DIR wars...Is it the name?

[novadiver]

Let me help you with your obvious quandry.

As you know,

There are pro-DIR people.

There are anti-DIR people.

What you don't seem to know is:

There are the others.

Those who believe in many of the aspects of DIR, but ain't buying the package.

As students of DIR and experienced divers, we find those who hoot DIR annoy us because they're rarely fully compliant, particularly in attitude, like many of the (anecdotal) examples of idiocy related here.

Then those who are partisan detractors of DIR (that would be you) annoy us, because you usually haven't the slightest grasp of the holistic concept.

You just rant and rave continually because some -alleged- DIR dufus whizzed in your cornflakes, quite possibly because you did something foolish on the boat or in the water, and it left a LP130 chip on your shoulder.

Three things I can clearly state.

I've never seen a DIR tenet that wasn't an excellent idea,

Never met anyone who switched to a backplate, thought it sucked, and went back to a BC,

Never met someone who actually had the sac to take DIR-F that didn't think it was the best thing since compressed air.

So, flush out your headgear, newguy, and educate yourself on what you despise.

Please don't help. I'm not that new. " educate yuorself"?

 

[GDI]

Well..... as someone who always seems to bring out the best in moderators, I have to point out that this thread has 410 posts, while the average thread has 21 (first two pages, this thread backed out).

As far as "usually not appreciated by the viewing audience",

It's like Jerry Springer.

No one admits to watching it, but the show is somehow immensely successful.

I know (as you may not) that I'm doing a world class job of holding my tounge and being polite, relatively on-topic, and enlightening, but it is a chore.

Moderators, OTOH, have no constraint to do this.

NWGD/B is a little ticked at Dweeb, apparently not for the first time, and he should either remove himself from the thread, or tap an arbitrator to make a decision, which he should abide by.

"Quite entertaining I must say" is what puts butts in the seats.

Exactly and I too have at times failed to hold my tongue in other threads. I am watching this thread, it is entertaining and I also wonder how far it will go. Jerry Springer You say. Lets just keep our tongues and see how this develops further.

 

[novadiver]

W/all due respect to NWGD, if he initiated it publically in the thread, he should be prepared to discuss it in the thread.

His blatent threat to Dweeb was personal, direct, indescreet, and uncalled for.

I think the point is that the MODS want Scubaboard to be non confrontational to aviod confusion and let the thread develope into a intelligent conversation.

This might be lost on some of the users , but in the end it will provide more information for some ,and less " terratory marking" for others.

 

[rhadamanthus]

I think the whole point is to TRY to Do It Right (for them), with the stated goal to Do It Right (for them).

Since they (DIR) don't care what you (non-DIR) do, then they are clearly not calling you Doing It Wrong. They are clearly (read the posts) calling you Doing It Differently.

Since you have different objectives, that is / can be OK.

I dive RS - Rhadamanthus Style

Rhad

 

[Kim]

That statement was a response to the post that was quoted. I didn't see you making any judgements when it was originally posted.

As for the 400 posts-you can't complain about it and be a contributor also, can you?

If you actually read my posts in this thread you'll find that they have basically tried to address the original question and little else. As I find that GUE/DIR concepts to be basically compatible with safe diving practice I have no problems with that. I am excluded as a smoker - again no problem anymore with that! This thread is simply about the effect of the name - as I have previously posted it obviously irritates a great many people. It also obviously gives SOME people delusions of greatness. Don't misunderstand me - I bow very low before experience - but I don't really care if you've done a DIR/F course or not - if the **** hits the fan I'd far rather be in the water with someone with a 1000 more dives who can dive than someone who believes they are 'Doing It Right' after 30 or so dives and the DIR/F course. I have done an extensive fundamentals course - but it wasn't GUE's. I very much doubt if the skills part was very different. Teamwork is not a GUE exclusive - it's essential for most forms of diving. There are a whole lot of VERY experienced divers out there that have been teaching the rest of us for a long time. GUE also seems to have some VERY experienced good instructors that are dedicated to teaching a good fundamental skill set from what I can understand. It's actually quite interesting that as far as I can tell the 'wars' seem to be between mainly DIR/F graduates and the rest - more advanced Tech or Cave divers seem to be much more relaxed and above it all - maybe they have less to prove?

 

[cornfed]

This might be lost on some of the users , but in the end it will provide more information for some ,and less " terratory marking" for others.

Does that mean I don't have to urinate on my keyboard anymore?

 

[novadiver]

Does that mean I don't have to urinate on my keyboard anymore?

If I have to answer this I'm really going to flip out.

 

[Kim]

Are you using the wrong equipment if it wasn't made by Dive Rite? Is PADI really the way the world learns to dive? Does NAUI only have information for serious divers? Scubapro's slogan implies they make the best equipment, so are my Apeks regulators inferior? Is TDI/SDI really leading the dive industry into the 21st century? Is ANDI really the premier educational agency for advanced training? Is Rodales really the magazine that diver's trust?

The problem is not the name it is the group of people that take one look at it and get offended.

If you don't like the term don't use it.

Actually I agree with you. I think that most of the GUE stuff IS right - it certainly agrees with my IANTD training to a large extent. I am not saying that I can't live with it - I'm just saying that, as you say, it offends a group of people - to my mind for little gain (unless you adhere to UP's post that it acts as a sort of pre-weeder). If the idea is to promote better, safer diving practice then offending people before they start with simply a name seems to be adding 'another potential point of failure'.

 

[detroit diver]

I read your posts, along with the other 400+. But you can't complain about the numbers on one hand, and be part of the "problem" on the other, regardless of the content.

The thread may have started about the effects of the term DIR, but as in most cases of this magnitude, it has evolved into many more things.

If you actually read my posts in this thread you'll find that they have basically tried to address the original question and little else. As I find that GUE/DIR concepts to be basically compatible with safe diving practice I have no problems with that. I am excluded as a smoker - again no problem anymore with that! This thread is simply about the effect of the name - as I have previously posted it obviously irritates a great many people. It also obviously gives SOME people delusions of greatness. Don't misunderstand me - I bow very low before experience - but I don't really care if you've done a DIR/F course or not - if the **** hits the fan I'd far rather be in the water with someone with a 1000 more dives who can dive than someone who believes they are 'Doing It Right' after 30 or so dives and the DIR/F course. I have done an extensive fundamentals course - but it wasn't GUE's. I very much doubt if the skills part was very different. Teamwork is not a GUE exclusive - it's essential for most forms of diving. There are a whole lot of VERY experienced divers out there that have been teaching the rest of us for a long time. GUE also seems to have some VERY experienced good instructors that are dedicated to teaching a good fundamental skill set from what I can understand. It's actually quite interesting that as far as I can tell the 'wars' seem to be between mainly DIR/F graduates and the rest - more advanced Tech or Cave divers seem to be much more relaxed and above it all - maybe they have less to prove?

 

[Kim]

But you can't complain about the numbers on one hand, and be part of the "problem" on the other, regardless of the content.

The thread may have started about the effects of the term DIR, but as in most cases of this magnitude, it has evolved into many more things.

I wasn't so much complaining about the 400+ posts as commenting on them. As you say yourself these threads tend to 'evolve into many more things' no matter what the original question was. Many of the same arguments seem to get regurgitated at that point. I am simply trying to remind folks what the original question was. From an amusement point of view these threads ARE very 'Jerry Springer'. I'm just sometimes surprised the it happens so often over DIR.