2nd idea pool. Nathan needs ideas

[wxbugnathan]

What are you referring to on the "update status" page? I'm not following you there and could use more clarification as to what you mean by that.

Thanks for the response, Nathan. You and I talked back in October when I was getting the Lightsoft Weather Center (LWC2) API from you to work with (works great, by the way.) At that time you said that the update status was just for verification of the site working, and not really a user page. However, it is linked directly in WeatherSnoop's setup pane, which is where I found it. Once I did, I bookmarked it to check for data uploads when I get the all too frequent WeatherBug upload error. Here;s the link to my upload status.

http://data.backyard2.weatherbug.com/data/ecv.aspx?ID=p11642&NUM=23238

Thanks,
Steve

Hey Steve, are you the one with your friend Travis? If so, PM me. I need to ask you something to ask him.

[wxbugnathan]

We've had a tradition of making an official spokesperson for product as a moderator for that board (if it's requested), so it's not unusual.  AFAIK, the moderators have honored our policy of leaving user content unchanged (the good and the bad) unless it contains profanity (in which some characters are substituted to keep the G-rating of the board).
If any moderator uses the power to remove comments that are only critical, then the moderator powers will be removed.  The admins do receive notification when a moderator edits a users post or removes a posting.

I agree that both mckTXaws and Scalphunter would have been better served by thinking more before posting.  We leave them up for what they are -- visceral posts and examples of how not to behave.

Best regards,
Ken

As Ken stated, I can assure you that I will in no way edit or delete comments unless they violate the board guidelines, contain profanity or something extremely obscene (like a pornographic SPAM post), or would be something that could harm this board in legally. Even then, I'd probably show the post to Ken first and let him make the final call. I have no intentions of pulling general "negative" posts. We're here to lay all our cards on the table and be honest with everyone. I want to know what you love and loathe. Only way we're going to improve is to listen to our members.

[wxbugnathan]

Actually, that seems to be a rare tradition. In fact tinplate, a major contributor to this hobby especially the Davis branch, seems to be the only one.

Actually I am the moderator for the WeatherForYou/PWSWeather section.  Also wxtech is for The WxTech Dream Machine and SLOweather for WeatherElement, both of which are their projects.  I haven't seen WU participate which is why they wouldn't be moderator of their board.

Hey Joe, do you still have my email? If so, email me. I've got a couple things I need to tell you I think you'll like.

[wxbugnathan]

Actually I am the moderator for the WeatherForYou/PWSWeather section.  Also wxtech is for The WxTech Dream Machine and SLOweather for WeatherElement, both of which are their projects.

And meteorlogica (Dr. Tim West) is moderator for the WeatherFlash board as author of that program.

Are any of those 'for pay' services?  If not, they're not vendors.

I gave up on WB many years ago when their 'free' products were loaded with AdWare.  I also inquired about one of their stations.  To say it was exorbitantly overpriced would be an understatement.  Several thousand dollars as I recall.

We do have an ad-free version of WeatherBug called WeatherBug Plus if you don't want the ads. It's $20/year, and if you have a Backyard Station, your remaining years would be free.

I made the same mistake years ago calling WeatherBug and asking to purchase one of "their" stations. They are extremely pricey, because they're not "for the rest of us". They're for schools, government, media, professional operations, etc. That's why WeatherBug Backyard was launched. It's the WeatherBug Network "for the rest of us".

