You can't run away from your history, Dan ... there's a certain consistency in your posts. It's gotten to the point where you don't really even need to read them anymore to know what you're going to say.
It also appears it has gotten to the point where either you don't want to read what I post carefully, or, perhaps more likely, you like to look for ways to "spin" and mischaracterize what I write....
Actually we're in the Wreck Diving forum ... in the Technical Diving section of the board. We can debate whether or not this thread belongs here, since this wasn't a technical dive. But the only one who's walking about "what is, a better recreational diver" .... is you. The OP wasn't asking that question ... you posted, further down, the question he asked ... we'll get to it in a moment.
So this falls under "spin"....there was no need for you to post on this, but you chose to write something in hopes you could show SB readers a pattern of my being wrong, and your being right...Except, this entire thread was only about recreational diving, and what everyone was talking about in our conversations, was recreational level issues...While it is clear to anyone with eyes that the OP put this in a technical diving forum, the actual thread was only recreational....but for some reason, you had to make a big deal about this.....
Diving isn't a competition. This dive isn't, apparently, particularly challenging ... which is probably why the boat operator decided to take this level of diver here.
What we heard was once incident ... from the perspective of one individual. You choose to interpret that description in the way you do. I choose to take it for what it is ... chatter on an internet forum. Until we hear from the perspective of the instructor or someone else who was there, it's nothing more than one person's opinion.
I would put this into the category of Bob "spin"....and of course Bob, everyone can see you are ALWAYS RIGHT...
So it's not your idea of fun ... that's a given. My suggestion, then is to dive with the people you enjoy diving with and let others do the same. From the information provided, nobody got hurt, and everyone seems to have had fun except the OP.
Now you are beginning to mis-characterize.... Of all the posts where SB members suggested what they think the guy should have done, or what they would have done, my answer was on the mild side....Initially, I just said that when I looked around me, and realized where I was, that it would occur to me that this is no place for me to be giving advice to anyone.....and in fact, In too many thousands of dives to count, I doubt there have been more than one or two where I ever offered a skill or equipment suggestion--and this would ONLY have been because of a rescue or near rescue scenario. I don't like giving anybody advice on a dive boat..it ruins the zen...the boat is for having fun with your friends. But here, Bob has mischaracterized what I said, and what my intent was. I tried to offer perspective, in a way useful to the OP on future dive outings, so he would get the answer to his question--on what I would do.
That's a pretty specious argument. Mods identify themselves as mods, sure ... but unless they're moderating, which he was not, they have every bit as much right to post their opinions on this board as you do. You know this, of course, because it's been pointed out to you repeatedly. What do you suggest, Dan ... forbidding moderators from participating in the board, except for moderating? That's rather childish.
If it's so specious, why did AdDivingBell post to me ( post #84 ) that the mod had "called me on it".... We will call this a mischaracterization. If you want a solution--which I am sure you don't.....then make a new rule that all moderators must post with a separate identity. They can let their friends know who they are, of course. As long as Scubaboard allows divers to post with fake names ( which is a huge mistake..but one I am well aware will not fixed, you might as well embrace the fictitious names for Moderator postings.
... and maybe you should re-read the paragraphs preceding it. He's asking, specifically, what how he should have responded to that one specific person. Context matters, Dan ... unless you're pursuing an agenda, which you have a history of doing....
...or just don't presume that you're the boat's designated den mother, whose responsibility is to tell everyone else on board how to dive ...
Unlike you Bob, I read, and I process....The context you clearly missed, shows the guy not just wondering what he should have done......but also, what to do in the future if some similar situation presents itself.
So you mischaracterize me, or just lie and suggest this fits into my DIR agenda.....which of course, it does not..... I don't want to try and "turn" this guy into a DIR diver. I am not talking long hose, or proper line procedures....
I just wanted to try to help with a perspective that I thought could help this guy...and he was asking for help in knowing what he should do...
As I thought about what I would do, the ONLY answer is boat choice....He is not in a place where he has any business being preachy....Maybe a famous pedagogue like Bob would find himself compelled to teach the divers around him on the boat, what might be better.....I still don't feel we have much business telling people what to do on dive boats...it is for fun.
And your last comment about me acting as den mother.....that would have to be you , not me, as my point was NOT saying anything on the boat...So was that mischaracterization, or something stronger and more ignoble.
It's a valid point ... and completely irrelevant to the point of the question the OP asked.
