Elite Forum

[MatthewCarman]

A lot of people out there love to hate me but I don't care, I care about what my clients think and what they want.

You can have issues where you have to prove you are better then everyone else in chasing and it will get you nowhere fast. You can think your word is the law and blah blah blah and compete with everyone for everything, or you can just have fun.

It's just life have fun, don't take it too serious because you won't get out a live.

I do not understand why people must act so hatefull sometimes. Life is to short to stay mad at anyone. People need to stop getting so worked up over every little thing. Why can't we all just get along and be friends?

Doug I do not realy know you but you seem like a nice honest guy and I consider you my friend.

 

[Chad Cowan]

No Doubt, lighten up people.

I guess I didn't understand the joke; it just seemed like your idea of making ST better was to polarize us. I just hope you understand that there are younger chasers who you should not write off because of their age.

New members cry about "Elite Chasers" when the fact of the matter is a lot of us have seen so many people come into chasing, act like they wrote the book and told Doswell everything he knows and then a year or so later they are gone like a flash in the pan.

As a relatively new member, I can say that I have not seen/ heard of much elitism. Obviously, ST strives for the highest quality and some 'cleaning' could be viewed as elitism. I'll be the first one to say that I still have quite a bit learn and I appreciate any corrections/ criticism.

 

[Tim Vasquez]

Okay all... please don't get worked up over comments that are made here, especially taking things personally that aren't targeted at you. If it's incendiary, myself or a moderator will step up to the plate. Doug's comment was kind of funny, yet if you think about it, it's obvious a few of our best ST members are under 21, while a good share of people we've banned are well over 30.

Tim

 

[Mike Peregrine]

I would love a script to automatically remove the word 'elitism' every time it is used and replace it with something really funny ... like 'fartism.' It has been thrown around so many times for so many reasons that the word has lost all meaning at this point anyway.

 

[Justin Teague]

Do I detect a hint of fartism in your post, Mike?

There will always be people that think that they are better than everyone else....it doesn't matter where you go or what you do. Chasing seems to be a competition to quite a few people, so those people are naturally going to be a little more defensive of their decisions and will probably tend to self-promote a little more.....and that could include putting others down. Like the others have already said, just enjoy chasing and forget about what others think.

 

[David Drummond]

That stuff has been an issue for just about as long as chasing has been on the Internet. About the time anyone succeeds in chasing, particularly if they are making any money off of it, someone is there waiting to try to shoot them down.

There was a little private joke running for a while. "It's not a tornado unless you got it on video AND at least 6 other chasers claim it was, at least one being a big name chaser." Sadly, there was some truth in that sometimes.

 

[Mike Peregrine]

Do I detect a hint of fartism in your post, Mike?

I admit that some of my posts have appeared fartistic. But I just remind myself that somewhere there is always a bigger fartist than I am.

 

[Justin Teague]

I could take this way too far, but in the spirit of staying on topic, I'm out!

 

[K Johnson]

I can't wait until I can be as fartist as the rest of them. I am so new to this 'hobby' I could not even fake being a fartist. I think those who are fartist, whether they are up their own arses fartists, or quite justifyably fartist, are lucky fartists and I can't wait until I'm considered knowledgeable enough be a member of the fartist throng

 

[J.B. Dixon]

Is Fartism the same as....

Just wondering Mikey P., is Fartism the same as Douchebaggery? Maybe I'm over-analyzing at this point. I digress....

I suppose it's always something that's a little bit palpable on the forums, with certain sections having more than others. I guess as somewhat of an outsider (most of the year....yes, admittedly, I'm one of "those") looking in, I think it comes with the territory for many of those who make up the chaser community. Let's face it......amny of us have a competitive streak in us. 2004 was a real tipping point, because everyone seemingly bagged either some great shots or video at some point that season. With a formerly exclusive pool of photo/videographers for mass media to pay for shots from, suddenly great shots were coming out of the woodwork. Consequently, you could feel the edginess creep into what was formerly freindly & constructive discourse on the forums, and in many blogs out there.

I think we're slowly coming out of that "Fartism/DB-ery" to a degree, and that's a good thing!! With certain tragedies this past year, such as a shocking event like Greensburg, or an altogether different kind of shocking event like Eric Nguyen, I think it's made us appreciate not only this unique hobby/lifestyle/career/passion that is storm chasing, I think it's made everyone appreciate one another. Hey, we're all in this together. I'm just glad there's a place like this for all of us to get together and share.....good or bad. And thanks to Tim and the other Mods who make this thing run as smooth as possible.

 

[Terry Tyler]

Douchebaggery?

i dont know about all that now...

but, i believe that this is not a completely "elite" forum, though there are several elite members...there are several people who are completely new to this stuff, and there are some who are all the way up to the professional level...

the forum provides a good place for all weather enthusiasts reguardless of the level of experience or ability...

you can go from forrest lambert to micheal gribble...

there are people at the lowest of the totem pole, then you have your professionals...if people feel any more or less than any other individual on the forum, it might be an inferiority complex or pride or something...

 

[Chad Cowan]

...I think it's made us appreciate not only this unique hobby/lifestyle/career/passion that is storm chasing, I think it's made everyone appreciate one another. Hey, we're all in this together. I'm just glad there's a place like this for all of us to get together and share.....good or bad. And thanks to Tim and the other Mods who make this thing run as smooth as possible.

Well put. That's a good way to end this thread (hopefully).