The Elephant in the Room

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KathyV

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Over the last several days there has been extensive discussion of an incident, sparked by a video posted on YouTube, suggesting that a drift diver had been forgotten and left behind by a dive op before being spotted by a nearby boater and “rescued”.

It was soon discovered that there was more to the story than originally suggested. The diver had gone into a deco obligation when he wasn’t trained or supposed to be deco diving, and his dive buddies had acted poorly by re-boarding and leaving him alone without a secondary air supply or a dive flag float.

These factors put the captain of the dive boat in a difficult situation. He was aware of the delayed diver doing deco but he also had other divers surfacing that needed to be picked up. He decided to leave and pick up surfacing divers and come back for the lone guy after deco was completed. The dive boat was not nearby when the diver surfaced and was spotted by the passing boater – who had a video camera running and posted the incident on his YouTube account along with some inflammatory comments.

The dive op was concerned that the video suggested negligence in a difficult situation when the captain was aware of the issues and had a plan to pick up the delayed diver. They reacted quickly and forcefully and threatened legal action over the video which was promptly deleted from YouTube by the boater.

These events led in an interesting discussion here on Scubaboard and though it was quickly recognized that the diver and his companions had made poor decisions, it was also recognized that divers sometimes do dumb things and that there may have been other ways that the dive boat could have handled the situation – or options for other divers and dive boats that encounter similar situations in the future.

The SB discussion was generally quite civilized, people expressed differing opinions but nobody got nasty until a well-known, and highly-respected diving professional (who was conducting training on the same boat that day with a different group of divers) posted on SB and quickly started using negative terms and name-calling.

It is understandable that he would have a strong opinion of the events since he was there, and the SB members on the thread welcomed his input at first; but he also has a relationship with the dive op and the captain so that may have been the reason that he reacted so strongly and negatively. Whatever the reasons, his actions surprised and disappointed some SB members.

Almost immediately the entire thread disappeared from SB and the interesting and educational discussion was lost, but that may have been a good thing because the thread was starting to take a turn for the worse.

In my opinion, one of the best things about the SB community is that we can share our experiences and learn from our mistakes - and from the mistakes of others. It is natural for an individual to feel strongly about certain issues but we need to remember the importance of interacting politely with our fellow scuba enthusiasts. End of sermon! :wink:
 
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Why is this is in accidents and incidents? I read the entire thread you mention, agree with most of what you said, but the thread is gone. I see no reason for your post. I am not attackign you, just curious what point you are trying to make with the above?
 
These events led in an interesting discussion here on Scubaboard and though it was quickly recognized that the diver and his companions had made poor decisions, it was also recognized that divers sometimes do dumb things and that there may have been other ways that the dive boat could have handled the situation – or other dive boats encountering similar situations in the future.
Thank you Kathy. I too was disappointed when I saw the twist the thread was taking in what I thought was a very useful and informative thread. When I saw that it was deleted I had hopes it would return after moderation.

After more time passed and it did not return I considered how best to post a request for its return. Which I think you have just done.
 
Why is this is in accidents and incidents? I read the entire thread you mention, agree with most of what you said, but the thread is gone. I see no reason for your post. I am not attackign you, just curious what point you are trying to make with the above?

I posted because the thread is gone, and that is unfortunate IMO because it was a learning opportunity, and it disappeared without any comment or explanation.

But if the moderators think that I am out of line, they are welcome to move or delete this thread. I promise that I won't post any nasty messages, call anybody names, or threaten any legal action!
 
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Spoken like a true Midwesterner...honest, frank and with a heart. You have to admit that any post that ends up with more than 3 pages of comments can take a turn for the worse. It's just in the nature of humans. Though I rarely post, I do read religiously because I just like diving and everything associated with it. It is necessary to tune out noise when things get uncivil. However, the positives of the knowledge and insight displayed by most SB members far outweighs when I have to stop reading a post. We will all be learning throughout our entire diving life and doing it with respect and civility is an added bonus. Thanks, KathyV, for reminding us all of our desire to be kind.

Rob
 
Why is this is in accidents and incidents? I read the entire thread you mention, agree with most of what you said, but the thread is gone. I see no reason for your post. I am not attackign you, just curious what point you are trying to make with the above?

