I just noticed the note in Shane's report from yesterday that media were using positioning in Spotter Network to contact them for live reports???
Wondered if this has been a universal problem for people or just something that has happened to one or two.
Seems pretty crazy to me. I wonder if Spotter Network might consider adding an option to indicate that the chaser is opting out of media calls during the chase, similar to the option for contact by local NWS offices. I wouldn't care if any NWS office contacted me, but I wouldn't want calls from every Tom, Dick or Harry news station looking for free feeds. Chasing is hectic enough as it is -
If it were me, I'd probably just change the phone number to some Pizza Hut number somewhere, or something else.
Thanks Tyler! ... This is such an awesome product ... it really is one of the coolest things to hit chasing in years.
I welcome anybody to call me ! If I put my number out there call me . If you dont want calls dont put your number, put an email address that way media or whom ever is not bothering your chase ! NWS, called on my ks chase thurs. for info on storm and SN served its true purpose. But if media or joe blow was to call me, Tyler I am perfectly fine with that. Thank you for your software.
I will have to raise my hand here and take some blame, and apologize to Mick if it was a problem. We did see his location on SN and called him to see what they were observing, as we were about to punch through that storm. Ours was more of a safety issue. LOL...even after getting their observations, we still ran into a bit of unexpected excitement in the storm.
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Anyway...didn't mean to bother you guys. We were just trying to add an extra degree of safety while we punched through.
Chris
Other chasers aren't the problem.....getting calls from CNN when we're still in the thick of the craziness is what we're sick of.
I had my first personal case of contact info abuse today while out chasing. I'm navigating my family between two storms to try and reposition (we went storm spotting as a family outing on a non-tornadic storm, so don't get all wierdo on me).
A new customer of AllisonHouse calls my cellphone, after seeing it on SN, and asked where his password was from the subscription he submitted an hour ago (note the thank you page after you subscribe says it could take 24hours to activate). Now granted he immediately realized what he had done and apologized, but that's not the point. It's just so darn hard to ignore when the number is right in front of you.
What's the opinion of folks on simply removing the phone contact information all together and only making it available to NWS, "cleared" EMA folks and pre-authorized media contacts? Or put the other way...does the 'viewable by the general public' option have any benefit?
-Tyler
After my cell number I added "NWS ONLY". This seems to do the trick.
Hmmm, interesting problem.
Obviously, taking your phone number off of the SN would be the smartest. If not, then maybe you could add yourself to the do not call registry and state on your id "Cell phone registered with Do Not Call list. Solicitators will be sued".
Lol. Just a couple of thoughts.
Yeah I've thought of making my cell public, but haven't so far. I mean it's cool to be in touch and maybe chat with other chasers about the storm or even have NWS ask you a question about it. My deal though is I often chase alone and am already balancing 10 things at once including videotaping and taking pictures. Having a lot of people calling on the phone in the thick of things could be really distracting. It was a bigger deal when I used to tether, but last chase I switched over to an air card and still have my verizon phone for voice. The other issue I suppose is cell phones are typically private. If you post the number out there you may never hear the end of it.
I had my first personal case of contact info abuse today while out chasing. I'm navigating my family between two storms to try and reposition (we went storm spotting as a family outing on a non-tornadic storm, so don't get all wierdo on me).
A new customer of AllisonHouse calls my cellphone, after seeing it on SN, and asked where his password was from the subscription he submitted an hour ago (note the thank you page after you subscribe says it could take 24hours to activate). Now granted he immediately realized what he had done and apologized, but that's not the point. It's just so darn hard to ignore when the number is right in front of you.
What's the opinion of folks on simply removing the phone contact information all together and only making it available to NWS, "cleared" EMA folks and pre-authorized media contacts? Or put the other way...does the 'viewable by the general public' option have any benefit?
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-Tyler
Can you make it viewable by only NWS/EMA and people on your watch list?
One thing that has bugged me, (It a free service so I souldn't complain!) are the popups telling me to check the server everytime someone wants to be on my watch list. It always happens when I am in the middle of a chase. No offence to anyone that has made a request but I have no interest in dealing with that while I am chasing. I just reject everyone without exception.
That kind of hurts the credibility of the network, if NWS offices are calling for clarification on a TOR sighting and get an interntionally wrong number.
But it'd be funny for the media. I personally think folks are nuts putting their phone number on there. Sounds like an unworthwhile headache to me.
Mick's taking his phone # off his SN info...
I will have to raise my hand here and take some blame, and apologize to Mick if it was a problem. We did see his location on SN and called him to see what they were observing, as we were about to punch through that storm. Ours was more of a safety issue. LOL...even after getting their observations, we still ran into a bit of unexpected excitement in the storm.
Anyway...didn't mean to bother you guys. We were just trying to add an extra degree of safety while we punched through.
Chris
On spotternetwork, you decide what information you want to be seen when people click on your icon showing your position. If I was being annoyed by the calls, I would hide that info so noone could see it, but it's strictly up to the individual.
