David Drummond
Member
The value in anything really comes down to the person spending the money, it doesn't really matter who is offering it. That really goes for ANYTHING. Obviously, for most of us that actively chase, we don't see that high of value in what he's offering, because it's mostly something we can supply for ourselves. Why do you think he doesn't market it to storm chasers? Someone that has plenty of money and has no clue about chasing could see a tremendous value in it. It's just like my video, I like sharing it with other chasers, but frankly, the market for it is outside the chase community. We chasers as consumers are a small lot.
What really makes me sick about the whole thing is that certain people can do something, and there is a big uproar of bitching and moaning about it, and it's acceptable and allowed to go on. The current example is this with Warren, but I can think of half a dozen other's over the last year. It's commonly acceptable among the majority of the chase community to annually bash on Warren. I think Shane gets a good round of bashing once or twice a year too. I bet though if you saw Roger Hill, or Tim Marshall or Dave Hoadley (just to pick out a few big names) put up an add trying to sell private tours at that price anyone would have a bad word to say about it, and if they did, they would quickly get chastised by the rest of the community. However, we allow con artists and imposters to run amok through the underbelly of storm chasing virtually unchecked and anyone is wrong if they try to call them out on it.
Warren, is just the one everyone seems to love to hate, and I think most of it is jealousy. I of all people, do understand there have been some personal conflicts that caused hard feelings. Things like that happen. Doesn't necessarily make either party a bad person. Some people just aren't made to get along. I have only had the opportunity to chase with Warren once when he was out with Jay on the Happy day. We missed the tornado but we still all had a great time and he was just as excited as we were to find that HUGE hail we found on the ground. Seemed to be every bit as excited about the weather as everyone else, and in that regard, seemed to still be every bit as much of a chaser as the rest of us, despite his commercial interests. Similar thing with Shane, I was a bit apprehensive about chasing with him the first time, but we had a terrific time and was one of the best chases I ever had.
Everyone is always cool and nice (with one or two exceptions) on the side of the road, and parties and conventions, etc. Why does it have to be any different when we converge on a message board?
I will say this about Warren. Even though I had been chasing for a while, when his book and video came out, that inspired me to go further with my chasing and try to make some sort of a business out of it. Why? Because I wanted to chase as much as possible and at every opportunity, and let's face it, you can't do that working for someone else. Other people came along like Roger Edwards and Tim Vasquez and Dave Gold and some others I am probably forgetting and made successful businesses out of the weather/chasing world which further inspired me. It just shows if you want something bad enough, it can be done.
Some don't like the commercialism in chasing, and that's fine. But I don't think it's any surprise to any of us that chasing gets expensive quickly. Working for someone else (especially if they don't understand your passion for weather) sucks. Why not make the best of both worlds if you can?
Chasing is very competitive, and I don't think there is anything wrong with that. Competition SHOULD make you get better at what you do, not get jealous. It should make each and every one of us get better with our chasing and forecasting skills. It should make us all strive to improve our video and photographs and resulting products we put out from that. When there is a day that someone else succeeds and you didn't....be supportive of that, because I guarantee you on another day that role will be reversed and you will be the one that succeeded when someone else failed and you would like to have that support too.
What really makes me sick about the whole thing is that certain people can do something, and there is a big uproar of bitching and moaning about it, and it's acceptable and allowed to go on. The current example is this with Warren, but I can think of half a dozen other's over the last year. It's commonly acceptable among the majority of the chase community to annually bash on Warren. I think Shane gets a good round of bashing once or twice a year too. I bet though if you saw Roger Hill, or Tim Marshall or Dave Hoadley (just to pick out a few big names) put up an add trying to sell private tours at that price anyone would have a bad word to say about it, and if they did, they would quickly get chastised by the rest of the community. However, we allow con artists and imposters to run amok through the underbelly of storm chasing virtually unchecked and anyone is wrong if they try to call them out on it.
Warren, is just the one everyone seems to love to hate, and I think most of it is jealousy. I of all people, do understand there have been some personal conflicts that caused hard feelings. Things like that happen. Doesn't necessarily make either party a bad person. Some people just aren't made to get along. I have only had the opportunity to chase with Warren once when he was out with Jay on the Happy day. We missed the tornado but we still all had a great time and he was just as excited as we were to find that HUGE hail we found on the ground. Seemed to be every bit as excited about the weather as everyone else, and in that regard, seemed to still be every bit as much of a chaser as the rest of us, despite his commercial interests. Similar thing with Shane, I was a bit apprehensive about chasing with him the first time, but we had a terrific time and was one of the best chases I ever had.
Everyone is always cool and nice (with one or two exceptions) on the side of the road, and parties and conventions, etc. Why does it have to be any different when we converge on a message board?
I will say this about Warren. Even though I had been chasing for a while, when his book and video came out, that inspired me to go further with my chasing and try to make some sort of a business out of it. Why? Because I wanted to chase as much as possible and at every opportunity, and let's face it, you can't do that working for someone else. Other people came along like Roger Edwards and Tim Vasquez and Dave Gold and some others I am probably forgetting and made successful businesses out of the weather/chasing world which further inspired me. It just shows if you want something bad enough, it can be done.
Some don't like the commercialism in chasing, and that's fine. But I don't think it's any surprise to any of us that chasing gets expensive quickly. Working for someone else (especially if they don't understand your passion for weather) sucks. Why not make the best of both worlds if you can?
Chasing is very competitive, and I don't think there is anything wrong with that. Competition SHOULD make you get better at what you do, not get jealous. It should make each and every one of us get better with our chasing and forecasting skills. It should make us all strive to improve our video and photographs and resulting products we put out from that. When there is a day that someone else succeeds and you didn't....be supportive of that, because I guarantee you on another day that role will be reversed and you will be the one that succeeded when someone else failed and you would like to have that support too.
