part of the forum....

Don't need it floating within the NICE section of the forum....

I don't think the staff have too much on their plate now because discussions have been dying down as far as I can see. What good is new blood to this forum going to do if they don't post or take part in the community? They're just another name on the members list then. What I think the problem is or from what I've noticed, is that the staff on here just have a reputation of not dealing with some things fairly and it ends up hurting more of the community than just those involved. I think there's one staff member on here who could probably retire because it seems like they're taking this site a bit too seriously, but without naming names, I will just wait to message the owner (I assume that's Harry given your reference above). Whoever has left the forum has left for their own reasons, I agree with you, but that doesn't mean the staff has to necessarily "give up." I would like to see, maybe, a redesign of this site, a re-evaulation of the staff, and anything else that could really signify change. That's what I think would help this place. You know, I see an 8,000 member count every time I visit this site, but I don't see the 8,000 members, or even half of that.

 

Also, if my messaging system was working, I probably wouldn't have posted here because I too am trying to keep this on topic with NICE.

[B35 via Church]

It turns out my messaging system hasn't been enabled yet on these boards, probably a waiting period or something like that due to my registration a little less than 30 days ago. No problem, I can reply here:

 

You're right in the sense that all the blame shouldn't be on the staff, because if there weren't members causing problems, this forum wouldn't have problems for the most part. But I have my reasoning for why the staff here needs a re-evaluation. For one thing, I think whoever owns this site isn't on nearly enough as they should be given the traffic this place was once getting and should still be getting. I have yet to encounter one of the administrators more than once on this site. I've also noticed that there's a good amount of "censoring" and "threatening" on this forum, something that is just going to drive traffic away. The point of a forum is to discuss things that are relevant to the topic and the board. But what I've noticed is that many people are just going to places like Facebook or other boards because they're afraid of retailiation here, being censored, or needless drama. I was in the chatbox here about two weeks ago, mostly idling because I was getting some other stuff done, and some users were talking about something from the boards here. Cait Sith came in, chatted something along the lines of "stop talking about such and such, I'm not in the mood" (obviously, i'm paraphrasing here because I don't remember the topic) and suddenly the discussion got quiet, nothing was said, and users slowly left the chatbox over the next hour. Now, I haven't been here long enough to really see the demographics and the type of community that's on this forum, but it seems that its mostly those who have been here a while and are used to drama and the staff, while new members and those who haven't been here as long seem to be dying down with the postings. I don't think its boredom, I think it's that there are communities out there that are a bit more "welcoming" than what I've seen here recently.

 

After what you mentioned above, I was going through the off-topic section and saw four consecutively locked threads on the first page. I decided to go through these and saw, a social experiment supposedly drawn up by a long time member here who then posted an exit letter in the next thread, and an argument between what looks like a member and a former staff member who either left the staff or got let go of the staff, and then a whole argument ensued. This has to be the first transit forum I've been on that this has happened to the extent of paragraphs that were written there. If that had to happen, then that just helps prove my point for a re-evaluation of staff. That's why I made that suggestion.

 

 

I don't think the staff have too much on their plate now because discussions have been dying down as far as I can see. What good is new blood to this forum going to do if they don't post or take part in the community? They're just another name on the members list then. What I think the problem is or from what I've noticed, is that the staff on here just have a reputation of not dealing with some things fairly and it ends up hurting more of the community than just those involved. I think there's one staff member on here who could probably retire because it seems like they're taking this site a bit too seriously, but without naming names, I will just wait to message the owner (I assume that's Harry given your reference above). Whoever has left the forum has left for their own reasons, I agree with you, but that doesn't mean the staff has to necessarily "give up." I would like to see, maybe, a redesign of this site, a re-evaulation of the staff, and anything else that could really signify change. That's what I think would help this place. You know, I see an 8,000 member count every time I visit this site, but I don't see the 8,000 members, or even half of that.

 

Also, if my messaging system was working, I probably wouldn't have posted here because I too am trying to keep this on topic with NICE.

