What's in a name???

[Luis H]

I like the term “classic”…I don’t like the term “retro” in this situation. The word retro seems to be way over used (at least around this part of the country) and it has taken a cutesy meaning that I don’t feel it is appropriate for our purpose. At least that is my perception.

About being inclusive, absolutely, I feel we need a location for all related vintage and historical subjects. Vintage free diving (including the early gogglers, etc.) is all very much part of the history of diving.

This site not only should be inclusive, but it should be very welcoming to anyone with any interest on vintage, classic diving or anything related to the history of diving. Whether it is someone who ends up joining NAVED (National Association of Vintage Equipment Divers) or someone that just has a simple casual question on how something worked or was done in the past, everyone is welcomed.

Yes there will be the casual person that will drop by and tell us how dangerous it is to dive this stuff…and either they will learn something, or we will just walk away rolling our eyes with a grin on our face…

For the most part I do believe that this can be a useful place for us to post and hopefully it will provide a good service to the diving community.

I also agree that there is a lot more that the double hose regulator, but I do feel that this piece of gear is probably the most important (and symbolic) to Scuba diving (aka “aqua lung diving” or just “lung diving”). Without the demand regulator there would not be any Scuba diving, we would just have free diving. And, for the most part, all the early “successful” demand regulators were double hose regulators.

 

[The Chairman]

I have no problem with including SOME of our descriptive names in the Forum Description.

Name: "Vintage and Classic SCUBA Diving"

Description: "The Forum to discuss diving pre 1975, including Double Hose Regulators, Duck Feet, buoyancy control without a BC, free diving, Mike Nelson, Jacques Cousteau and the early history of this great sport!"

Now, I don't expect this description to remain the same: I am just spit balling here to see what sticks. But I do like the name. If you think this name will work, then let's start ironing out the description. We don't want it TOOOOOOOOO long, but it should express what you see the forum is all about.

 

[Luis H]

I have no problem with including SOME of our descriptive names in the Forum Description.

Name: "Vintage and Classic SCUBA Diving"

Description: "The Forum to discuss diving pre 1975, including Double Hose Regulators, Duck Feet, buoyancy control without a BC, free diving, Mike Nelson, Jacques Cousteau and the early history of this great sport!"

Now, I don't expect this description to remain the same: I am just spit balling here to see what sticks. But I do like the name. If you think this name will work, then let's start ironing out the description. We don't want it TOOOOOOOOO long, but it should express what you see the forum is all about.

I like that name…especially since it is followed with an appropriate description.

A suggestion would be to add classic before free diving, to distinguish it from the other free diving section. David may have another idea…

I also added Sea Hunt in front of Mike Nelson…I think more people will recognize it, especially those who barely remember the show or have never actually seen it…just heard of it.

Description: "The Forum to discuss diving pre 1975, including Double Hose Regulators, Duck Feet, buoyancy control without a BC, classic free diving, Sea Hunt (Mike Nelson), Jacques Cousteau and the early history of this great sport!"

 

[The Chairman]

Wow... a lot more of that spit ball stuck than I would have thought!

You should realize that I have been diving since '69 and dove without a BC, wet suit or ANY gauges. Diving was nearly suicidal to me then and I gave it up around '77 for almost 20 years. When we created this forum, we had no clue who to ask to make it righteous. Now that it has percolated for a bit, we have some GREAT insider tracks on how to name and describe this forum. It's a classic breath of vintage air, if you would!

Howard will be back early next week and we can see if the traffic justifies a move to the spot y'all think it deserves. Like I said, we need to consider the Board as a whole as well as the needs of any particular forum. Renaming it has repercussions all of it's own with our SEO, but the new name is so much better than what we had before, that it will make up for it quickly. After all, it WORKS as it is: we just want to see if we can tweak it and make it easier to find and use!

 

[vshearer]

I agree with Captain and Luis - this should be a Forum under Scuba Diving Central - where both equipment and techniques can be discussed.

That also seems to make sense to me, 'cause I kinda stumbled upon it here to begin with.:depressed:

But I also am really fond of the current name. :doh2:

 

[1969ivan1]

Well, NEtDOC if you though diving was suicidal back then becasue you did not have a BC why would you want to promote such a dangerous activity?

 

[Luis H]

Howard will be back early next week and we can see if the traffic justifies a move to the spot y'all think it deserves. Like I said, we need to consider the Board as a whole as well as the needs of any particular forum. Renaming it has repercussions all of it's own with our SEO, but the new name is so much better than what we had before, that it will make up for it quickly. After all, it WORKS as it is: we just want to see if we can tweak it and make it easier to find and use!

I think that the present amount of traffic is limited due to its location and name. With the location we are suggesting, a new name, and a good description, I think you will see a lot more meaningful traffic.

I have seen many posts all over the forums with questions about Cousteau, vintage equipment (double hose regulators, J valves, horse collars, etc), and many other subjects on the history of diving. I am not saying all those question have to be placed in this section, but it will give the OP one place to locate the members that are more interested in that subject.

IMO, some post about double hose regulators do belong in the regulator section, so there will always be some overlaps, but again that is no different than regulators used for technical diving, etc.

 

[The Chairman]

Well, NEtDOC if you though diving was suicidal back then becasue you did not have a BC why would you want to promote such a dangerous activity?

This is a fair question... What was once extremely dangerous has now become very safe. What changed??? Training. I dove without a cert and was able to get air easily. Training resembled SEAL training back then and the anality of what I saw kept me AWAY from getting certified. I remember as a kid of 16 watching the guys in full gear with those old rubber wetsuits, Jet Fins, Block weights, tank and mask doing push ups on the pool deck before their class started. That was nutso! It was gratifying at the LA Scuba Show to show others a picture of divers actually doing that.

ScubaBoard allows a LOT of variations of diving, from solo to DIR, from Instructor Forums (closed to the public) to forums for those just considering diving. We only really have ONE LINE that we won't let people cross: encouraging others to learn to dive or penetrate caves or wrecks WITHOUT an instructor who is certified to teach those skills. My first "instructor" was a Master Chief and never even got in the water with us. I stopped after an incident where I almost died. Luckily I came back to the sport and got some training (it was still inadequate and I hope that my instructor reads this), I feel that I really learned to dive right here on SB. My safety pauses became stops and I slowed WAY down.

 

[David Wilson]

Thanks, Luis, for remembering me in all this. I do like the suggested new title, although as a committed breath-hold diver, I'd have preferred "Vintage and classic diving" rather the mention of scuba: I won't push this, though, I'll quit while I'm ahead! On the subject of the inclusion of "freediving" in the forum description, yes "classic freediving" would do, although I'm also toying with alternative wording such as "snorkelling the old-fashioned way" so that the activity not only covers both the past and the present but also lays the emphasis on the recreational rather than the competitive side of breath-hold diving.

I'm delighted how quickly things have moved and how much of a consensus has emerged.

 

[Luis H]

Well, perhaps another name suggestion could be:
“Vintage / Classic Skin and SCUBA Diving” or “Vintage and Classic Skin and SCUBA Diving”

This would go well with the original name used before the name “SCUBA diving” became popular. Skin diving was the name used in Sea Hunt and it did cover both free diving and “aqua lung diving”.

Just another suggestion…I like either name.