Chaserpedia

[MCC2]

Hi everyone, I am a member of another site called Storm Track. A member of storm track named Shawn Gossman posted something I thought some of you may be interested in. He started a weather wiki. We have had weather wiki's in the past that failed but this one sounds promising and it has a good administrater. Here is the info and responses to questions from Shawn Gossman:

Everyone,

I have just created Chaserpedia which is a free online wiki for storm chasing, spotting, meteorology and general weather information. I have used the same software that Wikipedia uses which is also open source and its free to anyone who might take interest in it. Lets build a huge knowledge base on storm chasing and meteorology.

You can also create pages on yourself, tour services, chaser websites and stuff like that, I have no issues with that as long as you don't spam the site.

It is brand new and I have not made a logo for it yet but its released and public, so you can start enjoying it whenever you want.

Visit @

http://www.chaserpedia.com/

I can control how this goes. With volunteer editors though, it should be easier to protect it from vandalism. It just depends on the volunteer and how much they take what they wrote serious enough to enforce it lol. I will try to keep it from turning into a disaster but I could not find a wiki for chasing and they got one for everything else, so I went a head and giving it a shot.

Full names is fine or usernames. Regardless of how other people and websites see it, I am on the fence on whether people want to use their real full name or a username. The reason for my belief is because some people want to keep their privacy and not share their full names online. The internet is a very dangerous web so privacy is a big deal to some folks. I wont take a "use your full name or don't join" approach

Some people say your not serious if you don't use your full name but that doesn't make any sense. But I respect other websites that take that policy such as StormTrack

I am using my full name here.

Chaserpedia is not to be mistaken as anything "official". There is no such thing as official in storm chasing, its a hobby anyone can do it. Chaserpedia will simply be there for a place to add information for educational and referencing purposes. I will be strict about unique content and copyright as I am with my other websites.

These days, there is a wiki for everything even hunting and fishing. I searched online and could not find a chasing wiki and thought I might as well give it a shot.

Imagine a site to go to and see a list of various radar software or equipment or even information on video cameras. Imagine a place to go to see everything one could learn about chasing and severe weather ... all for free... that is what I will be attempting with Chaserpedia.

But I do hear you all on the aspects of providing false information. I will be doing my best to keep it out and welcome others who would like to help. I am currently looking for volunteer administrators if anyone is interested

[MCC2]

Here is some information the new administrater Chris Zenzel has posted:

Just about what I was going to re-post by accident before reading the second post page I agree that this is not a definite source. It's similar to other wikis such as Wikipedia. You always should verify your information you get from a wiki, but I am sure we can build a community similar to Wikipedia of moderators, content advisors, and content administrators that information is accurate enough for background information. I am glad to be part of the project. There use to be a wiki that was mentioned on storm track but it disappeared. I am working quickly to add a lot of initial content as well as Shawn because I would like to see this wiki project stay and expand to a good resource for people to find information and other resources related to the posted information.

I agree, but I think we are targeting the wiki to be similar to Wikipedia. We can have an advisory board of content advisors; however, with a wiki and the wiki software you can't approve everything that is posted to the wiki unless pages are locked. I don't think we want to lock and protect every page except for those pages that need to be watched such as those for users and spotter groups.

I like the idea. Maybe we can include something in the guidelines that if you are unsure of something you are going to post we recommend discussing it first in the "Discuss" page under any given wiki page. Advisors can guide users then to the right direction in helping in finding the research, guide the user to providing/citing sources, and then rewriting the articles in a certain format that is understandable by the wiki users (or the target audience).

I did not know where to post this so I apologize if this is the wrong thread but this is weather related. The wiki is still new but we have added a glossary, weather almanac and a place for storm chasers and weather enthusiasts to post links to their websites. We have made searching and adding articles easy. Shawn said he would try to get some mirror sites up for the wiki. Everyone is welcome to help out. So far there is just 3 of us and any help we can get is apreciated. This can be a great rescource but only if we get enough people to help contribute to the wiki. I have already added alot of articles for tornadoes and I hope some of you will join us in making this a great wiki for the weather community.

[MCC2]

I want to let everyone know you can also advertise your website at chaserpedia in the form of an ad. (like a google ad) If you want details feel free to check out the site or PM me. You could also just create a page and put down information and a link to your website.

[Juliancolton]

I think this is a cool idea. I love the concept of open wiki editing (I'm an administrator on many such sites, including wikipedia), and I'd be glad to help out where needed.