David Drummond
Member
I am making this post for information only. It's not a discussion, I just wanted to get a few things off my chest.
If you have applied for an account and are still waiting, we currently have a backlog of 117 already approved accounts. The holdup on the account is solely on me, as only an admin can create the actual account. A membership committee reviews the applications but only admins have the backend access to create them. Tim has been away and busy, and I am the only other one with that type of access, so the delay is mostly my fault, for that I am sorry, it's been a very active chase season. I am hoping to get all the approved ones created today.
I will say that quite a few were declined as well. The majority of those were for not following the procedure, primarily requesting a "handle" rather than the real name. It's very prominent in that is a requirement, and the staff feels if a person is going to ignore the big red text in front of them stating that it's a requirement, they are probably going to ignore the rest of our forum rules as well.
It's also important to note that currently the forum software regularly performs maintenance on itself, and purges inactive accounts. An account is considered inactive if it has not been logged in to for 180 days. If you had an account and now it's gone, that is why. If you lose your account in this fashion, the only way to get another one is to go through the process again. We have no way to look up the old accounts, once they are gone, they are gone. Quite a few people have claimed they had one trying to get back in, and we know they didn't. For the few that did, and lost it because you didn't log in once every 6 months, going and making derogatory posts on WXCHASE or in your blogs about us isn't helping your case any to get a new account. If you had an account, and didn't use it, and lost it....how is that our fault?
On a final note, some people seem to be forgetting that this is a private forum. You have no "right" to be here. Membership is a privilege. If you have an issue with something, there is a right way and a wrong way to go about it, but making posts on the forum, or elsewhere on the net to the effect of "FU STORMTRACK" does not make the staff want to go out of their way to help you with whatever the issue is. Put yourself in our shoes, would you want help someone that just told you to go F yourself?
We are normal people, and as such can and sometimes do make mistakes. If we have, and it's legitimate, contact one of us privately and we'll discuss and attempt to rectify it (assuming you haven't done the above).
We are people too, and we like to chase too, and we all volunteer our free time to run the forums here (which believe me can sometimes be a full time job in itself). Give us a break sometimes and if there is an issue, try and resolve it in a mature manner. If you can't do that, there are other weather forums out there that might perhaps be more suited to your liking.
In regards to infractions...
Please, everyone, just take 5 minutes and read the forum rules.
http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/faq.php
and especially the Target Area rules if you have posting access there:
http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?t=9812
The Target Area rules are stricter and are MANDATORY READING for membership on this forum. While we may not catch it for a few days, when there is a rules violation in the TA, and it's reported or the staff catche it, you WILL receive an infraction. This area has a higher level of standards and we would greatly appreciate it if everyone would make efforts to conform to those. If you see posts that violate those rules, using the little red yield sign up in the top right of the post to report it WILL get moderator attention to it. Just because a violating post doesn't disappear right away, doesn't mean it it's going to be dealt with.
If you do receive an infraction on the forum, and it's legitimate, don't go and lie on you're blog about it saying how we are all out to get you (yes a few people have done so). No one is out to get anyone here. We are very careful to apply the rules to EVERYONE, regardless if your the head of NOAA, or the next up and coming storm spotter, we don't care. We strive to moderate equally.
If you happen to be getting a number of infractions, perhaps you should take a closer look at your own postings. 95% of all the members here have never had any infractions. It's that 5% group that get the majority of them. Oh, and longevity or popularity does not give you any sort of special pass to circumvent our rules here. Name recognition means zero when it comes to applying rules enforcement to a post. It's truly the only way to be fair. It's amazing how some of the more well known chaser want us to crack down on others, but get all bent out of shape when one of their posts draws a warning or infraction. Keeping everyone on a level playing field when it comes to issuing infractions is the only way we can, and will, do it.
BTW, the StormTrack Moderator Team is a group account, accessible by any of the staff. It's not any one individual moderator as I have seen stated on a few blogs here and there. Again, no one is out to get anyone.
Enough said for now. Please everyone, try and conduct yourself in a mature manner on the forum, read the rules and attempt to follow them, and make it easier on everyone.
