Here's another point of view, however: Is this site not strict enough?

It cuts both ways, really. On the one hand, I -really- think that the "rules" and FAQs should be far more accessible and obvious to visitors and members who may not yet be (usually aren't) at all familiar with how to navigate this site, and what the protocols are. And I do agree wholeheartedly that there are appropriate times and places for one-liners.

On the other hand, I appreciate that having my tropical cyclone tracking and discussing here usually avoids the jungle of useless information, agency bashing, name-calling, saber rattling, add nausea, that some other sites have become famous for as the result of tepid moderation, and loose formats. And, I also feel that most, not all, but most - of the one-line responses are best left to PM, primarily because it's imperative that as a season gets busy the boards remain uncluttered and focused.

I am not here to read through 843 posts per thread where 90% are "I agree!".. "Great job!" or conversely bashing of the last poster with insults such as "there goes that global warming nut talking about ssts again!" or scrolling past big pictures of some political figure touring some hurricane-ravaged county. Etc. Etc. Etc. I really think that people who come to sites looking for something equivalent to a chat room should.... go hop in a chat room somewhere, instead. Nothing wrong with weather chat rooms. Flhurricane just isn't one of them.

Having said all that, I have been guilty of doing those very things, myself. Without having mods to remind us all the reason why we are here it is easy for many of us, myself included, to drift off into unhelpful digressions of many possible sorts.

As for the forums - It is my opinion that they are easy enough to navigate, once one takes a few moments to look them over thoroughly and figure out what -probably- best goes where, and what -probably- has topics one wants to read and/or discuss more about. I would really hate to see the existing forums and threads disappear simply because some might find it easier to have just one board active on just one storm at a time. Not even going into the "What then constitutes a storm? ie: Invest? TD? Close to Florida? Within 300 nm of U.S? Only tropical? Only some subtropical?" .. the idea of limiting discussions -only or primarily- to "active storms" seems far, far too focused, and cuts out many potential opportunities to learn about cyclogenesis, forecasting methodologies, prior seasons, historic seasons, other basins, etc.