[Skywatch]

FWIW

To be honest, I don't like to argue. I don't like conflict although it seems as if I do that alot. I don't mind being told I'm wrong but it's how I'm told. There are many ways to explain your point but over the years it seems like many find the most insulting and degrading way to get their point across. And that's where things escallate. Now I'm one to speak for how I feal even if sometimes I come off as aggressive and abrasive. Comments like "But I guess for an 19 year old you know everything. Gee your parents starting to get smarter yet?" These comments have and will set me off no question. Who wouldn't find that offensive? That's what set me off. If Scalphunter hadn't put that statement in we might of gotten things figured out. But I'm not going to say I'm innocent either. I admit I did my part in stoking the fire. I'd hope some would see it from both sides.

yes, that is surprising he has been made a moderator of this new section of the forum
considering he has only joined the forum
also I was not impressed with the comments made by mckTXaws over some legitimate concerns made by scalphunter
I did not see the need for comments like that on this forum, e.g telling someone to shut it, etc

. Brian, I'm sorry you weren't impressed, neither was I at my own comments. But just as Scalphunter has the right to express his feelings, I believe I also have that right to fight for mine. I'd hope you see it from my point of view as well.

I know not everyone likes me here. I know some probably hate me dislike me, Think I'm annoying, or think I'm an idiot who doesn't know what I'm doing. But at as a learner I learn with without certain not so nice comments. If a teacher were to say the same rude things to me I hear every now and then here on WXforum I'd call him/her on it too. That's who I am. I happen to express my fealings out loud even if I become rude and disrespectfull my self. I don't like conflict. I try to be a friendly guy. But I expect others to be that way to. I'm only going to mirror how others treat me. And I try to treat others how I like to be treated. I know not everyone here on WXforum will read this but for those who do maybe it will help to know a little bit more about my self so we won't have to have another conflict. We all have opinions. If we can express them in an honest respectfull way without getting abrasive will make everything easier. Now some other things that set me off from Scalphunter is the racist comments. I don't like being addressed as "White man".

So I hope we now understand. Can we get along now?

[Scalphunter]

Osiyo

 excuse me Nathan  but I will be  brief and you might also remember you state history and tell me if I am wrong on this.

I'm sure your ancestors will welcome you back home to Africa, Mexico, or where ever your decent originated.

 Hmmm not black, not Mexican or Asian or Oriental so that is kinda hard to do
Unega as you would be called in my lanuage. So maybe I am just an man with out country. Let see if they taught you this in US History. Of which I doubt. This was done against an reconize soverign nation as recongize via the US Supreme Court. The highest court in Unega land.

Indian removal act of 1830

The forced removal of Native Americans from their lands started with the state of Georgia. In 1802 the Georgia legislature signed a compact giving the federal government all of her claims to western lands in exchange for the government's pledge to extinguish all Indian titles to land within the state.

The Cherokees had substantial land in Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. To protect their land they adopted a written constitution that proclaimed that the Cherokee nation had complete jurisdiction over its own territory. The state of Georgia responded by making it illegal for a Native American to bring a legal action against a white man.

The Seminole tribe had disputes with settlers in Florida. The Creeks were involved in several battles with the federal army in Alabama and Georgia. The Chickisaw and Choctaw tribes also had land disputes with emigrants who had settled in Mississippi.

Andrew Jackson argued that the solution to this problem was to move all these five tribes to Oklahoma. When Andrew Jackson gained power he encouraged Congress to pass the 1830 Indian Removal Act. He argued that the legislation would provide land for white invaders, improve security against foreign invaders and encourage the civilization of the Native Americans. In one speech he argued that the measure "will separate the Indians from immediate contact with settlements of whites; enable them to pursue happiness in their own way and under their own rude institutions; will retard the progress of decay, which is lessening their numbers, and perhaps cause them gradually, under the protection of the government and through the influences of good counsels, to cast off their savage habits and become an interesting, civilized, and christian community."

Jackson was re-elected with an overwhelming majority in 1832. He now pursued the policy of removing Native Americans from good farming land. He even refused to accept the decision of the Supreme Court to invalidate Georgia's plan to annex the territory of the Cherokee. This brought Jackson into conflict with Whig leaders such as Henry Clay and Daniel Webster.

The land given to the Native Americans in Oklahoma was known as the Indian Territory. The land was distributed in the following way: Choctaws (6,953,048 acres), Chickisaw (4,707,903 acres) and Cherokees (4,420,068). The tribes were also received money for their former lands: Cherokee ($2,716,979), Creek ($2,275,168), Seminole ($2,070,000), Chickisaw ($1,206,695) and Choctaw ($975,258). Some of these tribes used this money to buy land in Oklahoma and to support the building of schools.

