ST's Future Discussion

[Rob H]

The work Skip has put into posting here (3,223 posts, and none of it white noise!), being an administrator here, being a huge part of the Storm Assist charity organization, working with the El Reno Survey Project, and much more makes him extremely qualified to head up the revitalization of StormTrack. I personally think the biggest thing going for him is that he hasn't asked for this to be thrust upon him, he's been very humble about it. I'll try to help out whoever I can, but Skip is one of the most passionate, respected, mature chasers out there and I know he would do an amazing job of building a team and community around him, if given the chance.

 

[Jeff Duda]

It's probably a good time to politely remind ST members to disable AdBlock for stormtrack.org - those ads help pay the bills, and I've never seen a malicious ad or an ad that really slowed down the page here.

Thanks. I hadn't thought of that.

The work Skip has put into posting here (3,223 posts, and none of it white noise!), being an administrator here, being a huge part of the Storm Assist charity organization, working with the El Reno Survey Project, and much more makes him extremely qualified to head up the revitalization of StormTrack. I personally think the biggest thing going for him is that he hasn't asked for this to be thrust upon him, he's been very humble about it. I'll try to help out whoever I can, but Skip is one of the most passionate, respected, mature chasers out there and I know he would do an amazing job of building a team and community around him, if given the chance.

Between Steve and Skip, I don't really care that much who is the top dog. I think their skill sets and experience levels compliment each other well such that they'd probably do even better as co-lead-administrators rather than either one of them being the sole head honcho. Steve has declared that he does not chase as much as he used to, so he would probably be able to fill in the gap left by Skip when Skip is unavailable while chasing or elsewise. While I tend to think more like Skip than Steve in terms of the technical side of things, I think Steve can certainly make a major contribution through business and community aspects of ownership. He also has more than enough knowledge of meteorology and storm chasing to be able to serve as a leader. Skip makes incredible videos and case studies of significant events and has excellent knowledge of other topics such as photography as well as meteorology.

Have them both lead.

 

[Adam Lucio]

I would like to see SMOK take over the board. He has had interest in it for several years, the financial and business know how that would keep issues in those departments minimal and that is the solid foundation for a successful...anything. SMOK is also not as active as a chaser anymore and enjoys taking a lead role in more back-end community related things that dont necessarily involve being out in the field (something he has admitted in his own blog) so we wouldnt have to worry as much about him being absent during stretches of active chase days.

 

[Mike Tobin]

Well folks time for me to through my 2 cents into this debate / strategy and it goes like this. I am very new to this forum but have been chasing for a long time since I got my license. I tend to stay quiet on these matters because I care about the weather then personal drama. With that being said I am not going to vote on this matter because i dont know whats best for this forum. I have read almost everyone of these responses on here and they have a very valid points for the future of ST. I have been busying building my own team and working on my own projects to see how the community has become so split on every thing from reasons for chasing to the research that some do. I will support who ever comes into help the community and bring it together. ST Can be the center for the chasing community and bring us all closer. There is so much we can accomplish together then apart. SMOK I doubt you remember me but we crossed paths a couple of times and you reputation proceeds you and if you do gain control i wish you luck and I will support ya. Now on to Skip Talbot. Just as everyone said before me about this guy is true and feel he should have a major impact on ST. He doesnt know it but his youtube channel got me back into chasing again especially when I moved to Oklahoma for my job. I Respect everyone on this site and want to see it grow back to the days of when you can look and see when the most people where on this site and bring it up for 2015. The one thing i feel we do need to do is lead train and mentor these younger chasers who are in there first and second year of chasing and show them whats right. GOOD LUCK ST let 2015 be the year of ST.

 

[Justin Wilcox]

Skip puts so much time into this "community" and is very humble about it. I dont think ive heard one bad story about him. He gets my vote. Its nothing personal though.

 

[Warren Faidley]

I think the most important factor moving forward and maintaining ST as a viable storm chasing community is to choose someone who will be able to keep personal feelings and opinions on the sideline and not interject them into ST in any way. Tim is to be highly complimented for allowing discussions to move forward without intervention unless someone was way out of line. My worse fear would be that ST management becomes aligned with the more irresponsible and misleading elements of chasing.

W.

 

[Jim Saueressig]

I certainly wouldn't mind at all paying a yearly membership fee here like I do at Trainorders, especially if the funding would help add features, improve response, and re-attract some quality posters back into the fray.

