I've actually gotten some pretty rude emails from people accusing me of "stealing" the work of the National SKYWARN Home Page in the creation of my Index To SKYWARN Sites. Usually from just-born punks who weren't even born when I created this site, and who don't understand the background. It was actually the other way around. The NSHP actually stole from me.

First, it should be clearly understood that the Natl. SKYWARN Home Page is a PERSONAL web page and not an "official" site of the SKYWARN program. It is not "sponsored by" or "funded by" or "run by" the National Weather Service. It is not "officially endorsed" by the National Weather Service. It is a personal web page that provides links and informative information but it is now currently being run by a commercial weather store called "Anything Weather."

I'm aware of it's entire history from start to finish and I was even asked more than once by it's original site owner/webmaster, Chris Knauer, if I would take over it's operation but I just didn't have the time. Chris's college studies were beginning to take up much more of his time and he was looking to transfer ownership and operation to someone else because he was so very busy. He even offered to give me complete remote control of the servers. But I turned it down for various different reasons, including the fact that I already had a number of other obligations going on a the time:

• I was the Founder/Coordinator of Alachua County SKYWARN;
• I was the webmaster/owner of the Alachua Co. SKYWARN Home Page;
• I was the webmaster/owner of the Index To SKYWARN Web Sites On The Internet;
• I was the webmaster/owner of Mobile Scanner & RADAR-Detector Laws In The United States;
• and a number of other local area web pages;
• among other various things which took up my time. (I did have a life.)

Unable to garner my help, Chris eventually ended up handing over operating priviledges to a young (at the time) 17-year-old kid who ran the site for a short time, and then I think that kid got involved with storm chasing and the site was left abandoned. I kid you not. For about a year-and-a-half, the site was just a plain blank white page - with no contact informaiton to remind the errant owner to get out of bed.

I believe it then changed hands once again I think, and then finally found its steady current ownership under some guy named "Tim" at Anything Weather.

Tim's first order of business was to take my Index to SKYWARN Web Sites On The Internet and cut and paste the entire thing over to the NSHP site. For a while, he'd even forgotten to remove my name and copyright from the bottom! (But he did remember to remove my banner and replace it with the NSHP one.)

Then he wrote me an email requesting permission to use it. When he didn't get a repsonse right away, he assumed the non-response was an "acceptance" and he just left it up anyway, as-is. (Until I complained.)

Not the way to create a friendship, or show respect.

I objected. Reminded him that that wasn't nice. He made a few format changes, removed the copyright, replaced it with his own, and called it "different now" and thus, "no longer intellectual theft". (sigh!) (bangs head on table repeatedly until blood starts gushing forth from various orifices)

Actually, the "changed" work is technically what is known as a "derivative", and if I were charging money, he would be responsible for recompense. Actually, if I wanted to be a total asshole...he did make some profits while using the derivative work that was sourced from my site...

...But that's the whole point. I put that up to be used by people for free, not to be used as a draw to attract customers to his commercial "AnythingWeather" web site, which is how Tim uses the NSHP web site. (A guy named Roy Reyers, who runs site like RadarBusters, LaserBusters, and JammerBusters, did the same exact thing to me with my Mobile Scanner & RADAR-Detector Laws web site! Cut and pasted it to his site. Forgot to remove the copyright. Refused to take it down. Made some changes. Called it "no longer a violation of copyright" once done. But he used it as a draw to get people to come to his commercial sites where he sold related products to the public. I don't get ANY respect!)

My biggest objection has always been with the title of the webpage. I've always objected to the possible (now confirmed) widespread confusion that it could cause. It's irritating when you encounter thousands of people across the US who insist that it is THE official SKYWARN web site of the National Weather Service when that's not at all true and there is no such endorsement or claim verbiage anywhere on the site, and all people have to do to find that out is look at the copyright on the bottom of the web site, or read the "About" section to find the AnythingWeather logo/copyright. The website's title is misleading and gives people the false impression that it is "official" and something that the Department of Commerce itself put up or something and that is NOT the case. Even some NWS employees have been taken in and think that the site is "official" and I constantly hear NWS employees making reference to the site in public talks as if it's an official NWS web site of some sort. And every time I do, I cringe because that is incorrect misinformation. It's such an injustice for a commercial STORE to come along and because it used the right name everyone assumes that the STORE is the National Weather Service. This is exactly the kind of possible confusion I was objecting to way back when. It is a great resource, but it is not the official website of the Department of Commerce. The DoC actually has no official SKYWARN web site out there and I actually think that it is because everyone thinks that the National SKYWARN Home Page *is* the DoC site. It is VERY confusing to newcombers who don't have a clue what the background is.

The closest you'll find to an "official" SKYWARN site is the NWS's SKYWARN page at www.nws.noaa.gov/skywarn - but it's not comprehensive being only one page.

That being said, DO NOT accuse my hard work - which has been around even before the NSHP even existed, as being a ripped off "theft" of "their" work. (Again, the web site's name haunts and causes problems...here, where people irrationally assume that because one site has the seemingly official-sounding name, that thus the other site is the bad guy/infringer.)

RRR!!! [Rant Mode Off]