Maybe our Mental toss flycoon will weigh in...
Sure ... why not. The opinions expressed here are in more or less random order as the mood strikes me.
I enjoy Dan's comments. Don't always agree with him. Wouldn't always put things the way he does. But for the most part, I see him as a valuable perspective on a lot of things.
The term "stroke" bugs the hell outta me ... I think serves no useful purpose, since its usual connotation bears little resemblance to the initial intent of the word when it was coined. I also think a lot of people tend to use it as an intentionally divisive term, which is stupid in the context of a recreational activity. It's a term that I'd like to see purged forever from the lexicon of scuba-related language.
I think there's a time and place to be contentious. The Basic forum is the wrong place ... it's intended to be user-friendly. Contentiousness in that forum usually looks like a bunch of dogs lining up to piss on the same tree ... all they're doing is killing the tree. In that forum, if you can't keep your comments friendly, then no matter how useful you believe them to be, they don't belong there.
If you want to be argumentative, call people names, or generally just play troll, take it to The Pub ... that's what it's there for. And we can always use some fresh meat ... er, perspective ... on the things we like to argue about in there. Just do us regulars a favor and keep in mind that we're all more or less friends there. It's a Pub ... the only people who take our arguments seriously are people who haven't spent much time there, or who are just nasty people. If that's you, please don't go there.
Here in this forum, we get these threads every so often ... bitching about moderators. I was a mod on this board for a time. I understand how it works. Most of the mods are genuinely interested in making this board a better experience for the majority ... and sometimes that involves putting some limits on someone who is having difficulty self-moderating. Maybe that's the case here ... I wasn't involved in the discussion that spawned this thread, so I don't really know. I do know that moderating's a thankless job ... that mods don't operate in a vacuum ... and that they're generally harder on each other than they are on everybody else. So I'm inclined to cut 'em a bit of slack when they decide that somebody needs a time out ... or maybe just needs to sit out of a particular forum because they aren't playing properly with the other folks who are using it. Frankly, I can think of a bunch of times when I wish they'd do a bit more of that.
Nobody's perfect. The mods don't get paid ... and most of 'em don't get a thrill out of having to dispense a bit of disciplinary action on someone. For the most part, I think they act with a lot of restraint.
So let's ease up a bit and cut the mods some slack, shall we?
Let's remember why we're here ... it's essentially the same reason as why we dive ... to relax, socialize, and have a bit of fun. Let's see if we can do that without it costing someone else some stress ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
---------- Post added August 12th, 2013 at 02:18 PM ----------
The people in South Florida, Colorado and the Pacific North West don't mean squat to me.
As long as you don't club octopi in the PNW you'll be OK on ScubaBoard.
... well since you keep bringing us up, I think we must mean a lot to you ...
Everyone involved in that octopus issue has moved on to more productive things. But since you're still so concerned about it, I thought you'd like to know we succeeded in getting the law changed. Those octopus are now protected ... as they should have been all along. Don't thank me ... I just knew you'd be thrilled to hear it ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)