In 1835 some leaders of the Cherokee tribe signed the Treaty of New Echota. This agreement ceded all rights to their traditional lands to the United States. In return the tribe was granted land in the Indian Territory. Although the majority of the Cherokees opposed this agreement they were forced to make the journey by General Winfield Scott and his soldiers. In October 1838 about 15,000 Cherokees began what was later to be known as the Trail of Tears. Most of the Cherokees travelled the 800 mile journey on foot. As a result of serious mistakes made by the Federal agents who guided them to their new land, they suffered from hunger and the cold weather and an estimated 4,000 people died on the journey.

Overall it is believed that about 70,000 Native Americans were forced to migrate from Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Virginia, Tennessee and Florida to Oklahoma. During the journey many died as a result of famine and disease


 Now where I am to return to  Texas as we where removed forceably  at gun point crops and home burned to the ground. Other then going to HELL I really can't return from where my ancestors  can from as Unega  owns it today..  All of that for  the cherokee gold in NW Georgia.  So Mr Texas take your  proud to be American  and wave your flag high, and for us of the First Nation we are still waitng for an apology from the government of the US. Canada  settled with their  first nation  and  apologize to them for the treatment.

Wado Nathan  back to your thread

Dohiyi

[W3DRM]

...snip...

I'm not going to promise overnight results. I'm not going to say we're going to wave a magic wand or snap our fingers and everything just "improves". What I will say is, we're ready to take things to a whole new level. We're ready for a change. And we need your help. We need your help to give us feedback. Tell us what you love and what you loathe, and we're ready to listen. We want this to be YOUR site. We want YOUR input. We may even ask you for help beyond general feedback and see if we can get some of our community talent involved to help make a difference. Who knows?

Here's what we want to work on at WeatherBug Backyard this year:

1. Simplification of the site. The first and top priority is to simplify the site and make it easier to use for our end users. We're going to scrap what doesn't work, keep and refine what works, and overhaul the foundation of the site first. We're going to make it a breeze to get where you need to go, to feel more at home, and to get things done such as publishing Backyard Station data to our site. We're also heavily looking for inspiration. We'll be drawing from sites like Wunderground and other sites who's Backyard Station documentation "just works". We're going to make things simpler.

2. Better integration of existing features. We're going to work as hard as we can to better integrate everything under one roof. I'm going to heavily talk with teams to make it easier to signup and edit Backyard Station information, integrate Backyard Station data into people's profiles, plus I'm going to heavily work with our teams to get Backyard Station data better integrated across the board in all of our offerings. We know you want it, we know you need it, and we're going to work as hard as we can to deliver it.

3. Exciting new features. After those other two parts of the agenda are taken care of, we'll work to rollout exciting new features into the site. Top on our list is Backyard Webcams, and we have a few other things up our sleeves we believe you'll like as well. We want to bring a rebirth of exciting features to the site, so any feedback you have on what else we can do would be much appreciated.

...snip...

Nathan,

This is all great information but I am wondering if you are taking on too much - "Simplification of the site", "Better integration of existing features" and "Exciting new features". These are all great ideals but as an old project manager, I would highly suggest that you review your "Wish List" and break it down so you can establish detailed priorities for each task. This allows you to take smaller bites of the pie as well as to have better control of your efforts. For myself, and I'm sure others who are reading this thread, I'm not really sure what "Simplification of the site", etc. really means other than being nice things to say - they don't appear to resolve the issues and questions your customers seem to have.

I also garner from this thread that folks are really complaining about real or perceived promises made in the past that haven't been kept. IMHO, you need to come out with a list of simple improvements in your product that you want to work on first along with a timeline for releases. Assuming you fulfill your release commitments, this will show your customers that you really mean what you say and thus, begin to rebuild their confidence. Otherwise, your comments and statements about what you want to do are just words with no content.

