02-18-2013, 10:20 AM
To all our loyal members and good friends:
Well, here we are again, another good year for Big Blue. We have gained many new members; and as we write this, we are approaching 1500 total. We can't forget that we've lost a few of our friends as well. Our membership spans many different countries, cultures, all age groups and many who have physical and other health issues, so, as saddened as we are, it's not surprising that we lose a member now and then along the way. Visit our “Remembering Our Fallen Flag Members” forum to see some of their work. It remains a work in progress. On the bright side, we've had several old friends come back and post some amazing stuff. Overall, we must be doing something right. One other change that we've had recently is that Path, our webmaster, found himself too busy to give us the support he thought we needed so we asked my son, Packy (yeah, they're both named Pat), to help us keep things running and current.
Mikey and I are both pleased with where we are. We have an extraordinary group that shows up on a regular basis. We not only have good modelers here, but people that are fun and a pleasure to be with. Many of you have gotten together with other members and have had a chance to actually visit each other's layouts. This camaraderie is most impressive for a forum like ours. Rarely has any of our staff had to intervene in a squabble, their jobs are mainly directed towards keeping a reign on spammers, and of course, doing the modeling that they’re so successful at. One of the best things about Big Blue, are those members that jump in to help when needed. Which brings us to what we’re leading up to.
We have, throughout the years, received donations from members, and for this we are grateful. We have also held a few auctions, and we make a little bit when someone buys an item from our store. All this adds up, but we still need to ask for a bit more support, so once a year we have our annual PBS-like appeal. For those of you that are new, we carry the URL, “The-Gauge.net” and the colors that we started out with eleven years ago. Over the years, that original, The-Gauge, forum went through several iterations to the point it no longer was identifiable. Even the URL was lost over the years. It also had several owners that were and are profit-driven, and had advertising stuck in some weird places. We felt like our hands were tied, so when the entire staff and many members could take it no longer, about four years ago we started our new forum “Big Blue.” So as to avoid any confusion with any other forum names, we chose "the-gauge.net" in respect to our original URL, but "Big Blue" as a tribute to the nickname we earned a long time ago. Both of us, Mikey (ngauger) and Don (ezdays) vowed never to allow any kind of ads anywhere on Big Blue. We are the sole owners of these forums and we will be true to our word; no Google ads, no pop-ups and no sponsors. When funds run low, we have, and will, dig into our own pockets, but we will not lower our standards and allow ads to be placed anywhere here. Yes, we do have a “Yellow Page” forum but that’s only for active members who have a small business and donate to Big Blue for their ad space. We are pleased with the level of support we’ve gotten from everyone during the year, but every year about this time, the bills come due and so we once again appeal to you for donations. We don’t ask for much; contribute what you feel comfortable doing. Give what you can and only if you can. Don’t worry if you can’t, we will still be here regardless; your donation just makes it that much easier to pay the bills and do the things here that we think need to be done throughout the year. We all do this on our own time out of love for the hobby and to provide a place for you all to be proud to be a part of. Just so you know, every penny of your donations goes into supporting Big Blue.
If you choose to donate, you can do so by clicking on the “donate” button at the bottom of any page. You can pay by PayPal or by credit card. If need be, we can PM you an address in the event you want to mail in a check or Money Order. We know times are tough, we don’t want to impose a hardship on anyone, but we more than appreciate anything that you do for us here.
Thank you all
Don (ezdays) and
Mikey (ngauger)
Owners and administrators of the Big Blue Train Forums
Well, here we are again, another good year for Big Blue. We have gained many new members; and as we write this, we are approaching 1500 total. We can't forget that we've lost a few of our friends as well. Our membership spans many different countries, cultures, all age groups and many who have physical and other health issues, so, as saddened as we are, it's not surprising that we lose a member now and then along the way. Visit our “Remembering Our Fallen Flag Members” forum to see some of their work. It remains a work in progress. On the bright side, we've had several old friends come back and post some amazing stuff. Overall, we must be doing something right. One other change that we've had recently is that Path, our webmaster, found himself too busy to give us the support he thought we needed so we asked my son, Packy (yeah, they're both named Pat), to help us keep things running and current.
Mikey and I are both pleased with where we are. We have an extraordinary group that shows up on a regular basis. We not only have good modelers here, but people that are fun and a pleasure to be with. Many of you have gotten together with other members and have had a chance to actually visit each other's layouts. This camaraderie is most impressive for a forum like ours. Rarely has any of our staff had to intervene in a squabble, their jobs are mainly directed towards keeping a reign on spammers, and of course, doing the modeling that they’re so successful at. One of the best things about Big Blue, are those members that jump in to help when needed. Which brings us to what we’re leading up to.
We have, throughout the years, received donations from members, and for this we are grateful. We have also held a few auctions, and we make a little bit when someone buys an item from our store. All this adds up, but we still need to ask for a bit more support, so once a year we have our annual PBS-like appeal. For those of you that are new, we carry the URL, “The-Gauge.net” and the colors that we started out with eleven years ago. Over the years, that original, The-Gauge, forum went through several iterations to the point it no longer was identifiable. Even the URL was lost over the years. It also had several owners that were and are profit-driven, and had advertising stuck in some weird places. We felt like our hands were tied, so when the entire staff and many members could take it no longer, about four years ago we started our new forum “Big Blue.” So as to avoid any confusion with any other forum names, we chose "the-gauge.net" in respect to our original URL, but "Big Blue" as a tribute to the nickname we earned a long time ago. Both of us, Mikey (ngauger) and Don (ezdays) vowed never to allow any kind of ads anywhere on Big Blue. We are the sole owners of these forums and we will be true to our word; no Google ads, no pop-ups and no sponsors. When funds run low, we have, and will, dig into our own pockets, but we will not lower our standards and allow ads to be placed anywhere here. Yes, we do have a “Yellow Page” forum but that’s only for active members who have a small business and donate to Big Blue for their ad space. We are pleased with the level of support we’ve gotten from everyone during the year, but every year about this time, the bills come due and so we once again appeal to you for donations. We don’t ask for much; contribute what you feel comfortable doing. Give what you can and only if you can. Don’t worry if you can’t, we will still be here regardless; your donation just makes it that much easier to pay the bills and do the things here that we think need to be done throughout the year. We all do this on our own time out of love for the hobby and to provide a place for you all to be proud to be a part of. Just so you know, every penny of your donations goes into supporting Big Blue.
If you choose to donate, you can do so by clicking on the “donate” button at the bottom of any page. You can pay by PayPal or by credit card. If need be, we can PM you an address in the event you want to mail in a check or Money Order. We know times are tough, we don’t want to impose a hardship on anyone, but we more than appreciate anything that you do for us here.
Thank you all
Don (ezdays) and
Mikey (ngauger)
Owners and administrators of the Big Blue Train Forums