I owe some people a drink!

[nickgrillo]

I'd have to say that nearly (if not all...) the times I got attacked on ST or was given trouble from others members here, were from non-chasers.

I see nothing wrong with non-chasers wanting to read all the stormtalk on ST, but that is why we have several of the forums public, so people can readily view them.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

I'd have to say that nearly (if not all...) the times I got attacked on ST or was given trouble from others members here, were from non-chasers.

Name just one.

 

[Jeff Snyder]

I'd have to say that nearly (if not all...) the times I got attacked on ST or was given trouble from others members here, were from non-chasers.

Name just one.

Seriously, Mike... I thought this was something we were trying to get away from with the old Stormtrack. It seems that you want to entice an argument... If you don't want to believe him, then fine. Just either take it to PM or something. Let's start this off on a good foot by avoiding what appears to me to be these petty arguments. Obviously, discussion regarding the role of non-chasers on Stormtrack is fine, but this doesn't appear to be heading that way.

 

[Simon Brewer]

I'm sorry, but I know the rules said there is no such thing as free speech in the Stormtrack Forum, but isn't that an oxymoron. Anyways, I'm pretty much don't want to take sides or anything, but I'll have to agree with Mike on the point of the discussion, but most other changes look good.
I've got to go out on a limb and defend all the NON-Chasers that just plain-out love severe weather or weather for that matter. I haven't been "attacked" recently, but I can remeber quite a few times in the past where I was attacked, not by non-chasers, but by people who called themselves chasers, many of them are some of the more frequent posters on ST. Now since non-chasers are excluded we need to develop a formal definition of a stormchaser and start selling stormchaser licenses.

Simon

 

[Tim Vasquez]

We'll probably be amenable to opening up the board a little more once we figure out how the current policies are working out... some of this will involve defining potential problems a bit better (if there are any).

Tim

 

[Robert Dewey]

I agree with Mike H., but I think Tim's approach is best for right now. We should probably focus on getting all of the "bugs" sorted out (i.e. one step at a time) before moving on to the application process.

 

[Scott Blair]

I don’t see anything wrong with non-chasers observing in Stormtrack but I have a problem with Stormtrack catering to non-chasers. The ST idea is simple... serve chasers. That’s how it was years ago and I don’t see any reason to deviate or compromise any other way.

I remember when I was an inexperienced chaser at a very young age. There were some excellent discussions on some weather related forums. I knew I could participate, but the quality I could provide at the time would have been insignificant and a distraction to those more experienced if I would have chosen to post. Instead, I observed and learned from others. My belief: the majority of non-chasers, spotters, and enthusiasts do not provide a substantial level of quality and/or substance when it comes to chase discussions and chase topics. Contemplate the type of contributors who made the ST magazine what it was.

I commend MikeH for always looking after the little guy, but quite frankly disagree in this case. If the little guy has nothing significant to contribute that’s chase related, please move on.

Scott Blair
http://www.targetarea.net

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

Seriously, Mike... I thought this was something we were trying to get away from with the old Stormtrack. It seems that you want to entice an argument... If you don't want to believe him, then fine. Just either take it to PM or something.

It wasn't about enticing an arguement. It was called a disagreement. I said THREE whole words and now I'm part of what we were trying to get away from? You know I think that is exactly right. See ya.

 

[jaybarnsmith]

I don’t see anything wrong with non-chasers observing in Stormtrack but I have a problem with Stormtrack catering to non-chasers. The ST idea is simple... serve chasers. That’s how it was years ago and I don’t see any reason to deviate or compromise any other way.

I remember when I was an inexperienced chaser at a very young age. There were some excellent discussions on some weather related forums. I knew I could participate, but the quality I could provide at the time would have been insignificant and a distraction to those more experienced if I would have chosen to post. Instead, I observed and learned from others. My belief: the majority of non-chasers, spotters, and enthusiasts do not provide a substantial level of quality and/or substance when it comes to chase discussions and chase topics. Contemplate the type of contributors who made the ST magazine what it was.

Totally agreed...

The fact of the matter is, there are plenty of "weather weenie" type forums/message boards out there, and there is too many to even count. Stormtrack is for actual chasers/meteorologists, and anybody who signed up to ST just to lurk or post to political debates is ridiculous (which no longer will happen...) and as you pointed out, most of these people have very little knowledge (although, if they are interested in WX, I am sure it will grow) and will probably become more of a distraction then help.

Even when newbies try to contribute to the TA sometimes, it is more harm then good (and often causes problems, and even fights...).

Thats so egotistic its not even funny. I happen to agree with Mike H. here that the restrictions on who can join are a bit too much. I know I certainly won't be here with the restrictions inplace now if I hadn't already joined.

Take the Garry Wellman character who posted before me. Hes a good candidate for being banned because of his completely worthless post. Of course new restrictions on joining aren't going to stop people like him, he'll just bullshit his way back in. You end up stopping the legit people who would make valueable posts.

I frequent a lot of forums on the internet. They all allow open membership, as in anyone can register and post. They don't seem to have problems with new people insulting them, or bringing up heavily political topics. Perhaps you guys are too sheltered and can't handle someone disagreeing with you. Or perhaps you are too worried about trying to look good so you can sell as many dvds/whatever for your business as possible that you feel everyone is 'slurring' your good image by disagreeing with you in a public place. Get over yourselves and realize that no one in the real world gives a crap how many tornadoes you saw this year or for how long you claim you have been chasing.

