A beginner's guide to sifting through the nonsense

[KBeck]

I'll throw in my thoughts as a former newbie/new SB'er. When I found Scubaboard, I read. A lot. And absorbed. A lot. And almost got scared away by the gung-ho "Techies" (I'm keeping the phrasing simple).

There you are, a simple, new recreational diver. You just want to go in the water, breathe a little and come back. Simple, right? So, afer seeing the multitudes of more technically oriented divers on the board, some with strong opinions, I presumed that most of the board was of that nature. So, I almost left.

Don't. Keep reading. Keep absorbing. First, you will start to find the many many divers like me who just want to dive. Who just want to find some more people to dive with. And then you sart getting the ability to sort the good stuff from the bad stuff.

I slowly started learning how to achieve better buoyancy--a good skill, no matter what level diving you intend to do. I learned what "trim" means. I learned the difference between different types of gear and what the advantages--and disadvantages--of each were. Etc. Etc.

And finally, eventually came to apply that knowledge to the diving I do in the location I generally dive in.

So, I was and am one of the people Diver0001 is addressing, in other words.

Take Scubaboard as a whole and don't let one set of opinions scare you off.

 

[Carribeandiver]

The frequent SB reader soon realizes there are those whose opinions, comments and recommendations that are to be trusted and those that are to be ignored. Want a simple method of placing value on a suggestion, comment or opinion? Read the profile first.

 

[Carribeandiver]

...I found posts from people with more experience then me who were in my area, then dived with them.
Yes, I actually watched them dive before I judged their advice. The diving skill tells everything. Then, when I saw how superior their skills were to mine, and to most of the other divers I'd seen, I started listening to them...

Errr, but what about the theory "those who can, do, those who cant, teach"?
No wait, based on that theory, I am the greatest of teachers and you know that isnt true..... ummm, nevermind.

 

[TeddyDiver]

what to watch for and what to watch *out* for when you read people's responses to your questions.

If the original question (or a part of it) is quoted, maybe the response stays more focused on the subject too.
When people (me too:blinking: ) start to quote other responsers and vice versa, it's in most cases OT or BS. It might be refreshing after a-bad-day-at-work to participate to these conversation or just

 

[pir8]

If the original question (or a part of it) is quoted, maybe the response stays more focused on the subject too.
When people (me too:blinking: ) start to quote other responsers and vice versa, it's in most cases OT or BS. It might be refreshing after a-bad-day-at-work to participate to these conversation or just

That might work.

 

[seadoggirl]

EXCELLENT post. Thanks. I try to read as much as possible to learn more but I do get off the board and stay away when everybody gets so mean.

 

[Wolfie2012]

I tried to avoid jumping in with the mob mentality but... I ...just....couldn't.....resist..... so....

Great post. Lot's of sense and very sound advice.

 

[Sask]

Great post Diver0001.

I have some observation from a SB member who reads lots and posts very little. And maybe regular posters might want to take note if they want to grow the community.

There may be 70,000 SB members but I would be interested to see the stat on how many people make up 75% of the posts. Maybe 50 or 30?

When I first came to SB I thought it might be a neat social experience. But then I found out that if you asked a question that had been asked several time before 10 people will tell you that this is an old question that needs to be searched. But, but, but I wanted to socialize with some new potential dive buddies, if you can take the time to say my post is redundant why not just answer the question, or better yet ignore it and let someone who isn’t as worried about repeating themselves answer.

What I do is PM people I think might have the answers I am looking for, that way I won’t offend all the 5,000 plus posters by asking a question that was answered before.

I may be alone in this but if your posts are more than 10 times the number of your dives and most your posts are negative and about one singular topic, you need to dive more.

Now I will go back below the surface and PM people until I am brave enough to surface somewhere again.

 

[Diveral]

Excellent, excellent, excellent post. Bravo. This should be be made into a sticky on this forum.

 

[fisherdvm]

To me, there's nothing wrong with repeating questions that have been asked. Then you get to know the current personalities of the board, and avoid the jerks that prey on new comers. These jerks got nothing to do but cruise the board and tell newbies how stupid they are, and that they should retake OW or worse.

Scuba magazines, and many other magazines, repeat the same articles once every 2 to 3 years. In the same way, questions posted on scubaboard should be repeated every so often, and the small numbers of truly helpful staff members, instructors, and DM will continue to answer these questions. The same jerks will also come along, ridicule, and put down and scare the new comers away.