Lurkers will be removed October 1

[Tim Vasquez]

This is official notice that on October 1 we will be pruning out dead accounts, lurkers, and all spam zombie accounts that have slipped through over the years. Accounts will be autodeleted for those who have an extremely low post count total (zero or very close to zero) and have been here at least 1-2 months.

Individuals will also be removed if short one-liners are posted just to evade the deletion, or if all posts are in Bar & Grill.

If you consider yourself a lurker, you will still be able to view the weather discussions even as an unregistered guest, so in practice this will not affect you and there is nothing you need to do. However we are a community based forum and our goal is to share meaningful information about severe weather, so participating is what we expect in return for having an account here.

This will not be done before October 1 so if you haven't posted, there's no rush until then. If you're a newbie, the educational forum is a good place to begin.

Thanks,

Tim

 

[Richard Dickson]

I realize it is an honor to be allowed to participate in the discussions by being granted a membership to Stormtrack. I also realize the intent is to have both good and positive weather related discussions with meaningful content.

I am not convinced that having each of the 1275 active members feeling compelled to create four or five submissions each month just to consider themselves safe from banishment furthers the goals and ideals of the organization. There is a lot to be said about quality versus quantity. Good luck with having five to six thousand weather related posts generated during September and October when about the only thing going on are the hurricanes.

Because I have an aversion to being ‘fired’, please accept my humble resignation and remove my account access at your earliest convenience rather than waiting for the inevitable to happen. It was a pleasure being here while it lasted.

Richard L Dickson

 

[Jeff Snyder]

I am not convinced that having each of the 1275 active members feeling compelled to create four or five submissions each month just to consider themselves safe from banishment furthers the goals and ideals of the organization.

I'll speak for myself since I'm no longer a moderator (which gives me a bit more latitude to speak what I personally feel).

I think there are many folks who sign up for an account that never actually visit more than once a month. At Tim noted, Stormtrack is a community, which means that members should be encouraged to post and contribute to the forum wherever possible. There are hundreds of topics that folks post about each month, so any member of Stormtrack should be able to spend a couple of minutes a month to post a few times about any one of the topics. Such submissions don't necessarily need to be about current weather or chase events -- there are many interesting topics in the Weather and Chasing, Tropical Weather, Storm Spotters, Equipment, and other forums. In your case, you could share your experience with Arizona monsoons? Have you ever shot lightning pictures in the desert? Do you have any interesting weather stories from the past? There is likely much that you can share with the group, even if you aren't able to storm chase much.

If folks don't want to post on Stormtrack, then a membership does them no good, since the majority of Stormtrack is viewable by the general public. I know this discussion comes up every year or two (the "posting requirement" discussion, that is), but I continue to believe that people who actually want to be members of Stormtrack can spend several times of their week or month to contribute to the forum. Everyone (yes, everyone) has something that they can share or contribute -- experience with a particular camera/camcorder/piece of equipment, a question and/or discussion about a particular facet of storm spotting, etc. So, that means that even those who don't chase regularly can certainly find something to share with the other members. All you need to do is find time to make a few contributions per month. Yes, we all get very busy at times, and we may not be able to check ST but for a few times a month, but over the course of several months (or a year), a member should be able to average a few posts per month.

 

[Jason Boggs]

Simple question here Richard...If you can't or don't want to contribute, why have an account in the first place? It kind of goes with what Jeff just said, but it's just a tad shorter.

Like Jeff said, there are tons of different topics to post in. You just need the interest and desire, and I guess some just don't have it.

 

[Danny Neal]

*No disrespect intended* What is the point of signing up for an account if you aren't going to post? It's not like you get anymore privileges by being a member.....except the bar and grill, which is all off topic discussion anyway. I can't see why anybody would get offended by Tim weeding out the people who don't contribute on a daily or monthly basis...... Why join?

EDIT: I see Jeff and Jason just posted the majority of what I wanted to say as I was typing lol so I will end here.

