Mike,
I honestly had decided for myself that I just simply lost the interest to further contribute any of my own thoughts to your site's forums. Sure, there may be thousands of "lurkers" who religiously check up on your site for not only trusted advisories and updates, but also greater insights by others who share an interest in Meteorology. Of the thousands however, how many are contributing? In recent "talkbacks" that date back to July 1 2008, not one even exceeded 100 replies. Of those which elicited replies, I imagine that more than half were by moderators themselves. Whether others or not choose to contribute is a decision that only you ( and other admin's ) can make. My guess is that if one feels that they will be admonished or embarrassed by their contribution, than better to be that lurker. That all said, I do not own or administer this web site. Nor do I necessarily share the percieved purpose of this sites forums. If this site were simply a Tropical Weather Blog, than I'd come here to read, digest the information, and leave. If this site were what many people would consider to be an interactive forum, than many would participate. Yourself or Ed may believe your site is in fact such an interactive forum, but I would disagree. If you choose to call "interactive", discussion among 10-20 people, than so be it. I thnk a better definition would be an example such as Storm2K, where at least hundreds seem to participate. Is their's a better web site? A better site for forum discussion? Tell you what....., this is your web site and I for one respect that. You need choose and decide what it is that you want your site to be and how to operate. Whether or not that serves my greater interests or those of others really is secondary. I believe that your conundrum lies with wanting to have it both ways.
Please keep in mind this......., when it is expressed to me that responses to "Talkbacks" should not really be "apples and oranges", and the very title of such Talkbacks are: TS Dolly Over Cancun, Cristobal Drifts NE, Bertha Now Extratropical....., or Bertha Near Bermuda, Watching Wave East of Lesser Antilles..., don't you think that by definintion the header is in fact less than defined on one solo topic? And so, for myself ....who I consider to be fairly well educated ( but a really crappy speller ), one who has successfully chased and intercepted hurricanes for a number of years, and a long time student of Tropical Meteorology, what is either the fun, inherant need, or self indulgent purpose for myself ( or others ) to need to contribute, when told my response is kind of "apples and oranges" with regard to the talkback topic? Forecast Lounge???? Yes, one can simply post their thoughts in a Forecast Lounge; One in which perhaps one may elicit 3 or 4 responses. Now, there's a great sharing of thoughts and opinions, right? Not really.
I applaud Sue B for simply bringing up the issue, though sad that it is true. Simply put, many others may have shared in the past, but they were in one way or another encouraged to do so elsewhere. That, or to certainly "mute" their input. I may join Sue as a lurker myself....., at least until lthe day that I find simply little left to "lurk at".
Guys, I don't know how your gonna deal with it, but its hard to write about recon data, satellite loops, upper air reports, model concensus, etc. without using phrases like "I bet", "I think", " I imagine", "it might", "may be", "should be", etc. I do wish you a lot of luck doing so - I imagine its not an easy job.
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