A somewhat sad conversation last night

[endurodog]

Been lurkking in this thread I sit in the middle on this. I have not taken a GUE course but some of the posters on SB, and they are in this thread, have me thinking I would like too. But there is another element of that community that drives that elitist view, some have also posted in this thread. None of that has changed my thinking on the matter and I hope at some point in the future to take one of the classes but make no mistake both the good and the bad attitude side of GUE has been brought out in this thread. I can see where the negative perception is coming from.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

"if it's not black it's not DIR" is not a complete exaggeration

Perhaps that's true in the Netherlands ... I hear some of the DIR folks over there take themselves pretty seriously ... but around my area it certainly isn't. There's a weekly DIR outing at the dive site I was at last night. I saw a lot of colors ... including a pink wing. And it appears the current fashion color for drysuits is red ...

*I can see it being read-only, but completely closed off? In my perhaps not so humble opinion that seems a but elitist to me. You can se it's there but not look at it neener neener. Sorry, bit of a pet peeve

Blame it on a few anti-DIR hotheads who literally took over the DIR forum. It got to where you couldn't post there without some clueless individual with a chip on their shoulder interrupting the conversation with some wild tale of being abused by someone in a black drysuit. Most times it's pretty obvious they haven't a clue ... but it never stopped anyone from completely disrupting any possibility for a conversation. So those who wanted a conversation without all the static asked for a place where they could have one.

But I wouldn't get to wrapped up around not being able to see what's being said in there ... the answer is "nothing" ... I think the last new thread in that forum was sometime back in 2010. The folks who really want to discuss DIR solutions don't do so on ScubaBoard anymore. They've been successfully chased out of the house ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[The Chairman]

Speaking of which...

We have been discussing a possible change in the DIR section of ScubaBoard. To whit, everyone can read, but you have to opt-in to post. I would love to hear any thoughts on this from the community of DIR divers. That being said, if you feel anyone is a detriment to the DIR section, ie "hijacking" it, then please report their posts/threads and ask us to remove them from the forum. Few of us read that forum as it doesn't interest us enough and we need YOUR input when someone is being disruptive. Getting someone removed from the DIR forum is a lot easier than having them removed from all of ScubaBoard.

 

[chrpai]

I find it intersting that the question is "why are tech divers shunned...." when I've experienced it from the other side "why do tech divers shun...."

In years gone by, I was part of some real hot flame wars as NetDoc can attest. But it always seemed an "online" thing. All the divers (of all persuasions) I met in real life were either really nice or really good at faking nice.

When I retired from diving, I missed diving. I didn't miss cyber diving. There's always someone who has to post on your thread and try to pick your words apart to prove that their package is bigger then yours. I've never encountered that in real life.

Even recently I started following the posts of a certain member on this board as they seemed nice, knowledgabe and experienced. Then this person jumped on one of my threads and left a message that I considered preachy and annoying and taking what I had written out of context. I've seen this behavior from another tech diver who's not even been a member of this board for a month yet and can't wait (sarcasm) to read what he's written every time I see his avatar scroll up in the screen.

The old me would have said something. Now I just think "whatever" and move along. I suspect other peoples reaction might be "oh those xxxx divers... here we go again".


As far as the DIR stuff... as long as I can keep it from showing up in my "New Posts" query, I don't care one way or the other.

 

[danvolker]

Speaking of which...

We have been discussing a possible change in the DIR section of ScubaBoard. To whit, everyone can read, but you have to opt-in to post. I would love to hear any thoughts on this from the community of DIR divers. That being said, if you feel anyone is a detriment to the DIR section, ie "hijacking" it, then please report their posts/threads and ask us to remove them from the forum. Few of us read that forum as it doesn't interest us enough and we need YOUR input when someone is being disruptive. Getting someone removed from the DIR forum is a lot easier than having them removed from all of ScubaBoard.

