You have got to love the drama of internet forums. I have to share some here tonight.
I am a member of Stormtrack, the forum board for chasers. Stormtrack is a very diverse and well run internet forum for storm chasers - novice to professional. Stormtrack is a board with an eclectic and diverse group of people from all around the world. Tonight things got quite a little heated.
You see, there's an alternative forum as well. That forum is called CFDG. It stands for "Chase Forecast Discussion Group". The group was formed by close-knit friends as an email-based discussion group which transformed to a quite secretive forum - hidden and quite reclusive by most standards. It's purpose is to apparently share a large breadth of chase forecasting knowledge amongst each other without outside "interference".
The fireworks started tonight when members of the Stormtrack forum began discussing the CFDG group - and one member decided to post their then-public membership list. Apparently this conversation greatly ired some members of the CFDG group - because within minutes the list was pulled from public view. Not only that, but the administrator of the Stormtrack forum - Tim - who ordinarily does a great job - decided to lock the thread because, in his words, it got out of hand, and we were to take the discussion off Stormtrack.
This upset me greatly. Why, you ask? Because, a few days earlier, there were other heated discussions amongst members concerning another highly volatile subject - and the actions in this long winded, debatable discussion were lightly moderated, even when there were pretty near ad hominem attacks - the highest offense in the Stormtrack world, it seems. The thread was split, and some posts were moderated - but there was no locking of the thread.
Suddenly when the CFDG forum is listed and is being discussed - civily and courteosly, I might add - and the member list is posted (which does not violate any rules whatsoever, it was publically obtained), the thread is locked and the members are silenced. The admin of ST, Tim, is a member of CFDG.
The owner said this was done because he was getting floods of angry emails from people concerning the thread's conversation about CFDG. This is ridiculous. They know they are known and recognized - what then is the point of trying to contain secrecy. I am not, have not been, and will not be a member of CFDG even if invited (fat chance) but I think it is quite clear concerning their true intent - to retain knowledge, remain secretive, and invite only those elite enough in the chasing circles to make it into their club.
CFDG has a right to run their forum the way they want to, as does Stormtrack, and any other internet forum on the planet. I administrate one myself I shall not name, due to its popularity and subject, so I am aware of how these forums work. However stated, when the actions of one forum spill over through the actions of another forum due to perceived outcries from the - dare I say - elite - forum, there's a problem. There's a conflict of interest that is squarely on the shoulders of the ST administrator. To him its not fair, and to me the whole thing is just boggling.
I dont care if CFDG hides out in a swamp, or remains secretive for the rest of their internet lives. It's not my business. My concern is when a thread is locked and shut down because of the cries of the members of another forum over what the content of the admin's forum is. It's not right, and policies should not have to be set forth to restrict speech to ease the minds of the other group. Let people say what they are going to say. If you don't like it, and as long as it does not break established netiquette and rules, for crying out loud, let it be. I am in strong disagreement of how this was handled. There will, it seems, always be this rift between CFDG and ST - and I dont know of a way to heal that at this point - it just grows and grows.