Forum descriptions - Basic vs. Advanced

[bleeb]

Oh for the love of god NO! NO! A thousand times NO!

It's already a major pain in the butt to flip through so many forums.

Ditto. From what I've seen, breaking up into too many little forums (fora?) seems to happen too often as an online forum grows. People get confused and shy away from joining in conversations because they don't know where to post a question, or can't find what they're looking for. (I've heard quite a few local divers who aren't on SB already say it's too big and confusing to get into.) Even regular users who know their way around can start breaking up into small cliques, with limited discussions on certain topics. Total posting volume can end up going down because of the reduced cross-pollination of different views and areas of expertise. A certain amount of organization is necessary to provide some framework so that people can find their way around, usually mirroring the world being discussed in some way, but too many and too arbitrary divisions increase the confusion which can contribute to chaos and strife, some of which can already be seen in the forum under discussion.

(Sorry, don't have time to edit that down to say it more succinctly and clearly.)

 

[The Chairman]

Once is enough

:nopopo:

 

[DaleC]

Thanks Pete. I forgot to say please and thanks in the initial post when asking you to read them. I know you're a busy guy.


I agree about fracturing the board but I don't know how we can have free thinking advanced rec discussions and advanced discussions biased by a narrow tech mindset in the same forum. I'd even go for one main rec forum say, "Recreational SCUBA" where OW and AOW discussions occurred as long as they didn't get moderated to "protect the new guy" so to speak or to conform with the agency view of what OW AOW meant. I can see a lot of problems there though with basic divers (and others) trying to limit discussion to "what they learned in class".

Another idea is to include solo, vintage, minimalist and a general forum under one subforum group called Alternate diving concepts. Just like the Tech grouping.
Then people could have free discussions in the general subforum or post in the specific ones if appropriate (like sidemount cave DIR etc...). I'm not married to the "alternative " name but it does let people know that the discussions are not agency constained and attempts to get people to "see the light" and conform to the norm would be out of place.

 

[The Chairman]

Those are already "troll free" zones just like hunting and gathering. Stay out unless you enjoy that particular aspect of our sport.

Given the activity and SEO already devoted to those forums, we are quite reluctant to change their names and/or scope. They are successful. As for adding some... if we have to. I just think that people need to try to be helpful and stop trying to be the Scuba Police. It's like a mad rush to point out everyone else's deficiencies. It's just not needed.

 

[BDSC]

I think Pete is having double vision today.

 

[SC_Hoaty]

<snip>
. I just think that people need to try to be helpful and stop trying to be the Scuba Police. It's like a mad rush to point out everyone else's deficiencies. It's just not needed.

I willing to bet some folks do not see those goals as being in any conflict at all with each other.

 

[The Chairman]

I willing to bet some folks do not see those goals as being in any conflict at all with each other.

I have found that quite often, those who criticize others freely, do not like to be criticized at all. Sucks to be them. The person who says "listen to what I say and not how I say it" is disingenuous at best. They just want a free pass to be mean to others and inflate their own ego in the process. If people truly CARED about the other diver, their posting would reflect that in terms of patience and a genuine attempt to not offend, but to assist. Their idea of fun is to play "Whack a Troll" with noobs and the message is almost always lost in the cacophony of insults, protestations and defenses that typify a number of subjects. Go post about "Spare Air", "The best BC" or the like and see how quickly the thread can devolve. What's kind of comical, is a techie giving a recie a bunch of grief about his rec dive. He's not on the Andrea Doria so give it a rest!

 

[SC_Hoaty]

No arguement there, NetDoc. Perhaps "context" is what is missing from some of the posts and replies. What is OK when playing follow the DM in Coz is not OK in an overhead (real or virtual). Some folks have firsthand experience with things going wrong, or know of deceased friends who did not survive them. But generally those cases should be far removed from Rec scuba, where the surface is always a short swim away.

 

[Jax]

Oh for the love of god NO! NO! A thousand times NO!

It's already a major pain in the butt to flip through so many forums. If the break out is problematic the solution is to collapse the forum. Get rid of "Advanced" and turn "Basic" into "General Recreational Diving" with a description that runs from post-OW Certification to entry level technical diving" and keep "Newbies" as the green zone.

Ditto. From what I've seen, breaking up into too many little forums (fora?) seems to happen too often as an online forum grows. People get confused and shy away from joining in conversations because they don't know where to post a question, or can't find what they're looking for. (I've heard quite a few local divers who aren't on SB already say it's too big and confusing to get into.) Even regular users who know their way around can start breaking up into small cliques, with limited discussions on certain topics. Total posting volume can end up going down because of the reduced cross-pollination of different views and areas of expertise. A certain amount of organization is necessary to provide some framework so that people can find their way around, usually mirroring the world being discussed in some way, but too many and too arbitrary divisions increase the confusion which can contribute to chaos and strife, some of which can already be seen in the forum under discussion.

(Sorry, don't have time to edit that down to say it more succinctly and clearly.)

Thanks Pete. I forgot to say please and thanks in the initial post when asking you to read them. I know you're a busy guy.


I agree about fracturing the board but I don't know how we can have free thinking advanced rec discussions and advanced discussions biased by a narrow tech mindset in the same forum. I'd even go for one main rec forum say, "Recreational SCUBA" where OW and AOW discussions occurred as long as they didn't get moderated to "protect the new guy" so to speak or to conform with the agency view of what OW AOW meant. I can see a lot of problems there though with basic divers (and others) trying to limit discussion to "what they learned in class".

Ditto - Yet another reason: There are already 'dead' forums; splintering others won't help.