New Z Central Station Contest

Joe, I've been a member here for years and while I don't participate as much as I used to I would like to make a comment on this contest. I really like your definitions of the the categories. They make sense in all respects. I suppose the definition of diorama has changed over the years as well in respect to model railroading.
I remember my first diorama I posted here, now buried in the Archives. You could see if from all sides. The second I did was the same. Somehow I knew, like you the "real" definition of dioramas. Don't remember when or where I learned it but I did. On my third attempt of a diorama the backside was not intended for viewing. By your definition it was a display. I called it a diorama. Entered it in a competition and won in the diorama category. I went to trainshows and all these smallish 'displays' or in very few cases 'real' dioramas where always classified as dioramas. Never displays in my ten years of modeling.
My point is that I think the definition of diorama has evolved, changed, to include 'displays.' I've found over the years that two of the biggest stumbling blocks in a conversation are logic and semantics. Using logic you will only convince half the people and by using semantics you confuse the other half. You've made your good points and possibly they will be acted upon in the next contests so for now let this one play out and enjoy the ride.
Lastly, voting. Always an issue. No one is happy. This site has tried having only moderators vote, members, and outside angencies. Someone always complains. Nature of the beast. I know one thing for sure, I wouldn't want the dullards from my LHS voting for anything in any contest that's for sure. This too, will work out. m2cw Jim

Jim, IIRC, that could have been mine. The diorama you build me taugh me a lot about building a scene, thanks.

Hmmm Jim, you got me to thinking... why not have both categories in the future, Displays and Dioramas? Covers both aspects and even the purists can be happy. Joe

John, I don't remember but I think yours was the first of my diorama evolutionary changes. You asked for a slope. SO, I'M BLAMING ALL THIS ON YOU! Jim

Joe, Don't see why not. Something for everyone. Dioramas and Displays are something most of us can build and the creativity is boundless. I don't make any rules here so we'll see what later in the year brings. Enjoy, Jim

So there is no misunderstanding.. Make no misteak about it.... and other platitudes.... Toot the tug boat pulling the lumber barge was never in the contest. It was a REASON to post and get this thread back on the front page, in December, and visible again to the membership. So it is withdrawn from any concideration, does not count-- and never was entered. Noway- Nohow!
More to come.
Fred

Interesting Definitions

I saw someone had laid out some interesting requirements for the strict definitions of dioramas recently and had referenced the American Museum of Natural History. Good idea as the AMNH probably has the the most esteemed diorama halls in the US.

A scene being viewable from all sides in order to be called a diorama though is quite incorrect, at least by the AMNH standards. A good percentage of their dioramas are built into walls, behind glass, and of course only viewable from the front.

www.amnh.org/exhibitions/dioramas/

Have a look through some of these dioramas... just amazing and inspiring work. Though I doubt any of us will build dioramas on this scale they are amazing to look at and get inspired by.

John
www.ztrains.com

I had thought I conceded this point a while back when I said that perhaps definitions had changed?

When I mentioned the Museum of Natural History (the one in Santa Barbara, California, where I grew up and not the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan), I was speaking of many years ago, and of what I remembered from the time. So let’s set the record straight. I personally remember a difference between a diorama and a display in the modeling world many, many years ago. Apparently this is no long the case. I have built what I consider displays, and I have built what I consider to be dioramas. I will still create displays when needed/called for, and I will continue to create what I personally believe to be dioramas acceptably viewable on all four sides.

Although dioramas exhibitions have been around since 1822, upon checking, the word diorama was not found in the 1828 edition of Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language (if that helps with the age of the word). However if one were to search diorama in the new Merriam-Webster dictionary, the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, or even Wikipedia, they would find a gaggle of definitions ranging in a wide difference in styles and applications used for the word. So let us agree to disagree. Let us say there is no longer one correct strict answer to the question; what is a diorama in the modeling world? Even more reason to have future instructions spelled out