NWDC Open Forum - Why We Visit This Site

[Huskychemist]

Alright, I've remained silent on this, but now I'll chime in.

First of all, I'll answer Calvin's question: I visit this site for the following reasons:

1. To see JanK's incredible art.
2. To ask questions and learn from others in the Critter Watchers Forum.
3. As one of the ways I keep in touch with my dive buddy, Coachrenz. Since I live in Thailand, I don't get to see him as often as I used to.
4. To keep tabs on the beautiful waters of the PNW. I was trained there and still have a majority of my dives in my logbook there, so it's still my "home" diving.
5. To learn from others that post questions/comments about dive situations.
6. To post my pictures and get feedback on my critter IDs and photograph skills so I can improve.
7. To share information about diving in Thailand, as it's a great place to dive.
8. Because I love diving.
9. Because NorthwestDiver.com isn't the site it used to be. (But even when it was better, I visited both sites.)


As for the so-called disaster thread, my take on it is influenced by my current home. The Thai people are incredibly gracious. One of their gifts is the phrase "mai pen rai." It basically means, "Nevermind" or "No problem." So if a bad situation arrises, somebody apologizes and the response is "mai pen rai." Done. Problem solved. The emphasis is on the relationships with PEOPLE, not the task/issue at hand. Yes, there are times when mai pen rai isn't enough, and after the initial apology and acceptance of said apology, the two (or more) parties in conflict can have quiet personal discussions to resolve any remaining conflicts. But the focus remains on keeping the personal relationships strong, rather than on the nitpicky details.

Even within this thread, it's taken some time to get to this point, but it seems we're back to personal relationships being more important.

As my dive buddy says to me before every dive, "Let's go diving." My response: "Let's have a good dive."

And for those of you that know what I look like topside, here's my favorite smiley.

:rr:

[Fishstiq]

Personally, I visit this site to connect with diving when I can't dive. We've all seen/had the discussions where all your non-amphib friends and family are sick of hearing about diving, and this site is like my own personal little cult where everyone thinks like me (at least on a vague, basic level) and wants to talk about diving 24/7/365. Sure I get picked on a lot, and Pez is always mean to me, and if I had feelings, I'm sure they'd be hurt. Still, this site has been the launching point for many relationships that I have that are valuable to me.

I think the site could use a change though (please, hear me out). Take the words "meet and" out of the tag line. I have never met anyone on this site. I have met divers in traffic, on jobsites, at work, in a hospital, in restaurants and bars, in dive shops, in classes, and most importantly, at dive sites. I know some of you think this is a petty or stupid distinction, but the way I look at it, it's an absolutely vital one. Why? Because I've never met a diver face-to-face who I didn't end up liking. We introduce ourselves, shake hands, and talk diving. At that point, we are two like-minded people talking about something we love. You might even say that makes us "friends".

The flip side of the coin is that I have "met" plenty of divers on the internet who I formed a low opinion of. The beauty of PNW diving though is that eventually I started meeting these people in person, and I am happy to say I have been wrong about every one of them so far. I look forward to continuing my "I was wrong again" streak.

I have plenty more to say about "The Thread", but the topic here is why we visit this site, and I'm making my best effort to avoid derailing what I think has been an awesome discussion so far.

Joe

Note- I'm not saying I want to be Best Friends Forever with every diver I meet in person, nor am I naive enough to think simply meeting someone in real life is going to fix everything. I'm just saying meeting in person and extending a handshake is often times enough for me to stop wishing that a given individual fall prey to an unnamed illness that causes their stomach to agressively attack and swallow their head. Not the perfect fix, I know, but it's a start.

[Joshua Smith]

We got some good responses here. I must say, I hoped a few more of you would chime in with honest replies, however. We're at a funny stage of growth, here, for a website, and we're taking a hard look at how we can best serve the local dive community as a whole in the years to come. We are primarily about serving the wants and needs of the new recreational diver, but as more of us move into technical diving, things change. Please feel free to post any random thoughts and ideas here- this is about more than resolving tensions between the UTD camp and the CCR/ everyone else camp.

[Grateful Diver]

I don't think there needs to be tensions, Josh ... and segregating parts of the community or making certain topics verboten are only going to further divide the community.

What there needs to be is an understanding that only certain levels of behavior will be tolerated, and if people step over those lines, then they need a "time out" to think about how to behave better.

Address individuals, and their behavior ... not diving styles.

And FWIW - when someone says "I won't dive with you" ... consider that it's more a statement of their own limitations than it is about the skills of the person they're saying it to. People impose those limitations on themselves for a lot of reasons ... sometimes it's ignorance, other times simply a matter of staying with a self-imposed comfort zone. Fortunately, both of those conditions are dynamic, and change with time. The person you may be insulted by today might turn out to be an excellent dive buddy a year from now.

Don't sweat the small stuff ... we do this for fun.

Hope you're planning to be there Tuesday night ... lookin' forward to diving with ya ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Maverick]

Well put Bob. I will see you tuesday too, I will be diving with my friend Dan. we are a mixed team and I am on OC while he dives CCR. this will be a great dive as i have a new 35watt salvo to try for only the second time.

[Diver_C]

I visit this site to see what's going on with people - some I know and some I don't. Been too busy with other things for awhile now, so haven't done any real diving or been on this site in awhile either. It's taken quite awhile catching up (I wanted to go to bed a long time ago). [So glad this site has a "what's been posted since your last visit" button.]

My eyes glazed over on that other thread, and couldn't finish reading it, but didn't have any real desire to either. Those types of threads are going to happen once in awhile. Don't think people mean to send them off in that direction, they just end up there, despite good intentions.

I will add the following: I miss the old Wednesday dives of yore, where a bunch of people hung out for an evening, not just rushing off to leave after the diving, and maybe doing a second dive. I miss the Hood Canal weekend dives that occurred the weekend before July Fourth, and the first weekend of December. Even though there were only just a few of them, those dive-n-pizza Friday nights were pretty fun too! Glad people are enjoying the big buddy-little buddy dives.

Gotta go to bed... Come on Skipper

[BASSMAN]

Rich!
Quit missing so much and come dive with a few of us on Thursday nights!

It's been too long since we have dove together.

I like to visit this site because I get to invite several buddies for a Thursday dive and at least one of them will be able to show and I still get to dive on Thursday or, if I have to cancle, the other buddies get to still dive. I don't think it's me. Life just seems to get in the way of our diving addictions. I understand how we need to keep the non-diving people {or jobs} in our lives, important to us too!
And when I'm not diving for one reason or another, I can come to this site and dive vicariously(sp) through the awsome dive reports!

Thanks NWDC!
And thank you Calvin for getting this all started!


Keith

[jeff98208]

well played calvin! and crystaltears, i am not sure on the dive lights your choosing, as i use the uk dive light. i recomend speaking to either pez or h20doctor on the dive light.

[Pez7378]

well played calvin! and crystaltears, i am not sure on the dive lights your choosing, as i use the uk dive light. i recomend speaking to either pez or h20doctor on the dive light.

Pez says SALVO. But that should be reserved for the GEAR section.

[H20doctor]

Jeff is right.. Buy a light from me... Salvo is overated and to exp... Ha Ha .. As for this site I am addicted to it. I am here for the friends and the diving. I meet calvin one night while diving at alki 2.5 years ago and I have been here ever since. Did I say buy my ligh??? Oh yes I did