I just don't log dives,why not?????

[slacker88]

It seems that the ones that feel strongly for not logging their dives are seasoned divers and found no use for logging. Cool that works for them, being a newly certified diver, I find keeping a log usefull and will continue to log dives, like others, until it becomes something to do just for doing it. If you are not using your logs for anything then don't use keep them.

As far as the sport/hobby thing, logs serve different purposes, keep track of cool things you see, the journal aspect, and keep track of pertinent data, i.e. depth, SAC, temp, etc. this is the statistical side of things. Just about every sport I can think of collects stats on players and/or teams. Some people are really into stats and if thats your thing cool go with it.

Paper or electronic? If you are going to keep logs, use whatever works for you, I currently log in my paper book, but I'm looking at various applications to use. Since I'm a geek at heart, I will find the electronic version that, again, works for me.

Just my thoughts...

 

[Mikko Ilari Laakkonen]

Even that I don't log my dives I encourage everybody else to do so.

- Mikko Laakkonen -

I love diving and teaching others to dive.

 

[doctormike]

With respect moving from one form of digital media to another is a pain - only things that are really important get transferred in my experience.

Waste of time to keep moving stuff from one media type to another, and the idea that digital media is somehow permenant is a very short term perspective. Most of this stuff will be unreadable in 50 years - ask an archivist and be prepared for an earfull. Standards change and what seems like a "permenant" standard is surprisingly short lived - from a longer term perspective. Just try reading some old backup tapes created more than 10 yeras ago for a server. Virtually impossible (I used to keep a whole shelf of old tape drives just for this purpose - as they got older they got less and less reliable and became more and more difficult to make work.

You are totally missing the point. Digital media is not permanent, digital CONTENT is permanent. At least, it can be if you care about the content, or if it is important to you. It has nothing to do with archiving - that's for atoms, not for bits. You don't preserve digital content into the far future by constructing elaborate climate controlled vaults, you preserve it by making it part of your routine backup procedures - to the point that you don't even need to think much about it.

My dive log is important to me. If that means that once a decade I need to forward migrate something to another format, then it's worth that minuscule effort. Same with things like my email archives, my writing, my photographs and a lot of the rest of the digital content that I have created. If you want to pretend that this is some massive, undoable project that makes it ridiculous to even contemplate saving your content, then go ahead... I know that this is simply part of the modern world, and as backup infrastructure gets cheaper, faster and more ubiquitous, the barrier to content preservation becomes lower an lower.

I also don't have to think individually about each one of the thousands of individual data files on my laptop. I don't know what kind of computer I will have in 20 years (knock wood!), but I do know that it will still have all of my data on it because every time I upgrade, the data goes with me.

So what is really important to you? If you don't log dives or don't care about your log, then your log isn't, but to some people (like me) it is. I can move 20 gigabytes of data to a $20 USB drive in a minute or two, and repeat that every year if I'm really worried about the media degrading (flash drives are a lot more stable than magnetic media), and make 5 of them if I'm worried about them getting lost or damaged. So a dive log, which even at 650 dives takes up 8 MB of space, but represents years of diving seems like it would make the cut.

So it's only a "waste of time" if you don't care about the content. And I agree, if you don't care about the content, you don't need to bother with taking care of it. If your shelf of tapes or stack of DVD's had something that was important on them to you, at one point an whole warehouse full of them could have been put on a drive that could fit on your keychain, AND on your cloud drive, etc... and then you would have had access to that information without needing to maintain an archaic tape reader...

 

[Bratface]

My dive log is more like a journal plus I was older when i learned to dive and I want to see how many I can do before I can't get back on the boat anymore. I usually write about a fish I don't often see or a stupid diver trick performed underwater, when I change to a heavier wetsuit. Sometimes other divers will ask me how many dives I have done. When I tell them, I often hear, "well I think I've made that many too". I tell them the difference is I KNOW I have. It's not a contest. Do whatever you want to do.

 

[Lost down under]

Don't log dives, this is primarily because I'm lazy and dislike any form of paperwork.

I might start soon though as I consider going for my dive master, although diving a few times per week it wont take me long to get the minimum squared away.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Even that I don't log my dives I encourage everybody else to do so.

... you should run for Congress ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Peter69_56]

You don't log your sex life ????????????????????????????????????????? :shocked2: I don't either as its too embarrassing to show I have only one entry to date

---------- Post added January 8th, 2014 at 01:30 AM ----------

The biggest reason is that nobody ever asks to see my log book for anything, and my computer logs the data. If something really unusual happens, I'll remember it. Paper sheets just don't hold any benefit for me and don't rate the time required to maintain them. If a dive op wants to know when my last dive was, it's a button-push away.

