Is this going to be the new norm?

[Kharon]

I have noticed a trend in different threads that seems to be increasing. It seems that replys are slowly becoming more argumentative, subtly snarky, and "us vs them", I gotta' win.

Divisiveness has been a fact in society for a while, but I thought that this board was/is/should be a place where we all strive to try to understand each others view, what they are trying to say, even if we don't agree with it. Where we strive to explain why we feel/dive the way we do rather than prove our "side" is right. Where we don't need to put down an opinion or person's view just because we don't agree with it. Where we share information rather than prove the other guy wrong.

 

[NatureLVR]

People are much easier to offend nowadays. I blame the politicians.

 

[uncfnp]

That’s interesting Kharon since it seem the exact opposite to me, especially since several long time members were permabaned. I was thinking it has been a kinder, gentler SB of late.

 

[tomfcrist]

Scubaboard is tame compared to its former self...and innocent compared to rec.scuba

 

[Diver0001]

I have noticed a trend in different threads that seems to be increasing. It seems that replys are slowly becoming more argumentative, subtly snarky, and "us vs them", I gotta' win.

Divisiveness has been a fact in society for a while, but I thought that this board was/is/should be a place where we all strive to try to understand each others view, what they are trying to say, even if we don't agree with it. Where we strive to explain why we feel/dive the way we do rather than prove our "side" is right. Where we don't need to put down an opinion or person's view just because we don't agree with it. Where we share information rather than prove the other guy wrong.

Sadly, I think this is neither new nor is it limited to Scubaboard. Compared to previous diving forums (rec.scuba comes to mind) Scubaboard is a quantum leap in the right direction. There have been some really epic trolls on this board over the years but we (and I mean all of us, not just moderators) need to try striking a balance between having the room to disagree and debate issues openly -- even strongly -- and the limitations placed upon us by the construct of polite conversation.

You can't have free speech AND total control over what people say and how they formulate their thinking. There is a gap there that I don't believe can be bridged. On a moderated forum you would like to see the worst of it taken care of so the trolls don't take over but you can't force people to agree about everything and you can't start punishing people for minor infractions of social protocol without it becoming stifling. I've been a member of a forum that did that too and it was horribly frustrating because moderators decided which thoughts were "right" and "wrong".

Most of us did not grow up learning to only say what some authority figure wants to hear and a great many people grew up in a culture (or cultures) where debate is generally "angry" and "rude".... and we can see that in recent years it has become even more angry and more rude.... What we get online is people emulating that and no amount of moderating is going to change that kind of programming. Put bluntly, people emulate their leaders and if their leaders act like fools then they will also start to act foolishly. We can all do something about that. Every one of us could and should think twice before posting something rude.

The law on internet forums does not need to be "he/she who screams loudest, wins". Unfortunately saying that will sound naive to a lot of people because they don't know that there is another way.

R..

 

[seeker242]

No, that's ridiculous. What in the world are you talking about? Obviously, you have no clue what you're talking about because that's the stupidest thing I ever heard. Get back to me when you L2dive...

 

[The Chairman]

I thought that this board was/is/should be a place where we all strive to try to understand each others view, what they are trying to say, even if we don't agree with it.

Sounds like my "Dive and let dive!" rant a month or so back. I don't think it's worse, but we could always improve. We certainly don't want to be another rec.scuba, but we do want to be relevant. People should be able to criticise without being uncivil.

since several long time members were permabaned.

Several? A couple, sure, but not "several". We won't tolerate threats of any sort and we won't tolerate general meanness for long. We try to perform some "anger management", but we only have so much time. As one of the mods suggested: "Sometimes the juice just isn't worth the squeeze."

 

[divad]

I have noticed a trend in different threads that seems to be increasing. It seems that replys are slowly becoming more argumentative, subtly snarky, and "us vs them", I gotta' win.

Divisiveness has been a fact in society for a while, but I thought that this board was/is/should be a place where we all strive to try to understand each others view, what they are trying to say, even if we don't agree with it. Where we strive to explain why we feel/dive the way we do rather than prove our "side" is right. Where we don't need to put down an opinion or person's view just because we don't agree with it. Where we share information rather than prove the other guy wrong.

You seem weary.....of your own expectations.

 

[Bob DBF]

Other than the Pub, I've seen ScubaBoard calm down a lot over the nine years I've been here. The Chairman just coverd the reasons. Other parts of the Internet is not nearly as friendly, helpful or fun as it is around here.


Bob

 

[NatureLVR]

In the end, I think most can agree that we are better off with ScubaBoard than one of the other forums. Am personally grateful for the knowledge that comes out of these forums at times.