You can change the staff & the same core memberbase would still be here replying to the same old posts on here.... I'm not buying that a change in staff would all of a sudden, get things back to the way things used to be (it seems like that's what you are implicating).... The damage has been done, those who have left, have left, for whatever their reasons.... I'm also not buying that there's these other welcoming (transit) communities out here; there really aren't that many to choose from these days.... Now if you're saying people are going over to non-transit based forums, well quite frankly that's a different issue, as I don't expect people here to strictly post on transit forums..... Hell, there was one person on here about a month or so ago that more or less stated that he's done w/ transit boards, and is resorting to move onto other endeavors.... Which I think is slowly gonna start happening anyway, and not just on this transit forum either.....

 

What good is new blood to this forum? It'll do the same good to this forum like it would do to any other forum....

I'm talking about new blood that would take part in discussions obviously, not people that would just sign up for the f*** of it.....

 

A forum redesign could make or break a forum.... Again I refer back to rider diaries (straphangers) as an example - I remember quite vividly when the admins there decided to change the overall layout of the forums, and there were quite a bit of members that bitched about it - some even going the lengths in professing that they're gonna leave the site because of the new layout (and that did end up happening btw).... I personally don't think a site redesign would make a difference.....

 

Although there are the same people more or less posting/replying to posts, I'm not going to harp over the total amount of members of this forum, because that's never indicative of how many people are active on said forum anyway.... Quite frankly, I didn't even know (or cared) that there are 8k members that have registered on this forum since the forum's commencement..... In 7 years time, one would think there'd be more than that....

[Cait Sith]

 

I was in the chatbox here about two weeks ago, mostly idling because I was getting some other stuff done, and some users were talking about something from the boards here. Cait Sith came in, chatted something along the lines of "stop talking about such and such, I'm not in the mood" (obviously, i'm paraphrasing here because I don't remember the topic) and suddenly the discussion got quiet, nothing was said, and users slowly left the chatbox over the next hour.

 

To make it short, when someone(Brett) starts bashing the staff for literally no reason/because he got the boot(which has been one of the big reasons lately and which he's been doing non-stop since he got booted), that's when I go on the offensive. I forgot what the situation was, but it was either myself or one of the admins that handled a situation and he(since he got kicked) kept bashing the staff knowing that we all have shit to do in our own lives.

Not gonna bother quoting the other posts since their rather huge. But I too have been an administrator and site admin for other places(not transit related) and I know how it is. A re-evaluation of staff won't change much(it's happened, and things have gone wrong) and we've had folks that have evidently abused their privileges and power for their own sake and some folks on here can attest to that. The reason the staff is the way it is now is because of trust and the same reason mentioned. For every time changes are made, some shit happens. And there's no way one can say "oh well you should do that more carefully" because this is the internet, personalities change when they have a little stroke of power and then shit hits the fan.

We can always try to get new faces on the staff, but there's always those that have quite a lot on their own plate with school/college, work and so on and so forth. You're basing that aspect on the idea that everyone on here has a lot of free time, which isn't the case.

What intrigues me is that you're putting quite a lot of blame on the staff, but not any towards members. It's a two way street and there's always a cause and effect. Yes, we've had people leave this place, what place hasn't? If you look at other boards like the one B35 mentioned for example, that place has been pretty dead and the moderation is non-existent. That place used to thrive....not anymore. Will this board go that way? I personally don't see that happening. I also read a tidbit of you saying that one of the staff members should retire for taking this place and the position seriously(a subliminal pretty obviously aimed at me), well, let me ask you this. What happens when you don't take it seriously and you just let things go haywire? We'd end up going the way of Riders Diaries, a forum that's legitimately dead when several years ago, had a pretty active member base. Hell, I was a member on there before I joined here(I was majinvegeta810 on there, and now that I look back on my own posts...good god I was such a noob lol).

