Letter to editor in SOARING Mag

On Tuesday, February 12, 2013 7:53:30 AM UTC-5, wrote:

When you call the content drivel and slam the articles please put a
face to the author's name and remember that he or she took the time
out of their daily lives to write the article, edit it, and submit
it with zero compensation. I encourage you to do the same with
content that you find interesting. It may just be the article
that others like you are wanting to see.

I have had at least 10 articles published in Soaring.
Have you ?

Every time I submit something, it gets screwed up in editing,
and I get nasty letters and emails. My recent favorite is the
picture of Tom Kelley, caption erroneously changed to say
it was Al Tyler ! Not sure if these guys appreciated that...

I applaud ALL individual contributions to Soaring Magazine. I've helped edit some of the articles and I know that it is a lot of work.

The recent issue that focused on winches and "gravity launches" was a hoot, but most months I scan the whole thing and pick out one article that I want to read.

A printed magazine is anachronistic. Which will last the longest, the 2-33s or Soaring magazine?

Maybe cut it back to four issues a year? Two in the Winter, one in Spring and one in Fall.

Maybe hire one of the better soaring journals to produce an SSA edition? The good stuff from USA contributors could find a wider audience.

Put all of the announcements and "communications to members" on the SAA website? Put the letters on a members-only forum of the SSA website. Some of the letters would discourage people from getting involved with the sport.

If the magazine went away entirely, SSA would probably lose 500+ members who maintain no other contact with the sport. So I'd like to see fewer issues of higher and more consistent quality.

If the magazine went away entirely, SSA would probably lose 500+ members who maintain no other contact with the sport.

This thread has made me really sad. I love the sport of soaring only slightly less than my family...and depending on the day sometimes more. My guess is that without Soaring magazine coming monthly the real loss in membership would be more like adding another zero to the above comment to be more like 5000+ members dropping off. Sorry guys but I think it is petty to rip on the content of a volunteer publication in public. Feel free to submit more of your own work to improve the quality. My guess is it will be criticized as well. I for one appreciate the magazine even with its flaws. Would much rather have it come every month than not.

Damn you guys - stop being so quick to find fault and pick fights and just enjoy the silent fun we have up in the air. Maybe it is because it is so peaceful and silent up there when we soar that we feel the compulsion to shout and bicker when we get down on the ground?

Bruno - B4

On Tuesday, February 12, 2013 12:42:23 PM UTC-5, wrote:
If the magazine went away entirely, SSA would probably lose 500+ members who maintain no other contact with the sport. This thread has made me really sad. I love the sport of soaring only slightly less than my family...and depending on the day sometimes more. My guess is that without Soaring magazine coming monthly the real loss in membership would be more like adding another zero to the above comment to be more like 5000+ members dropping off. Sorry guys but I think it is petty to rip on the content of a volunteer publication in public. Feel free to submit more of your own work to improve the quality. My guess is it will be criticized as well. I for one appreciate the magazine even with its flaws. Would much rather have it come every month than not. Damn you guys - stop being so quick to find fault and pick fights and just enjoy the silent fun we have up in the air. Maybe it is because it is so peaceful and silent up there when we soar that we feel the compulsion to shout and bicker when we get down on the ground? Bruno - B4

I second that emotion
UH

On Tuesday, February 12, 2013 11:42:23 AM UTC-6, wrote:
If the magazine went away entirely, SSA would probably lose 500+ members who maintain no other contact with the sport. This thread has made me really sad. I love the sport of soaring only slightly less than my family...and depending on the day sometimes more. My guess is that without Soaring magazine coming monthly the real loss in membership would be more like adding another zero to the above comment to be more like 5000+ members dropping off. Sorry guys but I think it is petty to rip on the content of a volunteer publication in public. Feel free to submit more of your own work to improve the quality. My guess is it will be criticized as well. I for one appreciate the magazine even with its flaws. Would much rather have it come every month than not. Damn you guys - stop being so quick to find fault and pick fights and just enjoy the silent fun we have up in the air. Maybe it is because it is so peaceful and silent up there when we soar that we feel the compulsion to shout and bicker when we get down on the ground? Bruno - B4

bravo Bruno.

back to the original subject (does anyone remember that?) I can sympathize with Roger's feelings. I felt the same way back when I started. My cross country flying was generally short distances, involved a fairly high fun quotient but had a nearly 100% frustration aspect when any sort of flight recording was involved. I got to the point where I wouldn't even fly with a barograph because the eventual failure would just put a black spot on an otherwise fun flight. My time was otherwise occupied with concerns of passing college classes and my budget would hardly accomodate a tow let alone any sort of logger. So to me the OLC was for rich glassholes (although i had never flown with a fiberglass glider pilot i was sure they all must be rich jerks). It surely didn't help that no one else in my area was using OLC either really so there wasn't any peer pressure to join in.