As for new people getting in the way, ever thought to just *gasp* not read there posts if you are in a hurry? Or you know you might try posting something helpful so that they can learn and not get in the way.

Now don't get me wrong, I like the look of the improved Stormtrack. I also have high hopes that it will work out well. But being realistic I doubt its going to change anything if the attitude of the people who post here the most doesn't change.

 

[Sarah Berling]

Maybe we should just drop this for a little while...Tim said that he doesn't want any suggestions as to how to improve StormTrack just now, as he's kind of worn out from reformatting the site. So let's just leave the subject alone for a bit and work from there. Sound good?

Sarah

 

[Scott Blair]

I happen to agree with Mike H. here that the restrictions on who can join are a bit too much. I know I certainly won't be here with the restrictions inplace now if I hadn't already joined.

The new restrictions are a bit too much? LOL! The overall goal of the simple restrictions is to serve chasers, so if that’s too much I’m sorry. Perhaps I’ll agree with you and say you might not be here if you joined at a later date.

Perhaps you guys are too sheltered and can't handle someone disagreeing with you. Or perhaps you are too worried about trying to look good so you can sell as many dvds/whatever for your business as possible that you feel everyone is 'slurring' your good image by disagreeing with you in a public place. Get over yourselves and realize that no one in the real world gives a crap how many tornadoes you saw this year or for how long you claim you have been chasing.

Wow, that's an interesting statement! May I inquire to what brought up the subject of selling dvd’s, tornadoes observed in a year, and the length of chasing career? I certainly don’t see how any of that pertains to a discussion related to the future of ST, but please correct me if I’m wrong. LOL, and I love the good image thing! If I really cared what people like you thought about me, I would never publicly post strong opinions like my previous post. Love me or hate me, but either way my goal still remains to strive for high quality discussions that are geared towards chasers on this forum.

As for new people getting in the way, ever thought to just *gasp* not read there posts if you are in a hurry? Or you know you might try posting something helpful so that they can learn and not get in the way.

As for new people getting in the way, have they ever thought to just *gasp* observe others posts so they can learn and not get in the way? And you're right; my time is valuable to me. ATTM, I don't have all day to sit at my computer and filter through garbage posts. But it's noteworthy I find the most noise from non-chasers on this forum and good quality from the active chasers.

Thanks Tim for the changes!

Scott Blair
http://www.targetarea.net

 

[Scott Olson]

Seems to me that Tim has done alot of work to re-organize the website and to make changes to the benefit of the community. If Tim thinks that StormTrack should just be for active chaser or mets and not just storm ethausists then thats it. Afterall, he has done a great degree of work to accomodate a lot of very upset people. These changes aren't always going to be popular but he's got my support.

-Scott Olson

 

[Glen Romine]

I'll add my commendation to Tim and the moderators for stepping up the entrance and operational requirements of this board - and hope for stricter enforment as well. I'm largely in solidarity with Scott Blair on the changes - I agree this board should serve chasers first - and if there is a place for severe weather enthusiasts to participate as well, that's great, but I don't agree with serving the weather enthusiast on equal ground. While there may be some visitors here that have lots of free time to sift through the muck (or an inability to differentiate the two) - I can't say that I'm one of them. A number of individuals have given a lot of time and effort to try and make this a place of useful and accurate information - but there is only some much you can ask of them before those in the want must be asked to do a little work on their own. Having them do that before coming to this board I don't think is too much to ask. I'd say if you just enjoy seeing pictures of severe weather - but don't have an interest in chasing - then there are other boards out there that will better serve your needs, or if not, then one should be made. I guess since I'm not trying to sell images or DVDs, I'm just not sympathetic to helping provide a home on the web for the severe wx enthusiast. Since Stormtrack is rooted in serving chasers, not enthusiasts, it seems that chaser's interests should be served first.

As far as Mike H.'s position - I'm really confused, since after leading a campaign to destroy the private group, which contributed to the enforcement of these changes on the main boards, it appears you now are taking the position that you don't want these changes that you just helped implement. I guess it will be impossible to make everyone happy no matter what actions are taken. But when the dust settles, I hope this place remains somewhere that I'll still enjoy coming to.

Thanks again Tim and moderators.

Glen

 

[Jonathan Merage]

Along with many other "wx. weenies", chasers (of storms OR tornadoes :lol, and members of the academia who share their opinions & ideas with this community, I regularly visit ST & browse through its forums. Since it's beginning, ST has been one of my most valued chaser Web resources (from getting great info, sharing informed opinions, submitting some truly amazing reports & even shopping around!

Over the past several months, we've all noticed a disturbing trend in the quality of posts (their relevance, respectfulness, so on...). I, for one, was getting frustrated by the frequency of idle chatter & pointless bickering that was getting out of hand in far too many of the forums. In light of this, it's awesome to see Tim V. & the Mods taking the initiative and their own time in reorganizing Stormtrack to really improve the site & hopefully (I'm sure) restore the composure and self-respect that defined ST! I certainly look foward to having an even MORE informative & fun ST, and know that whatever the end design, Tim V. & our Mods are doing the best they can to make it all work!
Way to Go, Guys!!

 

[Glenn Dixon]

I'll toss out my two cents and add my thanks to Tim for giving this whole thing a good reboot. Well done!