Time for a new forum?

[Doc Intrepid]

..."Personally, I hate to seeing this place continuing on its current path (seemingly every DIR related discussion devolving into an internet version of a bar fight). It sucks for those who are knowledgeable about DIR and trying to discuss their discipline with other like minded divers and it sucks for the newbs (like me) who have an honest interest in looking for alternatives outside of what one gets with PADI and the other garden variety agencies.

I am not looking for a heavily moderated forum to go to discuss my diving style preference. I am looking for a place where there is some level of serious interest in the topic. I want to learn from the veterans but also share what I know to those who are just getting into the game. This place is not so good for the first part (most of the real authorities on the subject are smart enough to stay away from these mud slinging contests) but great for the second part. For me, I am perfectly happy with less activity in this forum provided that the activity we do have here is conducted by people who have a serious interest in learning about DIR or are capable to describe DIR with some degree of accuracy"...

...this quote provides nearly perfectly a summary of the PM traffic I'm seeing, as well as the goal or the objective we would all like to see for the forum.

The reality is that you can't please everyone. It isn't going to happen. So the discussion is centering around what sort of changes might allow us to reach the goal that Adobo described for the forum.

This quote describes where we want to go with the forum, to make it useful to a broad range of members. The issue is how best to get there.

 

[rainman_02]

Doc,

Here's my thought:


Anyone can read the DIR forum. You *must* opt-in to post.

 

[TSandM]

I haven't seen management do anything overt to clean up the problems. Except lament the loss of a couple of knowledgable mods who got sick of it.

This irks me.

For some time, until Doc got back from Siberia or wherever he was, I was just about the only moderator trying to control this forum. I did a lot of editing and deleting, and I got a lot of static about it. So I started a thread about what we should do with this forum, and it seemed to me that there were two answers that stood out: One was, make it opt-in (and I'm not sure what that would accomplish, because the people who want to start trouble or post argumentative things would opt-in and do so, anyway, but the people who might be curious enough to look and see what the DIR threads were about wouldn't ever see them). The other was to leave it alone and let it self-police, with the knowledgeable DIR people coming in and debunking material that is offered that is clearly not DIR. I tried the second alternative, and NOBODY seems to like it, even the people who suggested it.

With Doc here now, and a couple of other mods who have begun to try to take on some of what happens here, we may be able to figure out how to edit and moderate to a state where people aren't complaining that they're being stomped on, obvious trolls and nay-sayers are deleted, and grey area posts are scrutinized one by one for content. But remember the moderators here are volunteers, and we'd much rather be reading and posting than editing and deleting. In addition, mods aren't supposed, by the rules here, to moderate threads they are participating in, which has left me in the situation where I either can't join these discussions or I can't moderate them.

Any of you guys who don't like what's going on want to volunteer to be DIR forum mods?

 

[Doc Intrepid]

Any of you guys who don't like what's going on want to volunteer to be DIR forum mods?

Lynne's right. You guys could make twice what I'm getting paid, easy! Plus you get bonuses and benefits that are worth the same as your Mod paycheck!

But once you start modding the DIR forum, you have to stop posting in it...

 

[ArcticDiver]

To me there are a couple of fundamental issues that haven't been explicitly addressed and that impact on this forum.

>What is DIR? There are obviously different flavors practiced. So, it seems to me a bit less evangelism on the part of some people who cannot accept that there are different flavors would go a long way to making the forum a more useful source. Even then there are very real limits on how "authoritative" answers can be if they are not given by one of the leaders themselves.

>Economics: Why should someone who makes a living teaching and selling supplies give free answers on a forum such as this? In one thread one poster commented that one agency's stock answer is "take a class". That is a perfectly reasonable answer from a business viewpoint.

I agree that some folks seem to post with the explicit purpose of pot stirring. Others seem to post as shills for one or another particular product or service. In the cyber world I doubt that will change. So, the rest of us just have to learn to live with it.

 

[dsteding]

But once you start modding the DIR forum, you have to stop posting in it...

Crap, I've already stopped posting in here for the most part. The DIR forum on SB has just gotten too wacky, but it was at one point a good place to learn about DIR.

I'll mod it.

It will be with a heavy hand, no tolerance for the BS that has derailed this forum (not a fault of you or Lynne, just SB in general) and I'll oftentimes channel my inner JeffG, but I'd do it.

Just don't complain when the trolls are thrown out on their asses.

 

[underwasser bolt]

oh yes, the smell of elitism and censorship.

can't stand criticism? any idea worth having is worth defending. if you cant defend it, maybe you should rethink your position (retreat).

 

[Kim]

Crap, I've already stopped posting in here for the most part. The DIR forum on SB has just gotten too wacky, but it was at one point a good place to learn about DIR.

I'll mod it.

It will be with a heavy hand, no tolerance for the BS that has derailed this forum (not a fault of you or Lynne, just SB in general) and I'll oftentimes channel my inner JeffG, but I'd do it.

Just don't complain when the trolls are thrown out on their asses.

That might be fun to watch!

This is the forum they keep under the bed to frighten the baby Mods with!

 

[nadwidny]

Crap, I've already stopped posting in here for the most part. The DIR forum on SB has just gotten too wacky, but it was at one point a good place to learn about DIR.

I'll mod it.

It will be with a heavy hand, no tolerance for the BS that has derailed this forum (not a fault of you or Lynne, just SB in general) and I'll oftentimes channel my inner JeffG, but I'd do it.

Just don't complain when the trolls are thrown out on their asses.

I'm only going by your profile(and if it's not up-to-date then shame on you), it seems to me to be ridiculous to have someone with only fundies Mod this forum. No wonder that few with above fundies level knowledge post here on a regular basis. The inmates are running the asylum.

 

[jjones9527]

Well I'm just a freshly minted Tech 1 diver, but I'll offer my services as a mod. I'm basically a lurker in this forum because it just seems really useless both for those who are DIR, and those who are interested. If people come here and ask a question about DIR, they should be given a qualified DIR answer. If someone has a problem with the way things are done, then ask the question, but when the answer and reason is given, accept the reason, and that your question was answered.