Reports allowed in Weather & Chasing

[B Ozanne]

Originally posted by nickgrillo
And why is there still a non-convective damaging wind thread in the Maproom like 8 hours later?

Don't want to get technical but all the winds I reported were associated with a convective line of showers and thunderstorms.

 

[Scott Olson]

The thread in Map Room appears to be in compliance since what was being discussed was associated with convection. As for the issue of Reports, this is being discussed and should be addressed shortly. Everyones input has been taken into account and is appreciated.

Thanks,
Scott Olson

 

[Glen Romine]

I've largely sat on the sidelines on this one - but feel compelled to throw in my 2 cents before the debate is settled. I don't see how the argument of keeping reports in the map room is valid. As is, if a reports thread is created, it is quickly split well away from the forecast discussion and nowcast threads, since posts can be made to reports long after the event is over. So, there is already going to be a massive split there, regardless of where the reports are made, be it W&C or map room.

So - the next issue is whether a report thread in W&C is going to get 'lost' before anyone has a chance to find it. While more work for the mods, my suggestions is a 'sticky' placed on all reports for one week after the thread is created. During the spring this could lead to several threads placed prominently at the top of W&C. Finding the reports afterward is no harder than before imo, since you can just go up and use the 'search' feature so long as post titles for reports follow specific format guidelines.

Continuing, what is the possible benefit of moving the reports to W&C? Well, if it indeed attracts thoughtful discussion about events - regardless of whether made by a person on the scene or not - I see this as a positive for ST. The way this is ensured is strict moderation - so again, more work for the mods to clean junk posts out, but relieves the prior limitation of only allowing one thread per member for an event (which I thought was a real restriction since you rarely go back through old posts to see if anyone made an update to an earlier report).

I know my opinion doesn't mean much - but I see few comments finding the positive impacts possible from the change, and thought I'd offer up a few ideas for the other team.

Glen

 

[Scott A. Kampas]

I strongly concur with Jeff's, Amos', and similar sentiments on this matter.

 

[Mike Peregrine]

Going to throw in a vote to keep pure chaser report threads in the map room. I go back there FREQUENTLY to find info on past events (tornadic events being the most important in my mind) ... and the thought of sifting through the piles of posts in Weather & Chasing to find the same info. fills me with a new kind of fear.

If people want to chat about the event, great - then they can do it in a W&C thread ... original report authors can likewise modify their report as needed in the original report topic in the map room, something I frequently do just to add images or whatever. Putting reports in W&C will only encourage the original chaser to become further lost in the plethora of people asking things like: 'so how far away from the tornado were you?' ... or 'wow - wish I could have seen that,' or insert your favorite one-liner here.

 

[Tim Stoecklein]

I would like to see the REPORTS put in the Map Room, my $0.02.

On another $0.02...........

Mind you, the people who were talking about MY photos don't even CHASE.quote]

......I beg to differ, nice generalization, and I still think they looked fake :roll:

 

[nickgrillo]

Tim,

I wasn't referring to the thread about "photo manipulation" on SC.org... I was referring to a totally seperate critique thread... Sorry (and I wasn't referring to you) that I didn't clear it up.

Originally posted by Tim Stoecklein+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tim Stoecklein)</div>

I would like to see the REPORTS put in the Map Room, my $0.02.

On another $0.02...........

<!--QuoteBegin-nickgrillo

Mind you, the people who were talking about MY photos don't even CHASE

......I beg to differ, nice generalization, and I still think they looked fake :roll:[/b]

 

[Sheila_Ward]

Originally posted by Mike Peregrine
Going to throw in a vote to keep pure chaser report threads in the map room. I go back there FREQUENTLY to find info on past events (tornadic events being the most important in my mind) ... and the thought of sifting through the piles of posts in Weather & Chasing to find the same info. fills me with a new kind of fear.

If people want to chat about the event, great - then they can do it in a W&C thread ... original report authors can likewise modify their report as needed in the original report topic in the map room, something I frequently do just to add images or whatever. Putting reports in W&C will only encourage the original chaser to become further lost in the plethora of people asking things like: 'so how far away from the tornado were you?' ... or 'wow - wish I could have seen that,' or insert your favorite one-liner here.

I agree with Mike and other chasers who have expressed concerns about moving the reports to W&C. First hand chase reports need to stay in the maproom. Any other discussion about an event can go in W&C. I want to read what other chasers experienced during an event and I don't want to sort through a bunch of BS comments trying to find them.