Any media that contacts you should be reported to me if you have the time to get their information. To date, _NO_ media outlets have opted to support the SpotterNetwork in accordance with our no-commercial use Terms of Service. Therefor anyone contacting you from a media outlet would be in violation and I will raise a stink.
I would recommend that anyone who is being contacted should set their contact information to 'No'. Going forward, only the NWS and vetted emergency management folks will be able to see contact information that is set 'No' (eg: not public). For those looking for even more privacy, I'm working on a new 'Premium' service that you can beta test that allows you to go completely off the map except for NWS/Vetted emergency folks and your friends (you must authorize friends to see you). Feedback is most welcome!
Some media outlets do wish to support our network (Im working on a major deal that will help the SN expand, hopefully soon to be announced), but there will be an "open to media contact" or "not open to media contact" option for members and the media outlets will have agreed via contract to abide by the settings.
-Tyler
Thank you Tyler. I appreciate your work and site.
Might check on the spotternetwork.org forums, but I think the plan was to only have phone info going out to public safety agencies. Tyler would be the expert on this one.
Tyler,
Maybe the user could have multiple options to input a field for the contact info.... perhaps a variable for the following
Contact for the Public
Contact for the Media
Contact for SpotterNetwork.org members
Contact for the NWS
The user could put a phone, an email, both, or nothing for each of the fields, so they could specify their own level of privacy.
Then you could have different password protected data files for each permission level.
My 2 cents.
Andy
I've had my number on there from the start. I have not received all that many calls from it, a few from NWS offices, a few from media wanting reports (which I personally think is great because live on TV is one of the BEST ways to get what your seeing directly to those that need to hear it, but I digress), and a couple that were just weird. One was from some truck driver who has GRL3 and was wanting me to help him set it up, and really called at the worst possible time as I was near a hook and appeared to be a tornado about to form. Another was from someone who said they were a chaser and wanted to tell me chasing stories, which oddly resembled scenes from Twister. Had a couple of other calls from nearby chasers that were on the map as well wanting to meet up or something.
Overall I really haven't had much problem with it other than those couple of calls.
I'm not sure on that part. I think the best thing to do is to contact the NWS office yourself. I haven't seen anything where you can be seen only by them as far as contact info.
Mick's taking his phone # off his SN info...it's been ridiculous this year...not a minute after the tornado's over the damn phone is ringing.
Yesterday we were getting so annoyed by it, we briefly considered agreeing to do an on-air interview and then dropping f-bombs on the air, just to teach them a lesson.
FWIW, I've been calling in all tornado reports via cell phone, although I'm gonna start doing so AFTER the tornado ends...I screwed up my video all day yesterday trying to shoot vid and call in at the same time.
I've had some calls from media this year in the southeast.....but they haven't called when we were in the thick of chasing a tornado. Most call shortly after and they ask us if we would like to give any information. We haven't declined as of yet since they have been pretty nice about it, but if I were about to have a circulation go over my head I might have to tell them off.
Tyler,
Maybe the user could have multiple options to input a field for the contact info.... perhaps a variable for the following
Contact for the Public
Contact for the Media
Contact for SpotterNetwork.org members
Contact for the NWS
I like that idea. I'm going to redo the various configuration/contact pages on the SN to try and resolve this.
I really appreciate everyone's feedback.
New contact system has been implemented over at the SN. Please login to your account and update your contact info.
Can you make it viewable by only NWS/EMA and people on your watch list?
Yes
One thing that has bugged me, (It a free service so I souldn't complain!) are the popups telling me to check the server everytime someone wants to be on my watch list. It always happens when I am in the middle of a chase. No offence to anyone that has made a request but I have no interest in dealing with that while I am chasing. I just reject everyone without exception.
I'll be fixing that as well. There is a new version of the client out (2.1) that folks should be running when they get a chance. But I'm going to make the pop-up functionality optional in the near future.
-Tyler
What's the opinion of folks on simply removing the phone contact information all together and only making it available to NWS, "cleared" EMA folks and pre-authorized media contacts?
Perfect... I can't see a reason that the general public should have personal phone numbers.
Thanks Chris ... can you set it so the NWS personnel can still identify and contact you, without anyone else?
I've had nothing but good contacts happen because my number is on SN. I welcome the media to call if I'm in the area.
If I am in hot persuit, I probably want to get the word out to the public. If it's after the fact and they are looking for video, I'm probably done and heading to the motel anyway.
If not, or if i don't want to share my video, or have already made other arrangements, I can tell them to get lost.
My vote is keep the number, add a note after if you want calls from NWS only
That kind of hurts the credibility of the network, if NWS offices are calling for clarification on a TOR sighting and get an interntionally wrong number.
make it auto ava for the NWS and such and then REQUIRE the media to register and pay a fee, then allow the chaser to decide if they want to publish contact info. Chasers then should be contacted before the event by the media to arrange some sort of compensation for the report they give. The media MUST pre-contact the chasers before severe wx event to work out details and THEY MUST reg and pay a fee to access the network...
If they want to have the best and claim to have the: "best, first, soonest, first to report or most complete coverage" then they must be willing to contribute to the system and must be willing to not bother the boots on the ground.
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