Guys:
This is a clear case of hijacking a thread. The first 2 responses were right on target... After that, the discussion completely flew off topic. DRomano simply asked if DMs are allowed to teach Bubblemaker and Seal Team, he did not ask anyone's opinion about whether he could support his family doing it. He has been diving 28 years, has over 500 dives and it is clear he is most certainly not some naive 20 year old being lured into a scuba diving career under false pretences.
There are plenty of experienced divers who choose to become DMs because they love diving, want to share it with others, are ready for additional responsibility and do not need or want to make diving their full time profession. I am one of them and would like to feel free to ask questions in this forum without having to be subjected to diatribes about employment practices that have nothing to do with the topic.
Kraken is one of the most knowledgable contributers to ScubaBoard and, as far as I know, he has never made a factual error in a posting... As you would expect, he was absolutely on target with his first responce to the original question. However, his second posting was clearly off topic. Whether he is right about unethical behavior by some dive shops or not isn't important... What is key is that a discussion which could have led to a productive dialog on what DMs are allowed to teach was absolutely cut off. For what? A discussion about the ethics of teaching a trade to someone you are not planning to hire?
I believe there are two simple measures for whether our contributions to the new and beginner forums have been constructive. First, did the topic stay on track... Did we address the question the diver asked or simply drop a bomb and get something off our chest? And second, did the author of the original post stay engaged in the dialog? If not, there is a good chance we chased him/her away with our strong opinions that all too often have nothing to do with the question at hand.
DRomano: If you have any more questions about what DMs are allowed to teach or if you want to know what classes a variety of DMs find most rewarding/interesting, I invite you to make another posting on this thread or to start a new one... We will all do our best to behave!
P