[Skywatch]

Scalphunter, Your history is correct, I'm sorry for the pain your feeling. I never said I agreed with what they did back then. But that was over 100 years ago. You won't feel better living in the past. No one can control what happened over 100 years ago. That's in the past. It's now 2012. No ones going to get you for being a race, color, or just being your self. Those who did what they did are dead now and most people probably disagree with the cruelty as well. Don't dewell on the bad things in the past, keep looking at the good things in life. I'm sure life isn't all that bad.

So are we cool now?

[wxbugnathan]

...snip...

I'm not going to promise overnight results. I'm not going to say we're going to wave a magic wand or snap our fingers and everything just "improves". What I will say is, we're ready to take things to a whole new level. We're ready for a change. And we need your help. We need your help to give us feedback. Tell us what you love and what you loathe, and we're ready to listen. We want this to be YOUR site. We want YOUR input. We may even ask you for help beyond general feedback and see if we can get some of our community talent involved to help make a difference. Who knows?

Here's what we want to work on at WeatherBug Backyard this year:

1. Simplification of the site. The first and top priority is to simplify the site and make it easier to use for our end users. We're going to scrap what doesn't work, keep and refine what works, and overhaul the foundation of the site first. We're going to make it a breeze to get where you need to go, to feel more at home, and to get things done such as publishing Backyard Station data to our site. We're also heavily looking for inspiration. We'll be drawing from sites like Wunderground and other sites who's Backyard Station documentation "just works". We're going to make things simpler.

2. Better integration of existing features. We're going to work as hard as we can to better integrate everything under one roof. I'm going to heavily talk with teams to make it easier to signup and edit Backyard Station information, integrate Backyard Station data into people's profiles, plus I'm going to heavily work with our teams to get Backyard Station data better integrated across the board in all of our offerings. We know you want it, we know you need it, and we're going to work as hard as we can to deliver it.

3. Exciting new features. After those other two parts of the agenda are taken care of, we'll work to rollout exciting new features into the site. Top on our list is Backyard Webcams, and we have a few other things up our sleeves we believe you'll like as well. We want to bring a rebirth of exciting features to the site, so any feedback you have on what else we can do would be much appreciated.

...snip...

Nathan,

This is all great information but I am wondering if you are taking on too much - "Simplification of the site", "Better integration of existing features" and "Exciting new features". These are all great ideals but as an old project manager, I would highly suggest that you review your "Wish List" and break it down so you can establish detailed priorities for each task. This allows you to take smaller bites of the pie as well as to have better control of your efforts. For myself, and I'm sure others who are reading this thread, I'm not really sure what "Simplification of the site", etc. really means other than being nice things to say - they don't appear to resolve the issues and questions your customers seem to have.

I also garner from this thread that folks are really complaining about real or perceived promises made in the past that haven't been kept. IMHO, you need to come out with a list of simple improvements in your product that you want to work on first along with a timeline for releases. Assuming you fulfill your release commitments, this will show your customers that you really mean what you say and thus, begin to rebuild their confidence. Otherwise, your comments and statements about what you want to do are just words with no content.

Yeah, I was just giving the broad overall picture of what we want to do this year. We'll definitely break it down into pieces as you're suggesting and make it easier to manage. What I'm saying there is just me standing back and looking at the overall big picture, then under each of those sections, I'm going to look at the specifics and see what we need to rollout. Thanks for pointing that out and I'll try to get more specific as we continue this conversation. Glad to hear your thoughts.

A couple other things I just want to throw out there before we continue on...

To speak of a few specifics, within the next few weeks I'm going to try to get a new Backyard Stations page up on the site. I've submitted it to my CTO and colleague now for review. Once I know it's 100% approved and just the way we all want it, I will get it up. It's going to be much simpler than the confusing mess that's on there now. I heavily took a cue from Wunderground when I wrote it. I'm also going to try to shortly afterwards integrate a new and better discussion group for Backyard Station support, and work on some new, simpler publishing software instructional videos. Those are some of my top priorities as of now in order to get the Backyard Stations page understandable and clear.

