Welcome / About This Forum

[Tad Eareckson]

Thanks much for moving us into a classier neighborhood, setting this thing up in the first place, and staying in the conversation.

A few thoughts at this point, sixteen months into the existence of Kite Strings...

Mixed feelings on our success.

On the one hand we're still here, we're a big presence on the web, and a Kite String post gets a respectable percentage of the number of hits a Jack or Davis Show post does. That ain't bad considering the microscopic number of active participants we have and the fact that we make no pretense of this being a friendly, welcoming, come-one-come-all community.

On the other hand, we've got a microscopic number of active participants and I highly doubt that's ever gonna change much.

There's a Catch-22 thing going on here. If there were enough in the way of brains and integrity to counteract the stupidity and corruption that controls hang gliding, the problems we're addressing here would've been fixed decades ago. The fact that there's a need for a forum like Kite Strings is virtual proof that a forum like Kite Strings will have very little effect on the big picture.

Oh well, there's no other resource like it and a few people are a little better off than they would've been without it. Spread what you can. Sometimes a few well placed words can prevent someone from breaking an arm by doing a Standard USHGA Landing or using a Standard USHGA Weak Link, slamming into a runway because of a Standard USHGA Aerotow Release, or running off a ramp without a glider after doing a Standard USHGA Hang Check.

[Tad Eareckson]

Zack C - 2012/03/12 01:09:03 UTC

I'm equally happy to see we're starting to get some blips on Google. For example, search for '"towing aloft"' and the first two links are to this site (even ahead of Amazon).

And, as of at least today, when you search for:

"Blue Sky Scooter Towing"

Kite Strings arrives on the first page - currently at Position 8.

Glad to see that Steve and his operation will be getting a visible review with something other than the uninhibited drooling to which he's been so accustomed over the course of his entire hang gliding career.

Relieved to finally see that. I've been searching that string for a couple of weeks for indication of damage inflicted on enemy airbases and have been coming up zilch till now. I wonder what the lag was about.

[Zack C]

I think it would have helped both search engine rankings and readability if you had started a new topic for Blue Sky Scooter Towing. The topic subject appears as the page title, which I suspect Google assigns more weight.

Zack

[Tad Eareckson]

I thought about it as I was starting the series.

And when I started realizing I had screwed the pooch I thought I'd be able to start the topic and move/consolidate the posts but it seems that's not an option.

Oh well, we're finally pretty solidly on the map.

(I was afraid something sinister was going on for a long time.)

[Zack C]

And when I started realizing I had screwed the pooch I thought I'd be able to start the topic and move/consolidate the posts but it seems that's not an option.

No, it's an option...one of the most common forum moderator tasks in fact. Instructions:

1. Go to the topic where the posts you want to move are.
2. Click the 'Moderator Control Panel' link near the top of the page.
3. Use the 'Posts per page' and 'Display posts from previous' settings to get all the posts you want to move on-screen at once.
4. Click the 'Split Topic' subtab.
5. Enter the name of the new topic in the appropriate text box.
6. Check off all the posts you want to move to the new topic. You may want to click 'Unmark all' first since it seems to want to check some posts initially.
7. Click the 'Select desired action' dropdown, select 'Split selected posts', and click 'Submit'.

This will create a new topic containing the selected posts.

If you want to move posts to an existing topic, the procedure is almost the same. I bolded the stuff that's different.

1. Find the link to the topic to which you want to move posts on the main forum page. Mouse-over the link and note the URL. It will end with a 'topicX.html', where X is some integer. For example, this is topic2.html, where X = 2. Record X.
2. Go to the topic where the posts you want to move are.
3. Click the 'Moderator Control Panel' link near the top of the page.
4. Use the 'Posts per page' and 'Display posts from previous' settings to get all the posts you want to move on-screen at once.
5. Click the 'Merge Topic' subtab.
6. Enter X in the 'Destination topic identification number' box.
7. Check off all the posts you want to move. You may want to click 'Unmark all' first since it seems to want to check some posts initially.
8. Click the 'Select desired action' dropdown, select 'Merge Posts', and click 'Submit'.