When you look at all of the NY based forums(which there isn't much to begin with outside of simulation forums), there's hardly any kind of moderation which leads to even more people leaving. At least with this place, while the ship is not tight, things get handled, maybe not immediately, but things get done. We're not Subchat, where there's a constant flame war and no moderation every day, and we're not riders diaries. I can't speak for other places since I haven't checked them out, but those two are the more notable ones I can mention. This place isn't perfect by any means and I can take the blame for some of those reasons, but we try our best to do what we can do for the folks on here.

-sidenote-

I think you need 15 or 30 posts to have your PMs activated, it's set like that so people don't abuse the system. We've had quite a lot of trolls that abused it to troll other members on here.

With that said, lets try and bring this topic back on NICE.
 

Edited June 17, 2014 by Cait Sith
fixed quote.

[N6 Limited]

There are a few schedule changes starting June 22: I posted in the other thread

Edited June 17, 2014 by N6 Limited

[Real Transit]

You can change the staff & the same core memberbase would still be here replying to the same old posts on here.... I'm not buying that a change in staff would all of a sudden, get things back to the way things used to be (it seems like that's what you are implicating).... The damage has been done, those who have left, have left, for whatever their reasons.... I'm also not buying that there's these other welcoming (transit) communities out here; there really aren't that many to choose from these days.... Now if you're saying people are going over to non-transit based forums, well quite frankly that's a different issue, as I don't expect people here to strictly post on transit forums..... Hell, there was one person on here about a month or so ago that more or less stated that he's done w/ transit boards, and is resorting to move onto other endeavors.... Which I think is slowly gonna start happening anyway, and not just on this transit forum either.....

 

What good is new blood to this forum? It'll do the same good to this forum like it would do to any other forum....

I'm talking about new blood that would take part in discussions obviously, not people that would just sign up for the f*** of it.....

 

A forum redesign could make or break a forum.... Again I refer back to rider diaries (straphangers) as an example - I remember quite vividly when the admins there decided to change the overall layout of the forums, and there were quite a bit of members that bitched about it - some even going the lengths in professing that they're gonna leave the site because of the new layout (and that did end up happening btw).... I personally don't think a site redesign would make a difference.....

 

Although there are the same people more or less posting/replying to posts, I'm not going to harp over the total amount of members of this forum, because that's never indicative of how many people are active on said forum anyway.... Quite frankly, I didn't even know (or cared) that there are 8k members that have registered on this forum since the forum's commencement..... In 7 years time, one would think there'd be more than that....

No changes would fix things instantly. But yeah, let's just agree its a multitude of factors and not necessarily the few places where I'm pointing the finger. You've been here longer, you've probably seen more and dealt with more than I can see around here, so I'll take your word for it.

 

 

To make it short, when someone(Brett) starts bashing the staff for literally no reason/because he got the boot(which has been one of the big reasons lately and which he's been doing non-stop since he got booted), that's when I go on the offensive. I forgot what the situation was, but it was either myself or one of the admins that handled a situation and he(since he got kicked) kept bashing the staff knowing that we all have shit to do in our own lives.

 

Not gonna bother quoting the other posts since their rather huge. But I too have been an administrator and site admin for other places(not transit related) and I know how it is. A re-evaluation of staff won't change much(it's happened, and things have gone wrong) and we've had folks that have evidently abused their privileges and power for their own sake and some folks on here can attest to that. The reason the staff is the way it is now is because of trust and the same reason mentioned. For every time changes are made, some shit happens. And there's no way one can say "oh well you should do that more carefully" because this is the internet, personalities change when they have a little stroke of power and then shit hits the fan.

 

We can always try to get new faces on the staff, but there's always those that have quite a lot on their own plate with school/college, work and so on and so forth. You're basing that aspect on the idea that everyone on here has a lot of free time, which isn't the case.

