Suggestion How to deal with "drive by" reports.

[-JD-]

[NOTE - Mods: Since I'm not exactly advocating for an exact course of action subject to a up or down vote, please feel free to move or tweak the thread to best effect.]


Prompted by this thread: https://scubaboard.com/community/th...rife-diving-academy-divemaster-course.656286/

and specifically:

Personally I think that “Thumbs Down” posts from new SB’ers who are “One and Done” should have the entire thread deleted. Unfortunately, there have been a number of similar threads.

If the OP can’t show up to respond then the original post and thread shouldn’t be allowed to stay to sully the reputation of legitimate businesses.

Thank you for your opinion

I though it might make sense to open a discussion to see the board's collective thoughts on what if any action should be taken on threads by drive-by posters, often just leaving some form of rant.



@Umuntu 's suggestion of simply deleting the thread is certainly one. It eliminates the search result of a potential hit-job. On the downside, it would eliminate a significant venue for discussion and presentation of "the other side of the story" as had occurred in this instance and others.

My initial reaction to the nuking concept was to instead consider the potential for adding a neutral disclaimer notice so that a viewer, especially someone following a search link who is unfamiliar with SB, has better context to understand the situation.

Spitballing ...

This posting was made by a new or low-post count user who has not continued to contribute to this discussion. It is suggested that you read the additional responses to the thread to be more fully informed before reaching conclusions.

What think you all?

 

[Umuntu]

I am not sure how to identify a "Drive By" posting.

A couple of recent drive by posters

 

[The Chairman]

2. It is not agreeable speech that needs protection, it is that which we find disagreeable.

Words I try to live by.

maybe there is some tiny sliver of truth buried in their rant

More than a sliver. Most, if not all, DMs in training have been used like free labor since I can remember, and I've been diving since 1969. This forum is full of firsthand reports of this draconian practice, so it would appear that the OP was sadly nieve of what was expected of them. "Living the dream..." is a wry way of indicating that the sport we so love has its dark underside. I know of one dive op that keeps all the tips the crew gets. You can't make this stuff up. Well, you could, but you don't need to.

It doesn't take long for malicious posters/posts to be sniffed out.

Free speech aside, the truly malicious get zapped by staff. I've been shown emails that said "if you don't comp me, I'll ruin you!" We have special ways of handling those cyber extortionists. They are worse than spammers in my eye.

 

[The Chairman]

A couple of recent drive by posters

I call them seagull posters. They come in squawking loudly, crap all over the place, and then leave.

 

[Scared Silly]

Fixed it for ya

They come in squawking loudly, steal your french fries, crap all over the place, and then leave.

Seagulls aside, it is pretty easy to look at a poster's history and decide whether to give them any credibility. That said, I have found more times than naught when the person/shop is made aware of the complaint and joins SB to respond that the rest of the story gives them way more credibility than the OP.