Thanks for all the good input from everyone.

I have been a member since 2006, and while I may have lurked prior, discussions for me were not a top priority back then because, as as matter of practice, I am just one of those who generally does not like to try to jump into a jungle of competing speculation for the purpose of making sure everyone else gets a chance to hear (or read) me speculating out loud. Prior to flhurricane (and since) I have moderated several other forums where we have also sought quality over quantity, with few exceptions being made for things like someone's birthday, some other major event, etc. (these items would not always be taken offline, just often moved into their own categories.)

The reason why we try to keep a focus on post quality over quantity at flhurricane (especially so during significant weather events), is because, as stated above, the goal is to have a place where people can come and glean some useful and ideally accurate information about tropical cyclones "without the hype."

This is not to say that unless one is a met or a complete weather nerd one's post is somehow automatically of low quality, or in some way filled with hype. Far from it. We welcome and encourage posts from everyone, but we simply ask that they stay on topic, and stay within defined guidelines for each forum (and if one doesn't know what the topic is in any given forum, or what that forum's guidelines are, please do not hesitate to ask me, or any other mod - we really are all here to help, and are happy to do so).

As one of flhurricane's mods, I can also share with you that we are not out to "get" anyone. I understand how it can feel and seem that way from time to time, but such is the nature of the Interwebs (despite all of its glory, it is still not a place where in-person contact is being made, and as such, misinterpretations and misunderstandings easily arise).

Please understand that flhurricane is not some kind of commercial venture. We are not looking to "drive business." There are websites that clearly do this. Their goal is to encourage as many "hits" by just about any means possible, and one of the easiest ways to "drive hits" is to open up forums and then allow all sorts of wild speculation, competing conspiracy theories, politically-charged stories, "hot-button" issues. These sites are filled with quantity over quality, and for many of the uninitiated, coming to such a site for the first few times, determining fact from fantasy is almost impossible, resulting in the exact opposite of what our goal is here.

So we have some site "rules," and yes, some of us enforce them more adamantly than others, but in general, all we ask is that lurkers and members (myself included!) stick to the site "rules" as much as humanly possible. If a post gets edited, or canned (I've had more than one post go to the graveyard, myself), it doesn't mean we are saying anything bad about anyone personally, it just means that a mod determined a given post was needing additional information, context, correct information, etc., or was just in the wrong forum, or maybe not appropriate for the site as a whole. It is nothing personal.

One final thought, the Lounge is far less strictly moderated. Provided it doesn't ramble off into total never-neverland, most replies that are relatively on-topic to the headline article for a given Lounge entry are going to be fine there.

Best,

Ciel