Why do YOU love SB?

[Rhone Man]

Scubaboard seems to be far and away the most popular scuba message board site on the web. If you compare the number of online members at any given time on SB against other scuba message boards, SB invariably has around 10 times as many members online as other sites at any given time. And many members dip into their pockets voluntarily to support the board financially in one form or another.

So why do you keep coming back? Mutliple choice poll below, or post other thoughts in the thread.

 

[h90]

Good informations, controverse informations....

 

[Hammerhead]

Masochism, really.

 

[Johnny Mojo]

Basically, "most" of the above..err except Bill He's got a lot of good information though. There are a number of people here who I have come to "rely" on for information. Meaning, if they have posted I want to at least hear what they have to say because they are generally courteous, literate and concerned.

I like the social interaction too......lotta stuff around here makes me chuckle, I just don't know people well enough to bust chops yet.

Glad I found :sblogo:

Thanks to Doc and the whole crew!

J.

 

[Walter]

I don't "love" ScubaBoard. I enjoy it. I've learned from others. Hopefully others have learned from me. I've met very good friends here. ScubaBoard is a useful communication tool.

 

[mselenaous]

:rofl2: ...definitely my crush on Dr. Bill ...to know him is to love him - we all do

I've learned alot of great teaching techniques from other instructors and about gear (seriously, where except on SB can a gal go into a male staffed environment to learn about a She-P? Thanks Ladies! ). I like having a venue to share my experiences, but mostly I like all the really great folks I've met in person because of SB and can't wait to meet more of you. I blame Netdoc...:kiss2:

 

[stargost]

c below: decent source of info and quite some areas of fun

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

To be perfectly honest, I truly hate ScubaBoard.

The views and "advise" in the main forums are often so locally biased that they are only valid in the smaller sub forums. My mission on SB is to speak up for the vast majority of diving that is not being represented by the majority of the posts here.

My co workers and I see over 4,000 divers per year, and each year we see; a few pair of jet fins, a handful of BP/W's and one or two long hose. Most of the dive operators in Hawaii are seeing similar numbers of divers with similar numbers of those gears.

When I see other operators students and guided guests, there are relatively few divers doing damage to the reef. I personally feel the small percentage of bad divers and bad instructors is less than the percentage of similarly bad people in the general public, because percentage wise more good people appreciate the underwater world by diving.

Unfortunately, it seems that in order to sell gear, or training, or a book, an easy way is to say other gear or training is bad or wrong. I think most bad divers will still be bad divers no matter the gear or training, because after passing the cert bad people just don't care about being good.

 

[Rhone Man]

Basically, "most" of the above..err except Bill

That was just put in there just for Dr B to tick.

I don't "love" ScubaBoard. I enjoy it. I've learned from others. Hopefully others have learned from me. I've met very good friends here. ScubaBoard is a useful communication tool.

I originally had a 10th option - "Walter's charm" but I removed it because I figured I would get in trouble. I probably will now. :shocked2:

Joking aside.... I genuinely feel that the time I have spent on SB has really added a dimension to my enjoyment of diving. I have lost count of the number of odd questions I have asked and gotten thoughtful replies to. It was a great pleasure to meet SB'ers who have made the trek down to BVI and stopped in to say 'hi'. If the New Year is a good time to reflect on things we are thankful for, then I am certainly glad for the efforts of Pete and his colleagues continuing to bring us SB.

 

[TSandM]

I learned a ton from ScubaBoard, when I was a new diver, and now that I'm not quite as new, I cherish the ability to reach out to new folks the way the generous people here reached out to me.

The real uniqueness of this site, in comparison to anything else out there, is the breadth of its membership. This is the only place where you can ask a question about a very obscure location and be almost certain to get an answer from SOMEBODY.

Halemano, did it occur to you that YOUR experience is also a local one? I submit that, if you travelled up and down the coast of California, the equipment you would see would far better match what I talk about, than what you generally see. I will heartily agree that what equipment you use and the kind of diving you do depends a great deal on whether you do four dives in Maui once a year, or 200 in cold and warm water, caves and wrecks. But each of us speaks from his own experiences, and the reader simply takes away either the information relevant to HIS environment, or whatever consensus he can find.