I owe some people a drink!

[Jay McCoy]

I know some spotters who are very good at what they do and drive to the next few counties at the request of the NWS. Thats not my point. My point is they are sent there by the NWS or the local wxnet to observe wx. They do not formulate their own forecasts and choose a target 300 miles away in the next state and then drive for 12 hrs round trip just to take a picture. A chaser does. Their purpose is totally different than a chaser and most times their knowledge isnt as advanced (in most cases). I dont know of alot of spotters that can read a model and a sounding and choose a good target.

Trust me I hate being put on wx watch when i know better storms are 1 county away and I have to go to my assigned position and report light rain or small hail while somebody else shoots a tornado (can we say june 11th when I was on duty in amarillo mr David D.) Still mad about that one.

 

[Rob_Davis]

But we start splitting hairs at this point. It is not necessarily reasonable to characterize all spotters any more than it is to characterize all chasers.

There are quite a few so-called "chasers" out there who do not do their own in-depth forecasting. If that were the case, WX WORX and Tim V. would be out of business. The fact is, whether they do met level forecasting or not, they are still chasing, and commonly doing so successfully.

Could it not be said that those who do all their own forecasting without relying on technology or advice to find their targets are really just weather weenies who happen to chase?

 

[Jeff Snyder]

STOP IT! Any further bickering between Rob or Nick will result in immediate suspension. This is exactly what we are trying to get away from, and instead, I'm having flashbacks from elementary school. Take it to PM if you want to keep arguing, but you must NOT continue doing so in this thread.

 

[Sarah Berling]

Thanks, Jeff. Also, I don't think mileage should matter too much, as far as how far one must chase in order to become a "chaser". I've gone on chases (yes, they were actual chases) where I traveled a grand total of 75 miles - I ended up in Placitas, New Mexico, which is North of Albuquerque, but not very far. Caught an awesome storm and got some amazing pictures, but because I didn't travel the whole 100 miles or whatever, does that mean it wasn't a chase?

Just saying maybe we should not try to quantify the mileage and just try to qualify what creates a chaser, if this conversation should even be continued.


Sarah

 

[Jay McCoy]

If I upset anybody or offended anybody I am sorry and as David said I owe you a drink. I was just trying to point out what most people consider the differences are between chasers and spotters but this argument has gone on for years and wont be resolved here. I am both and proud of it.

 

[Rob_Davis]

It's all good, Jay. It really is all just semantics. But apparently it has become necessesary to strictly define who's who in this community, so eventually it has to be addressed.

The way I see it, "chasing" is a mindset more than a label. To many spotters, they ARE chasing! After all, they left the house and drove somewhere looking for a storm. They may not know how to formulate their own forecast or talk met-speak, and they may only drive twenty miles total, but regardless, they ARE chasing.

I hate to be the one to slay the sacred cow here, but the truth is that doing your own forecast is no more necessary to being a "chaser" than learning morse code is to being a ham radio operator. It may put you on some higher elitist plane than others, but when it comes down to it, you're still just a chaser like the rest of us (not referring to anybody in particular here).

 

[fplowman]

How about if I drive 700 or more miles round trip time and time again and didnt see sh!t (2005) does that make me a chaser nick?? lol :wink:

I thought I would throw some humor in there.. Im sure yourself and others feel my pain. I got 2 lousy tornado pics this year while driving at 70+ mph in motion to catch up to them.. Blah!

 

[nickgrillo]

Originally posted by fplowman
How about if I drive 700 or more miles round trip time and time again and didnt see sh!t (2005) does that make me a chaser nick?? lol :wink:

I thought I would throw some humor in there.. Im sure yourself and others feel my pain. I got 2 lousy tornado pics this year while driving at 70+ mph in motion to catch up to them.. Blah!

Well, I am sure you tried your best, Fred... It doesn't matter if you got a whole bunch of tornadoes -- At least you tried to... There was ALOT of very good chasers this year that wasn't able to get alot of tornadoes, probably due to the fact they had limited time available and there wasn't that many superhuge days this year...

 

[Bill Tabor]

Not sure if I caught all the thread here in review but there is a difference between chasers and spotters - typically. I will say that chasers can be spotters, and spotters are also sometimes chasers but not always. Distance isn't an issue.

Spotters are typically people that go out for the purpose of protecting the community. They often are part of a local organization dedicated to severe weather preparedness. Often spotters are also part of an amateur radio network so they can call in their reports.

