Does it Cost $$$ To Join ST Now??

[Lanny Dean]

Just my humble opinion, but anytime donations are called for and made (regardless if it’s a public or private endeavor), it is only with decency that the donator (should he/she be interested) be allowed to have some sort of idea how their donation is being allocated. I agree with many, $5 is peanuts and I see nothing wrong with charging whatever price for a FEE to join the forum (regardless of how that revenue is being allocated). That being said, I don't feel the same when it comes to donations. When I heard it now cost to join, and knowing many donations have been made and much ad space sold, it made me question the many times I've seen it implied that donations were needed to "fund the website operation and other unforeseen expenses (like if we have to migrate to a bigger server during a big chase week), and hopefully soon we will be able to give moderators a small stipend for their volunteer work" Now I'm no server and web operation person and I have no idea what it costs to operate something such as ST, perhaps it's a struggle to fund with the given revenue, were that the case, I'd have no problem throwing money into the pot and being a "StormTrack Supporter"; now if revenue is far greater than costs, rather than blindly funding hidden interests, I'd prefer to send my donation to a worthwhile charity, rather than being a "Unknown Supporter". Now if the first scenario were the case (struggle to keep revenue near costs) as has been “vaguelyâ€￾ implied in the past, I'd think the admins would openly state that, and in doing so surely would boost donations; if the second scenario (revenue greater than costs) I can fully understand them wanting to keep quiet, just hope they too than understand the negative stigma that creates.

I am sorry Dustin, I simply do not understand your post. You contradicted yourself with the whole donation thing.
Again, to me, it is really really very simple....if you want to become a member it is going to cost a whole $5

As far as the donation, and this is what I think you were trying to say, I understand the "need" to know where you money is going. But let me ask you this......for the sake of argument, let's say that one of your friends lost all their worldly possessions is a house fire and the locals decided to take and give dontations for/to them. You even decided to give um...lets say $18 .....does it matter and do you need to know if your $18 went for a new bed or clothing???

Come on people, I might be able to understand if we were talking big
$$$ dollars $$$$ ......we are talking $5 to join and donations ranging from $18-$50!!!

As I said earler, this thread is really going nowhere on this issue IMO.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

I really don't know why people are so stuck on wanting to know where the money goes? If you don't want to donate, then don't. If you don't want to pay $5 to join, then don't. As Lanny said, it's quite simple. The ST donation has been around a long time, so I dont' know why suddenly everyone is so bent out of shape on knowing what the donations are used for.

All the money we, as storm chasers, spend each year on storm chasing and we are seriously going to cry over a measly few dollars? Really?

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

I am sorry Dustin, I simply do not understand your post. You contradicted yourself with the whole donation thing.
Again, to me, it is really really very simple....if you want to become a member it is going to cost a whole $5

Perhaps you're confused or fail to fully understand the definition of contradict; I'm fully aware if you want to become a member is cost $5, IMO that's great, could care less actually; There is a HUGE difference between telling someone it cost a Fee to join something and asking for Donations implying it will be used to fund something that in reality is already more than paid for; again not saying that's the case here, just pointing out it would be of benefit to the beneficiary to disclose some evidence on how donations are/will be allocated...

But let me ask you this......for the sake of argument, let's say that one of your friends lost all their worldly possessions is a house fire and the locals decided to take and give dontations for/to them. You even decided to give um...lets say $18 .....does it matter and do you need to know if your $18 went for a new bed or clothing???

Quite similar situations ; but I will say, if one of my friends lost all their "worldly possessions" it would be quite obvious they need assistance, and I would donate whatever I could, be it for a new bed or clothing; now if on my way to make the donation, I see them walking into the local Casino, I'm probably going to rethink my donation. Using your spectacular fun little scenario, my question that seems no one can or wants to answer, has ST been burnt down and worldly possessions lost, or is the house still standing tall and the local casino seeing some business?

 

[Robert Dewey]

Given the number of people that have donated, I'm guessing most do not care where the money is going... as long as it is ST related.

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

Given the number of people that have donated, I'm guessing most do not care where the money is going... as long as it is ST related.

Yeah, and that's means great things for the existence of ST (as long as it is ST related). I'm just saying if they truly need more assistance, they could pick up more donations by sharing some of the numbers. As it is, in refraining for disclosing that information *I* (and assuming others) interpret it as they are sitting fine financially and don't need additional donations to keep in operation. So I guess as a non-donator, I'll say thanks to all you pitching in the money, keep it up!!!