Spoken like a true Midwesterner...honest, frank and with a heart. You have to admit that any post that ends up with more than 3 pages of comments can take a turn for the worse. It's just in the nature of humans. Though I rarely post, I do read religiously because I just like diving and everything associated with it. It is necessary to tune out noise when things get uncivil. However, the positives of the knowledge and insight displayed by most SB members far outweighs when I have to stop reading a post. We will all be learning throughout our entire diving life and doing it with respect and civility is an added bonus. Thanks, KathyV, for reminding us all of our desire to be kind. Rob

Thank you, I appreciate your kind words.
 
I don't feel strongly about it, but, rather than deleting a thread like that it might be cool if it could be marked as moderated and put a notice of the correct information to be placed at the start of the thread. Exonerate, for lack of a better term, the dive op, but also let others learn about diving practices in an area that they aren't familiar with. I understand it being a tough call for the mods because a dive op's reputation is at risk. Especially for folks that might not read the thread from start to finish.

Good post KV.
 
****MOD POST****

First off, I am moving this thread to site support, because that's where this thread belongs. Second, moderators do not discuss the reasons why we delete threads, but suffice it to say that the thread referenced was permanently deleted and is unrecoverable.
 
Actually, we often share why things "disappear" but I am reticent to give the whole story here. Unfortunately, the world is full of bullies and they often spoil things. What's worse is that they don't even see how they bully others and become defensive when it's pointed out. When people try to do something good, they simply crap all over them. Such is the interwebs where it seems no good deed goes unpunished.

Fortunately, most and maybe all of the points have been made in other threads. We are anything if not thorough and repetitive. In fact we often repeat the same great points over and over again. :D :D :D (too subtle?) This doesn't mean that you can't start a thread in the appropriate forum with an inspiration from the thread who shall not be named. It's all good.
 
Over the last several days there has been extensive discussion of an incident, sparked by a video posted on YouTube, suggesting that a drift diver had been forgotten and left behind by a dive op before being spotted by a nearby boater and “rescued”.

It was soon discovered that there was more to the story than originally suggested. The diver had gone into a deco obligation when he wasn’t trained or supposed to be deco diving, and his dive buddies had acted poorly by re-boarding and leaving him alone without a secondary air supply or a dive flag float.

These factors put the captain of the dive boat in a difficult situation. He was aware of the delayed diver doing deco but he also had other divers surfacing that needed to be picked up. He decided to leave and pick up surfacing divers and come back for the lone guy after deco was completed. The dive boat was not nearby when the diver surfaced and was spotted by the passing boater – who had a video camera running and posted the incident on his YouTube account along with some inflammatory comments.

The dive op was concerned that the video suggested negligence in a difficult situation when the captain was aware of the issues and had a plan to pick up the delayed diver. They reacted quickly and forcefully and threatened legal action over the video which was promptly deleted from YouTube by the boater.

These events led in an interesting discussion here on Scubaboard and though it was quickly recognized that the diver and his companions had made poor decisions, it was also recognized that divers sometimes do dumb things and that there may have been other ways that the dive boat could have handled the situation – or options for other divers and dive boats that encounter similar situations in the future.

The SB discussion was generally quite civilized, people expressed differing opinions but nobody got nasty until a well-known, and highly-respected diving professional (who was conducting training on the same boat that day with a different group of divers) posted on SB and quickly started using negative terms and name-calling.

It is understandable that he would have a strong opinion of the events since he was there, and the SB members on the thread welcomed his input at first; but he also has a relationship with the dive op and the captain so that may have been the reason that he reacted so strongly and negatively. Whatever the reasons, his actions surprised and disappointed some SB members.

Almost immediately the entire thread disappeared from SB and the interesting and educational discussion was lost, but that may have been a good thing because the thread was starting to take a turn for the worse.

In my opinion, one of the best things about the SB community is that we can share our experiences and learn from our mistakes - and from the mistakes of others. It is natural for an individual to feel strongly about certain issues but we need to remember the importance of interacting politely with our fellow scuba enthusiasts. End of sermon! :wink:

This incident was discussed in the May issue of Undercurrent, subscribers to that periodical can access the article at the link below. They concluded that the diver was not in danger and the dive op acted appropriately.

They think that the lone diver may have been using a European-made computer with a different algorithm than his buddies, which is why he went into deco when they did not. They advise dive buddies to use computers with the same algorithm.
Things Are Not Always As They Seem: Undercurrent 05/2018
 
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