Why's he done that?

Have the Feds caught up with him?

Darren - thanks for the update. I've said it before, but worth repeating: your Posting League is a hugely loved fixture of TWO; if it ended, the place would be poorer for it.

Hi Nick,

Thanks for letting me know, I thought that might be the case. The best way around it from a data integrity point of view would be to delete all his posts whilst retaining the total post count and change the username to something else. If the account still exists with the database, my data extracts would still effectively have the right data. I am trying to retain the absolute history so I can have the correct rankings of all users past and present.

Alternatively if I had the time and inclination I would amend the way I hold the data so that my stats don't become vulnerable to such changes. I don't personally think it's worth the effort. So maybe I need to be a little less particular about the data being right. 

Many thanks Darren for the updates and the work put into it..

Many thanks for the update, Darren. An enjoyable read as always 

Thanks Darren.

Cheers Darren.
Had a look the other day.
Always a good read.

Time to encourage more members to put their mugshots onto the Gallery.

Same old faces every time.

Thanks Darren for the posting league, interesting as usual.

Just read the 2015 analysis - great stuff.

3rd September 2016.

I am sorry to announce that this will be the final Posting League. There's a number of reasons for my decision, but I've been doing this for over 13 years and I think it's now time to call it a day, not least because usage of the TWO forums is at an all-time low. Thank you all for your support. 

On this final edition, the following sections have been updated:

Posting League

The posting league is calculated each month by comparing a snapshot of users and post totals with one from a month earlier. The total number of posts for each user includes posts from all forums going back to November 2001. All users are automatically included in the survey.

Who topped the chart this time?  Find out here!

Posting League Records

Every month, various statistics are updated, such as biggest climb to number 1, most consecutive months in the Top 10, highest new entry, etc.

Rogues' Gallery

A collection of photos of TWO forum members, the more the merrier! Members are shown in descending post total order, again including all posts made since November 2001. Those who haven't posted for at least 6 months are removed. This is updated every 3 months, unless updates are received. Please submit your photos to me, by using the TWO Private Message system, or alternatively the "Contact Darren" link on my web site.

We have no updated photos. 10 members were removed and 3 were re-added. We now have 75 photos.

All Time Top 100

This wasn't updated, due to data integrity. I have now realised that another member, Lazy Wind, disappeared from the database in May, so I no longer have confidence in my data. If I were inclined to do so, I would need to completely restructure my database to remove its susceptibility to data adjustments to the forum database.

The historical data, year summaries and geographical analysis for the last few years will remain on line for the foreseeable future. You can access this and everything else here: http://two.dazsmith.co.uk/

I suppose it was inevitable that this would happen sooner or later, and I am sorry to see the end of a TWO institution. Thanks for all the hard work you have put into the Posting League, Darren, you have a done a great job.  I know that a lot of us will miss the monthly update, but onward and upward as they say. Thanks again.

Thank you Darren For all your hard work .. The figures will surly be missed.   Going out  on a gold was not expected but welcome. 

Gonna miss the updates Darren.
How will I know what Month it is now?.
Thanks for your good work,it was always an interesting page to visit.

Whilst I absolutely understand your thinking, I'll really, really miss your monthly round-ups.

TWO's been a part of my life for almost 15 years, and I find it melancholic how it's sliding into what feels like its own autumn. Many prominent posters have departed over the years, for various reasons, and the weather forum is a pale shadow of what it was.

This seems like another nail...

What I find odd is that Netweather sounds like it's got a much more active membership, yet it's riven with angriness, feuds & idiots. The weather discussion on TWO has always struck me as being far more sensible - and accepting of the [ahem] less knowledgeable (like me).

Excellent post there Saint - I agree with what you've said there entirely. I've been on this forum - must be 13 years now. I couldn't be without it.

I wouldn't want to go to Netweather if its as you describe - I think TWO is far better. I hope some newcomers will come along soon.

