TWC Today
 | This article is incomplete. |
| This article needs attention from an expert on the subject. The specific problem is: missing information on forum history. (June 2023) |
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 TWC Today forums as they appeared on November 7, 2021 | |
Type of site |
|
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Country of origin | United States |
| URL | twctodayforums |
| Registration | Required to post on forums |
| Users | 1,629a |
| Launched | June 25, 2007[1] |
| Current status | Active |
| |
TWC Today is an Internet forum serving the fan community of the American television network The Weather Channel. It is the largest existent fan community for the network, superceded for a few years by We Love Weather, an official Weather Channel website, before its forum was shut down. It was also previously a content host for a variety of fan-captured content from the network.
Background
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TWC Today, in addition to the forum, was also once home to a variety of fan-written and fan-recorded TWC content. Information such as on-camera meteorologist lists, local forecast music playlists by month and year, screen captures and videos of network content such as Local on the 8s, and more was available. This content constituted the home page of the website, but had not been updated in years before it was replaced by the forum itself as the homepage and made non-visible to users. The content can still be found using an archival website such as Wayback Machine or in various places such as YouTube.
The design of the forum, unchanged since the forum's early days, is based off the on-air look of The Weather Channel as it appeared approximately around 2008-2009, evident in elements such as the logo, color scheme, icons, and rank banners.
Users have a variety of customization options for the look of the website, profile information, and more. Profiles can be edited to include information such as cable provider, channel number for TWC and Weatherscan, and what WeatherStar model one has, among other options. This information shows up besides a user's forum posts.
TWC Today is home to the largest collection of Weather Channel fan art and other creations available online. Some of this work has been lost over time due to age, corrupted files, and changes to image hosting platforms.
History
Origins and growth
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Official Weather Channel presence
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While TWC Today has always been a fan-owned operation, interestingly, The Weather Channel and figures associated with it have historically maintained an official presence on the forums.
In early 2010, the forum launched a technical support board monitored in part by The Weather Channel's dedicated STAR Team, which allowed users to report problems they might have encountered with their local STARs.
Weatherscan XL simulator
The public beta of the Weatherscan Local/XL simulator, one of the few publicly available WeatherStar simulator projects, was released on TWC Today in October 2008. The project had previously been under development since 2003.[2] Prior to release, there had been a thread on the now-defunct TWC Classics Forum teasing the arrival of the simulator.[3] Since the public release, TWC Today has been a home for the project, linking to the web-based portal used to download and configure the simulator for a user's area.
The simulator has a variety of products and graphical themes to choose from, much like the actual Star it replicates. It is highly customizable, since backgrounds, logos, and other files are accessible locally.
Notable figures
A variety of notable figures within the TWC fan community began their public affiliation with the fandom on the forums.
List will be expanded
- Triple C TWC - Weather Channel-themed YouTube personality; joined January 2011
- wxTV - Weather Channel-themed YouTube personality; joined July 2013
See also
Other community forums
- TWC Classics (former forum, active community site)
- Taiganet
- WeatherSTAR Emulator Forum (historical forum)
- We Love Weather (former forum, official community site)
References
- ↑ "TWC Today Forums - Statistics Center". TWC Today. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
- ↑ TWCToday (October 25, 2008). "Welcome to the Project!". TWC Today. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ Stephen (October 25, 2008). "Re: Release Date". TWC Today. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
External links
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