 

[Jason Foster]

To keep it simple:

I think I may have talked about ST magazine, I'll look for the thread(s) later. I certainly know I have seriously considered doing this, but I would like to have my own personal financing in place before proposing the idea formally.

I forget...CFDG is the group that really focuses on forecasting right? Someone told me, or invited me a while back, but since it was strictly (or heavily weighted on) forecasting, I wasn't interested.

Someone commented about repeat comments....that's called agreeing...and creating a concensus.

Oh, almost forgot. Let's ask on other wx forums if the $5 has turned folks away...that would an interesting topic to bring up.

 

[Rob Satkus]

FWIW, donations are not necessary... income is from ads and new users and it's more self-sustaining than what we were doing previously.

Tim

Tim posted this yesterday....donations aren't necessary...so why is everyone still so worked up about it? If you have any headache medicine left , Lanny, could I borrow some?

 

[cedwards]

I remember when Stormtrack was in printed form. I paid $ for it and it was made up of community contributions. There is even one article from me. I still paid for it and had no problem with that. Why is it any different when it is online? If someone makes a profit, good for them. It is a lot of work maintaining a site like this.

Why are people so against profit nowadays?

 

[Lanny Dean]

Yeah, and that's means great things for the existence of ST (as long as it is ST related). I'm just saying if they truly need more assistance, they could pick up more donations by sharing some of the numbers. As it is, in refraining for disclosing that information *I* (and assuming others) interpret it as they are sitting fine financially and don't need additional donations to keep in operation. So I guess as a non-donator, I'll say thanks to all you pitching in the money, keep it up!!!

Damn dude, why dont you just plainly ask Tim to show you the books personally?

I am trying to understand your thought process seeing that you yourself are not a stormtrack supporter. I might think you would have a case or argument if you were a supporter.

Again, this thread is getting way out of hand IMO. We now have people who are not even ST supporters basically asking to see the books....this I do not understand.
Joey K. is dead on IMO...if you dont want to donate dont. But if your going to bitch about the money and wanting to see the books, might be a good idea to become a supporter to support your cause.
Tim, thats a good idea, if they want to see the books, make them pay the $18.
This is crazy.....Rob, I have no problem sharing...Advil work for you?

 

[Jason Foster]

I think some people are saying they want to see the books purely out of curiousity and not because of complaint of the operations. I'm curious, but could careless.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

Yeah, and that's means great things for the existence of ST (as long as it is ST related). I'm just saying if they truly need more assistance, they could pick up more donations by sharing some of the numbers. As it is, in refraining for disclosing that information *I* (and assuming others) interpret it as they are sitting fine financially and don't need additional donations to keep in operation. So I guess as a non-donator, I'll say thanks to all you pitching in the money, keep it up!!!

To say that Tim would pick up more donations if he were to share anything is just being naive. If you aren't donating now then chances are you will never donate. I still don't understand why a). a non-supporter is griping about what the donations are used for and b). why this is just now becoming an issue when the donations have been around for a couple of years.

Again, if you don't want to donate then don't, but stop griping about it if you aren't even a supporter yourself. StormTrack has a lot of educational value to it, to me it is worth the $18. As Lanny said, if you aren't a supporter than nothing supports your reasons for wanting to see what the money is used for. Quite frankly, it is none of our damn business what it is used for. If I cared that much, then I wouldn't have donated. Simple as that.

This is just incredibly ridiculous, are we really this bored?

 

[Lanny Dean]

I think some people are saying they want to see the books purely out of curiousity and not because of complaint of the operations. I'm curious, but could careless.

Jason,
Does it or should it matter either way? Most particularly if they are not a ST supporter?

I really do not care either way, in fact, I have said all along if you want to join, pay the $5....if you want to donate do it. If not then maybe people should just shut up.

Lets move on to the next thread!
BTW, how do I donate and become a supporter...I think I will just so I can say I did and maybe just maybe it will piss a few people off....I always like going against the grain!

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

Again, this thread is getting way out of hand IMO. We now have people who are not even ST supporters basically asking to see the books....this I do not understand.

I think again you are misunderstanding my comments; In the end I could care less if they want to show me the "books" or not, though I guess I am somewhat curious what an operation of this sort costs to run; I'm just clearly stating I'm not going to make a *Donation* to fund potential profits when it's implied that donation is going to be allocated towards a specific purpose. If they wanted to show that revenue was unable to fund the costs, I would then donate. And this in no way means I am anti-profit, in fact I'm all for profit; I would not object to them charging everyone a fee. Really both scenarios result in the same situation for all stakeholders, just one would be rather misleading (IMO) way of earning profits and the other is just good business. But in agreeing this topic is out of hand, this whole argument is even less relevant, given its quite unlikely large profits exist...

