Nightingale

do you have a proxy or firewall? I can't use it at work because of that. works fine on my home computers, though.

there is a virus going around that will pull names from address books of infected computers. it puts one name as the sender and another as the recipient, and sometimes BCCs a bunch of other folks (this is probably why you're getting other people's spam).

That happened to me. I had the worst landing of my life because I had no depth perception and flared WAY too high. What works best for me is the flexi goggles. The ones that are just flexible clear plastic, because they mold to your face and seal better than the ones that are hard, shaped plastic. if the little air holes are a problem, a little piece of duct tape or a hot glue gun will fix it right quick. they cost about $15.

I was wondering the same thing. From what we've been told, it could've been a pilot chute in tow that was released by the deploying reserve. The S&TA at Perris went over this very situation with us at safety day.

I don't like the voting thing. some sites call it "karma" or "rating" or whatnot. We have it on the site I moderate, and when someone says something unpopular but true (happens a lot in both skydiving and among martial artists), their rating gets dinged not because they're being rude or whatnot, but just because people don't want to listen. I like Clownburner's known/unknown idea. That would be cool.

unfortunately, that's very likely. People get something in their head that they just HAVE to tell all their friends, and post it in the general area because there's nowhere else to put it, and surely THIS post is important enough...sucks, but it happens. I've been on a couple of boards that have had to add a chit-chat area just because otherwise they couldn't keep the main part of the forum on topic otherwise. Areas for junk posts are kinda a necessary evil, it seems.

Its nice to confirm to a newbie that they made the right call when they make a conservative safety decision. Last weekend out at Elsinore, the wind was gusting to about 15 mph and sending rotors off the buildings and causing turbulence. I grounded myself. Couple of people asked me why I wasn't jumping, and I said the wind was higher than I was comfortable with. It was nice that nobody questioned, nobody tried to talk me into jumping. Pretty much all that was said was that I'd made a good choice to stick with what I was comfortable with. I'd felt like a bit of a wuss sitting out, but when more experienced folk told me that I'd done the right thing, it made me feel better about it, and I did get in another jump on the sunset load after the wind died down.

I was going to donate to ensure the continued survival of a free service that I enjoyed. Since that service is no longer accessible, the reason for my wanting to donate has been removed. Should that forum come back and remain, its safe to say that I'll definitely toss some cash out to support it.

Most of the time I can be very shy around people I don't know. I'm not the type to just walk up and say hi. Meeting people can be intimidating. When I did my FJC at Perris, one person came up and said hello (thanks, Albatross!). He was the only person outside of my instructor that I talked to all day. After my instructors figured out I was sticking around and actually going to finish AFF, they started to introduce me to people. Everyone out at Perris is either very busy LOing, dirt diving, packing, etc, or just hanging out in large groups (large groups are scary when you're shy!). If you want to say hi, its almost like you have to interrupt people from whatever they're doing. Elsinore was very different. When I got there, just off AFF and wanting to do a coach jump, I was standing around for a few minutes, and I guess I looked a little lost. Karl came over and introduced himself to me and took me around to meet the staff and some other jumpers. The staff went out of their way to make me feel welcome. I had people coming up to me and saying "Hi! I don't know you!" and introducing themselves. It was a very pleasant experience and I had a lot of fun jumping that day. Two DZs, two very different attitudes towards newbies.

I have AD&D insurance through work that does cover skydiving. I pay about $5.00 extra a month for the AD&D insurance. For me, there's no need to get more outside insurance. My health insurance through work also covers skydiving accidents.

I'd pay that. I was looking at the donation screen yesterday, and had decided to make a donation today (payday!) because I'd been having a lot of fun here recently. Then, my favorite forum got axed, so I decided not to donate, because I didn't want to donate to a forum that I wouldn't be using as much. A post here and there, maybe, but I was using the forums as a way to network with other skydivers, to meet people, and without talkback, that ability is cut down a lot. For the technical stuff up here, well, its nice to have, but I ask my instructors about that, so it isn't really necessary to me. The information can (AND SHOULD!) be gotten from other sources than an online message board where anyone can post bad advice (lots of good advice too, but not always easy to separate good from bad). For me, a forum is a way to kill time when I'm bored. Its amusement. Remove the fun, and it isn't worth as much to me. I'd definitely pay $20 to have talkback back again.

Even perris will do a second pass if necessary. They don't like it, but they'll do it. There were second passes on several of my AFF jumps, just because there were a lot of solos, or a large group that needed time to get situated for exit, etc.

why's he on his back?

Rabbit? (never done a tracking dive)

your instructor will tell you more about what it is and how it works in your FJC.

Dumbest thing I did: A hop n pop on a red light. I was totally nervous about it, so my mind wasn't quite where it should've been. My instructor gave a huge, sharp finger point motion out the door. I thought she was telling me to go. I went. Turns out she was telling me to look. d'oh. Glad it was a big canopy. I put it right in the middle of the student circle, but was way north of the DZ when I left the plane. The wind was with me, so I didn't have to land out. When I walked back to the school, people were chuckling and asking me "So, you survived that hop n pop, huh?"

I wonder what would happen if some of the gear stores did what car rental places do... sell supplemental "insurance" for damages. $10 more for insurance on your daily rental, if you cutaway you don't pay for repack. might be an interesting experiment.

sometimes a main blow-up can be the jumper's fault, though. were they overloading it? did they dump in a track? what else was happening?

I wasn't referring to the number of readers. Slappie cited the number of registered users as a concern for moderators with regards to how many people are posting and having different opinions. Lurkers don't need to be moderated, so I didn't include that in my post.

I hope the drop off in the post count doesn't affect the paid advertising he gets from gear stores and equipment manufacturers who pay for the top of the screen banners and the like. With fewer people checking the site as often, because talkback was the most popular forum, the ads aren't seen as much.

the 27,000 number is very deceiving. A good many of those have either: A. Never posted at all and just lurk. B. Posted once or twice and left C. Were regular members that no longer post D. People with multiple logins E. People who created logins and never bothered to come back. If all the logins with zero or one post were purged, as well as those who haven't logged in at all in the last six months, the number would be very different.

I knew about them, but only because I saw them on the plane at Perris and asked the jumpers. When I'm in the plane, I usually will pass some time by looking at chest straps and three-rings to make sure they're routed properly, and theirs looked different so I asked and got educated on the ride up.

I don't think he's jumped into enemy fire... as far as I know, his only jumps were training jumps.

Perris will let you do an AFF 2 after the FJC if you've done a tandem and informed them prior to doing the tandem that you're planning on AFF, because then the TM makes it a working tandem instead of a fun one.

If you've never done a skydive do a tandem. you get to enjoy rather than concentrate on a million different things.