Regional Forums have Stolen the Jazz from American Weather

[ApacheTrout]

For all of this talk about the main forum losing great discussion, I don't see anyone here doing a whole lot about it. Is it just because Wes and HM stopped posting (let's be honest - they were big contributors to the superthreads of the past)? I'd rather see more activity on the main forum, too, but I can't force anyone to post here.

There appears to be a number of people who would like to talk about regional or national weather but indicate that it's no longer possible. Who is stopping you? Why can't threads be started for major regional or national events here? I'll certainly contribute to them. Threads were started for every major snowstorm in the January and February to very little fanfare.

There are some smart people posting in this thread complaining about the way things used to be. You guys should be the ones that help bring it back.

When I started this thread, I thought bringing in the top two posts from each subforum was the way to bring the interesting discussions back to the main page. I think that's a mistake now, as I see that just because a post has the most activity doesn't say anything about its quality. Earlier, someone (my apologies for not remembering who) suggested that the moderators of each subforum should recommend one or two threads to be cross linked to the main board. I think this is a great idea, as it should bring to light some topics that are currently missed unless you happen to hang out in the particular subforum.

However, I don't think it immediately solves the problem of the skilled forecasters/researchers not posting anymore. If they're not posting in the subforums or the main page, then they're simply not posting. That's a different story. It doesn't take much change in circumstances for a few key members (new job with restrictions, new family, vacations, spousal threats of sexcommunication for members who spend more time online than with their sweeties, etc.) for the board to lose some pizazz. Hopefully, it's just a temporary lull. A Marauder Minimum, so to speak.

OT: Speaking of absent members, I really liked the solar weather threads started by Jim Hughes. I know they often devolved into a sordid messiness filled with personal attacks and thin skins, but he posted some truly interesting ideas. Bummed to see him gone from the discussion.

[My Weather Today]

Here are just a few ideas that I've had for a while that may generate more interest in the main forum...

• Have a MET / PRO create a broad ongoing discussion Monthly Outlook thread covering the entire US and pin it. Anyone should be able to discuss and ask questions freely within this thread; just try to keep the IMBY questions to a minimum. All in-dept IMBY discussions and outlooks should be kept within the regional forums.
• Have a MET / PRO create a broad ongoing discussion Seasonal Outlook thread covering the entire US and pin this one as well. This thread should be handled the same way as the Monthly Threads, keeping in-dept IMBY questions / discussions to a minimum.
• Have a MET / PRO create a similar ongoing discussion Monthly Outlook thread with respect to the 2011 Hurricane Season and pin it. Have one Monthly Outlook thread for the Atlantic basin and one for the Pacific basin. Again, everyone should be able to participate, post data, debate, and ask questions freely. You may what to minimize the ongoing storm discussions within these monthly outlook threads. Each named storm of the season should have its own thread and pinned accordingly. (I think this may be how folks at Eastern handled this as well.)
• Have a monthly rainfall / snowfall accumulation contest thread and pin it. This thread should be just for fun and entertainment purposes only. The American Weather member who accumulates the most precip in each catergory within his own backyard each month should be able to win some sort of prize or special forum previlege. Verifying these member's monthly accumulations may be the only challenge to such a contest.

I have some other ideas, but I will hold off on posting them for right now.

After analyzing all of the posts, there appears to be a consensus that some people would like to increase the participation of the MET's & PRO's on the main board. While others would like to have everyone participate more on the main forum. That's why I suggested some of the ideas I posted last week. I think we will see not only more MET's posting, but more members posting as well. Some have suggested limiting new threads to MET's only. I wouldn't suggest that unless your goal is to increase 'views' on the main forum as opposed to increasing participation and discussion.

I've anaylzed the website as whole and I see there are a lot of forums and topics available for everyone to participate within. I don't see anything wrong with this because members appear to be signing in on regular basis and participating accordingly. The issue some have appears to be the lack of participation within the main forum.

The title of the 'main' forum is 'Weather Forecasting and Discussion'. Based upon just the title alone, I think the main focus of the thread should be just that, weather forecasting and discussion. Again, that's why I made some of the suggestions that I made earlier. Administrators and moderators you may want to encourage many of the MET's and PRO's to take the lead in steering the main forum in this direction since it appears it is them that many regular members want to hear more from. However, I don't think they necessarily have to be the only ones initiating new forecast discussion threadS .

Personally, I don't have any objections to the sub-forums or old format vs. new format. I'm simply trying to make some suggestions to improve the overall quality of the forum.