Chasers on the other hand are really out primarily to see storms. They travel various distances to do this. I chase locally if tornadoes are locally and sometimes I go thousands of miles practically to Canada all to see a storm.

That's basically the defs as I see it and have heard and observed, or experienced them being used. Additionally you can have a person that is actually both. They can go out locally with a joint mission of catching watching storms (because they love them), and helping to warn the public. Some (very few) spotters will go long distances out of their community to help warn the public, but usually that is because they are also chasing the storms because of their love, photography, videography, media, etc.

Personally I consider myself a chaser but I do call in reports locally and in the field far away from home. However I am an individual and not part of a group.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

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.

Really confused? It was said rather simply over and over and over again. Did you read my posts on here? I'm glad it/st isn't segregated as it was looking to do, but at the same time not happy to see those same ideas just plopped over here. Just what is so confusing about making that step? Did I say implement your ideas of only allowing chasers now? I don't think I did. I did NOT help implement that over here. The only one doing the implementing here is the OWNER of the site, like has been stated so many times whenever us whiners complain and its not agreed upon by the CORE folks, or others.

Due to your wording above, I guess my only motivation is to sell images and dvds. I mean I have to have some whack motivation(since it does not equal yours), don't I? I can't just feel this way AND sell things. Will a mod please remove my dvd post that is lost in a wrong forum from the change. Just completely remove it(seriously). It is such an evil thing anymore anyway. All it does is mutter up the minds of those one is argueing with. God. It also gives those holier than thou something to preach about, instead of just not liking something.

It is really simple for me, or at least it was. As completely open as possible, and free to all is always the best approach to me. *I* did not see ANY reason for me to have to have what was being desired. *I* will survive the "fluff" posts out there, which must be by the "fluff" posters. Very simple. I don't NEED this forum to cater to just my needs. Do I need all these "other" folks to post here? No. Do I NEED them to not be here, nope.

If you want to suggest my thoughts have been given because I'm trying to sell things, by all means feel free. If it helps your point, in your mind, hey, I'm here for ya. Meanwhile, I'll remove my dvd link post and the link at the bottom of my signature. It just gets in the way. If I put selling a dvd above my true feelings about complete openess, I would imagine the best course of action(to sell dvds) would certainly be trying to remain as uncontroversial as possible. Maybe that is why I said what I said in the bible thread too. JUST trying to sell dvds.

Would it be THAT hard to get Tim Marshall and/or David Hoadley on here and ask them who their target audience was when selling things? I bet they were open to anyone and I bet they weren't freaking evil or "ill-motivated" at the same time. I bet their lives went on when a non-chaser wanted to talk to them. I bet if they made stormtrack mag for chasers, that when they did so they never intended it to be SOLELY for them. I bet their 'souls' weren't so tainted to think it should be that way for THEIR sake. But hey, if that were the case, I'm sure they were just sympathetic to their needs so they could SELL them what they had.

Well I better stop my un-supported "reply", because it is nothing short of an attack. There, saved some the step. It is just continuing the negativity. Instead I should have just let this wrong commenting go. Will work on being an idiot I guess.

 

[Doug Lee]

I agree with the changes, and I do not consider myself a chaser. I am a spotter and a chaser wannabe. Currently, I cannot chase for economic reasons.

I refrained from posting on many of the religious and political threads because I didn't want to contribute to the noise. My views in those ares are not always easy to classify, and I'm sure my comments would have generated negative reactions from people on both sides of the spectrum.

Do I belong here? That's not for me to decide. I do not own this site, and so I must try to line up with the criteria laid out by the owners.

I can see the benefit to weather enthusiasts to allow them to view much of what is on this site, but I can see also see the problems that could (and on the old ST, have) come from letting them/us post on here. For example: I am a CAD drafter that works on a contract basis. Some potential clients have thought that using CAD software is as easy as word processing, so they thought I would be able to make changes to drawings within minutes instead of hours. They could benefit by watching me work: they would learn what is actually involed in creating and modifying a drawing, but they wouldn't necesarily have any foundation for commenting on how I was doing the job. Dealing with those commments would actually slow me down. I believe that is similar to what was happening on the the old ST.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

Would like to say sorry to Glen for presuming his words on selling things, followed by mentioning me in something meant more than it did. I jumped to a conclusion from a paranoid stance and was wrong.

 

[Rob_Davis]

Hey, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you! :wink:

Don't worry, Mike. There is plenty enough paranoia here to go around. Seems like a lot of people take the changes or proposed changes as direct personal attacks.