I can't imagine trying to bring back life to a dead forum by charging people to come back. It will take participation not fees to come back to life...

 

[Jason_Dasho]

As I read constantly through the archives there is one person that immediately shows leadership abilities through his actions on the forum. That person is Skip. I never see him being short with people. His posts offer deep intellectual knowledge, but yet is communicated in a manner that even the rookie chaser would understand. These attributes are extremely important if the forum wants to move forward in the future. Additionally, his contribution to Storm Assist has cast a positive light on the entire chaser community. This speaks volumes of one’s character. I believe Skip is already leading by example and should be entrusted with the keys to Stormtrack.

Regardless of how this shakes out, It still all about the love for the storm


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Tim Vasquez]

Just out of curiosity, how was the torch passed from Tim Marshall to you sixteen years ago?

It's kind of a long story, but it started when I was spending afternoons studying journals in the library at the FTW WSFO in the mid-1980s, and this led to me getting to know Al Moller well and from there meeting Tim Marshall. By late 1987 I was regularly going over to Tim's on Saturday evenings to see all the newest chase videos and sift through the new Stormtrack issues that were coming together. I ended up falling into a circle of friends with him, Gene Rhoden, Carson Eads, and Sam Barricklow. My Air Force assignments took me away from that for several years but I was able to gradually reconnect again with Tim and the other Dallas chasers in the mid-1990s. In 1997 we were talking about the future of Stormtrack and we agreed it needed to be taken onto the Internet, especially since we were coming up on the 20th anniversary. At that time my programming and Internet skills were pretty well known in the Stormtrack circle, so I was the choice to take that on. The Stormtrack website went online in 1997, entirely as a newsmagazine site that was regularly updated after each big chase event. It was almost entirely driven from e-mail reports. The forum and a chat room went live in 2001 (initially using UltraBoard). You can see a glimpse of it here:

https://web.archive.org/web/2001122...org/bbs/UltraBoard.cgi?action=Headlines&BID=1

For what it's worth, I am 99% certain I have all of the data backups for the UltraBoard system buried away somewhere, so if some enterprising person wants to merge all those old posts in the name of beefing up the content and adding to the historical record, I can certainly supply those files. I will probably leave that project, though, to whoever follows as admin if they decide to do so.

Tim

 

[Adam Reagan]

SMOK would be an excellent choice to run Stormtrack IMO. He has the respect of a good number of chasers in this community including myself, and with what some people are saying about him cutting back on chasing the days of an absentee admin on this site could be a thing of the past.

 

[MClarkson]

I just want to step in and say thanks Tim for running the site so well for so long!

 

[Skip Talbot]

I had a request from Lanny Dean, who is no longer a member of this forum, that I share his thoughts on this topic. It may be worth considering these outside views as a reboot or remake of the forum is probably going to reintroduce a lot of folks who have left the forum for various reasons. I should add that by sharing this post I am not endorsing anything it contains, but am merely posting it on his behalf.