That changed when I moved to kansas and my financial situation improved markedly AND the soaring conditions got a lot better. Steve Leonard loaned me a logger, a cambridge 20 which made a great gateway drug, as he knew it would. My general soaring outlook improved, i started hanging out with glass pilots and couldn't find a single jerk, and lo and behold i eventually bought a glass ship myself.

On 2/12/2013 10:42 AM, wrote:
If the magazine went away entirely, SSA would probably lose 500+ members
who maintain no other contact with the sport.

This thread has made me really sad. I love the sport of soaring only
slightly less than my family...and depending on the day sometimes more.
My guess is that without Soaring magazine coming monthly the real loss in
membership would be more like adding another zero to the above comment to
be more like 5000+ members dropping off. Sorry guys but I think it is
petty to rip on the content of a volunteer publication in public. Feel
free to submit more of your own work to improve the quality. My guess is
it will be criticized as well. I for one appreciate the magazine even with
its flaws. Would much rather have it come every month than not.

Damn you guys - stop being so quick to find fault and pick fights and just
enjoy the silent fun we have up in the air. Maybe it is because it is so
peaceful and silent up there when we soar that we feel the compulsion to
shout and bicker when we get down on the ground?

Bruno - B4


"What Bruno said."

I'm from the school: Praise in public. Criticize in private.

There's a time and place for everything...discussing (say) economics when
(say) the preacher is moralizing from the pulpit is an example of the wrong
time and place for the former.

I discuss soaring (the sport) and "Soaring" (the magazine) with my buddies and
with people knowledgeable about the sport. To that extent, the discussions are
private. When I've felt the need, I've directed my criticisms of the latter to
my Regional Director and - if also felt necessary - to others in the "chain of
command".

Like the preacher and sin (he was agin' it!), I'm no fan of willy-nilly,
public, opinionizing "on the cheap" when individual volunteers (and a few paid
staff) are easily identified as "targets" even if not intended as such at the
outset. That's just the nature of the beast.

To each their own, I suppose...

Bob W.

Originally Posted by gotovkotzepkoi

Excellent idea! By the way, can you please cut and paste here one of the articles? I'd love to see who this gets written up. Thanks!

Hi,

here is our club's website which contains all articles I sent to the press: http://www.stillberghof.de.

And here is what it looks like in the press (everything that is on the newspaper's website also is printed):
http://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/...d23586156.html

Bye, Helge

Originally Posted by son_of_flubber

Maybe hire one of the better soaring journals to produce an SSA edition? The good stuff from USA contributors could find a wider audience.

In Germany, we have "segelfliegen", which is the only German speaking gliding magazine. Starting October 2011, we tried to establish an international online-edition in English with some new articles and some translated articles from the German edition. (I tried to announce this in the forum but was banned for doing so... I'll try it again: http://www.segelfliegen-international.com - oh, I just found out that the english eMag is not available anymore :-( )

However, we had to end our "experiment" last August due to lack of readers after just four issues. There have been talks with the SSA about us printing the international edition with a dedicated SSA part, but as far as I know, the SSA did not really know what they wanted.

Helge
Chief Editor of "segelfliegen"

On 2/12/2013 3:05 PM, Helge_Zembold wrote:
son_of_flubber;833314 Wrote:
Maybe hire one of the better soaring journals to produce an SSA
edition? The good stuff from USA contributors could find a wider
audience.

In Germany, we have "segelfliegen", which is the only German speaking
gliding magazine. Starting October 2011, we tried to establish an
international online-edition in English with some new articles and some
translated articles from the German edition. (I tried to announce this
in the forum but was banned for doing so... I'll try it again:
http://www.segelfliegen-international.com - oh, I just found out that
the english eMag is not available anymore :-( )

However, we had to end our "experiment" last August due to lack of
readers after just four issues. There have been talks with the SSA about
us printing the international edition with a dedicated SSA part, but as
far as I know, the SSA did not really know what they wanted.

Helge
Chief Editor of "segelfliegen"


I read an issue or two, and thought the online interface was pretty bad.
Good content, though.