Spring moans, ramps, chat and banter

[on the coast]

12 minutes ago, fergieweather said:

I'm BBC staff. The agreement reached 3 or so years back with colleagues at UKMO - after considerable discussion and their ultimate support - was for me to espouse and illustrate (where possible) the world-leading scientific rationale they employ behind the forecasts we communicate from them on the BBC. That I've endeavoured to do, remaining faithful to their expert guidance. But there comes a point when nobody needs the aggro at a personal level: certainly not set against pressures of a busy family life and equally busy shift working. Meanwhile, I'm grateful to those who've been supportive. Where practicable, I'll share forecast detail elsewhere via Twitter etc. We often don't have the opportunity on TV bulletins! All the best to the forum. 

Sad to see you go. Always liked your professional input and none biased stance. It's a shame there is still such a hatred towards the Met. Will always keep up to date with you on twitter.

[chrisbell-nottheweatherman]

2 minutes ago, on the coast said:

Sad to see you go. Always liked your professional input and none biased stance. It's a shame there is still such a hatred towards the Met. Will always keep up to date with you on twitter.

Indeed, thanks Ian for presenting the Met Office's view.

Edited January 1, 2016 by chrisbell-nottheweatherman

[knocker]

It's an outright disgrace that Ian has been made to feel he can no longer contribute to the forum. I'll say no more otherwise I'll be up in front of the headmaster.

Edited January 1, 2016 by knocker

[It Might Snow]

18 minutes ago, TSNWK said:

Disagree completely. If I want the views of the Metoffice then I am more than capable of googling them myself or making reference  to outlooks posted on the a BBC. The intention of these forums is in general to chat, amongst equals.. When the big hitters come in when ever they feel like it, I take exception. I would clearly ignore if it made a difference. 

 

Anyway nice debate, and I wish you all a healthy and happy 2016. Cheers.

Really, the big hitters as you call them add much to this community and help us learn. Far better than having to read this kind of post. Some of the comments this afternoon have been odd to say the least. Surely everyone's views are welcome, we all breath the same air after all. I for one hope Ian does continue to post and anyone else offended by the stupid comments this afternoon that do not represent the views of the majoirty of members.

[Coco Hitchcock]

As a passionate reader of this forum it saddens me that you are compelled to leave. Your input is often craved and then berated if not seasoned to personal tastes.

I hope that you reconsider and remember that the weather junkies you hope to enthuse and enlighten appreciate greatly your willingness to visit this forum.

I do genuinely wince when reading some of the comments that have obviously given you offence. 

Kind regards

 

[PLANET THANET]

On 12/24/2015 at 6:18 PM, chrisbell-nottheweatherman said:

 

 

3 minutes ago, knocker said:

It's an outright disgrace that Ian has been made to feel he can no longer contribute to the forum. I'll say no more otherwise I'll be up in front of the headmaster.

quite agree,and by a handful of posters, please dont leave

Edited January 1, 2016 by PLANET THANET

[Frost HoIIow]

A shame Ian feels like leaving. But I understand quite a few knowledgeable members have left over the years purely because of aggro from others on here.

[chionomaniac]

26 minutes ago, TSNWK said:

Disagree completely. If I want the views of the Metoffice then I am more than capable of googling them myself or making reference  to outlooks posted on the a BBC. The intention of these forums is in general to chat, amongst equals.. When the big hitters come in when ever they feel like it, I take exception. I would clearly ignore if it made a difference. 

 

Anyway nice debate, and I wish you all a healthy and happy 2016. Cheers.

This forum is for all, regardless of ability, background, qualifications, job, etc etc etc and Ian and whoever else may choose to post here should be able to regardless of this. If you don't like what info Ian or anyone else shares on their posts then deal with it rather than suggesting that they don't post. I am sure that the majority of members would rather have his posts than ones like the above that add nothing but want to take away loads.

Edited January 1, 2016 by chionomaniac

[Bristawl Si]

1 minute ago, knocker said:

It's an outright disgrace that Ian has been made to feel he can no longer contribute to the forum. I'll say no more otherwise I'll be up in front of the headmaster.

Absolutely agree.

A bl##dy disgrace.

He provided valuable input from models we do not have access to.

Sad times for this forum.

[Cheshire Freeze]

This forum is a shambles and people need to grow up. Chasing away someone who has access to far more data than we do, allied to an insight of the thoughts of the pros is detrimental to everyone and the forum as a whole. Fergie doesn't share his thoughts on here for a debate or an ensuing argument as to the credibility of the Metoffice- he shares his thoughts and the thoughts of the pros to enlighten fellow enthusiasts as to Metoffice thinking. 

