Well done to Philip for his hard work in getting this group "up and
running": Philip, you can be justly proud of the results despite your
reservations.

You are quite right that in the early years, the MO senior management
were very 'anti' any of us contributing to the newsgroup - I was twice
'unofficially' officially approached by such gentlemen who made it clear
that my name turning up on the group was not welcome - and I only
touched on non-controversial aspects of the work. In fact, rather than
any conspiracy to gag us, I got the distinct impression that they simply
didn't understand what Usenet & the Internet was all about; we got a
taste of this a few years later when an edict went out that Met Office
web pages should not be linked directly, but hot-links should only drag
you to the home page. This didn't last long as we pointed out that this
went against the spirit of the Internet. In later years, as Will has
written, wiser counsel prevailed. In a small way, we have been
influential though I doubt you would get anyone in Exeter to admit it
;-)

We've come a long way in the past 10 years, both within this newsgroup
and more generally with respect to the IT & the meteorological 'world'.
The group has grown, and from it has risen a whole spectrum of resources
that anyone with any interest in meteorology can use.

Most obviously, Philip's own summaries, both posted on the newsgroup &
in much more detail, on his website. These are truly superb and anyone
who used to subscribe to the old DWR/MWR series from the Meteorological
Office will recognise just what an achievement they are.

Then there are the many personal web sites that have sprung up over the
years, some by members of the group, which are a credit to all of us &
of world-wide use: the FAQ pages alone generate a huge number of
listings in many search engines, and if you type the phrase "weather
FAQ" in Google, it comes on page 1 (of many), & thus draws users around
the world not only to that source, but to members' sites linked from the
FAQ - this isn't just my doing, this is a tribute to all here!

Within the group, Colin's daily summaries, (& occasional help with
language translation), Darren's daily model assessment (wolves
permitting!), Ian's superb photographs & advice, Keith's daily SYNOP
summaries (on the web site), which I know have given him much heartache
in the decoding & many others too numerous to mention. These alone would
justify the existence of our little community - which is pleasing to see
spreads outwards from the UK to other areas in Europe and beyond.

I think we can be *all* proud of the last 10 years, and look forward to
many more - ups and downs no doubt - but always with a core of common
sense and wonderment regarding our natural environment.

Martin.

--
FAQ & Glossary for uk.sci.weather at:-
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/booty.weather/uswfaqfr.htm
and
http://booty.org.uk/booty.weather/metindex.htm