So here, with the most important part of the entire post I made, you decide it is not relevant.
I wanted to answer, with some discussion about how Categorizing boats as good for a diver's "interest" or "skill level", or, as "good boats or bad boats", could have prevented this problem, or prevented similar problems in the future. Is this yet another "BOB-mischaracterization", or, a continuing agenda to find anything significant Dan says, and then kill it , so no "surface readers" or skimmers will think about it.
So if you want to take the most simplistic understanding of the original post, you might just want to answer whether he should be praised for his behavior, or not. On the other hand, there is a strong probability that the OP is much smarter than to have such a simple goal in a post....to me it sounded much more like he was looking for some ideas on right behavior and wrong behavior, and he wanted to know, SPECIFICALLY, what "WE" would have done...what we would do.
I explained exactly how I would handle this....and how he could as well "The only winning Move, is not to Play"....and I explained in detail not offensive to anyone, how you can categorize boats, and easily be aware of boats that might put a strain on your ability to have FUN.
I think this is a huge issue.....and Bob, you just try to kill it dead.
What does that say?
I don't believe DIR is evil. Far from it ... Lord knows I've sent enough people in that direction, including our own resident Borg Queen (it was me who initially told her about GUE and suggested it would be a good fir for her). My issue with you, Dan, is you perpetuate a stereotype that a great many people have worked really hard over the past several years to dispel ... and you're the one who's told us over and over and over how you were the one and original person whose mission was to bring DIR to the rest of the world.
I will put this into the Bob "spin" category....You try to make it seem like you are not really against DIR, but in all likelihood, it maybe that for a DIR idea to be OK, it has to come out of a PADI or NAUi instructor, as common sense that they can claim was theirs all along.....As Bob can claim was his all along...and actually, I'm fine with this.
I know some people who have actually dived with you. Of course you'd get along with them ... they dive like you do. It's the rest of us who sometimes find your message a bit ... self-righteous.
Mischaracterization ....or more ignoble. There was NOTHING self-righteous in my postings for this entire thread. And we are talking about THIS thread....if you want to bring up a post I made 2 years ago, or 10 years ago, that you "think" was self-righteous, then it belongs in it's own thread. It would be wrong, and a huge waste of time for anyone reading it.....but that would be a discussion for a different thread. Have you read the TOS ?
Yes, because you project the message that any instructor who isn't a GUE instructor sucks. It gets a bit tiring after a while ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
I think we will call this a lie... I can show the last half dozen posts or so, where I was talking about various instructor skills-- and typically reference some of the GREAT instructors like Jeff of Force E ( PADI instructor) or at Pura Vida or Abernethy's, as well as shops I know in Jupiter and in Pompano. GUE may get some traction as being good, but they don't teach the world....that get's done by PADI and NAUI...the big boys.
Bob, I think you need a time out.
---------- Post added November 10th, 2014 at 05:59 PM ----------
All the discussion about avoiding cattle boats, etc., misses a point, that was made by the OP, but ignored.
Some of us do not live in Florida or at a site where where we can easily dive as much as we want. We do not always get to pick the day we dive. I was in San Diego for a meeting. There was one day I could dive. It will be the only day I will be in San Diego for many months, maybe the rest of my life. I wanted to dive the kelp there. There was one boat going out that day that was convenient. So I went on it. Had a nice dive.
The point is that for some of us, we sometimes face the stituation that the only way to dive some times in places we would like to dive is to take a cattle boat or whatever is available. So we take it. We have fun. Just go the opposite direction as the crowd. If it is a place i do not want to instabuddy I will rent a DM and we will do our own thing.
Steve,
I don't think there has been much discussion about the avoidance of cattle boats, considering what a big issue this is in many tourist destinations--where many( if not most) people will dive...
The OP was having this issue in Pompano, a place where he could have chosen from around 40 or more boats, within a 40 minute drive. And, should any of us, expect to be able to do a dive on a good boat, without a reservation in advance, on a huge holiday? Most of us have learned about this the hard way 
I do see your point, and I see it as an entirely separate discussion.....I know there are places that you might only have 1 or 2 boat choices---and not liking the choice, means not diving.
And I think this is worthy of it's own thread.... What should you do if you are a new diver, or a very experienced diver, if your only choice of boat, is a cattle boat? There must be some ways to mitigate some of the negative issues....and there may be some divers that can manage this..,and some that would be better off NOT trying to manage it....What do you think?
