A few years ago, we tried a "new member" system wherein new members initially would be given posting privileges in only a limited part of the forum, and expanded, or full, privileges would be given only after a probationary time period and given on a completely member-by-member basis based on posts in the "new member" subforum. For the first couple of weeks, this was fine, but it quickly became a significant burden for the moderators. I'm not sure most people realize the amount of work such a system involves; the moderators are volunteers, and, though the magnitude of work may not be particularly high, it does become progressively more burdensome with time. We've also done the "every applicant must write an essay" deal, and, though I think that worked relatively well, it was nonetheless quite subjective and, more importantly, a rather significant source of work for the admin would need to manually create each and every member profile as a result of a software limitation.
We also tried to have a more limited-member "advanced chaser" section on this board, but it was met with such massive outcry from a number of members that it was removed before we even got it off the ground. That particular time, we put in a lot of work to set aside a small part of the forum for the more experienced chasers in an effort to provide a quieter, more private setting. We had just finished setting up the membership approval guidelines for this subforum when it's existence was brought to a halt as a dozen or two regular members took extreme opposition to the *idea* of such a private subforum since, back in the print days, ST could be "read" by anyone who wanted to read it, and, in keeping with that theme, it was demanded that the online version of ST also be open for anyone to read and participate. Indeed, some were "offended" that they were not an "advanced" member, even though we had not yet released the guidelines and requirements for this subforum, and I'm not even sure we had notified everyone who was given initial posting privileges in "ST Core". Though you can try to be as objective about admission as you can, it's tough to determine who is and who is not in a particular group, whether that be our initial "advanced chaser" group or the currently-suggested chaser vs. non-chaser groups.
In the end, I've come to accept Stormtrack as it is. I've put in my effort to try to make sure it runs as smoothly and possible, and, though things may not always be problem-free, I think we still have the best forum on the internet for chasers to discuss weather- and chase-related events and news. My diminished posting in the past 18 months is not a function of my unwillingness to participate so much as it is my schedule getting busier with time (and leaving me less time to participate here). There are other forums out there that have a higher signal-to-noise ratio, for sure, but those also tend to be a little more stale and a lot more inactive than this board. Sure, Stormtrack isn't perfect, but I still find myself coming here a few times a day, and this is still my first stop when it comes to discussing chases, forecasts, etc.
) I see there were no rule changes/instructions for the moderators per say.
