The Ethics of Full Disclosure on ScubaBoard

[boulderjohn]

I have gotten into mini spats with people before on SB because I criticise a diving destination. Invariably those pushing back and pushing hard are people who work in that destination. So, it is not their product directly, but it is tied to their livelihood indirectly. But does that mean that they shouldn't argue back against negative perceptions in relation to locations which, after all, they are experts?

I never suggested anything of the kind. Of course they are free to argue, and of course their expertise makes their input more valuable. The fact that they openly indicate their affiliation is good for the discussion.

 

[The Chairman]

but would hate for these folks to start getting slammed and pushed out of the forums.

Hopefully, reported posts of people doing this would alert us and help us prevent this.

For employees, it may not be.

For those employees then, they should avoid discussing anything that could be construed as a part of their business. If you're in the Scuba Industry, then the best thing for you is to be represented here. Love us or hate us, Google brings most people looking for Scuba information right here. That's by design and those people often want to connect with someone in the industry. If you're here, you should be connecting.

 

[Bubblesong]

The worst example of SCUBABOARD poster protecting one company while going full Dr.Jeckle and Mr.Hyde transformation on another, the guy did not disclose a financial connection to the protected brand. In fact, he might not have had a direct connection, but had a daughter working there, or some emotional-but not financial bias. Whatever, the bias was apparent in the content posted, and that was a good MOD call, and I appreciate it. But for the future, disclosing ANY connection, financial or OTHERWISE, would be the ethical thing to do.

 

[mdb]

The board is full of people with vested interest- starting at the top with Net Doc.

It is all OK as long as they post under their true identity.

supporting their products, their projects, nothing wrong with that.

I find the board to be well moderated, full of good educational content, informative.

 

[redacted]

This is unmitigated BS. I've never heard about it and I would never have stood for it. It's easy to assign such nefarious motives to the mods, but it's just a grasping at straws. Almost all perma bans are discussed ad nauseum in the back. One mod won't get their way, and that includes myself. We won't tolerate that kind of crap.

Perhaps my use of the word "banned" was confusing. I have never been banned from the board in general. I have been banned from a couple forums and remain so today.

 

[sunnyboy]

Sometimes the vested interest is a little less obvious. It's not one product, or even one brand, but rather generating sales by being "the expert".

A good example is underwater camera places. They sell many brands of gear, so really don't care if you buy Ikelite or Nauticam, but they do care that you buy from them... because they're the experts. In pursuit of this "expert" label, they can get a little overbearing on discussions.

Especially if you want an inexpensive solution but they want to sell you a whole system. The sales droids can get downright nasty to folks offering to help with the inexpensive solution.

 

[cool_hardware52]

The sales droids can get downright nasty to folks offering to help with the inexpensive solution.

Only if they drive Neons.

Tobin

 

[lermontov]

Interesting. The one person I don't push is me. I think it's rude to toot your own horn. Unless someone is asking a specific question about my boat, I never talk about Florida liveaboard a except to put myself on a list.

actually I prefer to know if you or any other poster has a dive business, any company can put up a flashy website and glossy adverts but if Im regularly visiting the forums and reading the information you put in your posts then I can get past the front page and get a feel for what your really about - eg theres a couple of posters on these forums Ive been thinking about doing a dive trip with - one has got an impressive website and the other not so . but after reading many many posts from both people its an easy choice to go with the one with an not so great website

 

[sunnyboy]

Only if they drive Neons.

Tobin

At least they are easy to spot. The trunk is bare metal :-D

 

[scubadada]

There are many posters on ScubaBoard who have an agenda to accomplish. Some are easily identifiable, some are not. I believe it would be in the best interest of SB to divulge these interests. I fully realize such disclosure is very unlikely to happen, but I can hope