We got to do something!

[NCHurricane]

The best suggestion in this whole thread is too use the Ignore feature (thanks, Luis). If you have someone that repeatedly does something here that offends, disturbs, or annoys you, put them on Ignore for the remainer of the "event". Then afterwards, "un"ignore and see how things go (and for goodness sakes - let's not start saying "Well, I just put you on Ignore So and So. That's not nice ).

The Resident Eastern NC Lurker signing off....have a good weekend.

[Windsurfer_NYC]

Use the ignore feature, it works great. I've seen some people contribute more than 50% of posts a page! I wish "ignore this user" was available right from the boards, rather than hidden inside the control panel. I also don't like the use of the word "foe". Chronic miss-spellers, Chatty Cathy's and Cheerleading Wish-casters aren't my enemy - they're just a waste of my time.

"This post was made by Xxxx Xxxx who is currently on your ignore list. Display this post."

[swimaster20]

I just got back from eating out, so my previous comment was a few pages back. Anyhow, I want to clarify what I said about the age limit. I only would support it in TA, NOT Talkin' Tropics. I think anyone and everyone should be able to make a forecast in Talkin' Tropics whether they are 13 or 73 w/o fear of being shredded to bits.

[SouthFloridawx]

Is it just me, or is there some weird energy going on out there today or the past couple of weeks?

[LSU2001]

I believe that this issue is simply a sign of more S2K growing pains. Like many others have said this site now has many more posters/members and the congestion seen on the threads is simply a function of this growth. I too have been here for a few years and I do feel that I actively participate but I do not post regularly in the tropics forum because I find that by READING the posts carefully and THINKING about what the posters say I can get an overall idea of what is happening with a given system.

I have learned more about tropical weather the last few years than I thought possible. This learning is a direct result of comparing and analyzing the posts of everyone. The pro's do a great job of answering questions and explaining their thinking. Can they be wrong? Of course, everyone blows a forecast from time to time but the effort and passion shows in the fact that they bother to post on an amature board at all. This board is the best I have found and I will continue to support S2K as much as I possibly can because I find the information on here outstanding.

The conflicts and bruised egos will continue but everyone needs to consider why they are here in the first place. We all share a passion for weather or we would be spending our valuable time someplace else. If we are passionate about weather we should seek to improve our understanding rather than to look for debate. Debate is not an argument but rather a well thought out series of exchanges seeking to clarify, expand, and analyze information. The proper way to debate in my opinion is to state a position supported by factual information and invite others to find fault with the position.

When I first joined this site, members would quickly remind posters that science demands evidence before drawing conclusions. If we could try and stick to the scientific way of debating along with some well placed self depreciating humor this place would be a good bit nicer and would tend to supply much more valuable information.

Regardless of the "problems" we seem to be having this is still the best weather site on the web. If you don't believe me spend some time of other boards and I think you will find that S2K is by far the most caring, and most informational message board out there.

and finally from a group I frequent I bring you rule # 62



DON'T TAKE YOURSELF SO DAMMED SERIOUSLY.

Thanks,
Tim

[Recurve]

Don't look now, but 99L is back.

[ericinmia]

This board just continues its slow downward spiral in my opinion. Years ago, it used to be fun. It's not so fun any longer. Just about anyone that posts his/her opinion gets slammed by someone else, or a pro met. It used to not be like that. It used to be a "friendly" place to openly discuss the tropics. Now, if you have a different opinion from someone else on the board, you better watch out.

I agree. Years ago I spent hours on end on this site. I am one of the few that can remember how things USED to be. I told everyone about how awesome this site was... Now I can barely stand to read a single thread. I simply cannot take the "no offense" but what I see as worthless drabble, spamming, and frankly post after post which are a waste of my time (Hence i'm not around anymore). Sure I am not a pro met, I have ideas and questions, but I also understand what it means to be part of a COMMUNITY!

Here is a little anaolgy for ya: "Don't be the kids that ask a question about every little thing; meanwhile that the book infront of you has the basic answers, when the class as a whole is being held back by your incessant ineptitude."

This doesn't even address the worthless banter of the people that "chat" on the board, only to not be warned(generally) or banned. There are many Storm2k members that I talk with through AIM... I am blown away by the selfishness, introverted, and attention whorist attitude of many on this board, that they feel the world is interested in their abstract, minute conversations.

GOLDEN RULE::
" DO NOT POST UNLESS THE POST IS WORTH SOMETHING TO THE BOARD AS A WHOLE!!! "

[Steve]

I'm not reading 8 pages of bitching. People can have their own opinions. Perhaps a little more aggressive merging of repeated topics (e.g. "Are we at the end of the AMO cycle?" within 10 days) and some self-policing by members can go a long way. Another big problem is the way people use the "quote" feature. I know I kick it old school with some copy and paste preceeded by a ">>", but that's better than a repeat of 5 paragraphs to say "I agree 100% with this post!" If you agree, just say you agreed with x's post, you don't have to quote the whole thing. Also, let's face it, there is a vocal minority of crappy posters. You're going to have that with every message board. It's kind of difficult to isolate those who are genuinely interested (yet mostly ignorant) from those who are just ignorant and post to hear themselves talk. But moderators, over time, should be able to spot who is doing what. That autistic kid last year got way too many free passes, and many of us long-time members got trashed by certain moderators (not sure if they are still in place as I haven't looked at the list in a while) who wanted to play nice-nanny. And that kid had an excuse. Some don't. Delete the stupidity and warn the infractors that their IP Addresses will be permanently banned if they keep it up.