If you aren't donating now then chances are you will never donate.

Not true at all; I recently landed a solid job and have much more disposable income than in the past, if I knew my donation had some impact on rather or not ST could keep on keeping on, I would be more than willing to pitch in...

 

[Jason Foster]

Jason,
Does it or should it matter either way?

I was just pointing out an observation, not wanting to debate it personally.

BTW...for all to read/reference:
Stormtrack Supporter Program by Tim V.

 

[Tim Vasquez]

BTW...for all to read/reference:
Stormtrack Supporter Program by Tim V.

I must not be paying attention but that thread, which promoted the ST donor program, isn't supposed to be there anymore. I've taken it down. We are NOT soliciting donations anymore. The "Stormtrack Supporters" tag is for people who have made voluntary donations in the past and they should still be recognized for having contributed. We'll probably give it to people who still insist on donating. But again, it's not necessary now that our finances are out of the red. If newer people are getting the tag just for an obligatory $5 membership, it's unintentional and I need to fix it.

Is this the reason this thread has gone on for 12 pages? If there's other donation requests still up, please point me there.

Tim

 

[Warren Faidley]

I think the benefits of being an ST supporter for a few dollars is well worth it. How many of us have meet friends via ST? Found new forecasting sources or enjoyed reading storm reports or shared forecasts. I know from running a few websites myself, it's a lot of personal work and the hosting does cost.

W.

 

[czenzel]

I think the benefits of being an ST supporter for a few dollars is well worth it. How many of us have meet friends via ST? Found new forecasting sources or enjoyed reading storm reports or shared forecasts. I know from running a few websites myself, it's a lot of personal work and the hosting does cost.

W.

I totally agree. I have found all on this forum to be very knowledgeable and curious to myself and others. I started my first thread on "Recommendations on a Storm Chasing Tour" and got a lot of good feedback including what to look for and how I should go about for looking into a tour.

I am currently also a web site developer and know of the costs to even host web sites in my own house. It costs electricity, Internet connection, other utilities, and also requires a lot of work to build but maintain the web site.

I just became a Stormtrack Supporter after reading some of this thread. Looking back I realized how many people I meet on the forums that I would like to see this resource keep active.

 

[Shane Adams]

I'm not crying. Crying would involve saying something along the lines of "I hate this site. I'm never coming back".

Some people don't get satisfaction or "feel goodiness" out of sharing the wealth of knowledge they possess. You may not be one of them, which is fine. But why become a killjoy for others? Everyone was a newb once, even you, believe it or not. I just don't see the need to squash that cycle.

No one forces anybody to read the "newbie" topics. No one forces anybody to succumb to the "pressures" and "expectations" of explaining things all the time. Or maybe they do and I'm just not aware..??

I'm not trying to squash the cycle. I'm just saying experienced chasers shouldn't be expected to play teacher with every word they say. If you read my post, I noted the vast "education" archives section. You'll find my name amongst those quite a bit. I enjoy sharing knowledge, as you'll see. But I also enjoy just being able to hang around with other chasers and just BS, without having to explain everything along the way.

 

[joel ewing]

Ohhh, I've seen it before.

What we're experiencing in here is often the direct result of a crappy
tornado season, without much to look forward to on the near horizon. Can I get a witness??!!

 

[Steve Worthington]

How many of you are over the age of 12? You guy`s fight like my kids.....
Just support the site and stop all the kiddy fighting and lets talk about weather. J/K

No really, keep fighting, With out any good storms this season we can watch the **** storms on here

 

[Ric Burney]

How many of you are over the age of 12? You guy`s fight like my kids.....

"Don't make Tim pull this site over...."

 

[Jason Foster]

Some of you guys can release some steam in the banning thread...it's fun, and worth any money given for being here.

 

[Mark Blue]

Ohhh, I've seen it before.

What we're experiencing in here is often the direct result of a crappy
tornado season, without much to look forward to on the near horizon. Can I get a witness??!!

Man, I heard that Joel! Did you hear Rathman is back on the 49ers staff?

This is crazy.....Rob, I have no problem sharing...Advil work for you?

I think I need something stronger Lanny!!

EDIT: Bring back the ST Core

I'm willing to listen and perhaps chime in if you want to champion the cause and kick off a new thread SA!