The following is something that I believe I explained to you, probably repeatedly, in the past.

Years ago I worked with an Internet expert to get this bulletin board type of communications resource created. That person eventually stopped working on the project and the old QuakeNet group split into the two present EarthWaves groups. The other one is a Yahoo group.

One of the reasons for creating this resource in the first place was to have a public forum where people could discuss subjects such as earthquake forecasting without interference from pranksters and hostile people who post all of the time to Newsgroups such as sci.geo.earthquakes.

A few weeks back after the new format was developed for the Chart A picture file on my Data.html Web page I began contacting earthquake researchers, disaster mitigation groups, and government agencies around the world and advising them to start checking my Data.html Web page on a regular basis and using the forecasting information available there as conformation data for their own forecasting methods, or original data if they themselves have not developed any methodology. And I have been telling them to watch for EQF notes posted to this bulletin board for more detailed discussions of the Data.html Web page information.

The point is that if they are listening to my advice, and at least some probably are, then earthquake researchers around the world are monitoring these discussions.

Those Year Charts and the other Web pages at my Web site were prepared in such a manner that they should be understandable by people who did moderately well with high school physics, and certainly by someone who has one or more degrees in geology.

Do you really want earthquake researchers around the world to see you complaining here that you can’t understand information that was prepared for people who have just a high school level education?

And remember, the reports being posted to this bulletin board are relatively permanent. Once you post one you cannot go back and erase it should you decide that it was a mistake.

THE VALUE OF THE YEAR CHARTS

When evaluating some forecasting method, earthquake researchers need to be able to tell how well the method is working and also see where it has weaknesses. The Year Charts at my Web site now provide researchers with easily understood information regarding how well my forecasting program works or does not work. They can take a list of past earthquakes that they are interested in and then compare them with the data on the appropriate Year Charts.

If peaks began to appear on the Year Chart Time Window Lines at the same longitude as an earthquake of interest to them, but before the earthquake, such as the deadly December 22, 2003 San Francisco area earthquake, then that shows that it might have been predicted had my computer programs been running at the time the earthquake occurred. And that then lets the researchers know that the program could probably also spot the approach of another earthquake that was going to occur at some future date in that area.

If there are no peaks on those Time Window Lines at the right longitude when the past earthquake of interest to them occurred then it means that there is less of a chance that the program would be able to spot the approach of another one that was going to occur in that area.

The picture file below (assuming it displays properly) is part of the year 2003 Year Chart. It shows that there were peaks around 121 W for quite a while before that December 22 earthquake. So, that indicates that this forecasting program could probably spot the approach of another powerful and deadly earthquake occurring in that area, information that would be helpful to researchers who are trying to predict California earthquakes. If their own data suggest that one could be headed for San Francisco then they can check my Data.html Web page to see if my data might provide some confirmation for their forecast.

http://www.Freewebz.com/eq-forecasting/images/2003rs.jpg

I believe that history has repeatedly shown that it can be both very difficult and quite risky to try to forecast an earthquake when you are relying on just one source of data. Forecasters need to compare notes with one another to get some confirmation for their predictions before they climb up on the roof and shout to the world that an earthquake is on the way and that everyone needs to get out of town.

My forecast data are now available to other researchers around the world on my Data.html Web page with a format that should make the data easy to quickly evaluate.

These are personal opinions.