While I am no longer an "active" member, I wanted to share my thoughts and feelings regarding the future of ST. I don't really remember when I became a member of ST the first time. I believe it was back in 2000? I didn't post much, in fact, I don't know if I posted at all -- I basically enjoyed reading the forecast and post chase discussions. And I thoroughly enjoyed going back through the archives! To me, I thought it was a gold mine of information! After leaving ST for a long while, in 2007 I made my way back to ST as a member. 2007 was one heck of an active year for many, including myself. And I very much enjoyed being able to read the post chase discussions, read others chase accounts and look at pics....just as in early years, it was a mecca of information. Folks from many different walks of life would share their accounts and thus prompting me to start posting on a regular basis. The feedback from those members who worked in the meteorological field and veteran chasers helped to solidify to me that ST was full of knowledgeable folks who truly enjoyed the the weather as much as I. And I just wanted to be a part of that as much as I could. I enjoyed reading the scientific posts and thoughts from Patrick March, Jeff Snyder, Rob D. and many others. The level of knowledge that one could access on the forum was probably the most inspirational thing for me. And I suspect many others felt/feel the same. And my post during this time reflected that. Greensburg came and went but the discussion and posts that followed were full of knowledge and insight and I found myself logging into ST 4-5 times a day and spending hours of quality time learning, sharing and enjoying the forum. But with good comes the bad, and I often voiced my concerns and issues openly of what I felt was bad. This was not well perceived by the management/owner. And without going into detail, it was realized that Tim and I didn't agree with how ST should be run, and I was no longer allowed to post on ST. I have purposely left our the banner add situation so as not to cause issue or debate and because I wanted to keep my thoughts as civil as possible towards Tim. All that being said, while I am no longer an active member of ST, I do miss the interaction, the friendships and the plethora of knowledge provided on that forum and I wanted to voice my thoughts, memories and even a little history of my time on the forum for the sake of this discussion.I don't know what the future holds for ST but I can tell you that I personally want to see ST thriving again. ST used to be a lively forum I would would like nothing more than to see it grow to that place again and be a part of it again. However, without sounding rude (I certainly do no mean it that way) we all felt the the issues that comes when an owner cannot be present for whatever reason for months on end. Issues arise and cannot be dealt with properly. Without sounding like a jerk, I would like to see a change in management/change in ownership. I personally believe that if you cannot devote the proper time for a project such as this, then it may be time to let others take a shot.Whit that said, There are so many folks that have put their heart and soul into that forum...Skip Talbot, Jeff Snyder and others. Those that have proven innovative ideas on how the forum can grow and change. Steve Miller (OK) who I have known since the early '90s has a proven track record for innovation, marketing, and has a passion for all things weather. I know he was interested in ST and I believe he has made this known in the past. IMO ST would benefit greatly from any of those folks taking the lead. And I personally believe that a change in direction and lead is exactly what is needed. Someone who is willing and can integrate things like FB with ST. Right now, FB, twitter and the like are the bane to the forum. But if someone in a leadership role, with marketing knowledge had the ability to make those owner type decisions, I believe we could very see ST excel! Otherwise the decline of ST will be ongoing is imminent IMO. I think you would see a influx of chasers with years of knowledge return to the forum and provide positive feedback, educational value and quality posting no matter if they Were banned or left of their own. To me, a change is needed and would help to bring ST back to a wonderful forum as it used to be. Many thanks to Skip Talbot, Jason Boggs and Wesley for offering to share my thoughts on the matter. I hope I have helped in some way. -Lanny

 

[Hannah.Taylor]

I'd like to add that if I can be of assistance for backend stuff for vbulletin, graphics or designing/implementing a new vbulletin skin/theme I would be happy to offer my skills and abilities. I ask for nothing in return. Just offering to help a struggling forum survive.

i think vbulletin is good software, but a fresh look/theme/skin would go a long ways to giving it an upgrade and making it more aesthetically appealing and pleasing.

the current look is a little bland and "boring" if you will (no offense to anyone).

but careful thought on the correct color scheme should be given because choosing the wrong scheme could be detrimental and drive away people. so as to prevent that from happening, samples should be posted, perhaps a poll conducted and people allowed to voice their opinions and thoughts about the scheme.

The addition of upgraded and more professional looking graphics for the forum will go a LONG ways to making this a more attractive place for members and guests and future members to frequent. Modern/fresh appearances make a big difference. If it "looks cool" people will be attracted to it" and come/flock to it.

those little kiddie corel draw quality graphics at the top...they need to go. again not try to offend anyone or their work, but sometimes a dose of reality is in order to achieve the objective.

 

[Rob H]

I think you would see a influx of chasers with years of knowledge return to the forum and provide positive feedback, educational value and quality posting no matter if they Were banned or left of their own.

Lanny and SMOK and whoever thinks this is going to happen: I would love to be proven wrong, but those days are gone. People left StormTrack because they were either banned for not being respectful to others (very small amount), didn't feel like helping their rising competition for media sales (small amount), or most likely they just ran out of stuff to talk about (most people). If that wasn't the case, they would have never left StormTrack and the last ST competitor, ChasersForum, wouldn't have become a ghost town.

Whether there's a new version of vBulletin with Facebook like button, or the chase game I'm working on, or the podcast Marcus is working on, or Kanye West running ST - most of the old chasers are gone, and we need to accept that and move forward. It's great when a Shane or someone pops back in, but that's the exception, not the norm.

 

[Shane Adams]

For what it's worth, I am 99% certain I have all of the data backups for the UltraBoard system buried away somewhere, so if some enterprising person wants to merge all those old posts in the name of beefing up the content and adding to the historical record, I can certainly supply those files. I will probably leave that project, though, to whoever follows as admin if they decide to do so.

I would love that. I vote for that to happen eventually, whatever the future holds administration-wise.