Anyone else getting a headache reading talking troipics?

[Stratosphere747]

Would be great if the board contained a "view only" feature.

Something that could be imposed for say, six hours or so. That would get the attention of the select few that are abusing the process.

Otherwise, no valuable insight is being garnered right now.

Scott

[bvigal]

My headache is becoming unbearable. I truly don't believe you can continue to go after massive numbers and maintain quality. The two are mutually exclusive. Looks like quantity over quality is getting the nod here! I see drivel being catered to, and attempts to keep on topic being punished. You can't put a lid on people trying to correct what they perceive as ruining the board. Flame-free is one thing, but the abusers are just running amok, while more thoughtful posters are throwing up their hands in frustration. You are punishing the wrong people!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wake up!!

[O Town]

I feel the frustration you are refering to bvigal. Its hard to keep up with everything and there are way too many people posting non sense. I know its hard to know where to draw the line at times, but I feel myself dreading to come read the talking tropics when I used to look foward to it last season and actually learned alot then. Things have changed just since I joined last year. I know you guys are trying to keep order, but there just seems to be way too much to keep up with. I dunno. Just throwing in my 2 cents on this whole thing. My head feels like it going to pop. lol.

[brunota2003]

I'm looking over the TT forum...but otherwise am keeping away from it at the time...to many posts...by the time I get done writing out my thoughts on page 20 and hit enter, the thread is on a totally different topic and on page 23 or 24 and my post gets ignored...or you go to read the last page and then after your done you click refresh and there are 2 new pages...I dont know how the mods can keep up as I surely cant even come close...so I constantly read the recon reports and occasionly the main thread...but otherwise try to stay away from there until things settle down...

[pojo]

It is downright unbearable to go into the TT forum anymore.... I cannot stand the -removed- and the amateur supposed mets calling themselves professional mets. Good luck mods.

[angelwing]

i agree pojo, I have only been viewing TT as I have a lot of friends in the gulf states and I have been having problems just trying to get into the site, took me over an hour just to get in...these nonsense posts in tt aren't helping the load, I feel sorry for the mods and admins, they are having headaches now, heaven forbid Ernesto becomes any kind of cat storm, there are going to be a ton of migraines!

[bvigal]

Well here's the latest this morning - NO mods at all on the board. New thread numbered #1 for hurricane Ernesto, meanwhile TS Ernesto is only at the beginning of page 24. New thread has no links to previous threads, no explanation why "hurricane" when all the 5am products still say TS. I know, 5:04am special bulletin made it a hurricane - but that should have been explained, it took me 15 minutes to figure that out, reading last few pages of old one and all the new one with no luck, and finally had to waste more space to ask.

A promet asked the creator to post the links of other threads, and so did I, and creator ignored us both and left. Nobody else can do anything, we aren't mods.

I'm sorry, but I don't think is hopeless and nothing can be done. About 12-14 people need to be kicked off here, at least for a while till they learn to pay attention. That would reduce 75-80% of the junk.

[sunny]

The mods have to sleep, too! They are doing the best they can, they are just outnumbered right now. That is why it is up to us as members to help them where we can.

The mods don't hear this enough - you guys ROCK

[CajunMama]

Thanks Sunny.

I guess some people think we have to spend all our nonworking hours moderating and forget our family life and sleep. I was also on here till 3am cdt this morning so excuse me if i'm sleeping at 7am.

[BreinLa]

Well thanks so much for your input bvigal, tell you what when marshall and chad give me a raise I promise to be here at 7 am on Sunday morning. Thanks Sunny

[southerngale]

I spent 90% of my Saturday on here, deleting and doing my best to control the drivel posts. I only have two hands to operate the keyboard though. Like Frick, I was on here till the wee morning hours so I was also sleeping at 7am.

[Aslkahuna]

I used to be a Moderator for the old TWCForum on Compuserve and so I've been there, done that. I resigned in 2000 after 5 years and haven't had the desire to ever moderate again.

Steve

[kevin]

I moderated a board with comparable volume to Talking Tropics, only a heated political discussion forum. That was rather insane, and I know how long it takes to actually 'read' a message board. You all need someone who is an insomniac though, because I cringed when reading here that no moderator was on for a while. Its completely understandable but never occured to me before. The opportunities for trolls are almost unlimited.

On the political forum we were able to get around that risk with international moderators. Don't know if anyone here is on from overseas during that time. Just an idea.

[beachbum_al]

No I don't have a headache but I do have migraine forming at the moment from all of the bashing that was going on this morning. I felt really bad for certain members of this site that do a wonderful job for us without being paid for it.

[bvigal]

Hey wait a minute, I have ALWAYS supported the mods here, and you know it’s true! Of course I don’t think you should get no sleep or neglect your family!!! How could you for one minute think that? I said “NO mods at all on the board.” No exclamation mark, no frowny face, just a simple statement. From all the other posts I’ve made praising you, thanking you, encouraging people to donate, etc., I’d wouldn’t think you’d take that one sentence in that context. Regardless, I’m truly sorry for the moment of grief I caused you when you read my post. I hope you will forgive me for that!

