Moderators Needed

[Mikey Gribble]

I wasn't going to volunteer, but I wouldn't mind helping out while I'm here. My concern with nominating myself was that I am pretty sarcastic and opinionated some times and I think I'd probably have to curb my sarcasm and my involvement in some of the conversations on here if I was a moderator, but after thinking about it I don't think it is that big of a sacrafice to make. It will probably keep me out of trouble anyways.

I am on Stormtrack at least a few times a day, so putting in the time isn't a problem for me.
My college didn't offer an atmospheric science program so I majored in Political Science. I did take the intro. to meteorology course my school offered and then I did an independent study course in Mesoscale Meteorology with meteorologist Dave Schafer, but that is the extent of my formal education. I am basically self taught. I bought a bunch of random meteorology books off the internet and then several years ago I went down to the OU bookstore and stocked up down there. I have put a lot of time and effort in to studying meteorology and learning how to forecast tornadoes. I've been chasing for seven years now. I started chasing for a Wichita TV station back in 2004 and still chase for the same station. I typically get out on 20-30 chases a year and cover around 20k miles, so I won't be much help on chase days in the plains, but I would be more than glad to help out the rest of the time.

 

[Jim Hunt]

I will put myself up as moderator.

You might not know much about me as I am a relative newcomer here and joined in January of this year. My acceptance into Stormtrack came during a time of relaxed rules for membership.

I mention the relaxed membership as I will not deny the fact that my chase and weather skills are pretty weak. I have not been more than a couple of counties away when chasing and didn’t study anything in school that would translate into weather forecasting on any level.

So does that make me a bad candidate as a moderator? I say no since the duty of a moderator is to maintain order among the chaos. In the past, I have been a moderator/administrator of several boards covering a wide gamut of topics. On each of those forums I maintained a level head and consistently administered fair moderation of each individual. (Yes, I even moderated a moderator when it was required.)

At Stormtrack, the rules are pretty well laid out and moderation of those rules should be pretty easy. One thing I can promise as a mod is I will never moderate without an explanation why. Either a private message or a public note will be provided as I think it is an important courtesy everyone deserves.

Also while I have never seen it done, I will not unfairly moderate someone just because they are new or are still learning. Moderation duties not only include the visible duties of deleting posts or locking threads, it includes educating members along the way.

As mentioned earlier, I am not much on chasing but do mostly spotting in my local area in North Central Indiana. Naturally this keeps me available almost all the time except when Indiana is under the gun. Even then I am around a lot.

Beside my previous level headed moderation experience and my desirable location, I am 46, happily married with no children, and work in IT (at a K-12 School) and am online multiple times each day. I constantly keep my laptops nearby wherever I am located and can check in often from work, home, or on the road and have been online for most events or major outbreaks since joining.

I understand that what I have provided probably is still not enough to reasons to receive your vote. So I promise that if elected that the 2008 chase season will be the best season ever and every person chasing will see an F4 or greater in the daylight with no rain blocking your view and no hail beating on your car and no homes, businesses, or property damaged. I personally guarantee it. Now if that won’t get your vote, then nothing will. *grin*

In the end I would like to close and say that I do appreciate the knowledge and bonds that exist at Stormtrack and would be grateful for the opportunity to serve a wonderful community. Thank you for you time

 

[Terry Tyler]

i would definatly like the oppurtunity to become an ST moderator...

i know there are several other members of this board who are far more qualified then me, but youll find me here every single day, and ive been here for along time...

im well aware of how things are run around here, and im not from the plains, so i guess those things work in my favor...

i have been studying storms, and severe weather since i was about 15 years old...meteorology is my one true passion...ive taught myself alot of the basics of every kind of aspect of weather, from synoptic weather and models to hurricanes and winter-weather...i have studied alot of websites...including john habys website, meted, and the university of illinois online guides as well as studying pretty much any SPC publication or storm chasers website accounts to get a good feel for not just the severe weather forecasting, but the storm chasing and storm structure as well...

i dont have any formal degrees in any type of meteorology program, or college program in general, but i am educated, and try to put thought into each one of my posts...

i am very proud to be an ST member, and i realize that being a member of this forum is a RESPONSIBILITY not a RIGHT...

well, thats all i gotta say about that...i think i have what it takes, and if you vote for me...i promise to put all of my effort into working to moderate these threads to make ST a more enjoyable place to be!

feel free to PM or call me for more information about me, or what i would do if i were to be elected as an ST moderator...

