A ScubaBoard Staff Message...
Alright gentlemen, here is your explanation:
Short and simple version is that collectively, we dropped the ball on this.
Several posts were reported because a few barbs were thrown and a couple of posts were anti-agency. Carolyn was the first to see the report and asked how to proceed. Several of us looked at the reported posts and saw what appeared to be the typical degenerating PADI discussion.
Due to the length of this thread and other commitments,
we made the mistake of not reading enough of it for context. Carolyn was advised how to proceed, which she followed to the letter.
During the course of this action she accidentally "hid" the thread. We didn't realize this because it was visible to us and it took a while before we understood the concern about the disappearing thread. I was personally sent a PM inquiring where the thread went to and replied with a link to it, totally missing the fact that it was invisible to everyone but Mods. It wasn't until several users chimed into the new thread on the subject and we got multiple reports that the mistake was realized.
Again, there was no conspiracy, we just dropped the ball.
After the thread was split and restored your reactions told us it needed to be re-evaluated, so I volunteered to work with Carolyn to take a look at it. Again, due to the length of the thread and differing schedules this took a bit of time.
To address some of the concerns:
- This thread is in Basic Scuba. As such, some of the comments were a bit over the top and have been removed.
- The discussion morphed from Philosophy of Training to PADI is doing it wrong. Some of those comments came across as agency bashing and thus inappropriate for this discussion and this sub-forum.
- Any agency or person coming under fire in this forum would have been afforded the same protection.
- In spite of popular belief, Moderators are not "Pro-PADI." Our responsibility is to follow the forum rules which state "friendly and flame free." Since PADI training is a hot button for many people, it's the one that gets the most attention and consequently the most moderation.
As a final thought, I would hope that everyone keeps in mind that Moderators are a volunteer position. None of us do this professionally, none of us are paid for our time. To avoid bias, we try not to moderate discussions we're involved in. In a lengthy thread like this, that policy can work against us because it's hard to get a complete overview without reading in its entirety and doing so takes time away from threads we'd rather participate in. It's a juggling act and sometimes we miss a catch and get hit in the head with a bowling pin.
Carolyn did a good job with the information she was given to work with and I apologize for my part in the oversights and the disruption it caused in your thread.
-John
SB Staff Member
