The Great Western Coffee Shop Forum - a clarification

[whole diary]

[grahame]

You will find our main site at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info
We run a Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CoffeeShopCRP/
We have a Twitter feed at https://twitter.com/CoffeeShopCRP

Both the Facebook and Twitter are very low traffic feeds directing visitors to our main forum. We do not at present have any other active official feeds on Facebook, Twitter or any other social media.

Some other domains such as [summat].passenger.chat and [summat].coffeeshopcrp.org.uk will redirect you to http://www.firstgreatwestern.info

The Coffee Shop Forum is run by a team of around a dozen volunteers who use a private area on the forum, messages and emails to co-ordinate the operation of the forum.  Every page clarifies how we operate:

This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules (email link to report to admin@railcustomer.info ). Forum hosted by Well House Consultants

We welcome people signposting The Forum from elsewhere, and that will include quoting its name and perhaps touting their membership.  With over 1,000 posting members, a lot of people are proud to be associated with us. Occasionally, it may be unclear from one of these other posts that they are not our official feed; please let us know if you feel that is the case.  We will review such cases once we are aware of them, but although we can ask for and usually achieve a clarification it is not always possible to the immediate satisfaction of all parties.

[infoman]

don't like facebook

don't like twitter

both too scruffy looking and confusing,its up to all of us to make this site as interesting as possible,

by posting anything that maybe transport related.

Grahame would we be allowed to have another public display promoting the site,like we did a few years ago in Reading?

[grahame]

don't like facebook

don't like twitter

both too scruffy looking and confusing,its up to all of us to make this site as interesting as possible,

by posting anything that maybe transport related.

I'm understanding that your comments about Facebook and Twitter are about the platforms as a whole, and not about our presence there?   Both are tuned for shorter term content retention, and for advertising / promotion purposes.   Contrast rail where discussions flare up from time to time, but go on for years.

Grahame would we be allowed to have another public display promoting the site,like we did a few years ago in Reading?

That was "Community Rail in the City" - sponsored by ACoRP^▸ (Association of Community Rail Partnerships) / Community Rail Network.  I forget whether it was before or after the renaming.  A day I very much enjoyed, and very much for the company and comradeship of members as well as meeting some passengers.  In reality, is the best place to meet people when they are rushing to, from or between trains?

The Coffee Shop has many of the features of a Community Rail Partnership.  But it also lacks some things that a modern CRP^▸ (Community Rail Partnership) has.   We do not have an accreditation with the Department for Transport.  We do not have a complex set of policies (though what we have stand us in good stead). We do not have paid staff. We do not have a specific line / set of lines / station we support.  We are not accessible to all, including those who have no internet access.  We do not have an office, nor do we have a dedicated phone number.   So we are, very much, a different beast.   So my thoughts are that "Community Rail in the City" might not be something for us to do on our own, though an invite to share stand space might not go awry.   You mention Reading, and I remember a marvellous day at Waterloo.

But then there are or might be other opportunities ... and these things need thought.  It is amazing to me that we're still achieving around 1000 messages a month ... though the nature of posts and our membership has changed.  And there are technical things, and "on the ground" things, that I take a look at and think about.   Perhaps the fact that personally as I slow down I have given up a number of things - for the most part voluntarily - but yet retain my involvement with the Coffee Shop above all other (even giving up a paid job to be here) rather indicates that priority.  And it's not for the medium, but for the purpose and for the members.