Something good to do in the winter

Winter despondency seems to be setting in among us northern gliding =
buffs. Still months to go! Smyk bashing as a last resort is not very =
seemly .... and will not change the mind of those lucky enough to fly =
low performance ships in places so good that they put to shame our feats =
in wonderful ships and less than perfect climes.

I have a better proposal for all this pent-up energy: a handful of =
enthusiasts have been working hard towards a proper online resource =
about gliding and gliders. What? Aren't we well enough alone with Alex's =
or other directories? Actually, no. These are very welcome resources but =
suffer from the bottleneck common to all closed projects. The knowledge =
of individuals, however vast, is limited, and projects get stalled when =
their authors tire or lack time. The Sailplane Directory for example =
hasn't changed in years (no criticism implied of the fine effort made by =
its creators).

Please have a look he http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gliders. =
And he http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glider. And =
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gliding. A lot has already been =
accomplished. Much more remains to be done, until a full and =
authoritative online reference on gliding and gliders comes into being. =
For example, only the LS sailplanes are all covered with in-depth =
articles at this moment. You will also motice that most work is recent, =
dating from the last year or even the last few months.=20

Do you have personal experience about types not yet covered in the list? =
Perhaps you have the perfect photo to illustrate a rare glider? Or you =
have found a mistake overlooked by previous contributers? No need to ask =
anyone's permission. Go ahead, contribute!

From personal experience I say that working on these pages is quite =
pleasant, with separate contributers meshing their contributions without =
any problem, intuitively recognising and respecting their specific areas =
and levels of expertise. I am sure it will continue to be so. After all, =
we are all knowledgeable gliding savants and very considerate of each =
other, aren't we?

If you wish to contribute and are new to the open editing concept, spend =
some time reading the online guidelines and browsing existing articles =
(both about gliding and other subjects). See how they are built up on =
the 'Edit' tabs. Check their evolution in the 'History' tab. Appreciate =
image publishing policy by visiting the 'Upload file Toolbox'. In =
particular, understand the article naming conventions and categories =
before trying to change them. Start with small additions to existing =
articles, then step up to bolder contributions. You are welcome.=20

As a taster, why not start by bashing the PW5 article?

Meet you there,
F. Almeida