If you are looking for ideas on the DIR section

1. up on the top where you have stickies, add some categorized DIR issues, those typical for people just getting into the search for "what is DIR, and where they then start needing more info" Searching is hard for most on SB, and particularly for new people.
2. You could have a "best answers in DIR" sub section, where past issues have been dealt with very well.
3. You could have a program for background on each of the "horses" here....which ones are best at various topics, which ones are nice, which ones are not, which ones are really anti-DIR, or psuedo-DIR , or DIR-ish

 

[JamesK]

Or you could just let Dan have free reign and admin rights in the DIR section.

 

[danvolker]

Or you could just let Dan have free reign and admin rights in the DIR section.

Net Doc looks better with a bullseye on his back than I do, thankyou very much

 

[Guba]

which ones are nice, which ones are not, which ones are really anti-DIR, or psuedo-DIR , or DIR-ish

Or what what some people call "DIR-ty"

But others take exception to that descriptor.

 

[lamont]

Speaking of which...

We have been discussing a possible change in the DIR section of ScubaBoard. To whit, everyone can read, but you have to opt-in to post. I would love to hear any thoughts on this from the community of DIR divers. That being said, if you feel anyone is a detriment to the DIR section, ie "hijacking" it, then please report their posts/threads and ask us to remove them from the forum. Few of us read that forum as it doesn't interest us enough and we need YOUR input when someone is being disruptive. Getting someone removed from the DIR forum is a lot easier than having them removed from all of ScubaBoard.

Yep, and that's my idea to reduce the noise in the DIR forum from all the "accidental" flybys that make it difficult to moderate.

- Remove the DPF and merge the old posts into the DIR forum
- Make the DIR forum opt-in, but unapproved (we can add approvals later)
- Pre-populate the opt-in on the DIR forum with the list from the DPF
- Make the DIR forum read-only for those not-opted-in so that newbies can find the discussions.

Then if someone "accidentally" replies to a post in the DIR forum with non-DIR answers they'll have to actually go opt-in in order to post, which makes the excuses a whole lot less plausible. Hopefully the real accidental posts are suppressed completely, and a good chunk of the problem posters won't actually bother to opt-in, and all we'll have left is the deliberate troublemakers who do go through the trouble, and then its easier for me to moderate those posters.

The problem right now is that the DIR forum is for "discussion" of DIR, and the problem posts do lead to "discussion" and with the "oops, I didn't see the forum" excuse its difficult to ban them as trolls, so moderation is troublesome. So we tend to rely on "community policing" from the few solidly DIR posters who are left who just shout down the bad information. We can be more aggressive in moderation, but then it just terrifies the newbies from ever wanting to ask a question.

 

[JamesK]

Or you could just let Dan have free reign and admin rights in the DIR section.

Scratch that. See below.

Yep, and that's my idea to reduce the noise in the DIR forum from all the "accidental" flybys that make it difficult to moderate.

- Remove the DPF and merge the old posts into the DIR forum
- Make the DIR forum opt-in, but unapproved (we can add approvals later)
- Pre-populate the opt-in on the DIR forum with the list from the DPF
- Make the DIR forum read-only for those not-opted-in so that newbies can find the discussions.

Then if someone "accidentally" replies to a post in the DIR forum with non-DIR answers they'll have to actually go opt-in in order to post, which makes the excuses a whole lot less plausible. Hopefully the real accidental posts are suppressed completely, and a good chunk of the problem posters won't actually bother to opt-in, and all we'll have left is the deliberate troublemakers who do go through the trouble, and then its easier for me to moderate those posters.

The problem right now is that the DIR forum is for "discussion" of DIR, and the problem posts do lead to "discussion" and with the "oops, I didn't see the forum" excuse its difficult to ban them as trolls, so moderation is troublesome. So we tend to rely on "community policing" from the few solidly DIR posters who are left who just shout down the bad information. We can be more aggressive in moderation, but then it just terrifies the newbies from ever wanting to ask a question.

Let Lamont have free reign!