The Cave Politics, Rumor Monger and Gossip Guild is alive and well. Let's end it!

[kensuf]

Re - different instructors and diving with unknowns, I share my latest dive report:

I am incredibly saddened by the counsel I received to not post my more-extensive dive journal on forums, as I have in the past. Everyone opined the “camp followers” of some instructors to jump in with both feet and make an ugly hate-fest of it all. I guess I must have expected it too; it is why I asked for opinions. This makes the cave community look shallow, clique-ish, and more interested in bashing others than in improving the community. The community looks morally bereft.

I recently watched a good friend get eviscerated on social media by several people in the cave diving community that had nothing to go on other than hearsay and rumor. I believe you may know what I am talking about.

 

[The Chairman]

I am incredibly saddened by the counsel I received to not post my more-extensive dive journal on forums, as I have in the past

That's the best thing you CAN do. Silence the critics with what actually happens. The truth and only the truth can stop the politics and rumor mongering.

I recently watched a good friend get eviscerated on social media by several people in the cave diving community that had nothing to go on other than hearsay and rumor.

Again, the best defense is a good offense. Especially in that case. A clear documentation about what happened would make the FIGJAMs look especially foolish.

 

[Jax]

That's the best thing you CAN do. Silence the critics with what actually happens. The truth and only the truth can stop the politics and rumor mongering.

I have no concern at all about what people say to / about me. I really dislike all the nasty spewage of hate that ensues if someone says they had a good experience with one or the other. I have had good training experiences with both. What others say / write do not drown out real life experience.

 

[karstdvr]

This makes the cave community look shallow, clique-ish, and more interested in bashing others than in improving the community. The community looks morally bereft.

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These petty rifts and factionalism have gone on for a looooooooooooooong time. The best part is the worst ones predate 99% of the people on this forum, and have not been mentioned in this or other SB threads. So, basically time heals all wounds. But, the more they are brought up on the forums, then the more we keep this active rift alive. When you have a rift between two people, it is usually resolved pretty quickly, or both parties move on,but the supporters of each individual are the ones that carry on the fight and keep the rift alive. Are we going to change this tendency of factionalization? No, the sport attracts certain personality types, and this has been going on for 40 years, only difference is social media fuels the fire. Solution? Dive more,post less.

 

[karstdvr]

The truth and only the truth can stop the politics and rumor mongering.


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If that would really work that would be great. A lot of truths have been mentioned in some of these threads,which have propelled the thread further into oblivion. People don't want truth on the forums, they want drama and entertainment. I can back that up. For example the threads that have the most drama and bickering have the highest views eg anything NACD. When a (negative?) comment was made about the Ginnie accident on a Facebook group, the new people joining that group exploded

 

[Reku]

Here's my 2 psi / 0.137895 bar:

Why does any of this even matter? I don't get it. Just go cave dive. People are going to get talked about on social media - it's a fact of life. Just ignore it - they can defend themselves if they so choose, they don't need help. People are going to flock to where the conflict is because they want to be a part of something. None of it really matters at all.

Everyone does realize we are fighting over giant holes in the ground. Right?

This is the equivalent of perpetual 3rd grade recess.
....
Ignore the rumors and the drama - even if it's about you - they don't define who you are. None of it matters at all. It's just a bunch of trolls looking to stir up some entertainment.

The only way to stop this permanently is to shut off the internet and nobody wants that, now do they?

The drama and rumors will always exist - it's your choice if you want to be consumed by it or not.

Me? I'll be busy diving, ignoring all this irrelevant mess and living life carefree.

What are you going to do?

 

[C Dub]

Hey Jax, I'd love to read your detailed account of your week with Ed!

 

[The Chairman]

People are going to get talked about on social media

But most of it isn't on Social Media. That's only the tip of the iceberg. 7/8s of this crap is verbal and poisoning divers one at a time, or even worse, one class at a time. The media exposes inaccuracies and pettiness pretty quickly so it's usually avoided by rumor mongers. Those knowing nods and rumors spread by the springs are the real problem. For an instructor, they can be the kiss of death.

 

[Reku]

But most of it isn't on Social Media. That's only the tip of the iceberg. 7/8s of this crap is verbal and poisoning divers one at a time, or even worse, one class at a time. The media exposes inaccuracies and pettiness pretty quickly so it's usually avoided by rumor mongers. Those knowing nods and rumors spread by the springs are the real problem. For an instructor, they can be the kiss of death.

Ah I see - honestly I don't keep up on all the happenings around the springs, I just dive them. Well in that case - I believe earlier you said something about stating the facts in the open is the only way to stop the rumors and such. You are right, that is the only way to fix this when you take into account face to face interactions. Being a cave instructor in this area sounds like a lot of work trying to please those around you so you don't get slandered. That's unfortunate.

 

[Jax]

But most of it isn't on Social Media. That's only the tip of the iceberg. 7/8s of this crap is verbal and poisoning divers one at a time, or even worse, one class at a time. The media exposes inaccuracies and pettiness pretty quickly so it's usually avoided by rumor mongers. Those knowing nods and rumors spread by the springs are the real problem. For an instructor, they can be the kiss of death.

Y'know, Pete, I thought at first you were a little over the top, but there sure are real problems.

I consider myself a run-of-the-mill diver. I looked at the NSS-CDS program for the 2016 Workshop, with all its exploration and rebreather stuff, and asked what I THOUGHT was an innocuous question . . . What is there for people like me? Not rebreather, not interested in exploration . . .

So, I got slammed for being an Internet Diver, and told I could learn something "other than typing on a computer" by the workshop Chair himself.

Seriously -- when leisure dollars are few and far between for the masses, and everyone is competing to bring those people to their diving table --- THIS is how an organization represents itself?

Yes, organizers and rumors ARE "poisoning divers", but I beg to differ that it is one at a time.

People READ. For every one that comments, 20 do not. They absorb the culture as reflected by each an every one of us.

I don't see this around Marianna (yeah, yeah, I know there is instructors feuding; I wasn't there, I didn't experience it, and I will not be drawn into it.) - If I am going to spend a couple thousand or more and drive 1800 miles one way, where do you think I - and people like me - will spend their money?

Before you guys bash one another -- the rest of us, the "run-of-the-mill" divers - are reading, watching, and wondering, what are you saying about me behind my back? If you cannot have professional respect for each other, or enact professional ethics and standards . . . . What do you think we are thinking of YOU?

We vote with our pocketbook. I hope you remember that.