The second thing I'm going to try to do shortly (around the same time as the new Backyard Stations page or shortly afterwards) is simplify the groups. There's way too many underperforming groups on there, and navigating them is confusing. We're going to ditch the under performers, promote the ones we think have a chance, and create a couple pages to better organize them.

One other thing I want to throw out here before we continue on that'll also help our user base know my position. I'm currently working for WeatherBug from my home out of Georgia. I actually do not live in MD or come into the HQ office. I've actually never been to MD nor the HQ office nor have met any of my colleagues in person. Since I'm unable to actually go into the office and have lunch with my colleagues, it's a little harder to get some stuff done since I usually communicate with all of them by email instead of actually sitting down with them in person and being able to communicate better visually (Same thing with some of my clients I work with that are out of state. I'd feel much more at ease if I could sit down and speak with them in person instead of phone and email). So long distance working makes it a little more difficult to effectively really get with my colleagues and work on some of these projects, but this year in 2012 I'm just going to try to do more. I may see if I can FaceTime or video call some of them or whatever it takes to just do better. I just wanted to let the community know it's more than just me being able to walk across the office, find one of our developers who can work on one of these projects, and just tell them what I'd like help with on the Backyard Site. I have to talk with other colleagues and my CTO to find out who I have to be put in touch with that can assist me with certain projects and make sure I make the right connections.

[beaudog]

I have not sent data to WB for at least 6 months. At one time it was just giving me too many errors so I stopped.  I also found it very difficult to get my data page, There did not seem to be any way to do it from the WB home page. 

I look forward to a new Home page ( for lack of better words).

Thanks for the work in trying to fix it.

It is really time to get the personal history lessons out of this thread.

[wxbugnathan]

I have not sent data to WB for at least 6 months. At one time it was just giving me too many errors so I stopped.  I also found it very difficult to get my data page, There did not seem to be any way to do it from the WB home page. 

I look forward to a new Home page ( for lack of better words).

Thanks for the work in trying to fix it.

It is really time to get the personal history lessons out of this thread.

What app were you using to send us your data? I could check to see why you were getting so many errors.

Something else I need to point out for the sake of clarification. Our "home page" really isn't backyard.weatherbug.com. WeatherBug.com is our actual "home page", and your data does show up there when you publish (you just get current obs though for now, we need to implement more records and archives). Backyard.WeatherBug.com is a subsite of WeatherBug and is our Backyard Community for blogging, weather discussions, tech support, etc. We do, however, need to better tie in Backyard.WeatherBug.com with Backyard Station integration. We need to make it way easier for members to add their Backyard Station data to their profile pages and make it easier for people to signup/edit station data without going to another form outside of the Backyard site. That would make a world of difference to our members.

I just wanted to throw that out there to ensure everyone knew the difference. WeatherBug.com is run by a team of web designers up at HQ. The only way I can influence what goes on there is to email one of my colleagues to reach out to one of the web techs. Backyard.WeatherBug.com I have direct access to though, and I can make changes happen a little faster there (still have to go through proper procedure to ensure they're OK'd, and any heavy app development I'd have to bring in some help on since I'm not the world's most intelligent developer).

Thanks for the great comments though! Keep them coming!

[sunsluv]

Hi Nathan,

I have been sending data to WeatherBug for only a month through "WeatherSnoop" (Mac software). It took me some time to find my data on WB. Is this http://weather.weatherbug.com/AZ/Mayer-weather.html?zcode=z6286&stat=p12237 the only link to my weather? Is there any of my weather history on WB?

Looking forward to the new changes,
Pam

[beaudog]

I am sending data to  Weatherbug Backyard.  Trying to find my data is near impossible. When i do a search from Elfrida, AZ   my listed address and zipcode it gives me some station in Ash Creek, AZ.

