Pro Mets & Posting Frequencies

[caribepr]

We do run into this issue every year and especially on the first storm. It's gotten to be a right of passage and not a good one. We are trying some new stuff this year with the active storm sub-forum and with the threat area threads. Hang in there with us and we'll see if we can't re-train some people. If not then some will get a short vacation from the board.

I agree!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(sorry, I couldn't resist...you all rock big time, and the word thanks is small for the feeling).

[Stephanie]

I can't add anything more to what Marshall said except that if you see a problem, PLEASE use the report function and/or pm a Mod/Admin that's online at the time.

We are trying to weed out the one liners (or word) and duplicate threads. We need the help of the members to be able to stay on top of it all - and we have received a lot of help already.

Also, please feel free to pass a long any suggestions that you may have as to what you would like to see or perhaps you think may work better for the forums. This website is EVERYONE'S.

[KBBOCA]

The active storms forum has been GREAT. It is such a nice change to only have one page of threads rather than having lots of current threads getting buried on page 2 or 3 as sometimes used to happen back in 2003 - 2005.

It also helped in that the interesting Sepat threads didn't get buried under dozens of Dean & Erin threads. Info was easy to find. Well done.

The threat area threads were also really helpful and clear.

One idea comes to mind. The Tropical Analysis forum is excellent, but it's hard to remember to go over there. And it doesn't get as much traffic, which can mean it's dull. I tend to go read stuff there sometimes, but there's hardly ever any interesting discussion.

Perhaps there can be a compromise: Perhaps have an "Advanced Analysis" thread for each active storm over here in the Active Storms forum. It could be designated as a place primarily for pro mets and advanced amateurs to post detailed discussion and analysis. Posting by others could be strongly discouraged, except for questions. Deletion of one liners, -removed- posts, etc. could then be pretty strongly enforced, just as the Threat Area threads had pretty strict guidelines, which were, for the most part, respected.

This could be a win-win situation. It gives a place for more advanced posters to comment, while also allowing a separate open discussion thread for anyone and everyone to share their enthusiasm and concerns and questions as currently has been happening. Coming down too strongly on chat and more-personal posts could negatively affect the sense of community here, and I'd hate to see that happen. An Advanced Analysis thread here in Active Storms also gives all readers an easy way to get more reliable information and learn from those who are more advanced in meteorology than most of us.

Thoughts?

[z-bail]

I am a novice and am really bummed at the forums this year. I really used to follow them alot last year and get good info because i could actually read stuff from derek and other professional mets in the talkin tropics forum and not have it be buried under 20 pages. So just as they are frustrated about posting and having there comments buried; I as a user who wants to read their postings am also frustrated at fellow users who post the "agreed" comments which breed the 200 page topics.
However, if I go to the tropical analysis forum normally there are very few posts there and what little posts there are seem to be very detailed and high level like from one pro met to another. i can't understand alot of it.
I have thought of a solution but I don't know if it would work. Would it be possible that under the talkin tropics page when you open a thread to be able to only view posts from professional mets, analysts, and admins?
So, what I am after is a layman's forecast from a pro met. I can't get that from tropical analysis but I can get it from Talkin Tropics; HOWEVER, now the pro mets don't want to post in Talkin Tropics and I respect that. So, how do we both get what we want? How about a forum where maybe you limit the number someone can post to in a day or something? Not the pro mets of course.

[richartm]

A year or so ago I asked for a button or similar that would bring up the posts of Pro-Mets only. I was told that was not possible, I can't remember why.

Seems like time to ask again...

A related idea would be to provide a link to "moderator's choice" posts. Instead of being police, the mods could then focus on identifying the good posts, and just ignore the trivial/off-topic. See for example Salon.com, a major on-line magazine that allows readers to comment on each article. It then offers links to "view all comments" and "view editor's choice comments", which is usually about 10% of the total.

[soney]

I'm a frequent reader but not a frequent poster for this very reason. One thing that I do as a reader is to stop posting when a hurricane is threatening an area I am not in. I understand that those people want to get information quickly and the less I can post in a particular hurricane thread, the easier it is for those closest to the storm to get information.