 

[Jason Foster]

Agree 100% with the procedure

One of the main reasons I frequent Stormtrack is the great management of the forum. I am utterly frustrated with the many forums online related to weather that have little to no management. Those who have 3000 members and about three people are the majority of the traffic. Or those that get spam messages and fail to delete the messages or the users.

I suspect that there is a few folks that will be rooted out, but we can welcome back at a later time. It's nothing to say that we hold strict conditions here on this forum, it is what makes it a top notch online forum.

I think that if a person is posting just to avoid account deletion, ask yourself is it really necessary to be a member. Reviewing the Members List, I see that the list starts with those who have posted 3 times, I suspect that the list contains many more that have posted less but are not shown. I also noticed that of those listed, many have not visited the site in 2008 at all. Perhaps those folks should also be considered for deletion, but that's upto the moderators.

 

[Shane Adams]

I realize it is an honor to be allowed to participate in the discussions by being granted a membership to Stormtrack. I also realize the intent is to have both good and positive weather related discussions with meaningful content.

I am not convinced that having each of the 1275 active members feeling compelled to create four or five submissions each month just to consider themselves safe from banishment furthers the goals and ideals of the organization. There is a lot to be said about quality versus quantity. Good luck with having five to six thousand weather related posts generated during September and October when about the only thing going on are the hurricanes.

Because I have an aversion to being ‘fired’, please accept my humble resignation and remove my account access at your earliest convenience rather than waiting for the inevitable to happen. It was a pleasure being here while it lasted.
Richard L Dickson

It was clearly stated that all those whose accounts are terminated will still be able to read weather-related discussions. If you're so against being "forced" to actively participate and want only to be able to read posts, then what's with the attitude? You're getting what you want either way; StormTrack is just trying to get what it wants. The only thing you'll be "denied" once your account is terminated is the 'Bar & Grill' section, which is nothing to do with weather anyway.

You're exactly the problem that's being addressed here: people who want to be "official members" but don't want to participate. Kinda like the chaser who has all the gear and toys but still has to rely on others because they have no true knowledge.

Everyone who reads this thread and feels the same way Richard does should resign...and by doing so, perform at least one contributing function as a "member" of StormTrack.

 

[AlDanks]

Under the delete criteria stated, I am one who will probably lose their account. I understand that I can still read the forum. I will, however, lose the ability to make any contribution, to ask questions, to PM anybody or have anybody PM me. I will lose the New Posts link and instead have a Today's Posts link.

Unfortunately I live in Michigan where I'm not out chasing and posting reports as much as those who will keep their accounts. I am a hobby chaser so I can't contribute much to the meteorology discussion either. I do try to contribute though and I try to do it right. If it looks to me like something worthwhile is being overlooked I'll try to ask or contribute about it.

So it looks like, even though I log in and check the forum every day, I'll lose my account and the functionality noted above. A question though: what does having an account such as mine hurt? I understand if it is a dead account - i.e. hasn't been logged into in - say 9 months or so. What resources are account using that deleting my account will free up? How will the forum be improved?

Actually, will the forum be improved? When the low volume posters are deleted, who will be left - asking questions and contributing? Looks like only meteorology students, meteorologists, and those chasers who live in chase alley. Is this what you want Stormtrack to be?

 

[Connor McCrorey]

Maybe those who are going to lose their accounts should be notified and given a chance to argue their case first? Just a thought. I realize that this could get out of control with a bunch of whining and unnecessary posting, but I would hate to see those people that post little but contribute much lose their accounts.

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

Actually, will the forum be improved?

IMO, Yes!

When the low volume posters are deleted, who will be left - asking questions and contributing?

Chasers who want to contribute, also known as "Storm Trackers", I don't know about everyone else, but the reason I come to "stormtrack" is for storm tracking (better known as chasing) topics. Are there not several other general weather forums out there? IMO stormtrack was SO much more user friendly, resourceful, and not to mention community oriented when I first joined, FWIW I think there was like 1/3rd of the members then compared to now...

