the DIR moniker

[NAM001]

DIR..... isn't it just diving?

is it safe to assume you are saying that someday when i grow up and become a dir'er i will then understand???

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

is it safe to assume you are saying that someday when i grow up and become a dir'er i will then understand???

No ... it's safe to assume that some people will never understand ... because they choose not to.

I think his message was pretty straightforward ... it's just diving.

Maybe if you're not having a good time being around somebody, it's more because of you than because of them. I'm not even DIR ... but I wear a backplate and long hose. And yanno what? I've had plenty of jerks come up and start giving me a hard time because they thought I was one of those "damned DIR" folks. I never said anything to them to provoke that response ... I dive with all sorts of people. But they take one look at my gear and make the exact sort of assumptions you just made. Think I'm gonna let it traumatize me? Hardly. I don't really care what they think. I dive to have fun. So do all my DIR friends ... and they really don't care much about you or your home made reel. So if you want to let what some nameless person thinks bother you, then that's really your fault, and you're gonna end up having less fun because of it.

I get so tired of people coming into the DIR forum just to spew anti-DIR attitude. If you don't like DIR people, that's fine ... you don't have to. But in that case, wouldn't it make more sense to go somewhere you don't have to be around DIR people. It doesn't make any sense for you to post in this forum ... and it's just bad manners to come into someone else's home and then sit around telling them why you don't like them.

Personally, I think you're displaying the very same behavior you're complaining about. Maybe it's not them that's the problem ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[LiteHedded]

i see you have a nack using photo editors. good job.

perhaps before you back up gi joe to quickly. you could probably use a little more info. Joe saw my reel in my bag and asked what i paid for it. told him i made it in the shop and that it was not bought. till that point he thought it was bought and showing some age. once he learned i made it his nose went up in the air and commenced telling me that i should never use anything but bought equipment and my reel will kill someone someday.

it was the mommy knows best attitude, and only one wayism that seems to be a reoccuring theme in post after post that describes the dir negative attitude to outsiders.

i thought that joe was rather over rigged my self large doubles and pony in a 25 foot deep scuba park. each to thier own i guess. i certainly did not comment on his equipment.

the eliteism noted in many posts is real , and is not a few jerks as some have suggested. i dont believe that what i believe to be a minority of elites represent the mass of dir's. they are the ones that are so quick to belittle those who do not prescribe to thier methods. i know that many of the dirs i chat with are not what is described in many of the posts. however many threads i have read reak with the attitude. including this one. and they are not newby's as some have suggested. they are by assumption some rather high regarded senior people. read some of the posts and the holier than though pours out. For people to feel safe aspire to be like the cream of the crop, the i'm better than you image has to get fixed from the top down.

how'd you know he was DIR? just assumed it because he was a dick?
a pony bottle is pretty far from DIR equipment

 

[ucfdiver]

how'd you know he was DIR? just assumed it because he was a dick?
a pony bottle is pretty far from DIR equipment

Seeing as how he's coming into a DIR section of the board violating rules and spewing assumptions, I think he's just in the mood to DIR bash and probly doesn't care about accuracy (or lack of).

 

[TSandM]

I'm confused . . . I thought KWS was saying that it was GI3 who took exception to his reel?

Anyway . . . everybody's entitled to an opinion. But most of us DIR divers are just interested in diving, and diving safely and with a level of skill that allows us to have the most fun possible.

KWS, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a general air in the DIR forum that this is a better way to dive. If we didn't think it was better -- for US -- why would we put the work in to do it? There are people on this board who think vintage is better, or minimalist is better, or dork diving is better. There just aren't, perhaps, as many of them, and they don't have as visible a label.

 

[Blackwood]

once he learned i made it his nose went up in the air and commenced telling me that i should never use anything but bought equipment and my reel will kill someone someday.

it was the mommy knows best attitude, and only one wayism that seems to be a reoccuring theme in post after post that describes the dir negative attitude to outsiders.

So some random guy who is dressed in black and uses a pony bottle tells you not to use home made gear.

Where do you get the idea that he's "DIR" or a spokesman for DIR? Most people I know who have DIR training use at least some home made stuff, and none of them use pony bottles (at least whilst still following the DIR part of their training).

Maybe he even said he's "DIR," buy yanowhat, I can say I'm the President. There's nothing in any DIR training that specifies black clothing and equipment, there's nothing that precludes do-it-yourself gear (it's often encouraged... look at stage rigging, for example), and there certainly aren't any pony bottles.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

So let me relate a couple of my DIR stories ... I've got a lot of them.

A few years back I wanted to join a newly-formed dive club who's initials ended in "UE". I was told I wasn't welcome. It devastated me ... because I knew and had dived with most of the members. To be fair, only a couple of folks objected ... but it was enough to keep me out of the club. Over the ensuing couple of years I ended up diving with all the people in the club I wanted to anyway. I found out who the folks were who had objected and why they did so ... and if I was honest with myself, I may not have agreed with their reasons, but from their perspective they were valid reasons. It just took some effort on my part to understand what those reasons were. It didn't fundamentally change my attitude about DIR ... or even about those people ... I respect their right to see things differently than I do. The resolution wasn't their issue ... it was mine.

Second story ... last month I was on a liveaboard down in the Channel Islands. This is an annual, invitation-only event put on by some members of the local DIR community. Many of y'all would recognize some of the names (a UTD instructor and several members of this board among them). As we were loading the boat for the trip I noticed a couple of jacket-style BCDs on board. I jokingly asked "whose are those?" Turned out we had two divers in the group ... a lovely couple ... who were friends with one of the organizers. Here they are ... a couple of people who'd probably never even heard of DIR before this trip ... on a liveaboard with a bunch of BP wearing, long-hose breathing, black dressing, serious DIR people.

Oh, the horror ... :shocked2:

Well, they were solid divers, really fun people to be around, fit right in socially with everyone else on board ... and not a single DIR person had anything bad to say about their gear or tried to convert them to the "dark side". We had a fun, drama-free three days of great times together.

Imagine that.

Yeah ... seriously ... it's just diving ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

There are people on this board who think vintage is better, or minimalist is better, or dork diving is better. There just aren't, perhaps, as many of them, and they don't have as visible a label.

... each of those groups has their own forum on ScubaBoard ... and I don't see anyone going into those forums and complaining about how those people dive, or how they behave.

Doing so is just bad manners ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

So some random guy who is dressed in black and uses a pony bottle tells you not to use home made gear.

Where do you get the idea that he's "DIR" or a spokesman for DIR? Most people I know who have DIR training use at least some home made stuff, and none of them use pony bottles (at least whilst still following the DIR part of their training).

Maybe he even said he's "DIR," buy yanowhat, I can say I'm the President. There's nothing in any DIR training that specifies black clothing and equipment, there's nothing that precludes do-it-yourself gear (it's often encouraged... look at stage rigging, for example), and there certainly aren't any pony bottles.

Lots of people who claim to be DIR ... aren't ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[lamont]

is it safe to assume you are saying that someday when i grow up and become a dir'er i will then understand???

KWS you need to stop the trolling and emotional venting in this forum.

That is an official warning.