Card Collector - Definition?

[Splash-X]

Is it really that hard to carry two cards instead of one?

In my wallet? Yes, it is a hassle to carry two cards instead of one. I carry a slim wallet with only the things I need, license, bank card, credit card, c-card and my insurance card.

I don't want to carry more than I need to. It would just look funny if we all carried around a purse

 

[Walter]

No more funny than an earring and that's become common place.

 

[Sas]

In my wallet? Yes, it is a hassle to carry two cards instead of one. I carry a slim wallet with only the things I need, license, bank card, credit card, c-card and my insurance card.

Ok fair enough. I have a fairly thin wallet (not a purse) and I can't imagine a situation in which I would pay 45USD to reduce its size by one card But to each their own...

 

[SailNaked]

you all are being too polite, I may have to do a search on the archives to get some examples of how the term "card collector" is used here. I believe I can find some references to at least a few reports of "and then this card collector put his fins on backwards and poked his head into the moray's cave"
seriously you all feel that a card collector is just someone that has a bunch of cards that have little value on the surface? what if the dude had an underwater photography card because he thought he might like to do that one day but never bought a camera? or maybe his shop offered a free specialty for any trip and he liked the shop trips and now has all the specialties. I assert that the term card collector has nothing to do with collecting cards as a hobby, why would anyone even care enough to have a term for it, if that was your hobby. how many of you with an array of cards would not mind being called a card collector?

 

[RetMTFE]

Well....I look at this two different ways. Yes, there are people who think a lot of cards make them better.....but, stats show approximately 70-75% of divers never do any training past open water. The reality is, if you take a course, you're gonna get a card whether you want it or not. So on that note, good for them for continuing their education.

 

[Rhone Man]

you all are being too polite, I may have to do a search on the archives to get some examples of how the term "card collector" is used here.

It is only an insult if you let it be. For a long time I used the tagline "Badge Collector" under my Avatar. I don't mind if people call me it when its true - just don't assume that makes me a cr@p diver.

I managed to become a cr@p diver long before I had a card collection.

 

[sabbath999]

how many of you with an array of cards would not mind being called a card collector?

Me for one. I don't mind being called a card collector, because I have a bunch of cards. I simply do. I even got one of them just to have it (Master Scuba Diver, which is POINTLESS and I admit it freely).

I have often called myself a shameless card collector.

Having said that, very few of my dives (percentage wise) were done with instructors, or divemasters... most of them are just me and my buddy and our own dive plan.

Several board members here have dived with me (or we have waved in the water as we were swimming past each other), if you want to know if I can actually dive you can ask any of them.

I have several cards that didn't require diving at all (cards like both DAN & PADI Oxygen Provider, Equipment Maint., AWARE Coral Reef, etc). I got them over the winter when there was nothing else to do anyway, does that make me a bad person in the eyes of others? If so, then I couldn't care less.

I have a bunch of cards, but then again I will soon have 100 dives in OW, and more than 50 more dives in confined water doing training that doesn't count for anything.

The only way you can tell if a person can dive is to see them in the water, not look at how many cards they may or may not have.

I wouldn't mind others calling me a card collector because I have a bunch of cards... and frankly, I don't give a tinkers damn about what ANYBODY on the internet wants to call me.

If somebody who dives with me has reason to think after doing so that I am a bad diver, then THAT would bother me. So far that hasn't happened, and I don't intend to let it happen, either.

 

[Splash-X]

The reality is, if you take a course, you're gonna get a card whether you want it or not.

Depends on your agency and trainer. Some places build the cost of the card in to the course, some shops add the card in as a "special" bonus and in some cases you have to "pay" for the specialty rating card.

Treat them like Pokemon, gotta catch them all

 

[Teamcasa]

What is a card collector?

I have no issue with them. If they like taking numerous courses to advance their skills, I'm fine with it. The only issue I have is when they carry around a binder full of them, showing it to anyone within ear shot and telling everyone who is not equally trained that they must not be as good a diver as they are.

Then, when they get below, they clearly don't dive with the skill their extensive training would dictate.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Depends on your agency and trainer. Some places build the cost of the card in to the course, some shops add the card in as a "special" bonus and in some cases you have to "pay" for the specialty rating card.

Treat them like Pokemon, gotta catch them all

Some of the best classes don't come with a card. Those are often called "workshops" and are conducted with specific skills in mind. I have taken several (for learning more about doubles, scooters, wreck diving, regulator maintenance and underwater photography) that didn't even have an option for a card.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)