What percentage of people actually care?

[bwerb]

weekender once bubbled...
only been doing this for about a week because its been a slow month. i found alot of redundency. seems like alot of threads turn into boring debates. im an active diver and instuctor but dont really care about most of the topics.

I'd agree that there is a ton on here I couldn't care less about (polls ) but also phenomenal information (especially for those who learn the secrets of the search button).

Question for you...you say you are an instructor...what do you see as being the top three ongoing "issues" or "concerns" within the student body you are instructing? In other words, what kinds of issues come-up during classes which the board could help you with?

The "value" of the board is in the ability to take a real world situation you are going through and to open it up to a much broader audience for new ideas or discussion. Sharing knowledge is where these boards shine (if you can get past the "pee in your wetsuit threads").

 

[weekender]

bwerb you are right, there is alot of positive information being passed around the board. expecially if you use the search. im a big wise ass. it passes the time. not very mature but works for me. ive never given much thought to what are the most common issues of my students. not to sound to cynical but i dont think its that envolved to teach ow. which is what i mostly do. but im lucky, i do mostly private lessons to affluent well educated young adults. they are the easiest to teach and dont have money issues.

 

[Juls64]

No matter what agency I train with, no matter who my instructor is, and no matter what equipment my LDS tries to sell me, the bottom line is, I believe I am responsible for me. I take classes through my LDS, but I look to learn more anywhere I can. I listen to others, but don't have to believe everything they say is right for me. I can hear others opinions on various equipment configs, then find places that deal with them and try them, if its right for me. I have heard the good and the bad on this board, and I have made numerous new discoveries.

Julie

 

[bwerb]

weekender once bubbled...
im a big wise ass. it passes the time. not very mature but works for me. ive never given much thought to what are the most common issues of my students. not to sound to cynical but i dont think its that envolved to teach ow. which is what i mostly do. but im lucky, i do mostly private lessons to affluent well educated young adults. they are the easiest to teach and dont have money issues.

Ok...we can go forward with that...

OW classes, you mention that the afflent are the easiest to teach...why does it make a difference? (I'm going to say my "assumption"...because they don't spend their time trying to get a "deal" on the classes and gear etc., we can just set them up with whatever they/we want them to use and get on with it.)

Would you say that one of the hardest things to teach is perhaps trim and bouyancy control? What kind of standards or objective measures do you use to make sure your students have a good grasp of the concepts before granting them their C cards? Have you ever failed a student? Why?

I'm typing all of this with a smile on my face, I'm not trolling or finger pointing...I'm just trying to engage you in conversation and hopefully illustrate how to get something of value out of the board...and make your work day a little less tedious...cool?

 

[DeepTechScuba]

Its always good to know what other people think.

Whether you conform or not to someone else's thinking is a different story. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

By and large, though, most people including divers make up their own minds. There are no sacred cows in diving. There are just different ways of doing the same thing.

I am not going to have a 7' hose with me on every dive.

However some divers do. Oh well.

 

[DeepScuba]

.........I was just wondering what percentage of divers who are active actually care about any of the stuff we discuss on this board? I know about 20 other people that dive in my immediate circles and i think maybe fewer than 3 would actually care to look further into it beyond diving under their usual schedule and forgetting it in between.........


Well, I'm bored at work too, sometimes I just need 5 minutes away, so I log on here. Although I don't get out as much as I'd like (Who does?) I find diving is continually on my mind.

I happened upon ScubaBoard just recently, and I can say, it has been fun, and for the most part positive.

Sure, I'm a wise-a$$ too, but mostly just for fun, lots of haha's for me, although I admit, sometimes it went too far and got ugly

I love to learn, and this board has been pretty good for that.
My biggest regret was not getting the answers I wanted from the GUE guys that I was looking for. After a few days of no forth coming answers to my questions, of course in my wise-a$$ ways, I ratcheted up the heat. Then it got a little nasty.

No biggie, we all cooled down eventually. And I mentioned then, that it was odd that I got that carried away, as most of what was said really meant nothing, and I didn't care about it that much anyways.

Anyhow, here I am again, looking to see what has been said about this and that,...... and yes, most of it is irrelevant.

No matter, I have grown quite a lot as a diver this year, and it was in a small part, because of this board.

Regards

 

[GeekDiver]

If your looking for answers from GUE why don't you just PM JJ directly or post in one of the threads he start with your questions since he is now logging onto the board and posting.

 

[totalangel]

I'm one of those that cares. I view diving as providing me with the ability to become part of the underwater world. But as I start the pro path, I find a lot of useful information here. There are folks who have been doing this for years and I find their knowledge extremely helpful. I pay attention to what a majority of people view as good instructor traits and not so good instructor traits so that I can strive to be a better instructor (when the time comes).
I've also hit the search utility to see what people are saying about various equipment and dive destinations. Sure there's a lot of opinions - but you just have to learn to weed through the bs to get to the heart of the matter. I just purchased an underwater camera based on my search on this board.
Some posts are better to avoid - tend to get a little heated - but I think for the most part the people that post on the board really do care.

 

[TX100]

I think there are more than two categories of divers. Most people seem to agree that there are people who just want to breathe underwater and another group who are serious and want to be better divers.

Id like to argue that there is a third group, ones that just want to breathe underwater, but are far more serious than 'deep technical divers' or DIR divers. Commercial & Sat divers are welders/construction workers that couldn't give a flying f**k about which regulator to donate or how long their hose is. They are very serious about their diving, but only use diving as a means to an end.

Although Im not a commercial diver, Id like to think I follow their line of thinking: Do whats safe and what will get the job done, not what you read on the internet.