That's all I've got for now.

Steve

[jaxfladude]

The following reply is that of sarcasm and should be treated as such:
I want a Cat 5 hurricane(now there is a one liner to waste valuable bandwidth on this forum)

[RL3AO]

Age limits don't work on the interwebs. People can easily lie about their age.

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

The truth is, I like hearing every ones options. I don't like it to be to serious, yes some times it can be serious with more serious post. But it gets borning if the place has no fun to it after a while. That is what makes storm2k the best tropical cyclone board on the net. If it got to much harder storm2k would just turn into a pro met and "serious board"...In which case would not be like a place to enjoy any more. But this is just my option...Believe me I do like storm2k, but just like to hold strong options some times, it can be a good and a bad some times.

[Recurve]

The interesting thing is, I think every person who posted in this thread is someone who I'm glad is on storm2k in talking tropics, people I think always make good posts; none of you are the problems. The more of you we have the more the problems go away I bet.

[DanKellFla]

I don't know if the was mentioned already, but there is a great "OFF TOPICS" forum here. Maybe a sub-forum for "OFF TOPICS-Weather Chatter" (or maybe "Whether Chatter") could be made for all the posts and all the posts.

[Frank2]

Just two quick comments on what others mentioned:

As far as what someone mentioned about discontinuing the rankings and colors for various members, I agree - the camp I've volunteered at for years seemed to do very well when everyone wore the same camp shirt, until it was decided that different colored t-shirts would be worn to determine a person's "standing" at camp (camper, professional staff, senior leader, etc.).

Now, people feel either more or less than others - based on what they are wearing, so, better not to have any designations at all (aside from those who help to run the web site itself).

As for those who post here and are well under 21 - it's the folly of the entire issue, and really ironic, too, that the number of investor-lurkers on this site have perhaps unknowingly been calling their commodity brokers to buy or sell - based on the random (though innocent) comments of children and young teens who are looking for some "excitement" during hurricane season (those last two or three weeks of summer vacation can be very boring at times), and post those inaccurate "one-liner" tidbits of "breaking news" when it comes to a tropical system - which adults might unknowingly interpret as "highly creditable sources of information".

As the saying goes - inaccurate, misleading or confusing information is far worse than no information at all...

[ajaxw]

Interesting discussion. I'm a lurker to the site. Southerngale's comment most echoes my sentiment. Storm2K is invaluable, but when there's an active storm, the board is less fun precisely because you have to go through several or landfall -removed- arguments to get to the substantive information. I have fun when I learn something new or hear a new insight on weather. As far as removing distinctions, sorry, I am completely against it. Unlike the summer camp example, not everyone's opinion is of equal merit, nor is establishing self-esteem important. The analyses of wxman57, Air Force Met, Derek Ortt, et al (pro mets) and Mike Watkins et al (superb amateurs) are what keep me coming to the site. To expect discussion to exist just in the Tropical Analysis forum is unfair to the pro mets; writing discussions from scratch takes time, and they want to bounce off good ideas and interact as much as anyone else. Just my two cents.

[smw1981]

Another post that many people make that takes up a lot of threads when a major storm is looming is the, "If it hits ________ (<insert person's city here), it is going to be devastating!"

This is probably the one post that gets under my skin the most, because no matter where a Cat. 4 storm hits, it will be devastating to the people in the community! These posts come from Texas to Florida (for the same storm), and if users could limit themselves to not making statements like this, it would cut out probably 50% of the posts during "panic time"!

That being said, again, I love S2k and really only go by the TA forum when I really need info. (But I do like reading everyone's opinions ON WHERE THE STORM WILL GO, STRENGTH, ETC...not on how much damage it will cause if it hits them!)

[El Nino]

Activity is really high because we need a BIG storm, and it has been since 2005 we didn't have it. Once we'll have it, I think the first hours/days will be very busy, but people will calm down after.

[jrod]

Since a lot of posters seem to put in one liners to boost their post numbers, here is my idea though it will take some re-writing of the software Im sure. Have a net# of posts that counts for what storm status a member is. When someone writes a post with substance it counts, when someone pulls a one liner, personal attack, give them a negative post for that. So it wont take the mods time have us members decide if a post is worthy or deserves a negative. Just my $.02 on the issue.

I've been guilty of posting one liners and will try not to do it again.

[Windtalker2]

This board just continues its slow downward spiral in my opinion. Years ago, it used to be fun. It's not so fun any longer. Just about anyone that posts his/her opinion gets slammed by someone else, or a pro met. It used to not be like that. It used to be a "friendly" place to openly discuss the tropics. Now, if you have a different opinion from someone else on the board, you better watch out.

I agree with you 110% ..... People can just get so testy here.

[MGC]

Some of ya'll are taking things too seriously. We are here for the fun and to possibly gain knowledge about the weather. None of us here knows everything and I learn a little from everybody. Keep on posting.....MGC