Best Scubaboard Posters

[gcbryan]

He hasn't been around for quite a while but I always enjoyed Charlie in particular for his knowledge of decompression theory.

 

[AndrewA]

One of the best things about a good on-line community is the diversity of the posters. I have been on Scubaboard for a little under a year but have enjoyed and been informed by many, many posts. Sometimes the best posts are from occasional posters who have specialised knowlege and othertimes from the more regular sources. My thanks to all of you.

 

[David Wilson]

One of the best things about a good on-line community is the diversity of the posters. I have been on Scubaboard for a little under a year but have enjoyed and been informed by many, many posts. Sometimes the best posts are from occasional posters who have specialised knowlege and othertimes from the more regular sources. My thanks to all of you.

I couldn't agree more. I recognise many of the names mentioned by earlier posters and would probably vote for them in any "top poster" poll, but the apparently simple question "Who are the best SB posters?" is fraught with subjectivity. For starters, the posters likeliest to win the most votes will be the generalists, who hop confidently from one SB forum to another, dispensing their wit, wisdom and occasional expertise everywhere. The specialists who stick to a handful of SB forums, spending hours of their spare time analysing in depth and solving other people's problems may be relatively unacknowledged, but they no less form the "critical mass" of SB than the generalists do. It all depends what you want out of SB, humour, expertise, companionship, human kindness, a sympathetic ear, a shoulder to cry on, a joy to be shared, whatever. You will seldom find one individual, let alone one single SB forum, where you will find all that in equal measure.

AndrewA makes a very good point about the best SB poster of the moment often being a new poster who asks a question which every SB regular has failed to ask until now but which matches exactly another member's knowledge and expertise. I mainly inhabit the snorkelling/freediving forum because I don't scuba-dive. I'm always delighted when a "newbie" comes along with a question about cold-water snorkelling, because that's my area of experience.

Final point: any "Who's the best SB poster?" poll may only tell us who is the most popular poster, who may, say, tell the best jokes or express themselves well, but not actually solve anybody else's diving-related problems. I think you'll get a clearer answer by finding out which SB poster has the highest percentage of "thanks" per posting. Yes, I do know enough Maths to be aware that new posters could get "thanks" for their first question and so get 100%, but it's not beyond the wit of man (or woman) to come up with some formula that measures posters' "usefulness", as recorded by the "Thanks" button, as well as "popularity".

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I think you'll get a clearer answer by finding out which SB poster has the highest percentage of "thanks" per posting. Yes, I do know enough Maths to be aware that new posters could get "thanks" for their first question and so get 100%, but it's not beyond the wit of man (or woman) to come up with some formula that measures posters' "usefulness", as recorded by the "Thanks" button, as well as "popularity".

The Thanks button can be an indicator ... but there are a handful of folks in here who have racked up thousands of those by Thanking each other for every post. Heck, sometimes they'll get multiple Thanks for posting a or typiing "LOL". It's fun and entertaining, but hardly tells you anything except that they're a member of the "club" ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Getting back to the OP ... I don't think there are any "best" ScubaBoard posters. And as indicated simply by reading this thread, different folks come here for different reasons ... and therefore identify value in different types of posts.

I have a bunch of "favorite" posters ... high on the list would have to be Uncle Pug, who doesn't come around much anymore. I learned about ScubaBoard from him back in January 2002 when we were on a dive trip to Sechelt together. Over the next couple years he became a mentor, and what I didn't learn from him through his SB posts he taught me in person.

There's a few that I miss ... Mike Ferrara and JBD for example. And there's some new posters ... and newer divers ... whose posts I always look forward to (Sabbath, for example).

A list of favorites would take me a long time to compile ... a single "best" would be impossible.

I appreciate pretty much all of our participants ... except for those rare few who just come here to entertain themselves at the expense of others. Those I could live without. I especially appreciate those I've had the opportunity to meet and dive with ... and that's an ever widening circle of friends. If ScubaBoard offered no other value ... which it certainly does ... it gave me the opportunity to meet and dive with people I would otherwise have never known.

On our local board we only have two rules ... (1) Have fun and (2) Don't be a dick. I think those are good rules to apply to any internet forum. If everyone folllowed them, we'd all be "best" ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Scott L]

The Thanks button can be an indicator ... but there are a handful of folks in here who have racked up thousands of those by Thanking each other for every post. Heck, sometimes they'll get multiple Thanks for posting a or typiing "LOL". It's fun and entertaining, but hardly tells you anything except that they're a member of the "club" ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Well I frequent the thread that playfully adopted that practice but the participants are very few in number. I believe the zany bunch makes for a fair amount of laughter for some IMO. It's my observation that the more helpfull, postive and knowlegeble posters receive thanks in the ratio of 10% to 15% to total posts. I also believe that thanks ratios in general are a fairly accurate indicator of the attributes mentioned above and a shread of insight for new members. Any moderator is welcome to knock my thanks total back down within in that range.

By the way Bob, you should have made my short list not that would have lost any sleep over the ommision. That's why the smarter folks avoided finite roll calls...

 

[David Wilson]

You may very well be right, Bob, and I expect those who shower each other in this way with votes of thanks would be the first to take issue with ballot-rigging in general elections in developing countries. As a retired teacher, I've always been suspicious of national "Teacher of the Year" awards to individuals when teaching is as much about teamwork nowadays as it is about an individual's ability to educate others. The same could equally be said about SB posters, because their effectiveness or otherwise depends so much on the reception of their messages by other contributors in a given thread. As you say, a mutual appreciation society is hardly a role model for excellence.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

But the Thanks button isn't really a vote ... it's just another feature to be used as people see fit. And besides, those people make me laugh with their antics. Although not a member of that particular club, I appreciate most of the folks who are in it.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Scott L]

You may very well be right, Bob, and I expect those who shower each other in this way with votes of thanks would be the first to take issue with ballot-rigging in general elections in developing countries. As a retired teacher, I've always been suspicious of national "Teacher of the Year" awards to individuals when teaching is as much about teamwork nowadays as it is about an individual's ability to educate others. The same could equally be said about SB posters, because their effectiveness or otherwise depends so much on the reception of their messages by other contributors in a given thread. As you say, a mutual appreciation society is hardly a role model for excellence.

The thanks function is not to be taken that seriously. No other diving forums incorporates by the way. I like the practice, warts included...

 

[Jax]

fftopic: I want to hear about the good posters. This is a very positive thread, and I hope to find new people to follow.