Once upon a time we used to be Tamworth Weather Forum it was a "great forum" and used a free forum platform, we re-branded to become Midlands Weather Forum on vBulletin and went from strength to strength. At present I feel the time is right to re-brand. But why the need for the re-brand?

Well on the back of the previous name changes, we've changed software product so can now more easily offer other services. One of the repeated requests that came up over the last 12 months was "please can we promote the UK weather forum side of things more?" Our membership is spread across the whole of the UK and our focus is the United Kingdom with an international twist. "Midlands" limits us regionally and some people will see that as a barrier to joining in, because they live elsewhere.

As a result, We wanted a name that was country neutral, and more accurately reflected our other provisions and more importantly wouldn't need to be changed again in the future. We are no longer just a forum, we are a community with a social media presence, whilst on the site itself we have blogs, gallery, link directory, file storage, projects and currently provide (albeit limited at the moment) weather services; ATD is a good example, but you can also add the storm tracker, charts and UKWN. Other projects are in the pipeline.

Why the name MetServ? Well Metserv was a domain I had a while ago and was named such as it was going to be my meteorological server, so it seemed appropriate. Its also clear of any other companies etc, with other TLD's being parked.

Why change it now? We want to iron out the wrinkles, cater for a wider audience, bring back the fun element and avoid the frustrations (in the shoutbox for example). Members need to feel empowered and as a result there will be a change in ethos on the site.

Admins and the dev team: Will bring in the features and services, bug fix and ensure the server is responsive and reliable. They also have a staff and a member role
Staff: Will encourage the use of the new features, offer assistance and make sure people are happy and behave appropriately, while moderating topics/content and members. They also have a member role.
Members: Should provide useful content within the rules of the website, encourage others and maintain a community spirit. With the new social media add-ons you can also share that content

Fundamentally, although we have changed name and subsequently website address, from a members point of view the same people are still here, the same software is in place so you know how to use it, the navigation also remains constant.....its like your bottle of Jif becoming Cif, or Napisan becoming Vanish, or Persil being put in smaller bottles and being more concentrated.

It's still us, but we are new and improved