If you have applied for an account and are still waiting, we currently have a backlog of 117 already approved accounts. The holdup on the account is solely on me, as only an admin can create the actual account. A membership committee reviews the applications but only admins have the backend access to create them. Tim has been away and busy, and I am the only other one with that type of access, so the delay is mostly my fault, for that I am sorry, it's been a very active chase season. I am hoping to get all the approved ones created today.
I will say that quite a few were declined as well. The majority of those were for not following the procedure, primarily requesting a "handle" rather than the real name. It's very prominent in that is a requirement, and the staff feels if a person is going to ignore the big red text in front of them stating that it's a requirement, they are probably going to ignore the rest of our forum rules as well.
It's also important to note that currently the forum software regularly performs maintenance on itself, and purges inactive accounts. An account is considered inactive if it has not been logged in to for 180 days. If you had an account and now it's gone, that is why. If you lose your account in this fashion, the only way to get another one is to go through the process again. We have no way to look up the old accounts, once they are gone, they are gone. Quite a few people have claimed they had one trying to get back in, and we know they didn't. For the few that did, and lost it because you didn't log in once every 6 months, going and making derogatory posts on WXCHASE or in your blogs about us isn't helping your case any to get a new account. If you had an account, and didn't use it, and lost it....how is that our fault?
On a final note, some people seem to be forgetting that this is a private forum. You have no "right" to be here. Membership is a privilege. If you have an issue with something, there is a right way and a wrong way to go about it, but making posts on the forum, or elsewhere on the net to the effect of "FU STORMTRACK" does not make the staff want to go out of their way to help you with whatever the issue is. Put yourself in our shoes, would you want help someone that just told you to go F yourself?
We are normal people, and as such can and sometimes do make mistakes. If we have, and it's legitimate, contact one of us privately and we'll discuss and attempt to rectify it (assuming you haven't done the above).
We are people too, and we like to chase too, and we all volunteer our free time to run the forums here (which believe me can sometimes be a full time job in itself). Give us a break sometimes and if there is an issue, try and resolve it in a mature manner. If you can't do that, there are other weather forums out there that might perhaps be more suited to your liking.
In regards to infractions...
Please, everyone, just take 5 minutes and read the forum rules.
http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/faq.php
and especially the Target Area rules if you have posting access there:
http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?t=9812
The Target Area rules are stricter and are MANDATORY READING for membership on this forum. While we may not catch it for a few days, when there is a rules violation in the TA, and it's reported or the staff catche it, you WILL receive an infraction. This area has a higher level of standards and we would greatly appreciate it if everyone would make efforts to conform to those. If you see posts that violate those rules, using the little red yield sign up in the top right of the post to report it WILL get moderator attention to it. Just because a violating post doesn't disappear right away, doesn't mean it it's going to be dealt with.
If you do receive an infraction on the forum, and it's legitimate, don't go and lie on you're blog about it saying how we are all out to get you (yes a few people have done so). No one is out to get anyone here. We are very careful to apply the rules to EVERYONE, regardless if your the head of NOAA, or the next up and coming storm spotter, we don't care. We strive to moderate equally.
If you happen to be getting a number of infractions, perhaps you should take a closer look at your own postings. 95% of all the members here have never had any infractions. It's that 5% group that get the majority of them. Oh, and longevity or popularity does not give you any sort of special pass to circumvent our rules here. Name recognition means zero when it comes to applying rules enforcement to a post. It's truly the only way to be fair. It's amazing how some of the more well known chaser want us to crack down on others, but get all bent out of shape when one of their posts draws a warning or infraction. Keeping everyone on a level playing field when it comes to issuing infractions is the only way we can, and will, do it.
BTW, the StormTrack Moderator Team is a group account, accessible by any of the staff. It's not any one individual moderator as I have seen stated on a few blogs here and there. Again, no one is out to get anyone.
Enough said for now. Please everyone, try and conduct yourself in a mature manner on the forum, read the rules and attempt to follow them, and make it easier on everyone.
