the days of bouncing off of and grabbing a living reef should be gone. But alas, as stated by another poster, i see Mike Nelson imitators on almost every ocean reef dive.
Lots of people on this board will tell you it's only because of poor buoyancy and trim control. I agree thats part of the problem. IMO the larger part is attitude and situational awareness
Attitude ... some people just don't give a sh*t about the reef or what they do to it. Having tried to discuss, in a PC way, reef smashing incidents with several individuals over the years, the response is usually; mind your own business or what's wrong with that? Now i'm far from flaming when it comes to conservation but IMO it just makes sense to stay off living reef. I don't believe we damage the reef just by diving it. We damage the reef by having a bad attitude toward trying to never touch it.
Some people will never get it!
Situational awareness ... most of us fall into this catagory at one time or another. We get so engrossed in our dive and forget where our positioning puts us in relation to the reef and bump goes the reef. Lots of times you might not even be aware you touched the reef. This has happened to me more than once and i have felt terrible each time. You can have perfect buoyancy & trim but lose awareness of where you are in the water column and touch the reef. Having a good attitude is easy for most of us, remaining 100% aware, 100% of the time, while video'g 30 grey reef sharks feeding, or whatever is blowing your mind, is a bit tougher.
All we can do as divers is to strive for good attitudes and situational awareness around living reef. Good buoyancy and trim is necessary in all cases. The good news is IMO most divers do their best to stay off the reef. The 10% dipsh*t rule applies to the rest that don't.