Remember that some tuning slides are meant to be left dry; their fitting tolerances are so close that grease is rendered pointless at best, and can gum up the slide at worst. Some of my flutes required slide grease, and some did not; those that did already came pre-greased, and for me that settled that. The ones meant to be left dry never seized up for me ever, and this over many years; those slides were made all of sterling silver, and not only by Olwell. In fact, to memory all of the high-end flutes I've played had dry slides of sterling, so I think your assertion that Pat's is a minority opinion is arrived at a bit hastily; it's more a matter of how and with what the slide's constructed. The slides requiring grease were of a slightly looser tolerance without it, and were usually a combination of brass inner and nickel silver outer; if I'm not mistaken, the latter combination of contrasting metals would be more prone to galvanic corrosion, so not only for filling the gap between, with materials like that the grease would be a must. Where's a metallurgist when you need one?
But most of this has already been covered earlier in the topic, and by more knowledgeable people than I, I would assure you.