 

[Tony Laubach]

I'll throw my name back in the hat as I'm part time in school for the rest of my tenure here. I was a mod a couple years ago and resigned due to the massive amount of school and have since seen a huge decline in my work-load to the point where I once again live on the internet.

Besides my past mod experience, I am an avid chaser based here in Denver with plenty of experience in the field. I feel I contribute well in the ST forums and would be of great assistance back in the saddle again.

 

[Brett Adair]

Might as well throw my name in the hat also....

Brett Adair

I've been chasing storms across most of the southeast for the last 7 years or so. I had the wonderful experience of taking my first great plains chase trip on 5/29/04-5/31/04. My crew was there for the Harper County Tornado Fest....and what a day it was! Then I was able to return for the chaser convergence in Hill City, KS this year while catching the tornado in May as well. Anyway, I am a Geoscience Major at Mississippi State University with emphasis in Broadcast Meteorology. I have chased for many local TV outlets in the BMX CWA (Birmingham, AL) and have supplied many with video. I was involved in several chases this season across Central Alabama including 3/1/07 (Samantha, AL EF-1) as well as 4/13/07 of which my tornado video from Dadeville, AL (EF-1) made national network news. I also volunteer for my local EMA as a storm chaser/damage assessment representative. I have past moderator experience on another weather forum and would love to see StormTrack grow and prosper for many more years.

Thanks.

 

[Tim Vasquez]

Our candidates are as follows.

Brandon Sullivan
Tony Lyza
Dan Cook
Jason Boggs
Jesse Risley
Martin North
Danny Neal
Andrew Pritchard
Grady Joslin
Patrick Marsh
Gerrit Gulden
Zach Chappell
Mikey Gribble
Jim Hunt
Terry Tyler
Tony Laubach
Brett Adair

This is your last chance to comment on any of the above members. If you wish to do so, send your comment to me by private message. It will be kept in strict confidence, except among the current staff. Thanks,

Tim

 

[Tim Vasquez]

Oh -- and comments about candidates will be erased from our boards... so if a candidate does get elected, they will not find out any info about what you told us.

Tim

 

[Brandon Sullivan]

just curious.. when and how will the voting be conducted?

 

[Tim Vasquez]

It will be based on a consensus between myself, David Drummond, and Jeff Snyder on who best fits the requirements we're looking for.

Tim

 

[Brandon Sullivan]

okie dokie. sounds great.. thanks guys!

 

[Jim Hunt]

It will be based on a consensus between myself, David Drummond, and Jeff Snyder on who best fits the requirements we're looking for.

Tim

So my idea on buying votes seems to off track. Drats.

 

[Steve Miller]

At least you now know who to make the checks out to!

 

[Tim Vasquez]

We've selected three moderators and each person has received a PM in their box with the code of conduct. This step has been completed. Once we get each person's agreement to the code of conduct they will appear with their new rank and you'll see who they are. Once all three people have agreed I will announce the list, otherwise we'll move on to the other choices.

I thank everyone for participating. Our selection process was unique in that we chose between the different talents and skills of each candidate to form a well-rounded, highly complementary pool of moderators, rather than simply multiplying expertise times experience. We paged back through their posting history to look at what qualities they brought to Stormtrack. So there may be one or two unexpected picks. Also myself, David, and Jeff had equal inputs in picking the new moderator team, so this is very much based on a group consensus and a bit of compromise here and there.

Tim