Aahhh! Too Many stickies!!!

[tatonkadive]

I'm new here so feel free to ignore me (don't worry happens all of the time), but...

1. From what I can tell, loads of people are interested in the Wrinkles Dive series, enough so that the most current planning of the dive should be easy to find on the first page of wherever is the appropriate forum to have it in.
2. It certainly is a Trips and Happenings kind of thing, so if that isn't the right forum, then I'm not sure why you would have that forum, because making exceptions will only confuse people. So I would argue that the reason people don't go to Trips and Happenings currently is that the standard has not been set to only post trips and happenings in that forum. And aren't you minimizing all other group dive events, trips, and happenings if you make the exception? :06:
3. Actually if people want to find out about what events are going to happen soon, I would think that they would look in Trips and Happenings. And they might actually miss it if it is only in the main forum, even as a sticky...even though it has the added bonus of cluttering every page of that forum.

Anyway, what I have seen on other boards that I think works pretty well, is a Trips and Happenings type of forum that is kept current with ALL trips and happenings that are being planned (in this case for the area). Once an event has occured (or after an appropriate time for gloating) it gets moved to an archive forum (where gloating can continue and be retained for posterity). The title of the thread should have the name of the event, where, and the date...which should help the moderator keep things tidy in moving stuff to the archive. (and the "archive" could simply just be to the main SoCal forum, although I personally would prefer a "Previous Dives" forum within the Trips and Happenings).

That way everyone knows where to look. The confusion is minimized. You don't have a useless forum. No trip planning is necessarily more important than any other and the shear amount of posts keeps the largely attended trips toward the top of a relatively small number of currently planned dive threads.

Just the 2 baht of a newby to this forum.

 

[Roughwaterjohn]

Hi, welcome aboard! :dazzler1:

Actually if people want to find out about what events are going to happen soon, I would think that they would look in Trips and Happenings.

Actually, this is part of what I take issue with. When I first discovered the Wrinkles dives, I didn't think of them as Trips or Happenings, nor would I have thought to look for them there. I just considered them divers getting together to go diving, something my buddies and I (and a cast of thousands here on the Board) do virtually every day. Some were better attended than others, and they've certainly gotten bigger lately, but I think that's because they were accessible and were nothing more frightening than a scheduled dive with a bunch of other divers. If you want to dive, show up, if not, that's fine to.

I fear we're making this a bigger thing than it needs to be. Let's let the Wrinkles dives continue to be an 'informal' gathering of divers at a specified location. It may be semantics, but I consider Trips & Happenings to be formal or large scale events and as such, I've never visited that site. We face the danger of trying (inadvertently?) to make this event bigger and bigger, each one better than the last, and pretty soon it is an 'event' and loses the fun and unpredictability of the current events. Let keep it low key and unofficial. A simple once a month post on the main so-cal board, as suggested, sounds wonderful, linked as needed and updated when necessary. Sticky or not, I don't think it matters.

What makes this fun is, other than the Wrinkles title, which as Ana mentioned has taken on a life all it's own, it is easy going and at the mercy of weather and attendance, but at it's heart, it's just a local dive with some of your buddies
and buddettes .

John-Boy

 

[Rouky]

Another contribution (but I don't know if it's 2 bahts or less)...

I'm not posting very often on the board but I am increasingly reading posts.

I believe that the majority of the threads are about upcoming trips, events, dives. I I didn't even notice that there was a subforum...

On the other hand, I found it hard to find the right information about a major event like the Wrinkles dive (when, where, who, what to bring etc...) without reading 12 pages and about 20 posts....

It is also important to acknowledge that there are different categories of trips/dives: the BIG ones (like Wrinkles dives demanding so strong organization and being really a big event) and the smaller ones (e.g. looking for a buddy for a "local" weekday dive).

What I would suggest for the BIG ones:
a) to have a sticky for the location and date polls (one thread only)
b) to have a post discussing location , date etc...
c) once the location and date are agreed upon, create a sticky with all the information
(updated only by a few that are organizing the event). The sticky poll can then be deleted.
d) another thread (non sticky) for all sort of related discussions (who brings the coolers with the beer, etc...)

Other stickies (photos, dive reports, roll call) are quite usefull.

The purpose of the board is to get to know each other, to communicate and get together....and it has worked very well previously.

So that being said, I don't think that it (stickeis, oh ! stickies) will revolutionize our diving experience until we get underwater notebooks with wifi connectivity to check the scubaboard latest postings at Deadman's reef...

Erik

 

[HBDiveGirl]

Let's let the Wrinkles dives continue to be an 'informal' gathering of divers at a specified location. It may be semantics, but I consider Trips & Happenings to be formal or large scale events and as such, I've never visited that site.