 

What intrigues me is that you're putting quite a lot of blame on the staff, but not any towards members. It's a two way street and there's always a cause and effect. Yes, we've had people leave this place, what place hasn't? If you look at other boards like the one B35 mentioned for example, that place has been pretty dead and the moderation is non-existent. That place used to thrive....not anymore. Will this board go that way? I personally don't see that happening. I also read a tidbit of you saying that one of the staff members should retire for taking this place and the position seriously(a subliminal pretty obviously aimed at me), well, let me ask you this. What happens when you don't take it seriously and you just let things go haywire? We'd end up going the way of Riders Diaries, a forum that's legitimately dead when several years ago, had a pretty active member base. Hell, I was a member on there before I joined here(I was majinvegeta810 on there, and now that I look back on my own posts...good god I was such a noob lol).

 

When you look at all of the NY based forums(which there isn't much to begin with outside of simulation forums), there's hardly any kind of moderation which leads to even more people leaving. At least with this place, while the ship is not tight, things get handled, maybe not immediately, but things get done. We're not Subchat, where there's a constant flame war and no moderation every day, and we're not riders diaries. I can't speak for other places since I haven't checked them out, but those two are the more notable ones I can mention. This place isn't perfect by any means and I can take the blame for some of those reasons, but we try our best to do what we can do for the folks on here.

 

-sidenote-

 

I think you need 15 or 30 posts to have your PMs activated, it's set like that so people don't abuse the system. We've had quite a lot of trolls that abused it to troll other members on here.

 

With that said, lets try and bring this topic back on NICE.

 

I just realized I put you on the spot in my previous post. I shouldn't have done that, and I apologize. I think you may be thinking of a seperate incident than what I brought up. I don't recall the discussion being a negative one about staff nor do I recall the user you mentioned being in chat at the time. The only reason I brought up that example was to explain that the staff on here have sort of a short temper with members, whether they be repeat offenders or not (I don't know who is who), they still should be treated equally and talked to respectively as if they are all valued members of the community. I gotta say, since then though, it seems the chatbox has been empty most of the time I've been on here. I think you need staff who have the free time to really endorse this site, work on it, and improve what needs to be improved. Straphangers forum is mostly dead, and I'm hoping this forum doesn't eventually end up the same way. Subchat is alright, although the staff doesn't really themselves "public," there's a lot of joking around and trolling on there that spices up the discussion in both a good and a bad way. But I've seen a lot of criticism of the staff here on Facebook, especially in the groups, but not of other sites. Maybe that signifies something? I didn't mean to say that the entire blame should be on the staff; I was just stressing that part of the argument. I know you don't want things to go haywire here, but punishment and I guess "threats" of punishment should be a more conservative thing, not something to be shown off in public or something to stop conversations. It should all be a private thing for the most part, give punishment privately, if it doesn't fix it, do it again privately, if that doesn't work, then make the serious move. I don't know if you guys discuss things amonst staff, because you guys don't seem that active and when one's online, another one isn't. Yes, I know you all have lives outside of here, but unfortunately, sometimes staff on a forum requires more active moderation. I know you guys are trying your hardest with the time you have and the options given to you, but I think there's the need for some sort of an extra boost for both morale and recruitment.

[GojiMet86]

I'm going to disagree with you a bit on the Facebook thing, from a few posts earlier. Although many people post there, and perhaps those who have had it with this forums might have moved there, there is a lot of drama on FB, more so than here. There are quicker responses and anyone can see it, unless it's a PM.

[Cait Sith]

No changes would fix things instantly. But yeah, let's just agree its a multitude of factors and not necessarily the few places where I'm pointing the finger. You've been here longer, you've probably seen more and dealt with more than I can see around here, so I'll take your word for it.

 

 

I just realized I put you on the spot in my previous post. I shouldn't have done that, and I apologize. I think you may be thinking of a seperate incident than what I brought up. I don't recall the discussion being a negative one about staff nor do I recall the user you mentioned being in chat at the time. The only reason I brought up that example was to explain that the staff on here have sort of a short temper with members, whether they be repeat offenders or not (I don't know who is who), they still should be treated equally and talked to respectively as if they are all valued members of the community.