I for one appreciate every bit of expert analysis I can soak up- whether that be GP, Chiono or Fergie. Some people should be ashamed.

[chrisbell-nottheweatherman]

Can we at least agree not to let GP be the next one driven-away from posting here?

[cheeky_monkey]

oh the woes of this forum in the winter time..roll on summer!

[It Might Snow]

1 minute ago, chrisbell-nottheweatherman said:

Can we at least agree not to let GP be the next one driven-away from posting here?

Lets try and keep them all, now if some of those who started posting such rubbish this afternoon feel the need to leave well then that's another matter. They may be Trolls, bored or even over tired after staying up late last night,  I am not sure what the problem is but it is all a little odd!

[Tamara]

1 hour ago, TSNWK said:

Disagree..  If we all had access to Glosea then fair enough.. But we do not and it therefore is not a level playing field.. In regard to ignore, that is pointless as posts are often quoted..

at the end of the day the vast majority of us are weather geeks seeking a little distraction and fun.. We do not need the big kids coming into our playground thank you.. 

I could have replied to any of the recent posts you have made, but this one will suffice.

If I may say so, I think you need to learn some manners, some respect, and, last but not least practice some objectivity yourself at first before instructing others.

Rather than carping at those (who are well informed) and make a special effort to provide expert information which is valuable to the community (whether it is what one wants to hear or not) why not do some reading and learning yourself while you are waiting for it to snow? Just a thought.

If you want to see such people challenged about what they say, then I suggest the onus is on you first to get out of your self appointed critique armchair and verse up yourself to create some parity of obligations here.

Ian Fergusson was put off posting on these threads previously, but with goodwill came back again. I am not surprised unfortunately he has decided to leave, probably for good, this time. The disrespectful and immature dross that has been written, very much including your own contributions, speak for themselves.

I hope you are pleased with yourself...

Edited January 1, 2016 by Tamara

[Weather-history]

32 minutes ago, fergieweather said:

I'm BBC staff. The agreement reached 3 or so years back with colleagues at UKMO - after considerable discussion and their ultimate support - was for me to espouse and illustrate (where possible) the world-leading scientific rationale they employ behind the forecasts we communicate from them on the BBC. That I've endeavoured to do, remaining faithful to their expert guidance. But there comes a point when nobody needs the aggro at a personal level: certainly not set against pressures of a busy family life and equally busy shift working. Meanwhile, I'm grateful to those who've been supportive. Where practicable, I'll share forecast detail elsewhere via Twitter etc. We often don't have the opportunity on TV bulletins! All the best to the forum. 

Some of the brats on here, hang your heads in shame by this. 

I'm not going to beat around the bush with this but there are brats on here who frankly contribute zip to this site. It's these that should be driven out not Ian Ferguson.

[shuggee]

The facts are of course objective.  Anybody is welcome to post on this forum, behave like a grown-up, and enjoy themselves.

[chrisbell-nottheweatherman]

18 minutes ago, Gmax said:

Lets try and keep them all, now if some of those who started posting such rubbish this afternoon feel the need to leave well then that's another matter. They may be Trolls, bored or even over tired after staying up late last night,  I am not sure what the problem is but it is all a little odd!

I fear I didn't help matters by misunderstanding Ian's earlier post and therefore unintentionally misrepresenting it, but I did apologise and attempt to redress matters by explaining that my views on the next couple of months are unscientific and not to be taken as seriously as the more reasoned posts supported by model evidence from others.

Just to add that, until recently, I very rarely posted in the Model thread as I felt I didn't understand the models well-enough.  I have commented on the trend in the models recently as I found the metaphorical fog thinning a bit, at least to the point that I could see the broad patterns if not the finer details, but I'm going to cease that as of now.  I'll read that thread, but not post in it.

Edited January 1, 2016 by chrisbell-nottheweatherman

[Nouska]

4 minutes ago, Gmax said:

Lets try and keep them all, now if some of those who started posting such rubbish this afternoon feel the need to leave well then that's another matter. They may be Trolls, bored or even over tired after staying up late last night,  I am not sure what the problem is but it is all a little odd!

The only problem is that someone provided an unpalatable dose of realism to burst the fairy tale that was spun a short time ago.

