Card Collector - Definition?

What is a card(c) collector? is it someone that has been to lots of classes, and thinks that they know better than all the divers on the boat with fewer cards? Does this person have to be obnoxious to someone with less cards to be assigned this label?

maybe it is someone with a lot of courses that trips and falls off the boat doing a giant stride? or some other skill that they "should" know better?

How does someone get assigned the derogatory title "card collector"? Obviously it is not just the person that has taken the most courses because they are usually called "instructor".

I think it's usually meant to imply that the person cares more about the card than the education.

Blackwood:

I think it's usually meant to imply that the person cares more about the card than the education.

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Close, but even that doesn't make a card collector. If they only take classes that are useful to them, they aren't true collectors. People who take silly classes, like boat or night to get the c-card are card collectors. Anyone with a card for which there is no class is a card collector. Examples are SSI Advanced and SSI or PADI Master Diver.

I agree with Blackwood and Walter - someone who spends the money, for a class or otherwise, for the primary purpose of getting a card. I do take exception to one part of Walter's post - I have an SSI AOW card (I assume this is what he refers to as SSI Advanced. If not, disregard the rest of this post). I took the class after taking the PADI Advanced course. I took that course because I don't know other divers and thought it would help me learn to be a better diver. The PADI course was a joke. There was no class and I learned next to nothing from the dives, which were no more challenging than my OW dives. I still felt wholly inadequate as a diver after I finished (I have a PADI AOW card because it comes with the course, and view it as a reminder of how much money I wasted) I had taken and enjoyed OW from SSI, so tried that AOW course. It was EXTREMELY helpful. First, there was a class. Second, there were nearly twice as many dives involved, in different environments, and the dives were far more rigorous. I learned a tremendous amount about diving from this course. I have the card because that comes with the course, but value what I learned far more than the card.

Yes-I think just having a lot of cards does not make you a card collector. There are many good reasons for having several-'instructor' pops to mind.

As for attitude, you don't need a card to be an ass...but I think you can get one from PADI

Not even comes close to funny.

Must be some VERY OLD joke.

OldNSalty:

As for attitude, you don't need a card to be an ass...but I think you can get one from PADI

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Well, I for one thought it was funny.

Yea-me too...for the record, I have a card from PADI

I was going to pick a DIR type agency but that would have started a fire storm and I don't have any tech-type ratings.

From the PADI Encyclopedia:

Friggin lawyer.