It was that same thing I mentioned, I remember you being there. It wasn't me being ill-tempered, I just didn't want to hear what was in the next chapter of his anti-staff novel that he's been spewing every since he got the boot. We've given him punishments privately like 6 million times and he refused to abide to them, so, I did what I did in that room that night. Basically following what you just said(maybe not in the exact way, but still)

 

And the problem about getting more staff members is that the majority of folks on here are either in jobs that take up a lot of their own time, high school/going to college or going to High School, and then you have the issues about trust and ensuring that they won't abuse their power for their own gain. You seem to ignore those points that I explained earlier. Outsourcing from other places is most definitely not an option.

 

There's more criticism on FB about us(the staff) because we're one of the more bigger forums out of everyone else and we do more than most. Hell, people steal OUR information and posts it as if they were the ones that got the info first. We were the ones that broke the info that we were getting C40LFs instead of C40LFRs and other sites used our info as if they got it first. SubChat hardly has members now because of a few individuals to begin with. All...and I mean ALL of the good members left that site. Now it's mostly trolls and folks that can't handle being told the truth and resorts to insults and a corrupt mod/site admin that drove a lot of people away.

 

The fact that you yourself know that you haven't been on here long enough, but you're taking a lot of word from outside sources shows a lot of one-sided arguments with very limited knowledge of what has happened over the years. That's one problem. The same people who complain about the staff are the same ones that get punished for the dumb things they do. And I'm not going to dive into the things that have happened over the past 8 years. And there's more drama on FB than here, you just don't look at the right places(I'm in a lot of the groups that stirs up drama).

 

The problem with these arguments is that you're taking word from outside sources(particularly those that have been punished by the staff for the stupid things they do) when knowing that you don't know what really has happened on here over the course of 8 years, which immediately has you pointing your finger at the staff about things. Your limited knowledge of this place won't help your arguments.

Edited June 18, 2014 by Cait Sith

[Burrstone]

Question how buses is nice getting in the order.

 

Nobody knows, nothing has been announced...  No need to keep asking I'm sure there will be a big discussion here considering we're all waiting to see who the new manufacturer will be considering the fleet is now all Orion & Orion is now defunct.  

[petabread]

This is a few weeks old now I don't remember when and what time never had an opportunity to post/ this but here we go. I saw an N24 pull into Jamaica terminal at 9:30, with a huge line of people standing everywhere and the supervisor came out of the bus. Next thing I know is a someone asked the n24 driver where the n22 is, they have been waiting an hour and no n22 or n24 bus has come. The driver said he is turning this bus into an N22 but it's hard because there was only 3 buses available for the 2 lines that day. The rest were broken.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[N6 Limited]

This is a few weeks old now I don't remember when and what time never had an opportunity to post/ this but here we go. I saw an N24 pull into Jamaica terminal at 9:30, with a huge line of people standing everywhere and the supervisor came out of the bus. Next thing I know is a someone asked the n24 driver where the n22 is, they have been waiting an hour and no n22 or n24 bus has come. The driver said he is turning this bus into an N22 but it's hard because there was only 3 buses available for the 2 lines that day. The rest were broken. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No spares? This is where the GPS system will really come in handy.

[petabread]

 

This is a few weeks old now I don't remember when and what time never had an opportunity to post/ this but here we go. I saw an N24 pull into Jamaica terminal at 9:30, with a huge line of people standing everywhere and the supervisor came out of the bus. Next thing I know is a someone asked the n24 driver where the n22 is, they have been waiting an hour and no n22 or n24 bus has come. The driver said he is turning this bus into an N22 but it's hard because there was only 3 buses available for the 2 lines that day. The rest were broken. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

No spares? This is where the GPS system will really come in handy.

