83% of the first BLIPMAP Users Survey respondees indicated that they would like to have a discussion group - so here it is!.  It is place where those interested in BLIPMAPs and soaring meteorology can post information and ask questions.  While I read all posts, though perhaps not immediately, I expect that discussion will also take place between users, not just between users and me. 

      Non-forecast webpage errors should be reported whenever found, but report forecast failures/errors only when they occur consistently.  One-day-only forecast errors can occur for many causes -- such as missing NCEP data files, server timeouts, buggy alterations I make during program development, etc. -- and I do not track them.  But I will investigate and attempt to solve any consistent forecast errors, e.g. identical failures occurring on two consecutive days. 

      I expect this forum to be the medium for BLIPMAP questions and answers, so if you send me a personal email and I deem that there is nothing of a personal nature in your email then you will simply get a reply requesting that you post to this forum.  [If there is some matter that you feel is private, please so state when sending an mail to me.]  Please do not expect me personally to be a substitute for a Google search or to substitute for buying a book on meteorology!  You will find me much more responsive to a poster who has obviously already "done some homework" or has tried and failed to find the answer to a question - and who so indicates in his posting - than to someone who simply posts a question apparently just after it occurred to him, without any further investigation of relevant information that already exists on the web.  Still, such posting here may get a response from some other forum user who does have an answer to that question.  I particularly appreciate others posting "reference information", either to books or web links, which shed light on a topic.  I know primarily textbooks I have used, which are not very available and are written at the level of budding meteorologists and thus not very useful for the lay public, so I appreciate those who are more familiar with layman's books or an Internet website telling us where these topics are discussed in more detail than can be provided in this forum posting medium.  Also, you should take into account that my background is in numerical modeling of the fundamental nature of the atmospheric BL (Boundary Layer), so my knowledge of other meteorological topics, such as operational forecasting or satellite observations for example, is shallow and spotty.  FYI, explanations of some thermal soaring meteorology topics are already available on the webpages listed in Links to Thermal Soaring Explanations.

      This bulletin board allows much personalization if cookies are enabled by your browser, and it will then keep track of the messages you have looked at and indicate which messages are "NEW" since your last visit.  Currently the default setting for new users is indexing by a "Threaded List" (messages sorted by topic) with the thread having the most recent posting within it being on top (called "UBB Order") - I recommend that you keep that preference since on this forum postings to a thread can occur infrequently or as a much later follow-up to an earlier thread, so you will not miss postings which occur at a much later date than the start of the thread.  The default message display is "Guestbook" style, in which all messages in a thread are shown in a single frame.  Any ideas you have for improving things can be posted to the group for others to comment on and will, if possible to be implemented, be considered. 

Policies:

      My expectation is that this will be a friendly community of pilots with common interests and a common respect, even if disagreements occur.  I see no reason for personal attacks, as in "you are a ...", or other food fights and expect those in this group to act in a mature manner.  Ideas or observations are always open to criticism, though hopefully that will be offered in a constructive manner.  I don't think I need to say more. 

      Unless a new post is one that only I will have the answer for, I normally wait at least three days before personally responding to a posting on a new topic, to give other users a chance to respond first.  And I will only respond later if I think something significant has been left unsaid.  So don't wait for me to reply - if you know the answer, or at least part of it, respond with what you know and the poster will get an earlier answer.  I consider part of my job to be akin to following behind a parade of elephants and cleaning the street after them.  However, I will try to step in immediately if I think an egregious error has been made, to prevent a discussion thread from getting off on a wrong track. 

Hints:

[If you find some action of the software confusing and it is not covered in the above info or in the hints below, let me know and I will add additional "hints" here] 

  >   Use a "Subject" which helps others know what is in your message.  Note that in replying to a previous posting you can change the subject from that automatically inserted by the software, to better describe the contents of your reply - this is particularly helpful if your posting deviates somewhat from the main thrust of the original posting and is also apt to have your posting read by some who were not interested in the original posting but might be interested in what you are saying. 

  >   Personalized settings can be used [via the "Set Preferences" link at the top of each page] to alter properties such as the display listing type - such settings will automatically become your default if cookies are enabled by your browser. 

  >   There is a "Subscribe" option to have an email sent to you when a new message is posted, so you won't have to keep checking the on-line board for new posts - but note that reply to any posting must be made via the on-line forum, not by email. 

  >   If you have not activated the universal "Subscribe" option, then I recommend that when posting a message you select the "email notification of response" option on the reply form, which sends an email to you if there is a reply to your posting so you can respond more quickly and keep the discussion moving along.  Again, note that a reply to any posting must be made via the on-line forum, not by email.  If you have activated the universal "Subscribe" option, I recommend that when posting a message you unselect that option on the reply form so that you will not get duplicate notices.  In both cases, with cookies enabled your choice will be remembered between sessions. 

  >   When inputting text for a reply, a double line break or an indentation (either a tab or multiple spaces) is recognized as indicating the beginning of a new paragraph. 

  >   Note there is a search facility which can be used to search old messages or their subject line for desired keyword(s).  However, that only works on the displayed messages so you might want to temporarily increase the time period over which messages are displayed.

  >   If you want to delete a posting you (1) must have requested that option when making the posting and (2) must set the "Display Style" preference to "Single Message" if you are in "Guestbook" display mode. 

  >   Finally, if you want to get fancy you can insert the following "turn-on" "turn-off" markup instructions (similar to HTML markup code) to alter the text appearance between the "beginning" and "end" markups:

     [code]  Make the in-between text unformatted  [/code]
     [b]  Make the in-between text bold   [/b]
     [i]  Make the in-between text italic   [/i]
     [red]  Make the in-between text red   [/red]
     [big]  Make the in-between text bigger   [/big]
     [small]  Make the in-between text smaller   [/small]           [center]  Make the in-between text centered  [/center]