Wow...Tim, Bob, from now on, I will make sure that all of my posts meet your exacting standards. I will make sure that they are completely devoid of humor, because lord knows I wouldn't want anyone to get the idea that anyone on Scubaboard has a sense of humor. Please don't try to tell me that a joking post in response to a question posed in (what seemed to me) a tongue-in-cheek manner in the Advanced forum is enough to turn divers away.
... or you could use a
like everybody else does.
How else am I supposed to know that's a joke when I can read the same stupid comment on ScubaBoard at least a half-dozen times a day from people who aren't joking?
I did not post this in the new divers or basic diving section, where it MIGHT sway a new divers feelings towards their agency.
Lots of SB users who are not new or basic divers are getting a bit tired of hearing the same old "joke" ... particularly from people who are basing it on their experiences with a single instructor or are only repeating something they read on ScubaBoard.
While we are on the topic, though, let's stop dancing around this. It is well known that PADI focuses primarily on money.
I see ... so you weren't joking after all ...
We have all heard enough stories about instructor candidates getting gigged for not merchandising well enough.
Uh huh ... so you've "heard stories" ... and that somehow makes you an expert.
Hate to break it to ya, but when I became a NAUI instructor I got the same pitch from my course director about "supporting your dive shop" by pitching sales in classes. That's one of the primary reasons I chose to teach as an independent instructor.
PADI ain't the only agency that takes that approach. They're not even the worst. Did you know that you can't even become an SSI instructor without first declaring your loyalty to a local dive shop? Contemplate the reasons for that for a moment or two and get back to me ...
Or seen that PADI's Master Diver cert is merely a pretty trophy with no additional training.
I happen to agree with you that the PADI Master Diver cert is nothing but marketing ... but it's a bit off-topic, and has been flogged to death elsewhere.
While the quality of training you receive from any agency is primarily up to the instructor, the sales pitches are determined by the Agency.
Actually, they're determined by the LDS.
My NAUI instructor was a wealth of knowledge as far as gear goes, but he never approached a sales pitch. I have sat in on 2 PADI OW classes (all of the class time, and most of the water exercises, mainly out of curiosity), and the push to sell gear is disgusting. The move completely away from tables and wholly into computers is just another symptom of their push for sales.
Well then ... you should complain even more loudly about SSI ... they were the first to move away from tables and wholly into computers. And although I don't agree with them, I can at least understand the reasons why they did it.
If you don't agree, that's fine, you don't have to. This is my opinion.
You're welcome to your opinion ... it'd be nice if you stated it as opinion, however.
If you want to try to villainize or insult me for stating my opinion, that's fine too.
Actually, I wasn't villianizing you ... whatever that means ... I was asking you not to open up the PADI-bashing rathole in this thread ... I don't recall seeing any mention of any specific agency in the OP ... and frankly, PADI isn't the only agency who offers both AOW and specialty classes.
There's plenty of places on ScubaBoard where you can go crawl down that rathole if it's what floats your boat. And you can see from fnfalman's reply that there will always be those who are happy to crawl down it with you. We really don't need to turn every thread on ScubaBoard into someone's opportunity to bash PADI.
This is the great thing about free speech.
Suggest you learn what "free speech" means ... it has nothing to do with a privately-owned Internet forum.
I'd be happy to discuss differences of opinion. But it's hard to hear you from up there. You'll have to get off your high horses first.
And I'd be happy to discuss differences of opinion with you ... just pick a more appropriate place to do it. Go start a thread in Whine and Cheeze ... call it "PADI sucks" or some such ... I'll drop by and we can discuss differences of opinion.
In the appropriate place, you might find our differences of opinion aren't as great as you think they are ... I just don't think this is the place to talk about agencies.
... Bob (Grateful Diver)