Bukkit

As you know, on a server, every player can hear every lightning bolt within 160,000 blocks (i.e., all lightning across the server). The more players online, the more thunder can be heard (as more chunks are loaded).

I would propose that a config option be added that, instead of randomizing location, prevents lightning packets > 512 blocks from being sent to a player at all, by calling setCancelled(true) on the PacketEvent. This way, thunder would remain at sane levels (ideally, identical to a storm in singleplayer Minecraft) no matter how many players are online.

With this option the plugin continues to fulfill its original purpose, while also becoming a viable option for large servers whose players find storms annoying due to constant thunder.