The future of this forum

[do it easy]

Definitely not. Scubaboard's too big a source for people's first information about DIR to close it off like that. On the other hand, that's one of the reasons for this forum . . . So people can come and ask, "How do DIR divers do 'x'?" and get good answers, and not have to justify WHY they want to know. Making it opt-in but kind of an automatic opt-in would at least make sure people knew which forum they were posting in before they did it.

Is it possible to make it visible to all, but only those who opt in can post? Isn't there an instructor's panel that is set up like this?

 

[Cacia]

Might also consider a label like the womans issues forums, so every post would have a line saying "You are in the DIR Forum".

smart, simple

 

[jeckyll]

just a comment from a non-DIR diver. If you make it opt in with the added requirement of having GUE/DIR training, you will be excluding many divers with a legitimate interest in learning more about DIR. Do you really want that?

You misunderstood I think: If the diver has in fact received training, it would be nice to have it listed. If not, then nothing would be listed. This wouldn't excluded anyone, just give people a hint of the posters background.

For instance: Someone gives "The DIR answers to item X" but has had zero training. Someone who's Tech 1 / Cave 1 or higher responds with a conflicting post. To me, the difference is meaningful.

There may not be a way to control the stuff people are liable to put in their profile, but at least it would be a starting point.

Just my $0.02

Bjorn

 

[jeckyll]

Is it possible to make it visible to all, but only those who opt in can post? Isn't there an instructor's panel that is set up like this?

That sounds good

 

[JeffG]

That sounds good

and what would it solve?

 

[jeckyll]

and what would it solve?

People hitting "Reply" without knowing they are posting in the DIR forum, leading to the inevitable 20 post of "that's not DIR etc etc etc" and then the retraction that they didn't know, but they really fell that way and it's really a good idea and what's wrong with the world is that someone used the word "Right" instead of "Rite" which is of course infinitely better and much less offensive and would make the whole DIR thing so much more palatable to the general diving public...

I could go on, but I despise run on sentences.

 

[Soggy]

The DIR forum lost its initiator and its overseers with the departure of Uncle Pug and Snowbear.

What happened to them? Did they just burn out on SB?

 

[H2Andy]

The DIR forum lost its initiator and its overseers with the departure of Uncle Pug and Snowbear. I've seen it get diluted and unfocused, and I take some responsibility for that, because somebody really needs to stay aggressively on top of the threads and the answers, and vet each of them for correctness.

you're doing a great job. dont' change anything. you have made the forum work very well where others failed (and yes, they failed)

it is a wonderful forum as you have it. leave it alone

opt in would be an option, but i say don't change much more than that

 

[ArcticDiver]

Gee I didn't know the SB DIR forum was "the authoritative source" for matters DIR. I've always perceived it as a discussion place for those who subscribe to one or another of the different flavors of DIR, or who want to incorporate some aspects of DIR in their personal program.

In that vein I've always thought if one wanted the latest pronouncements (protocols change over time) one should go to the source. SB is NOT "the source".

Plus, many times equipment subjects will be covered in this forum that have a much broader application.

So:
Leave the forum as it is but add a proviso in the header, or somwhere, pointing out that SB is a discussion place, not the place to get "the answer" on any particular agency's postion. For that one must go to the Agency, be that GUE, NAUI, TDI, or whoever.

Additionally:
SB will lose much of its attractiveness if it attempts to be the mouthpiece of any particular dive philosophy rather than a discussion from interested people.

 

[Jason B]

You are doing a fine job Lynne. As a few others have said, this is where I learned of DIR. It would be a shame for future SB members not to have that same opportunity.

Opt in is probably a step in the right direction.