When there’s a problem, what are we supposed to do? What have we been told over and over again? PM a mod, right? Well, here was an example of how sometimes that option just isn’t available. I wasn’t saying it was anyone’s fault, or that people shouldn’t get their sleep, just that the system isn’t perfect, and that it’s not the “cure all” some might believe. You read what Kevin said: “I moderated a board with comparable volume to Talking Tropics... You all need someone who is an insomniac though, because I cringed when reading here that no moderator was on for a while.“

I wasn’t the only one to start posting that Talkin’ Tropics was becoming a problem, and it wasn’t easy for me to do. You have read a few posts from others and how they feel. There are many in the “silent majority” who would never say anything for fear of being criticized or upsetting someone, or who have already quietly left – don’t you notice some gone? I’m risking a lot of heat to point out something that’s not for my benefit, but for everyone’s – including the moderators!!

What I’m seeing (please tell me if I’m wrong – I hope I am!), is that one word against another member, even if it is true, will get one suspended in short order. But, one can post 100 meaningless, chatty messages per day in the middle of a hurricane thread, and never get kicked off? It seems so, because all of the worst violators were still busy doing just that. And if another member wants to tell them to ‘knock it off’ (after suggesting nicely to no avail), the member trying to help, not the ‘chatter’ is more at risk of being called on the carpet.

As I’ve been trying to point out in previous posts and PM’s, you Mods shouldn’t have to sit up half the night and spend your whole weekend deleting posts!! That’s ludicrous!! Are every one of those deleted posts by unique people? (I doubt that.) Were there any 3 posts deleted which were written by the same member? From what I can see, 90% of the problem is coming from 15-20 people. Do these ‘chatters’ know, much less care, if their past posts are being deleted, when they are totally ignoring the repeated warnings that several moderators have posted? I doubt it. Why, then, aren’t they being suspended after warnings, instead of moderators having to constantly monitor and delete posts? That would be much less work for the mods, and will really fix the problem. I would be as thrilled as anyone if you didn’t have to spend a ton of your time deleting posts, and could instead enjoy the boards like the rest of us!!

[Stephanie]

Here's my two cents...

sure, there's probably 12 - 14 that need to go permanently, but there will be another 12 - 14 more right behind them. The next step would be to formally approve each and every person that "applies" for a membership here. If the mods/admins don't have the 36 hours in the day to delete and suspend trouble makers now, who's going to handle the "approval" of new members?.

Then we have the case of the stubborn members that have been banned and like gnats, come back again and again. The rest of the members have NO IDEA how many of your former members have "risen from the dead" via a new name. There's only so much a site can do to ban a member permanently but there are ways around everything.

Not only is it a shame for the mods and admins to have to spend their WEEKENDS and time away from the family to delete posts, etc., but most of us do have jobs that generally frown upon "excess Internet usage". Yet we still see calls for "where are the Mods/Admins".

It still DOESN'T HURT to pm a mod or admin even if noone is here. We do get them and will research them. You all know who we are.

One of my favorite sayings is "Don't Feed The Trolls". If there's one online, just ignore them, pm one of us and we'll get to them when we can.

[brunota2003]

"Don't Feed The Trolls" the best saying ever...I remember the first time I heard it I was like "what is a troll?" I think the mods are doing an excellet job considering how badly outnumbered they are...thank you guys I have been in the TT section lately as the 5 day cone first turned toward me, then ate me whole...

[Gorky]

Thanks to the mods for doing a good job, but it's a shame people really don't listen at all to what you request. I've had plenty of things to say about Ernesto, but I just cannot bring myself to spend 15 minutes typing up something which will be buried under 3 pages of people stating the same things which have been said 10 times before, wild speculations with no backup or arguing with other people about their opinions on the storm.As a result, the good posts don't get posted and the threads sadly turn to a complete mess. Last year I probably read every post of every storm on this forum, but this year, I think I gave up after having to read 200 pages about an invest

Good luck mods.. It's certainly not a job I could do

[pojo]

By the time I read one post, I have 3 more pages to go..... I just love people typing the same thing over again (just a hint of sarcasm). Yes I would like to see the reports from the recon planes, but posting every GPS report from the plane is stupid... one ONLY needs to read the vortex message from the dropsonde... nothing else.

Good luck mods amid the mess of trolls, amateur (so called) mets and professional mets.

[george_r_1961]

I think we need to give the mods a break. They CANNOT be here 24/7. Most if not all have jobs and families and even if they do not u cannot expect them to be here all the time.

Its up to us..the MEMBERS.. to read the rules and abide by them. The moderators are just that..moderators. NOT babysitters. Im getting sick and tired of this whining about staff including our pro mets. They all give freely of their time and should be appreciated not criticized by the members.