As Shane said, Scott's report thread was an example of what's to come if they are moved to W&C. I don't think it's too much to ask that chasers keep one thread that's for first hand chase reports only in the Map Room.

 

[Dick McGowan]

The thread in Map Room appears to be in compliance since what was being discussed was associated with convection. As for the issue of Reports, this is being discussed and should be addressed shortly. Everyones input has been taken into account and is appreciated.

Thanks,
Scott Olson

Bump. Been over a week now. Any decisions yet?

Also, I see you have removed my Reports thread out of the maproom, and possibly moved it into W & C. I have no problem with this. But, you have also left other REPORTS from other days in there.

 

[Jeff Snyder]

Bump. Been over a week now. Any decisions yet?

Also, I see you have removed my Reports thread out of the maproom, and possibly moved it into W & C. I have no problem with this. But, you have also left other REPORTS from other days in there.

Since the current rules still disallow REPORTS-type threads in Map Room, those REPORTS thread made since the start of that rule have been moved into W&C. We are still discussing the matter, and hope to have an official statement out sometime soon.

 

[Robert Dewey]

Good grief, this isn't the Gore recounts... It really shouldn't take this long :lol:

 

[Dick McGowan]

Bump. Been over a week now. Any decisions yet?

Also, I see you have removed my Reports thread out of the maproom, and possibly moved it into W & C. I have no problem with this. But, you have also left other REPORTS from other days in there.

Since the current rules still disallow REPORTS-type threads in Map Room, those REPORTS thread made since the start of that rule have been moved into W&C. We are still discussing the matter, and hope to have an official statement out sometime soon.

Yes, they have now, as I received a PM from one of your moderators. One was still left over from Florida Keys, and he moved it over after my first post.

 

[Bill Hark]

I was doing some research on a previous chase day "June 4, 2005," and it was very nice to look back under REPORTS and find a single thread with first hand reports from that day without wading through other stuff. I would hate to lose that referencing ability.

Bill Hark

 

[Glen Romine]

Originally posted by Tim Vasquez
For Map Room (Target Area), expediency is the operative word: it's a mechanism for letting chasers get quality information quickly as events unfold. Beyond that, we don't really have any obligation to sort stories for chasers, and I don't feel we should be shutting out legitimate discussion about a storm event. Experienced chasers stuck at home may have quite a few pertinent observations, comments, and theories about what they saw on a certain chase day on radar/satellite/grapevine/etc, with those who were in the field or amongst themselves. Of course we don't want clutter, either, so it's an issue we may have to address.

Tim

I'm all for the ideas above - but would ask that moderators don't throw in the towel on removing frivilous posts made as follow ups to reports. Any of the 'way to go!' and 'nice catch' posts are exactly what not to have under the new format imo. If the goal of moving the reports out of Map Room was to improve the post event content - then allowing these types of posts will do just the opposite. Hopefully there can at least be consensus among the mods to keep the post quality of reports threads high, and keep accolades to pm's.

Glen

 

[Shane Adams]

Seems easier to leave REPORTS in the Map Room and allow discussions on those events in Weather & Chasing, instead of removing REPORTS from the Map Room altogether and then having to constantly police the frivolous posts that will come fast and furious in Weather & Chasing.

Of course the main thing we're all forgetting is that with REPORTS being in Weather & Chasing, they will be buried quickly under all the other random topics that are started daily in W & C. Creating a "sticky" for each event date for REPORTS in W & C (to insure they aren't buried) would just add to the clutter factor...there's already multiple stickies and honestly, when there's three or more stickies, I ignore them. Look at this forum, there's like ten stickies that constantly bury new topics, so bad that you have to scroll down to read new topics that aren't sticky topics. I can predict a lot of complaining from casual W & C users when there's a dozen stickies for various chase events that keep the "normal" new topics constantly buried. To fix that problem, you'd have to subject the REPORTS threads to "constant burial". I just don't see the gain of having REPORTS in W & C. Let people discuss chase events in W & C 'til the cows come home, but don't take away the efficiency of the REPORTS thread as it existed in the Map Room. IMO, StormTrack, during prime Spring chase season, should cater to storm chasers first, weather enthusiasts second.

Not to be rude, but just an FYI...there are other options that weren't around a year ago, and chasers will go where they're catered to first for storm season posting. Then again, a lot of newer chasers would probably support this new proposal. I think the decision for StormTrack is, do they want to target established/veteran chasers, or the newbie chasers/enthusiasts. Neither demographic is more important than the other, so this is simply a case of personal choice for the ST brass.