Don't screw this up! There's no 'undo' feature...the closest thing is restoring from the previous day's backup. Making a mistake moving things isn't generally a big deal because you can always move them back. However, inadvertently deleting things IS a big deal.

Oh well, we're finally pretty solidly on the map.

For that particular topic, you still have to use quotes for our site to show up, and I suspect most people won't. That said, it takes a long time for stuff to get traction in search engines.

If you move the posts to a new topic, it will likely screw up any existing Google hits for them because the links will change. But they will eventually get reestablished and it may be better in the long run if the new topic's name contains desired search terms (I can't confirm that...just a theory).

(I was afraid something sinister was going on for a long time.)

They call that paranoia! I don't think Steve Wendt has much influence over Google.

Zack

[Zack C]

For anyone wanting to advance their forum skills to a new level of l33tness, read up on BBCode.
http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/misc.php?do=bbcode
I can't confirm all of those codes are supported by our forum, but all the ones I've tried are.

Zack

[Tad Eareckson]

No, it's an option...

Thanks much for clueing me in.

I started jumping through the hoops but part way into the process I started thinking...

- Yeah...

If you move the posts to a new topic, it will likely screw up any existing Google hits...

It'll probably do that - and it may be real tough to climb back into our existing position (and, as of today, we've moved up a notch to Number 6), especially if Google doesn't recognize the original hits from the original location.

- Our own forum hit counters would be screwed up. All of the hits earned by the posts in the new thread would be stripped and credited to the original parent thread. (Right?)

- The search result would look like:

Blue Sky Scooter Towing : General - Page 1

http://www.kitestrings.org/topic46-7.html
Mar 28, 2012 - Blue Sky Scooter Towing. Steve's methods have gained wide recognition among instructors in the United States as representing the current, ...

It currently looks like:

instructors and other qualified pilot fiends : General - Page 33

http://www.kitestrings.org/topic14-320.html
Mar 28, 2012 - Blue Sky Scooter Towing. Steve's methods have gained wide recognition among instructors in the United States as representing the current, ...

I think the existing one is a whole lot more intriguing than the envisioned replacement.

Why would anybody click on something that just looks like another copy when he could go to the original from Wills Wing at the very top of the list?

- And "instructors and other qualified pilot fiends" fits these bastards like a glove.

For that particular topic, you still have to use quotes for our site to show up, and I suspect most people won't.

Super.

http://www.kitestrings.org/post2.html#p2

- I despise most people at least as much as they despise me.

- One of the main purposes of this forum is to keep most people from participating and sabotaging it.

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24846
Is this a joke ?

Steve Davy - 2011/08/31 10:11:32 UTC

Zack figured it out. Well done Zack! Enjoy your vacation.

Kinsley Sykes - 2011/08/31 11:35:36 UTC

Well actually he didn't. But if you don't want to listen to the folks that actually know what they are talking about, go ahead.

Feel free to go the the tow park that Tad runs...

- Most people are too stupid to be able to be able to get anything out of it.

- We really only want the people anal enough to use quotes for all their searches anyway.

Speaking of anal...

However, inadvertently deleting things IS a big deal.

I don't move a punctuation mark unless it's saved in word processing on my hard drive first.

They call that paranoia!

Zack C - 2010/12/13 04:58:15 UTC

I had a very different mindset too back then and trusted the people that made my equipment. Since then I've realized (largely due to this discussion) that while I can certainly consider the advice of others, I can't trust anyone in this sport but myself (and maybe the people at Wills Wing).

- There's no such thing thing as being too paranoid in this sport, Grasshopper. I've been anything from royally fucked over politically through expensively crashed and pretty badly hurt to nearly killed by people because I wasn't being appropriately paranoid.

