The truly "interesting" bits are *relentlessly* being removed.
Ya know, I get it. What fun is there without a little controversy, a little tete-a-tete wrangling? Personally, I love controversy, animated discussion, rigorous debate. We can ALL learn from that, and we do.
No more adults left here? No more "out of the box crazy ideas" to consider and reply to?
And, this is a fantastic segue to a comment on what goes on in many cases. I think this comment can be parsed into two segments. First, I, too, sometimes wonder if there are no adults left - i.e. intelligent, thinking adults who can argue an idea, can come up with substantive, and informative, ripostes, who don't take personal offense when their ideas are challenged (and resort to giving personal offense, or simple dramatics), and who don't resort to personal attack because they have absolutely nothing of substance to say in response to a challenge. What happened to animated discourse between people who respect each other, even if they disagree? Second, I hope we will continue to see diverse ideas, yes even
crazy, out of the box ideas. And, more important, I hope that we all might be able to say, 'I hadn't thought of that, maybe I should consider it.' Or, 'I hadn't thought of that, it doesn't strike me as reasonable, and here is why . . .', as opposed to, 'You are a @#$* idiot, you are going to die, and you should not be allowed to speak because you put other divers in DANGER!!!' Or, worse - 'I know WHY you said that' (even though I really don't have a clue), 'you have some vested commercial interest, or you are being paid by somebody or some company, or you are blinded by your (@#$%) agency indoctrination, or . . . '.
I hope it is apparent where this is headed. I won't speak for other SB users, only for me. I like to see those controversial arguments. I learn from them, particularly when people disagree and offer intelligent, articulate reasons for their disagreement. But, I confess, I really (really, really) don't care for whining and blame-shifting. As an example, I was recently reading a post on another scuba bulletin board, where someone was complaining that a test question on some agency-specific exam was wrong, and blathering on about why it was wrong, and why they were right, and how the agency needed to fix the question, yadda, yadda, yadda. I asked, out of curiosity, if they had directly contacted the particular agency with their concern, since they obviously felt very strongly about it. The response, 'No, I didn't.' So, where is the adult behavior in that? Am I supposed to be impressed, in fact entertained, by their whining even though they take no responsibility for trying to address the concern they are whining about, and choose to simply bash the agency, instead?
If DD has been banned, then please ban me in his honor too. No matter what you do, I'll be diving **HIS** SP Classic BCD in the middle of the night in the back bays whenever the hell I wish to.
Please do wear it. And, by the way, the truth be told, my sense is that users ultimately ban themselves, and NOT by offering crazy, out of the box ideas, but by childish, petulant, obnoxious behavior. You have just made a thoughtful, straightforward post (OK, you added a little drama
), expressing you opinions. Good for you! You are still a valuable member here, in no small part because you did just that.