 

I didn't wait around to see what happened. Surely couldn't have been that bad.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[N6 Limited]

I didn't wait around to see what happened. Surely couldn't have been that bad. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There are times where the n6 is late or missing and I just get on the Q2 and call it a day

[FamousNYLover]

Friday afternoon, while I was doing anti-Horse Carriage canvassing in front of Flushing Duane Reade, 16:59 n20L Hicksville Limited never showed up.

Edited June 23, 2014 by FamousNYLover

[FamousNYLover]

I'm going to take n87 now soon after I leave Jericho Library via n20/48/49.

[Harry]

I would like to take user Real Transit seriously but since every single post this user has made have been behind multiple proxies.  Now who the hell would do that?  Since you have to hide I really don't give a shit what you have to say.  Start your own community and run it 7+ years successfully and then come and talk to me.  But I doubt that will ever happen so I'm going to ban user Real Transit and all the proxy addresses associated with it so me and the rest of the community never have to read any garbage from that fake account again.  Carry on with the discussion guys.

[PinePower]

I would like to take user Real Transit seriously but since every single post this user has made have been behind multiple proxies.  Now who the hell would do that?  Since you have to hide I really don't give a shit what you have to say.  Start your own community and run it 7+ years successfully and then come and talk to me.  But I doubt that will ever happen so I'm going to ban user Real Transit and all the proxy addresses associated with it so me and the rest of the community never have to read any garbage from that fake account again.  Carry on with the discussion guys.

 

You think this place is successful? Ever since you got rid of Brett it's a joke. You let Yuki post his nonsense again and there's zero activity here. This section is dead! I really wasnt going to post here again but I figured I'll do it one more time so I can go down in flames too. Most people have left this forum. Just be done with it & ban me too, I want no part of this place anymore. I'm logging out for the last time. Enjoy those trips to Whole Foods & LIBRU nonsense that's all thats left here.

[B35 via Church]

You think this place is successful? Ever since you got rid of Brett it's a joke. You let Yuki post his nonsense again and there's zero activity here. This section is dead! I really wasnt going to post here again but I figured I'll do it one more time so I can go down in flames too. Most people have left this forum. Just be done with it & ban me too, I want no part of this place anymore. I'm logging out for the last time. Enjoy those trips to Whole Foods & LIBRU nonsense that's all thats left here.

Never understood why people do this stupid shit; demanding a ban when they're (supposedly) dead set on voluntarily "leaving".... Just as weak as suicide by cop..... If you're gonna leave, just leave high school already - talkin about you came back, so you can go down in flames too.... Not surprising, considering you always were a glutton for punishment.....

 

Don't let truancy patrol hit you on the way out... for the 3rd time.

Edited July 2, 2014 by B35 via Church

[Cait Sith]

Just be done with it & ban me too, I want no part of this place anymore. I'm logging out for the last time. Enjoy those trips to Whole Foods & LIBRU nonsense that's all thats left here.

 

The reason I'm not taking this seriously is because of the simple fact that you left. Twice. And you came back. Twice. Perhaps the 3rd time is the charm? And the fact that you kept coming back pretty much goes hand in hand with Harry's point....

 

I don't have any problems with you, but you should really quit acting like you're some kind of prodigal son.....

 

Anyway, bye.(you'll be back, anyway....)

 

 

Edited July 2, 2014 by Cait Sith

[Union Tpke]

In the perspective of a rider, has bus service in Nassau county improved or got worse since the Veolia takeover?

[FamousNYLover]

In the perspective of a rider, has bus service in Nassau county improved or got worse since the Veolia takeover?

Today around 8:36, I check out Flushing-Main St and there were one Asian man were looking for n20 Hicksville thinking NICE was on Saturday schedule b/c of MTA on Saturday schedule. I told riders it was on Sunday schedules on NICE and it's different schedule than MTA.

One of regular n20 rider told me last 7:25pm n20 Hicksville never show up as I was heading into Flushing-Main St station after 8:55 n20 Roslyn left..

 

Some of n4 riders at Jamaica Center says, NICE is HORRIBLE.

Edited July 5, 2014 by FamousNYLover