I had to look that up to even find it.   My station and at least one other are closer than Ash Creek.  I don't think Ash creek is even in my zip code area I am sure it is Peirce, AZ.

There really needs to be  a way to easily find stations that are reporting to Weatherbug Backyard.

It is really simple on Weather Underground and it works.

[wxbugnathan]

Hi Nathan,

I have been sending data to WeatherBug for only a month through "WeatherSnoop" (Mac software). It took me some time to find my data on WB. Is this http://weather.weatherbug.com/AZ/Mayer-weather.html?zcode=z6286&stat=p12237 the only link to my weather? Is there any of my weather history on WB?

Looking forward to the new changes,
Pam

That's the main place you're data's showing up for now. There's currently not any weather history pages, but according to my CTO, there's some changes we are making to WeatherBug.com that seem to indicate we're adding more historical pages, etc. I haven't seen those changes yet, but I've been telling my CTO you all want to see more history archives on WeatherBug.com

I had some personal web work to dig into this weekend for my website, so I didn't really get to work on the Backyard Site today, but I'm going to see if I can rollout some of the new Backyard Stations documentation late next week if my CTO and colleagues are on board. I'll see how it goes!

[wxbugnathan]

I am sending data to  Weatherbug Backyard.  Trying to find my data is near impossible. When i do a search from Elfrida, AZ   my listed address and zipcode it gives me some station in Ash Creek, AZ.

I had to look that up to even find it.   My station and at least one other are closer than Ash Creek.  I don't think Ash creek is even in my zip code area I am sure it is Peirce, AZ.

There really needs to be  a way to easily find stations that are reporting to Weatherbug Backyard.

It is really simple on Weather Underground and it works.

Where at are you looking for data? WeatherBug Desktop or WeatherBug.com? We may have your Lat/Lon in there wrong and need to correct it. Our system has really mucked up many people's Lat/Lon's over the past.

I know the feeling about Weather Underground. I'm suggesting my CTO check out how clean it is and gain some inspiration.

[wxbugnathan]

Hi everyone,

Just to give an update. If I have some time tomorrow, I'm going to try to rollout some changes to the Backyard Stations page. If not, I'll try to rollout those changes later on next week if all goes as planned. I'm running into a couple high-priority issues with a couple of my clients right now. One website is having majorly broken CSS and doesn't want to load properly, and the other client needs to transition his audio archives from one hosting provider to another fast unless he wants to run up a major hosting bill. So in between all of this, I'm going to try to get some changes rolled out to the Backyard Stations page and make you all happy. Bear with me, but I am working on it.

Thanks!

[sunsluv]

Thanks Nathan   

[Skywatch]

Say Nathan, Do you think another part of the updates to the site is to remove those stupid Adds from members like Weather Underground does? On Weather Underground when your signed in the add's are removed. Can you do that too?

[wxbugnathan]

Say Nathan, Do you think another part of the updates to the site is to remove those stupid Adds from members like Weather Underground does? On Weather Underground when your signed in the add's are removed. Can you do that too?

Are you talking about all those ads at WeatherBug.com? I could definitely put in a request and see what happens. I know it'd be a little harder to implement since it's a totally different department that handles that website, but if that's what you're talking about, I can definitely tell my CTO about it and see what happens.

[wxbugnathan]

Update guys, seems I can't assist my clients until after tomorrow anyway, so I've had some time on my hands to rollout some new changes.

Here's the official new Backyard Stations info page:
http://backyard.weatherbug.com/group/backyardstations/page/backyardstations

Call it "beta" right now since I need to add some links to it, as well as update some links to new pages as they are created. We also need to tweak some of the formatting.

Let me know what you love and loathe. I've tried to borrow heavily from Wunderground in the drafting of it.

