Solved: Who am I talking to?

[lowviz]

@The Chairman

Dear sir,
Would you consider making dive professionals (DM and above) immediately distinct from 'just divers' on this fine social board? I gain a lot of insight by being able to determine the 'flavor' of the poster and have recently been greatly surprised to learn of their professional status. I find this to be most unsettling.

It matters. You (posters) are or aren't posting as a professional. The unwashed massed don't always know this. Your SB persona does not reflect this as it should. No, we aren't all the same. Professionalism comes with obligations, titles, and transparency.

Show yourselves...

 

[CT-Rich]

A good example is a recent pair of threads on ScubaBoard related to the potential for DCS (not lung overexpansion injury) in very shallow water. People offered a variety of opinions, but eventually studies were presented by true experts, including Dr. Simon Mitchell, showing pretty conclusively that you aren't going to get DCS shallower than 20 feet. Those obviously knowledgeable posts ended the discussions.

In contrast, someone asked a question about that on a very popular and well known scuba discussion site on FaceBook, and a handful of true experts posted the same kind of information, but they were drops in the bucket of false information. I am sure the overwhelming majority of people reading that thread were convinced that you can get DCS in a bathtub.

Hey, if you can get gin from a bathtub, why not DCS?

 

[boulderjohn]

Hey, if you can get gin from a bathtub, why not DCS?

I know you were joking, but that was pretty much the level of serious discourse in that thread.

 

[Akimbo]

I am sure the overwhelming majority of people reading that thread were convinced that you can get DCS in a bathtub.

Everyone knows you can't get bent in a bathtub. The problem is getting out and going the the surface.

​

 

[clownfishsydney]

Pretty sure that in the people I dive with, they are far more knowledgeable about most matters related to diving than dive instructors, dive masters etc. Why? Because they have thousands of dives under their belts compared to hundreds (mostly dive course dives) by the instructors and dive masters. Certification levels are (generally), not worth the plastic they are printed on.

 

[boulderjohn]

Pretty sure that in the people I dive with, they are far more knowledgeable about most matters related to diving than dive instructors, dive masters etc. Why? Because they have thousands of dives under their belts compared to hundreds (mostly dive course dives) by the instructors and dive masters. Certification levels are (generally), not worth the plastic they are printed on.

Are you suggesting that the average diver has thousands of dives and is well read on dive theory? Is it possible that your friends are not the norm?

 

[clownfishsydney]

Are you suggesting that the average diver has thousands of dives and is well read on dive theory? Is it possible that your friends are not the norm?

I think there are two aspects to it. One is that the people I dive with are not the norm. We dive every week and some dive four or five or more times each week, year round. Some friends have done over 250 dives this year, all in Sydney.

The other is that the vast majority of people I encounter as dive instructors and dive masters are very inexperienced. I really only know a handful of instructors in Sydney who have been diving for more than a few years, let alone instructing for a long time. At our favourite shore dive sites we see them entering the water with students in conditions that are not good when there are better places to enter. Shows a lack of knowledge as even a first time person with experience would not use these entry points.