[Polar Maritime]

Can we please move away from discussing personal members in here, As i'm sure you would all agree being in his shoes..

[It Might Snow]

Just now, Nouska said:

The only problem is that someone provided an unpalatable dose of realism to burst the fairy tale that was spun a short time ago.

Could well be but nothing excuses some of the posts. It was similar to a few weeks ago when the likes of Tamara and others were also subjected to similar odd comments. I guess as you say some members just find it hard to hear news that does not fit with their expectations, it really is odd.

[DAVID SNOW]

Some perspective here:

One or two posts from one or two posters, against 10,000 positive posts is hardly being driven out is it?

[Gustywind]

That's the challenge of being on a public forum, with so many conflicting views, motives and personalities. That's before the challenge of written communication which causes enough problems with people who already know each other let alone ones who have never met before.

Trouble is you get some people on here who are keen to learn and understand more about weather in general (group A) some who only care if and when it's going to snow (group B) and a large number falling somewhere between these 2 points ( myself included in Group C).

When Ian posted the Glosea update last night it probably came over as the New Year equivalent of 'The Grinch' to the people in Group B and even Group C to a lesser extent. Not fair on Ian of course and no excuse for aggressive or rude comments to be made about him, but he's been in this forum for sometime now and arguably should've expected the reaction he got, especially given the winter we've had to date.

Hopefully he'll see he has lots of support and people keen to hear what he has to say via the number of likes to some of the earlier positive message and reconsider his decision to leave.

[Froze were the Days]

3 hours ago, jethro said:

But are they though or do we just remember what we want to remember? And I don't mean that in a snotty way, I include myself in that. If asked, I'd say winters as a kid for me were colder, snowier than today ('70's & ''80's) but the records don't support my memories. Between 1970 - 77 there was little in the way of snow, a couple of snowy ones in the 1980's, the rest were all fairly average. If you look through this list, it does demonstrate that in the UK we don't often get snowy winters, we get a lot of average ones, a lot where little snow falls, and we often get spells or groups of years where similar weather (be it cold and snowy or wet and warm) seem to fall together.

http://www.neforum2.co.uk/ferryhillweather/bonacina.html

A couple of snowy ones in the 1980's - are you sure? 1981/82, Feb 1983, 1985 (Jan/feb), Feb 1986, Jan 1987 - only the end of the 80's had largely mildish/mild winters. But do agree when you look back on your childhood or when you were younger the cold winters stick out far more than the mild ones, as you say the majority of the 70's (can't remember pre-75) were mild upto around 78' and a tendancy of colder winters to appear in clusters (maybe solar influenced?) - have to say 78' to 87' was rather a longer cluster!

Also have to add, real shame about Ian F going to twitter. I for one will miss his input, very sad.

Edited January 1, 2016 by Froze were the Days

[TSNWK]

21 minutes ago, DAVID SNOW said:

Some perspective here:

One or two posts from one or two posters, against 10,000 positive posts is hardly being driven out is it?

Exactly! We have  so many good folk here.. I do hope this blows over and we can continue as we were. Professional Experts come and go.. there are some like me who lurked for several years before plucking up the courage to post.. And that was only down to some of the good folk on here sharing their knowledge.

I elected not to respond to the frenzy this evening.. As would only fan the flames.. But do feel vindicated in a way that at the first challenge, which was not rude or aggressive in any way I hasten to add a member has chosen to leave.. Several members are criticised in far stronger terms and are happy to,defend / argue their corner and are worthy of far more respect despite any agenda or bias they might hold.

 

 

 

[knocker]

14 minutes ago, TSNWK said:

Exactly! We have  so many good folk here.. I do hope this blows over and we can continue as we were. Professional Experts come and go.. there are some like me who lurked for several years before plucking up the courage to post.. And that was only down to some of the good folk on here sharing their knowledge.

I elected not to respond to the frenzy this evening.. As would only fan the flames.. But do feel vindicated in a way that at the first challenge, which was not rude or aggressive in any way I hasten to add a member has chosen to leave.. Several members are criticised in far stronger terms and are happy to,defend / argue their corner and are worthy of far more respect despite any agenda or bias they might hold.

Considering the recent fiasco would I be one of the members who are, allegedly, happy to defend their corner? If so why do you assume I have an agenda and that my posts are biased? And to actually accuse someone of bias in the MOD thread really does signal the end of meteorological satire.

And actually I think you are missing the point if you think Ian has made his decision solely because of your post.

Edited January 1, 2016 by knocker