Also, I applaud learning but was wondering if we could have a questions for the Mets/Advanced Users thread going for the technical questions that pop up during every hurricane?

In the past, I've been able to find some wonderful nuggets of information on pending hurricanes but this year was particularly rough. I literally spent hours wading through posts. But really, this a problem for the users to solve, not the admins. A little consideration would go a long way.

I applaud the move to Active Storms, it made loading much easier and I noticed the board did not lag, even when the threads got into the 100's of pages. Thanks Storm2K!

[Derek Ortt]

How about creating a duplicate general storm thread in Tropical Anlaysis? Or perhaps if people wanted, a duplicate forecast thread in the active storms forum.

I would perfer to keep the forecasts I issue in some form in TA in the same format (one thread per forecasts so the latest information is clearly visible and it makes answering questions far easier on me) so that those with a pressing need for info and have critical questions can immediately have them answered ASAP, but maybe have a thread here for general comments (good comments, not the one liners, emotions, etc) open to everyone.

I would perfer the general duplicate thread in TA, however, along with the raw recon data (and maybe quick comments by the mets on the data pointing out important features, like the quintuple wind maxima of Dean that others may miss). The recon discussion thread should remain here

[feederband]

Geeze...I don't know...Even when a thread is 300 pages long the last 20 post are whats going on and thats usally what is important...I don't think of it as chat .. I'd rather it not get "stuffy"...As long as it doesn't get stupid...

If I want "stuffy" I goto the TA forum which I never post in, yet read everything...Stuffy is good there...

Having the threads set up the way we had Dean set up was real simple to keep up with even though there may of been a few extra opions on Dean it keeps it interesting..

[wxmann_91]

Personally I'm extremely disappointed with the 'official' discussion threads. In my opinion people need to be locked out or posts deleted if they aren't on topic. Maybe we need a Hurricane Model, Hurricane Discussion, and Hurricane Chat threads with only chat being loosely moderated?

I want to learn things and my questions have been lost in the sea of useless replies, off topic comments, or complete quotes of images just to add an exclamation.

I would 100% agree with this proposal.

Sorry for the one-liner but this really is, IMO, the best way. The chatters can chat, AND people can get the information they need.

A pro met analysis thread (rather than forum) would also be nice. The analysis forum gets few views, it would be greater if the posts are all put into one area.

[Derek Ortt]

everyone can post in the analysis forum

They just cannot start threads and there is less tolerance for some of the chatter that many have complained about

[srainhoutx]

everyone can post in the analysis forum

They just cannot start threads and there is less tolerance for some of the chatter that many have complained about

Totally agree. For those that want factual analysis it makes sense for Pro Mets to make Posts and Educated responses in analysis forum.

[tolakram]

everyone can post in the analysis forum

They just cannot start threads and there is less tolerance for some of the chatter that many have complained about

How about creating a duplicate general storm thread in Tropical Anlaysis? Or perhaps if people wanted, a duplicate forecast thread in the active storms forum.

It means we have to jump forums to go from model to analysis and back.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the discussion thread would be great if only less chat. I think this is the mods goal, it's just they are understaffed. They are going to have to moderate wherever the main discussion goes.

[sfwx]

I have enjoyed coming to this site for the past few years and post very little. I appreciate the pro-mets and their invaluable contributions. I am impressed with their patience and knowledge especially during times when people and lives are threatened. I too find it a little frustrating when I look for a pro-met's comments and I have to weed through so many pages of one liners. I also applaud the tireless efforts of the Storm2k staff and its moderators for trying to keep things running smoothly. Are you in need of more moderators? If so I have experience on other sites and I would be more than willing to help.

Eric

[mf_dolphin]

Well ladies and gentlemen the suggestions are great and hopefully we'll do better on the next storm. We're going to look at what worked and didn't work and we'll make some changes.

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

We done great on Dean. It was a great thread in I see little wrong with it.