Just to echo what others have said Darren - thanks for your work putting together the posting league over all those years. It has been fascinating to read each month and a lot of work has gone into it and that is not unappreciated. I can fully understand why you are stopping but like others I will miss the updates.

Thanks again. 

Yes, its like going into a dodgy rough pub on netweather. You never know what numpties you will find.

But here, at least you know the discussions are always civilised and intelligent

Oh, yes, I want to add my huge thanks to you, Darren, for running this for so long. I know you like fiddling about with stats, but the work you've put in is huge and, as I know your girls (like mine) will be growing into that more active phase of their lives, your free time will be reduced.

There's a number of people on TWO who I think of as 'TWO Heroes', for the work they do on here, whether that's stats stuff, or regular model interpretation, or running competitions, or modding well, or just keeping the atmosphere in TWO pleasant (in the face of miserable/angry buggers like me!).

If we had a 'Hall of Fame', you'd be in it

Thanks for the August update Darren 

Over the years I've always kept one eye on the posting league. Being a big fan of stats myself I have always been drawn to the rankings and the write-ups you have religiously produced over the last decade or so. I still have fond memories and myself and John (P+ve Giant) going at it to top the league with a couple of thousand posts  I remember having nothing better to do on some slow uni days too and posting over 300 times in one day 

The point is I would never have bothered posting that much if there wasn't you there to put a word of two to our posting madness back then  Even now, in TWO's quieter years, I check every month for your latest updates and they will be a big miss. I completely understand why you are hanging up your stats, though. A very big thank you from me, and though you've always been a consistent and thoughtful poster in my eyes, you've never been that prolific in terms of your posting totals every month, so I hope you will keep posting on TWO 

Thinking out loud here, it'd be good to have some sort of round-up, even if it was just a 'top 10 posters of the month' thingy (similar to the TWO Forums Quiz summaries), and I'd happily do something like that as a mini-legacy to all your great work over the years.

Once again Darren, thanks for all your hard work 

I am only a recent joiner (<1 year) but I will admit to a metaphorical throat-lump because your name has always been tagged to the links, the league and the quiz. It all worked really well. Thank you for what you have provided for all of the posters. I hope we'll still hear from you.

Great post, Saint.

In my humble opinion, it is better to have a quieter membership but one which, generally speaking, causes the forum management few if any issues rather than a more active but sometimes volatile set of members, which it seems is what NetWeather has . I haven't looked at anything on NW for ages, but the last thread I read on there reminded me somewhat of the old BBC weather forum and why it ended up closing!

Darren- I'm really sorry to hear that you have decided to stop doing the monthly forum stats and the Rogues' Gallery, but totally understand why you have made that decision. The amount of work you have put into that particular aspect of the forum has been phenomenal and will almost certainly never be matched, let alone surpassed. FWIW I have very recently stepped down as a forum moderator due to similar reasons to your situation; constraints on the amount of time I can spend on here because of work, etc. Everyone's work and family life comes before a weather forum such as this.

Hope to still see you around on TWO, and good luck.

15 years !!

I remember the day it changed from the old forum to the new one, but I didn't realise it was that long ago.

I think Darren deserves recognition of his persistence in collecting these stats for such a long time !

It's difficult to add much more to the numerous comments and expressions of appreciation for the outstanding contribution that Darren has made to the TWO forum.

In recent times his time consuming efforts and enthusiasm appear to have gone somewhat unappreciated IMO and maybe we ought to look at ourselves as contributors to his sad decision.

It will never be the same again Darren................  

You could be right John, a lot of people look, but only a few of us say thankyou. The same applies to Gavin for his video's, and Simon for the CET competition, particularly Simon, I do fear for the future of the competition.

Come on folk's, play fair.

Thank you for all your hard work Darren.

TWO has been a large part of my life since discovering it in 2002. For me the peak was that 2004-2007 period. A forum full of life and characters.

I agree that it is moving into its own Autumn.

Fond memories, life moves on.