This is completely different than why people select "I don't log dives" on SCUBABoard. The problem is that a lot of people jack up their "internet dive count" far beyond their actual dive count, making the tag meaningless and in fact, misleading. I selected "I don't log dives" because the number doesn't mean anything online and even if it did, has vastly different meanings depending on the dives.

flots.

Unfortunately I would have to agree with you. 3000 dives to 12 m over 15 years doesn't impress me except the number of dives perhaps.

1000 dives in 5C water with 1/2 m vis, strong currents, depths to 100m, now I am more impressed with the "apparent" skills. But as you say, internet numbers sadly don't account for a lot. Its a sad day that we don't believe in anyone's word anymore like the old days. I can remember when you could go to a shop having forgotten your wallet and they would give you the item and you would come back next day and pay for it. Not now.

I log my dives and try and accurately reflect the actual conditions and accurate data, more out of being professional and doing it right if I am going to make the effort to do it. Its for my satisfaction, and not to wave a number flag or gather brownie points.

As I say the proof is in the pudding, I watch divers and see how they dive, I don't accept anyone at all on face value, even if you have a multi level instructor for the instructors cert. The proof is in your diving and your professionalism, not in a piece of plastic, a log or ones ego driven mouth.

---------- Post added January 8th, 2014 at 01:46 AM ----------

"I don't log dives" It is a personal choice and non of your business! Did that read as being snippy enough?

The real question I asked myself is would I read my dive log, and the answer simply was no. I quit logging the day I got my c-card. I am not looking for bragging rights, nor approval of other people. I have never been asked for my log book. My gear doesn't change anymore and I would like to say it is pretty dialed in. 96% of my dives are cold water, and we see much of the same creatures.

I don't log my hikes, kayaking adventures, nor my mountain bike rides. Those tend to have equipment changes more than my diving.

I am too lazy to log dives. By the time I get home, disconnect the boat, flush the motor and wash it clean, unpack all my gear and my partners, then wash everything after driving 2-6 hours, I am beat and just want to eat then relax, or go to bed.

After all my gear purchases I can't afford a nice log book, but I got a nice iPhone with unlimited everything Where did I put my food stamps?

Lately I haven't been diving much as I have been remodeling my house. I used to dive fairly often though and will again in the future.

Providing services to others is not in my diving future. Although I have happily given back and mentored more than a few divers.

Funny that I rarely get asked for a signature, but always willing to provide one with a smile when asked. Maybe that is because most of my dive buddies don't log dives.

I have been asked for my dive logs for a number of reasons; obtaining a new cert, diving a new area and not known to LDS, guides want to see your diving out of curiosity. just because you haven't been asked, doesn't mean you wont be. I sign my own log now days as its so difficult remembering to get a signature before you leave for the day, usually I fill in the details at home later. Log is still valid, just doesn't have the verification signature. As you get higher up the tree, it appears that people judge you more by your actual ability in the water, rather than the number of dives which most newbies hold in awe when starting out.

"The measure of a diver is how they dive, and not how they fill out their log"

 

[String]

I see this status more than I would anticipate.The main reason I log dives is because I have 7 wetsuits hanging on my wall and I dive both fresh and salt water.Just trying to remember how much weight to dive with what suit can be challenging.My question is why or why not log dives????

I really fail to see the point logging dives. Does it benefit me at all? No.
Is my diving enhanced through a written note of every single dive i do? No.

Some people might like it but personally i see it as extra effort for pretty much no gain.

I will OCCASIONALLY make notes on a new dive site such as tides, currents and so on but thats it.

 

[boulderjohn]

I really fail to see the point logging dives. Does it benefit me at all? No.
Is my diving enhanced through a written note of every single dive i do? No.

Some people might like it but personally i see it as extra effort for pretty much no gain.

I will OCCASIONALLY make notes on a new dive site such as tides, currents and so on but thats it.

If I were in your position I wouldn't log dives, either. For those of us who aren't living next to an ocean and diving nearly every day, diving may still be enough of a novelty to make the time worth while.

 

[herbdb]

Lets see. - When was my last trip to Roatan? How much weight did I use on the NC Wreck dives in my 5mil suit? What dive site did I really want to revisit on Bonaire? Did I get my moneys worth from my season pass to Dutch Springs?

If nothing else, a log book lets you answer this type of question.