I've also revamped Backyard Support discussions. I'm phasing out the forums thread on them and replacing them with a group (although we are going to go through all the groups and phase out some of those as well). I'm going to try to eventually phase out the entire forums section and replace it with a "support groups" page if possible. This way when someone posts a support message in the new Backyard Stations group, I'll get an email about it so I'll know to login and respond. If we can do the same with the mobile/desktop forums, etc., and if I can get my support guys to join those groups, then communication between support and members will be dramatically improved. I can also get some of our mobile/desktop developers to join so they can send out messages to the groups with product updates, etc. Communication would be way better if I can pull this off.

Another thing I hope to work on probably shortly after the groups refreshes is revamp a lot of the Backyard Publishing instructions themselves. I'm linking to my old videos right now, but they're a little boring and hard to see. I've got much better screencasting software now, and I'd like to re-create the Backyard Publishing Instruction Videos and make them clear, quick, easy to understand. That'll take a little longer, but it's definitely something I want to do.

The old Backyard Station Registration Form is still up, so users still can't edit Backyard Station data yet. I've got a rough draft of some plans to change it though, and once I polish it, I'll be sending it to my colleagues to see when we can get this changed. Once this is changed, it should be easy to add support for Backyard Webcams to it and get that feature rolled out.

I've also drafted a couple contact forms for Backyard Support that goes to me. One for general support and the other for International Stations. I've submitted those to my colleague and if all goes well, we'll have them up by this weekend.

We're not there yet, but at least we're getting there!

[wxbugnathan]

Additionally tonight, I sent out an email to my colleagues about Backyard Webcams and offered them a preliminary roadmap for rolling it out. It's not set in stone yet, nor do I have a specific timeframe, but I've officially laid it on the table to begin our discussion. First thing I'm going to try to do is get our Backyard Stations Form rebuilt inside the community so users can actually edit their station data, then I told them we could expand that form to register cameras. That way there's no disconnect between the two. I also told them what backend changes I'd like to see made so everything goes off without a hitch, and once all that's done, we can pretty much roll this out. All that'd be left is for me to writeup a Backyard Webcams page with instructions.

I also discussed in the email that we need to get Backyard Station data into our mobile apps and across-the-board offerings, we need to build an app that can display Backyard Station data on people's profile pages, and I also suggested more graphing/historical data. I'll let you know as we go along about it.

In the meantime, I need a little help from you. I need to begin collecting information for the "Backyard Webcams" page when it's time to write it. I need some of the following information:

List of Brands/Places to purchase good quality Webcams for Weather Use
Good Camera FTP software solutions (Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.) that could FTP data to us
Anything else you think I should include in a Backyard Webcams instructions page or that could help!

Additionally, many of you are sending us Solar Radiation, UV, ET data to us, but we're not currently displaying it. I'm thinking of writing up a page on the Backyard Stations site that explains a little more what Solar/UV sensors does, so any information you all wish to contribute to that you think might be beneficial would be great. Also, what are some ways we could make use of your Solar/UV data on WeatherBug.com and display it in a way that would interest you?

[SkiMedicKC]

I[ve been trying to find my data on the mobile site,  but it isn't listed as one of the available stations.  Are you sure backyard date is available on the mobile site?

zip 64138,  Green Acres Weather

cps

[Skywatch]

Additionally, many of you are sending us Solar Radiation, UV, ET data to us, but we're not currently displaying it. I'm thinking of writing up a page on the Backyard Stations site that explains a little more what Solar/UV sensors does, so any information you all wish to contribute to that you think might be beneficial would be great. Also, what are some ways we could make use of your Solar/UV data on WeatherBug.com and display it in a way that would interest you?

Well solar radiation data is vital to solar users. For example many houses are installing solar panels as part of this "Eco" movement. Solar technology is a fast spreading trend. More and more things reply on solar now days.

UV is important for those who know the dangers of being out in the sun too long. Last year I found that out the hard way.

ET is good for knowing when and how much to water. Irrigation is a big deal especially after all the drought activity.

