Input on our Accident and Incidents Forum... What do you want? How do you want it?

[Storker]

No matter what your involvement with an accident, NO ONE can prevent you from commenting on it. We have this wonderful thing called the First Amendment that prohibits them from censoring your speech.

This is not meant to sound critical of Ken but I want to correct a misconception I see repeated over and over and over again. A privately owned media like SB is by no means obligated to allow any kind of comments and statements on their platform. Your 1st Amendment doesn't apply.

Or, to put it in very simple terms: Pete's board, Pete's rules.

 

[DiverAmy]

I am (and am not) a typical scubaboard member. I am a regular reader of the A&I board and a careful follower of the occasional thread. Occasionally, I log in specifically to follow an A&I thread. I have once (or twice) posted in Near Misses. I might have once or three times posted a news link to a local dive fatality. By and large, my reading to writing ratio on SB is about 300:1.

What interests me the most about the board is the accident analysis. I don't mind the drama, as it often makes for more intriguing reading. It is easy for me to pick out which post(er)s to look for, to focus on for information, thoughtful analysis, out of the box ideas, and which to gloss over (for a variety of reasons).

I wouldn't really change a thing.

 

[The Chairman]

How about the lawsuit by "the one who shall not be named"

A couple of things about that lawsuit.
It was an illegal SLAPP lawsuit. They had no hope of winning and it's my understanding that they simply wanted to bankrupt me. In spite of no anti-SLAPP law in Florida, they only hurt themselves. Thanks to the generous people here on SB, I was not bankrupted.
Secondly, and germane to the conversation, this was not about a victim or survivors suing a professional due to some inadvertent admission. I've never seen anything bad happen because someone told the truth. I've only seen good come from it. The absolute best way to snuff out rumors is to post the truth.
This hasn't been brought up yet, but I feel it should: Off line rumor mills are far more detrimental to our community than speculation. Gossip and speculation have been around for ever. It's not new to the interwebs. I've heard more crap spouted cave side than I've ever read on the interwebs, much less ScubaBoard. Fortunately, the truth posted here, squashes those individual rumors rather quickly.

 

[The Chairman]

By and large, my reading to writing ratio on SB is about 300:1.

Which actually puts you in the "typical" area! Thought you should know. That you post at all, makes you a bit unique, but getting people to post a lot is nigh on to impossible. Less than one half of one percent of our visitors can be considered 'prolific' posters.

 

[CptTightPants21]

If I may offer a suggestion, and only a suggestion...

ANYONE's first attempt at posting in any given A&I thread is met with a pop-up box containing a TOS on steroids. One either accepts or declines to continue or exit. At the poster's first indiscretion, a MOD is justified on flipping the switch on the poster, banning that person from the thread.

This would totally work because everyone always reads the legalese on things like dive waivers, phone contracts, account set ups, etc...

 

[FinnMom]

This is not meant to sound critical of FinnMom but I want to correct a misconception I see repeated over and over and over again.

No matter what your involvement with an accident, NO ONE can prevent you from commenting on it. We have this wonderful thing called the First Amendment that prohibits them from censoring your speech. That being said . . .

If you have been directly involved as a diving professional in an accident, yes your insurance company and lawyer will tell you that they'd prefer you don't comment but they can't deny your coverage if you do. They're concerned that you will say something that will then be used against you in a lawsuit. At the same time, they will also tell you not to talk to the victim's family and instead refer all inquiries to them which - IMHO - makes it look like you're trying to hide something and invites the very lawsuit you're trying to avoid. And the police, USCG, or others may ask you to refrain from commenting but it's a request, not a legally enforceable order.

At a DEMA Risk Management seminar years ago, I asked the insurance guy giving the talk (Peter Meyer) if there ever was a case of a dive professional who had no liability in a case suddenly creating liability through an online post or comment and, after some hemming and hawing, he said "No."

Likewise, this notion that if you're not at all involved in an incident and you start commenting here or elsewhere about it that you'll suddenly be drawn into a lawsuit is also a work of fiction. I've never heard of it happening and if anyone has direct knowledge that it did, I'd be very interested in hearing the circumstances.

- Ken

Thanks for pointing that out. I should have known what my 1st Amendment rights are (if I am w/in the USA), but the confidence is hard to come by, esp. if you've already been shook up by other events and the authorities do tend to state their requests in a tone that makes it easy to mistake a request for something more binding.

Unfortunately I'm not so sure about the laws in other countries in which I occasionally dive and the 1st Amendment won't help outside of the USA.

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SEPARATE QUESTION:

Would it help to calm down threads going haywire if everyone were limited to maybe 2 posts per day?

 

[lowviz]

This would totally work because everyone always reads the legalese on things like dive waivers, phone contracts, account set ups, etc...

You completely missed my intent.

I'm now suggesting only a terse warning in very bold type (thank you, JH) that the potential poster refers to the TOS before posting. A first-time poster may very well not know that the TOS exists.

The main point:
It is intended to be an instrument for the mods. "You have been warned that the rules are different here and you can instantly be denied access without any of the usual back-and-forth whining."

 

[CptTightPants21]

You completely missed my intent.

I'm now suggesting only a terse warning in very bold type (thank you, JH) that the potential poster refers to the TOS before posting. A first-time poster may very well not know that the TOS exists.

The main point:
It is intended to be an instrument for the mods. "You have been warned that the rules are different here and you can instantly be denied access without any of the usual back-and-forth whining."

And you are missing the point. A terse warning is exactly what you want. No one is going to read through paragraphs of "whatever" to post. They are going to scrolls down, hit accept, and post anyway.

 

[KathyV]

Hey ScubaBoard users and frequenters of the Accidents and Incidents forum. It's time we had a family discussion about this very forum, it's future and how it can best benefit the community...

I haven't read all 20 pages of this thread but I wanted to mention that I have made changes to my diving practices because of the Accidents and Incidents forum and I appreciate the folks that take the time to post the information and also those that share their expertise to help make diving a safer sport and profession.

We are just vacation divers that take a trip once or twice a year and find it helpful to read safety advice and to be reminded about good practices. And reading about real-life and death experiences brings home the importance of safety information.

How have we changed our diving practices? We always wear our snorkels and I carry my octopus in my chest area where I can easily get at it when needed. We don't just sign up with any dive op and assume that they know what they are doing. I check them out online in advance and ask questions like "do you have oxygen and first aid equipment on board?" We have bought a CO monitor and use it, and new and better safety sausages that we always carry.

We used to only bring dive lights on night dives but now we always have one with us. We haven't bought a personal locator beacon yet but we are considering it. And I hope that I will remember to drop my weights if I am ever in a dire situation!

 

[lv2dive]

I resent that comment! ;-)

Not so much... you're almost (almost) the only voice of reason in the cave community.