What are your buddy "requirements"?

[Garfish]

I'll dive with any "buddy" who would want to enjoy a good dive.
For someone i don't know, i'll use good judgement and common sense . I will usually talk to him or her a little about our dive plan to see if they have a good understanding of that dive & to be a good dive buddy by sticking close to each other.

safe diving to you all:

 

[Scubaholic]

Nitroxbabe (or, as Walter like's to call you, Babe),

Please quit with the PMs. You sent me a note demanding an apology, I am not going to apologize, so please get on with your life. You have now sent me two PMs, the last of which states:

But that's not really my problem with you anyhow.

While you are entitled to your opinion, you are NOT entitled to be so insulting with your sophormoric theories of social darwinism. If you want to have a discussion about something and express your opinion that's one thing.

If you want to be completely judgemental and rude, that's another. Don't write me back unless you are going to apologize. I'll just put you on permanent ignore.

If you read the board rules you'll see that abusive behavior is NOT tolerated. Shape up meathead.

Now, I do want to state my appreciation for the good laugh. Your citation of the board rules regarding abusive behavior, followed by calling me "meathead', is yet another irony no doubt lost on you. The only abusive behavior is from you towards me with these PMs.

I stand by my opinion that you're probably a dangerious diver and would be a terrible buddy. It is clear by your ranting posts that you have no idea what you would do in an emergency. Walter says to give you a break because you're in front of your computer and didn't plan the dive. Well, my point is that if you can't get it right in the non-stressed comfort of your computer chair, it wouldn't be pretty in a real life situaton.

As this point, you have a real credibility problem. You have already demonstrated a complete lack of knowledge in nitrox, which raises serious questions as to whether or not you are actually a "babe."

Anyway, if I was a little bit rough in my opinions, I hardly doubt that it raises to a level that would be considered "abusive behavior." Just be on notice everyone, if you say something to upset little miss "nitroxbabe," she turns into a quasi-Glenn Close and stalks you with nasty PMs. I just hope I don't find my kid's rabbit boiling on the stove when I get home.

P.S.: If you want to feel empowered by calling others' names, then please get something original. "Meat head" was indeed funny in the 1970s sit com "All in the Family", but it's a little stale at this point. You got that, Ding Bat!

 

[Walter]

OK, step away from the keyboard and nobody gets hurt.

Guys, guys, is it worth it?

Scubaholic,

Your original post was far from nice and I think you are dead wrong in your approach. I would not consider it abusive. I think you might have shown more class by explaining in a PM that you have no intention of offering an apology and asking her not to PM you in the future instead of posting a PM here. Two PM's is not exactly what I'd call abuse. BTW, I asked how she wanted to be addressed.

Babe,

It seems this is bothering you more than it should. Relax and put it in perspective. There's a man you don't know who doesn't want to dive with you. He thinks you are incompetent. Why do you care? I've never dived with you, I don't know if you are competent or not. I'm willing to assume you are until you prove otherwise. Most folks take that approach. An apology does nothing for the person receiving it, but it does a world of good to the spirit of the person who offers it. Demanding an apology is not a sign of good manners, demanding it while calling someone names is very rude. I thought better of you.

Both,

I sincerely hope you will both let this matter die. I believe you both owe the other an apology. Give it or not, let your conscience be your guide.

 

[nitroxbabe]

Scubaholic, sorry about the "meathead" crack. I was angry.

Yes I got more upset about this than it deserved.

I felt I was being ripped on by several people. Well, actually, I WAS being ripped on by several people. But maybe I'm too oversensitive.

At any rate, I think I'm going back to the original reason I started using the board - info. I think this board presents too much opportunity to get into stupid arguments with unknown persons. I'm going to stop wasting my time doing so.

In my defense, if anybody cares about this crap, BTW Scubaholic I PM'd you once, you PM'd me back, and I responded to the second PM. Is it really necessary to call me a "stalker" and "ding bat" while you protest about my "meathead" crack? Well, don't worry, you can be sure I won't send you any more PM's, and your pet rabbit should be safe.

 

[Scubaholic]

Sorry

 

[MikeS]

nitroxbabe once bubbled...
I am going to think hard about whether I want to risk my butt. I don't want to die a martyr and I don't understand people who do.

First off, anyone that thinks they “know” what they will do in a stressful situation (when the **** hits the fan) is kidding himself or herself. But it’s important for every diver to think emergency situations through. In an emergency situation you don’t have the luxury of a lot of time to think. Whatever you do, you need to act fast because without oxygen the victim is dead in about five minutes. That’s where training and practice drills are invaluable. One of the best things about rescue class was that it caused me to think situations and what I could/should do.

With that said, I like to think that if my buddy was in trouble, I wouldn’t stop to think whether I should risk my life, but rather how can I best help the situation. In some cases, this might be to ensure that there doesn’t become two victims effectively dividing the available rescue resources in half.

If I’m not willing to risk my life for a person, I won’t dive with them as a buddy. If your not willing to return the favor please let me know, so I know not to dive with you. Again though I’d like to point out that there are situations where the best thing to do is make sure there is only one victim.

Even with a stranger, I would feel the same way. I tend to not dive with or around people that are inherently dangerous, but if I saw someone in trouble I like to think I would do whatever I could to help, because as someone else pointed out, otherwise I’d have trouble living with myself.

Mike

 

[Shadow]

I'm lucky in that I don't generally have to choose a buddy - my husband and I both dive, so we are always buddies. We watch out for each other, and we both know each other well enough and each other's dive behaviours well enough, to notice a problem pretty quickly. We are so used to each other that communication under water is very good.

Most of the diving fatalities around here are not because of running out of air - they are because of going too deep (and maybe eventually running out of air - no one really knows because the divers are dead and not telling us about their final moments.) In one indident, three divers out of a group of four died. Apparently, one diver went down after a camera he had dropped, the others tried to go after him. Only one diver survived, and he's a mess. I see the commemorative plaque whenever I dive in the area (Whytecliff Park). In another incident, two young women (19 years old) jumped off a dive boat, and one apparently dropped like a rock until she hit bottom at 200 feet. Her buddy went with her and tried to get her off the bottom, until she finally gave up and had to save herself. I can't believe the buddy even survived, and she must feel horrible. Apparently, she was holding her friend's hand and trying to "jump" off the bottom. At 200 feet, she was probably narced, and just didn't think about removing any weights or inflating anything, I guess. It must have been awful.

I don't remember much training in my PADI OW about dealing with someone dropping too fast. We just practiced the sharing air stuff. I don't know of anyone around here whose main problem was running out of air. Most of the fatalities, when recovered, have plenty of air. One young woman last year died in 30 feet of water with 2000 PSI, on her OW dive! The instructor lost sight of her. We never seem to get the details on these incidents. Anyhow, I would not want to be in a situation that gets as ugly as these last moments surely were, so I am very careful about who I dive with. In all the fun and excitement of diving, people forget that it's a serious sport.

 

[Walter]

Thanks to you both.