Is "the first rule of Scubaboard is that you don't talk about Scubaboard?"

[ajtoady]

I will ask if someone is a SB member. I tell them that is is a great sounding-board for information. Why would you miss the opportunity to converse with all of the knowledge that is present on this board? Besides, the little pics on the left of the posts are neat!

 

[~ dry]

I joined because my instructor listed it as one of more than a dozen online sources. All the others were sites on marine life, diving medicine, dive news, marine sciences, and local diving.

I'm glad to be here, learning a lot!

dory

 

[VooDooGasMan]

I meet divers once in awhile and bring it up if they start asking ?'s about certain things, and mostly meet non divers asking ?'s and I tell them to go to SB search it out. Yet just ask a ? and you will get the answer in many of ways that you will somehow understand and can decide for yourself if you would like to proceed in the underwater world. I also tell them it is the best scuba guide there is and once you see how manufactures answer ?'s, all your travel needs are right there with all the divers telling there experience and what is up to date today, not an article of a year ago or an old book.

 

[drrich2]

I like to mention it as an info. resource and also for the 'community' aspect.

I suspect a number of people take an OW class in a group, get certified in this sport which strongly emphasizes a buddy system and for many people involves mainly boat diving, then go home after their OW check-out dives & maybe a few dives on a cruise vacation or the like, and then...nothing. Their parents aren't into it, their neighbors don't dive... Some people who have a local dive shop may network that way, but no everyone is much of a 'people person' comfortable engaging strangers and forming new bonds.

Scuba Board can help such people not only learn, but interact with & relate to fellow divers without the awkwardness of blundering into a local dive shop hoping to 'get lucky' and find a dive buddy or some such.

It's also a good way to get reviews of places from a variety of 'customers like me' rather than just a magazine article or two (or a biased vendor site) when I want to research a destination. Discussing which resort to stay at in Bonaire, how dangerous riding scooters is in Cozumel & which dive op.s there have 120 cf tanks for air hogs, how a trip to Curacao would differ from one to Bonaire, or how a trip to Roatan probably wouldn't involve 'driving all over the island' like one to Bonaire might...this input is mainly found on forums. A dive magazine article might highlight (usually sensationalize poetically) a destination, but isn't likely to compare it head-to-head with another (Bonaire vs. Roatan), or compare resorts head-to-head (Buddy Dive vs. the Plaza or Captain Don's).

Most of the criticisms I see mentioned toward ScubaBoard actually apply to the human race, and most any very large gathering of people. At least if I post bad advice on a public forum I'm likely to be challenged & the point debated openly.

Richard.

 

[Rhone Man]

I was thinking about this thread last night, and in particular about the "community" side of SB. When I was driving to meet TSandM and Peter Guy for lunch last week and I was telling my wife all about them, and what they do, and where they travel, and their wider families, and my wife goes: "Are you sure you have never met them before?" It is amazing how well you can know someone without having met them.

The other thing I was remembering was a few years ago when I used to play a MMORPG with a group of "friends" whom I had never met, and one day one of them posted a message that they were going to have stop playing. They had really enjoyed the years that they had spent with the group, but unfortunately they had terminal cancer and they didn't want to leave the group without saying a proper good bye. I don't remember if I actually cried, but I suspect I was probably close. Yet I had no idea what this person's real name was, whether they were black or white, man or woman, young or old, or where in the world they lived. I am not sure what it is that makes people or communities special, but I guess it really is "something inside" that makes us who we are.

So, with that I'll wish a very Merry Christmas to all my friends on SB - those whom I have met, and those whom I haven't (yet)!

 

[spectrum]

In another thread I started many of the posters stated that they don't talk about Scubaboard with other divers. I fall into that catagory and was wondering what other people's reason for this is.

I can surmise a couple of reasons.
- posters enjoy the anonymity of posting online
- it never comes up in conversation when meeting new divers
- avoiding conflict when you potentially meet someone with whom you have had a vigorous discussion with over some of the more volatile threads
- adopting a different persona online

Any thoughts on this?

I don't hesitate to talk about it and have a number of local friends that participate. In some cases you need to deal with some backlash from some of the BP&W / Long hose / Jets / you're gonna die hyperbole that has made the board something of a caricature. Not everyone is willing the sort the wheat from the chafe and would rather throw the baby out with the bathwater. [end of cliche festival]

In the end this is a great resource and it's worth the flack to spread the word.

Pete

 

[Jax]

:spit:


'cliche festivus'!!!!

 

[D_B]

My instructor mentioned scubaboard to us during OW or maybe AOW
I've met , gone places, and dived with people, I never would have otherwise .. not to mention all the info and help I've received over the years


Edit .. On a dive boat I did run into the owner/operator that was friends with "those that can not be named here" and didn't much like us or my asking if I could put up a SB sticker

 

[Davemohio]

Really??? Maybe you should check the recent thread about Silent World. Silent World didn't have to say a word . . . .

Hmm. I noticed that as well.

I am still surprised how many divers I meet don't know about SB.

 

[SeaCobra]

Shenanigans! If you make some bone headed claims (like you just did)

So, my personal opinion is now a bone headed claim? This is just the sort of thing that I mean. I did read the Silent World thread and glad folks spoke up for the operator. But, for all of these good things there are also some not so good.

As I said, there are a good number of excellent people here on this board and I have a tremendous amount of respect for them, their efforts and their generosity as they give of themselves, their knowledge and their time. While many of them I would consider a resource, I do not feel that Scubaboard itself is, in and of itself. I liken it to more of a huge on-line dive club, one that is fun, has some great people and I enjoy.

I have no problem talking about Scubaboard and people are welcome to bring it up in my dive shop. I just still prefer the personal touch, I still buy an actual newspaper every morning (not the digital kind). This is also why I added my real name to my signature, I looked into having my screen name changed, but that looked problematic.

Merry Christmas to all