All sounds great, One thing I'd like to see is UV index displayed in a dial or color display that gives the sevarity. Like Green=0-2, Yellow= 3-5(Yellow was too bright) ,Orange= 6-7, Red 8-10, Purple 11+. And if possable under station info in the profile you enter in your skin type and it calculates the sunburn risk and time. For solar radiation the number in W/m2 is given but also counts the hours in a day the sun was shinning. Or gives a daily solar factor that can be used by solar users such as houses that are solar powered. For ET is displayed and like UV index be displayed on a color chart each color indicates a sevarity so someone uses WeatherBug looks at the ET and the sevarity and is able to determine what irrigation needs are.

You guys can beat Weather Undergrounds UV and solar. You have to hit the refresh button to get the latest solar and UV data with them. It would be nice for UV and solar to be updated like all the other data.

Another thing that would be cool. Customizable data boards. User chooses background graphics like wood or solid color. The dial colors like Brass, Silver, or custome color. And the user to be able to select the data displayed. And by hitting a submit button it builds a virtual weather console like one of those classic weather stations or like those made by Maximum INC. And has a full screen feature so you can leave it up as a weather bulletin and look nice.

IDK, Maybe a crazy idea of mine. Main thing I like is something that looks nice. And something that can go full screen if forecast or other local info isn't really nessisary. Just the current.

[wxbugnathan]

I[ve been trying to find my data on the mobile site,  but it isn't listed as one of the available stations.  Are you sure backyard date is available on the mobile site?

zip 64138,  Green Acres Weather

cps

It should definitely be there. Email me your Publisher ID to backyard@weatherbug.com and I'll check it out.

[wxbugnathan]

Additionally, many of you are sending us Solar Radiation, UV, ET data to us, but we're not currently displaying it. I'm thinking of writing up a page on the Backyard Stations site that explains a little more what Solar/UV sensors does, so any information you all wish to contribute to that you think might be beneficial would be great. Also, what are some ways we could make use of your Solar/UV data on WeatherBug.com and display it in a way that would interest you?

Well solar radiation data is vital to solar users. For example many houses are installing solar panels as part of this "Eco" movement. Solar technology is a fast spreading trend. More and more things reply on solar now days.

UV is important for those who know the dangers of being out in the sun too long. Last year I found that out the hard way.

ET is good for knowing when and how much to water. Irrigation is a big deal especially after all the drought activity.

All sounds great, One thing I'd like to see is UV index displayed in a dial or color display that gives the sevarity. Like Green=0-2, Yellow= 3-5(Yellow was too bright) ,Orange= 6-7, Red 8-10, Purple 11+. And if possable under station info in the profile you enter in your skin type and it calculates the sunburn risk and time. For solar radiation the number in W/m2 is given but also counts the hours in a day the sun was shinning. Or gives a daily solar factor that can be used by solar users such as houses that are solar powered. For ET is displayed and like UV index be displayed on a color chart each color indicates a sevarity so someone uses WeatherBug looks at the ET and the sevarity and is able to determine what irrigation needs are.

You guys can beat Weather Undergrounds UV and solar. You have to hit the refresh button to get the latest solar and UV data with them. It would be nice for UV and solar to be updated like all the other data.

Another thing that would be cool. Customizable data boards. User chooses background graphics like wood or solid color. The dial colors like Brass, Silver, or custome color. And the user to be able to select the data displayed. And by hitting a submit button it builds a virtual weather console like one of those classic weather stations or like those made by Maximum INC. And has a full screen feature so you can leave it up as a weather bulletin and look nice.

IDK, Maybe a crazy idea of mine. Main thing I like is something that looks nice. And something that can go full screen if forecast or other local info isn't really nessisary. Just the current.

Like the idea for the UV data. I'll definitely pass it on. The customizable data boards sound fun too. Not sure if they'll want to get into that, but I think it's neat. You never know though! I'll certainly suggest it. BTW, do you have a Mac? There's an app called WeatherSnoop for Mac that has a lot of these custom gauges similar to what you're talking about. It's really fun. That's the closest thing I've seen to what you're wanting to see.