 

[Dennis Sherrod]

......... A question though: what does having an account such as mine hurt? I understand if it is a dead account - i.e. hasn't been logged into in - say 9 months or so. What resources are account using that deleting my account will free up? How will the forum be improved?

I have to agree with Al to some degree. Does his account really take up that much space or cause problems? Some like him who have only posted a couple dozens posts in a few years may be much better off here than some who have posted 10 times that in a couple of years and are constantly disagreeing or arguing with everything someone says.
My opinion is there are bigger problems with some members here who are thieves, fakes, frauds, and the like.
It just seems a shame should someone who makes only a minute amount of posts have a question or problem and not be able to ask one without trying to rejoin or find someone else or somewhere else to ask.
But, hey, obviously this is not my forum, this is just my opinion.

 

[Jason Boggs]

Under the delete criteria stated, I am one who will probably lose their account. I understand that I can still read the forum. I will, however, lose the ability to make any contribution, to ask questions, to PM anybody or have anybody PM me. I will lose the New Posts link and instead have a Today's Posts link.

Unfortunately I live in Michigan where I'm not out chasing and posting reports as much as those who will keep their accounts. I am a hobby chaser so I can't contribute much to the meteorology discussion either. I do try to contribute though and I try to do it right. If it looks to me like something worthwhile is being overlooked I'll try to ask or contribute about it.

So it looks like, even though I log in and check the forum every day, I'll lose my account and the functionality noted above. A question though: what does having an account such as mine hurt? I understand if it is a dead account - i.e. hasn't been logged into in - say 9 months or so. What resources are account using that deleting my account will free up? How will the forum be improved?

Actually, will the forum be improved? When the low volume posters are deleted, who will be left - asking questions and contributing? Looks like only meteorology students, meteorologists, and those chasers who live in chase alley. Is this what you want Stormtrack to be?

IMO, there is always something on here to talk about. There is simply no reason to whine about getting the boot when you DON'T want to contribute.

For example: I browse a forum called Wxline, which is about on air mets and weather. 90% of the discussion is about on air tv stuff. I have never joined because I know I couldn't contribute much since I'm not an on air Met. I browse the forum because the discussions are sometimes interesting.

Basically, if you want to join a forum, then contribute!

One final thought: If you told me you wanted to join my club, but you couldn't contribute much of your time, I'd tell you to get lost.

 

[Shane Adams]

I guess I'm weird, but I like for members of an organization to actually participate. Because you *might* have a question once or twice a year when you otherwise have nothing to do with participating on this board is a piss-poor argument IMO. It's like all those chatrooms where people stay logged on 24/7 and never say a damn word. It's pointless.

99.9% of the time lurkers only read. Why should the rules be adjusted to appease their .1% of possible activity? If it means enough to you to where some of you have posted more on this thread the past day than you have your entire ST memberships, then I'd say posting once or twice a month isn't such a harsh price of admission.

Hell I don't even log in half the time when I come here...I just read the posts. Anyone can.

 

[Patrick Romans]

I realize I haven't had many posts on here, so here's one more for my meager numbers. I don't agree with the decision to cut members based on the numbers of posts. I am on here frequently checking dicussions, especially during the peak of storm season. As it is September in Kansas I have nothing to post about so now I have to wonder about being cut from the forums? It's not that I don't have the desire to join duscussions...it's just a matter of not being able to commit the time to responding to all of the current posts. Plus I rearly have anything new to add to posts that hasn't already been said by others (except for the anti-law enforcement posts and you really don't want to get me started responding to those). The point of an online community is to accept others openly.

 

[Robert Dewey]

I think it's a moot point. If you're not going to post anything, then why do you need an account? If all you're doing is lurking, you can still do that without an account.