Let keep it low key and unofficial. A simple once a month post on the main so-cal board, as suggested, sounds wonderful, linked as needed and updated when necessary. Sticky or not, I don't think it matters.

What makes this fun is, other than the Wrinkles title, which as Ana mentioned has taken on a life all it's own, it is easy going and at the mercy of weather and attendance, but at it's heart, it's just a local dive with some of your buddies

and buddettes .


John-Boy

I say Amen, brother John! In this overscheduled world, unpredictable fun can be rare and delicious. I love the "..I wonder what's going to happen?...." flavor of the Wrinkles Diving Happy-Hour....uh, (Happy-Hour)X12!!
Sling it together anyway that works, and see you out there! Don't fight surge. Revel in it and pick your path

Claudette

 

[Roughwaterjohn]

Don't fight surge. Revel in it and pick your path
Claudette

I love that! Can I use (steal) that quote? Give that girl a burger and a drink, and set her at the head of the table

John-Boy

 

[PhotoTJ]

Just un-stick everything, if the traffic warrents it, it will be near the top, when interest is lost, it will fade away. Threads are democracy at it's finest!

 

[Roughwaterjohn]

...... It really tickles me pink (which takes a lot of tickling I might add) to see all the new members chiming in with excellent opinions and interesting thoughts. This thread, like the Wrinkles dives, is bringing divers together for fun and to make this forum better. Thank you Robert, for caring enough to start this thread. I really appreciate, and I'm happy to see the involvement and thoughts that are working on this, voiced or not.

Thanks!
John-Boy

 

[tatonkadive]

1 more baht then...uh, thought...
And again, I'm new, so sorry that you "took issue" with my comment.

Well if the Wrinkles dives aren't "Happenings" then I go back to what I also said in my note and repeat what others have said, that I'm not sure what is. Currently there are only 2 posts in Trips and Happenings. If something that has a name, is a monthly occurance, has taken on a "life of it's own", takes a poll to fix a date, a poll to fix a location, and a sign up to fix what people are bringing, and a thread to talk about it all doesn't qualify as a "happening", then I would then certainly suggest that we get rid of the sub-forum all together.

I still wouldn't know which thread of the 4 to look at, but at least then I know that I would be looking in the right forum. For that matter, nobody has to wonder if they are in the right forum for any gathering either of SoCal divers and/or in the the SoCal area.

If it is just as you say, an informal gathering of friends (as is this entire scubaboard) that show up or not, then I'm not sure that seems like it should even be sticky...but I'll abstain from any opinion other than that I agree that there shouldn't be 4 stickies...and if there is a sticky that the first post be edited as needed to simply state the date, time, and location of the dive...and sign up for food...and other logisitics...and links to photos...and the instructions on the dance to the visibility gods...

ok I was kidding on most of that last stuff...but not the dance...

 

[headhunter]

Although I may have this wrong, it sounds like people are drawing a line between commercial and non-commercial events.

I don't think one can argue very effectively that the Wrinkles Dive is a non-event. It is, however, a non-commercial event. (Although, we may use commercial entities to accomplish the dive event.)

What I think I'm hearing behind the posts from some people is that the Trips and Events subforum should be used for commercial postings. Remember: I'm reading between the lines here.

I think that tatonkadive and Rouky make some very good points though. I'm happy to see them and others giving some feedback even though they are fairly new to the forum. Participation is one of the things that I think makes the SoCal forum such a cool place.

PhotoTJ makes an interesting point as well. Popular threads are never too far away.

Since, I don't think that we're reaching a consensus yet, I'm leaning toward doing it "the TJ way" for a day or two. Then maybe we'll add a sticky thread and put links in the first post to the other threads that let up to that point. I'll put all pertinent info about the Wrinkles dive in the first post and continue to update it as new details become available in the thread. In essense the first post will become a synopsis of the rest of the info on the Wrinkles Dive.

I'm really just thinking out loud here, hoping that it helps people come to some agreement or that it may spark more new ideas.

As we experiment with the process, you can all post feedback here in this thread and voice your opinions on each change and whether or not you think it was helpful.

So for step one, I'll do nothing for a day and see how it goes.

Christian

 

[HBDiveGirl]

I love that! Can I use (steal) that quote? Give that girl a burger and a drink, and set her at the head of the table

John-Boy

Thanks, John,
"Ding!...and the girl gets a cee-gar!" No...I like the burger and drink better. Will the head of the table be out of the wind?? Just wondering...
Since I made it up while whooshing and pulsing merrily through Mermaid's Grotto (..in which I would not have been were it not for the organically-organized Nov. Wrinkles' dive and a dive partner bubbling with enthusiasm....), I give it to you freely to be sprung upon tense people when most needed.

There! You made me smile again!
Merci beaucoups,
Claudette