- You know how EASILY you coulda been killed every time you launched off a ramp.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hhpa/
Houston Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association

Zack C - 2010/10/15 13:25:50 UTC

Sunday I performed a hang check at Pack, stepped onto the ramp, and proceeded to wait for a lull in which to launch. Due to this discussion I realized at this point how dangerous it was for me to assume I was hooked in. It's like assuming it's OK to lock your car because you remember putting your keys in your pocket a few minutes ago, only the consequences of being wrong are much worse than a call to AAA.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hhpa/message/11700

Zack C - 2010/11/18 05:59:03 UTC

But I'm one of Matt's 'defective products'. The first thing I learned to do in the field at Lookout was a hang check. I was told a story by my instructor about the then-recent death of a pilot who launched without being through his leg loops. The instructor called this pilot an 'idiot'. This is how I was taught to think from Day 1. As you said, it's a bitch to rewire a brain...

- And you know how many extra ways to get you killed that Matt was bestowing on you every time you got on a launch dolly.

http://vimeo.com/16572582

password - red
2-112
http://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7600/28811055456_925c8abb66_o.png

I don't think Steve Wendt has much influence over Google.

Remember that "Blue Sky Scooter Towing" ISN'T Blue Sky. That's an optical illusion.

Copyright 2007/03 by Sport Kites, Inc. dba Wills Wing, Inc.

"Blue Sky Scooter Towing" is pure unadulterated Wills Wing - the biggest glider manufacturer on the planet.

And these guys are MAJOR serial killers.

John Moody - 2010/09/18 13:32:24 UTC

Whew!! Tad... Thanks for showing us these letters/articles.

In Houston, we are well aware of the WW wire tank tang problem. The first pilot it happened to plowed into the road. Awhile in the hospital and he pretty much recovered - but he never flew again. He was a great guy and friend and an aspiring pilot lost from our ranks. WW poo-poo'ed the event and made no effort to change their nose wire connection to make it fail-safe. The second guy it happened to will never walk again - or have a decent life at all. If you ever met him, the image of the wheelchair would be burned into your brain. WW poo-poo'ed that one too.

In industry, safety incidents are evaluated and the equipment is re-engineered wherever possible to make it impossible to repeat the event. I was/am furious that Wills blew me off when I told them they needed a design change.

And they're a big part of an informal global conspiracy of serial killers which shuts down dissenting (read science based) positions at EVERY opportunity.

The hook-in check I'm trying to push here - even though always a rare practice - used to be at least a common and frequent message that was never treated with hostility.

Other issues - starting and leaving students prone on the basetube; high tension launches; tow systems which wouldn't dump you every time time your nose went up a little; built in, high capacity, bulletproof releases; both-hands-on-the-basetube actuators - used to be universal practices and standards.

And they're now being exterminated from the regulations; publications; global, national, and local discussion groups; training programs; and in-the-field practices.

There are a HUGE number of wrongful death, negligent homicide, manslaughter cases waiting to happen out there so, yeah, I DO get a little paranoid when it looks like we might be getting suppressed a bit.

[Zack C]

Our own forum hit counters would be screwed up. All of the hits earned by the posts in the new thread would be stripped and credited to the original parent thread. (Right?)

No, when the new thread is created, it has no association with the original thread (so it isn't really a 'parent'). The new one will start with zero hits and increase as you would expect for any new thread. The original thread's hits won't be affected by moving posts.

Zack

[Tad Eareckson]

Newish policy...

When a new member appears here and I suspect that it's not a person interested in hang gliding I'm gonna immediately deactivate the account.

If you're a real person with a legitimate purpose here and have been deactivated contact me at:

TadErcksn
at
aol
dot
com

and convince me - which you'll be able do easily do, if you wish, without revealing your identity any more than you did by registering with your user name and an email address - and I'll throw the switch the other way and leave you in peace or engage you in discussion, as you wish.

If you reactivate your own account without convincing me I'll ban the account - (and Zack and I can reverse that action if appropriate).

If you're a spammer don't waste my time or yours. Your post will be deleted and you will be banned before anybody but the two Administrators sees it.

Hey Zack...

Is it possible to set this forum up such that registration can only be effected after obtaining permission?

[Tad Eareckson]

It seems that to celebrate the 109th anniversary of Wilbur and Orville flying their plane off the ground ProphpBB has upgraded the Style of these forums.

Good news...

- It looks like we can display much larger / higher resolution photos.

Bad news...

- I'm gonna hafta go back and edit a lot of photo links to retroactively take advantage of the more efficient use of screen space.