Welcome to the HRW Slot Car Forum

The HRW slot car forum is a place for you to come and share the fun of this great hobby. Maybe you are new and just need some assistance in choosing the the right track or car, or a longtime veteran who just wants a place to hang your hat. Either way, I hope our forum works for you.

As a general rule, I dislike rules pages. They are boring and most people never read them. But recently it has been brought to my attention that we need something that explains how you should conduct yourself while you are here. Most people do not need such things. They come come here and have fun.

Our forum is a little different than others. When you visit here, think of it as coming by our house. We are not a large advertising company or a forum that 100% of the content is "sponsored". There is no "gold" or "plus" memberships, whatever those are are. It is a free forum and all the content inside is free to use. In other words, no fees of any kind. So we ask you to conduct yourself as you would in person and show a mutual respect for others.

But we know that sitting behind a computer gives us that anonymity and sometimes people have a bad day. Combine the two and you get a good dose of "keyboard courage" and you start to let everyone have it. Everyone does it. It happens. When that happens you usually will not get banned. Unless you have really bad breath. In that case you will be banned to the furthest corner of Missouri where the weather is always bad and you never have a stable internet connection. This location is oddly very close to HRW HQ.

So to help keep the peace, here are the rules I ask that you read.

1 No adult content. This means avatars and signatures too. Not sure what that means? Then this forum is not for you.

 

2. No Politics/Religious Ranting. If you want to vent, there about 100000000 other forums and places. This isn't one of them. This is a BIG pet peeve of mine and the fastest way to get nuked is to ignore it. 

3. No Fighting/Flaming. If you have an issue with someone, please take it offline. And no, I won't ban a person just because you dislike them.

 

4. No "Bashing". Let's explain this.

This means constant complaining about the same thing. It sometimes indicates you are trying to sell something that competes with the brand you are criticizing. I see this rampant on other forums and it is childish and mostly misleading. But it is allowed because the product is an official sponsor. It will not happen here.

Constructive criticism and personal opinions are of course welcome. If you do not like something, fine. You can comment that you don't. Honest feedback is just fine and what we want.

But if I see you CONSTANTLY bringing it back up, it's just bashing. Beating a dead horse, get it? Good.

5. Negative Vendor Feedback. If you feel a vendor has done you wrong, take it up with them privately. There are 2 sides to EVERY story. This goes for Ebay sellers too. Use discretion. If there is a seller out there who does not provide good service, trust me, we likely already know. Our hobby is small and the word gets out fast. Attacking them in an open forum causes drama. I don't like drama unless it's on television. 

HINT: I know every dealer/vendor personally that advertises on our forum. We were dealers ourselves. We know things do not always go as planned. These are called mistakes. Most humans make a few over the course of their life. The vendors we know will do all they can to address any problems that arise. 

There, not so bad is it? If you follow these rules you likely will be spared the agony of "the dark place".

LINKS TO OTHER SITES
All Forums Except Sponsored

If you are posting a link to another site to help someone, GOOD. I encourage it. That is what a good forum is all about. So if you find a article, photo, latest news, etc, and it's on another site, no problem. POST IT.

For example: There is a product announcement on Slotforum or SlotCarToday. You don't see it on HRW. Likely because I am asleep. I do that. Go ahead and post it. It's SLOT CAR information and that is what we like to see. In fact, we encourage it. I cannot keep up with everything these days. So if you see something news worthy, POST IT.

Posting In Sponsored Forums

Sponsored Forums

We have some forums that are created for a certain brand and are "sponsored". This means it is supported by the people who produce or promote the brand in question and they chose old HRW to call home. They use the forum to give us the latest news on the products and services they provide.

In these forums, please keep the topics and posts about their products ok? Pretty simple request. No one is saying you cannot talk about different brands on the forum entirely. Just not in the sponsored areas.

SPAM PREVENTION

1. Spamming. If I wanted spam I would have it for breakfast. But the truth is I do not care for it much, real or online.

If you run a business and you are not one of our supporters, and all you do is constantly post links about it, I will delete them.

I will let a couple slip by once in awhile. Mostly because our members are pretty smart and can see through a spammer like Casper on a diet. Since most spammers will never bother to read this, I will point them here after banning them to that dark place.

Our "supporters" are just that. They support HRW with product reviews or sponsor race events, etc. In other words they give something BACK to the enthusiasts. Over the years I have allowed people to do this, but it has come to the point where I feel it isn't fair to those that support us and our forum.

Besides, there is no store or dealer any better than the ones we have listed at HRW. Period. The places we fly banners for are the cream of the crop as far as hobby dealers go. Makes me wonder why they chose HRW if they were that smart. Anyway, they are good people with excellent reputations and have earned the respect we try to give them. If you find a review or article that HELPS YOU, thank the dealer who sponsored it when you can.

2. Just a personal FYI? You are not a business and just found a good deal somewhere? If you post a link to a super sale somewhere, like for instance a local store or chain is blowing out sets or cars, that's fine. Folks will find out soon enough anyway. See? Not that heavy handed. We are just asking to respect the folks who help bring HRW to you when you can.

And let's use common sense. If you find a great deal then email, text, pm or call your buddies like normal. By the time you post it they will be out of stock anyway. Happens to me all the time...never fast enough.

3. Generic Links. Wally World or Lowe's having a sale on Dremel's? Post away. Links to ANY slot car manufacturer or anything related to our hobby? Post away. Good example might be Woodland Scenics or Evergreen Styrene announces new items. Post away. Find a new power supply at "Electrogeek.com?" Post away. In other words share it if you feel it HELPS people.

General Etiquette (Fancy Word Alert)

1. Topic Hijacking. This means going way off the original topic. It's just not a nice thing to do. But it happens all the time and most of the time it's harmless and in good spirit. But if the thread is about how to tune a Slot.it, jumping in and asking what the best paint is for your track surface is what we mean. Just use common sense.

3. Choose The Right Forum. Back to that question about paint. We have a forum about it. Try to post your topic in the forum that fits it best when you can. Make a mistake? No worries, we will just move it.

4. Multiple Topics In Every Forum. Just because you are having a sale or wanting to advertise a slot car show doesn't mean you should post it in EVERY forum and clog up the main portal. If you do, just know I will delete most of them.

5. Be respectful of others. If someone starts a thread about the NASCAR/GT/F1 race, and you dislike these series...then stay out of the topic. If you go in and make the usual: "I hate this series because it isn't what it used to be" jargon I will delete it. Remember that old saying? If you have nothing good to say...say nothing at all.

6. Which brings me to our Bench Racer's Lounge. It is for general off-topic (non slot car) related topics. It is NOT a place where rules do not apply.

The Buck Stops Here

I follow almost every topic in our forum. If I am not, one of my super-duper moderators are. If something starts to "go South" we will nip it in the bud. Bud nipping is our specialty. We have had a lots of practice. So if you see YOUR post has been deleted, do not bother stomping your feet and demading to know WHO deleted it.
 
It was me. This does not mean you are banned. Or even warned. Like I said, we understand you have bad days. Things happen. Want to know another uninteresting fact? Most people who get a post deleted end up thanking us and apologizing for being naughty.

I am too blame for any and all content. If you have an issue then please CONTACT ME directly.

Please enjoy our forum. It is here because we love this hobby and want to share that passion with others. I hope you find out that our forum is a good place for you to hang out and share the fun you are having.

- Harry