I ask that all of you who care about this site, or even don't like this site and wish it were different, will post your thoughts about Northwest Dive Club and its future, here on this thread. For the time being, I'm going to forget about whatever type of equipment I use, who I dive with and what school of thought I subscribe to. For the duration of this thread I hope you all will join me in considering yourselves above all else, simply divers.
We have had an increasing amount of tension building up over the past several months, in relation to differences in diving philosophy. Some of us (myself included) have posted snarky, snide comments while others have overtly stated criticisms and insults. This is not what this board is about and I am ashamed at playing a role, and at letting it escalate and deteriorate to this point. For that, I apologize to all members of Northwest Dive Club.
It is hard *not to* let these things get to you. We are taught from day one (whether that was Discover SCUBA or OW) that how we dive and the equipment we choose to dive with affects not only our safety but that of others around us. It is no wonder then, that as we learn more about diving, become better, dive deeper, longer and more complex profiles that the critical importance we place on diving skills and equipment and even philosophies continues to grow along with us. It is a natural tendency for branches that grow far from the trunk to eventually cross with other branches, that have also grown great distances. It is because of this great passion we have for diving, the camaraderie we have developed with our dive buddies that we take such great offense when someone else says something that we perceive as an affront to our safety and those we care about. It is a natural reaction, based on perceptions.
I have waffled many times over what to do about the problem that I have seen as membership grew and as people have become better divers (and as a result, more set in their ways). I'll admit, the thought has crossed my mind several times to outright ban all talk of DIR on this board. Regardless of where the blame lies, in the detractors' camp, in the DIR gospel preachers, the confused new people who ask questions, the factions within the DIR camp, CCR divers, etc. - the bottom line is that we all know that wherever DIR topics occur on the internet, bad things tend to follow. This is a reality, not my personal opinion. Many people have theorized about the reason for this, and have tried to remedy the situation. I am not so arrogant to think that I can solve this problem when others smarter and more experienced than me have tried and failed to do so. So far, I have not decided to prevent DIR discussions from taking place on a policy level - primarily because the greatest criticism of DIR diving is that it is not inclusive - and in excluding it here on the board, I would be carrying out exactly that which I wish to protect others from. That is not to say that I will never do it, mind you, but I consider it a real last resort.
This brings me to my next point. Passionate belief systems are not exclusive to diving, surprise! Another category of belief systems that have properties similar to our diving dogmas are *religions*. So, I will use the same reasoning I apply to religions and adapt it to diving philosophies on this board. I would like people here to understand that *anyone* and *everyone* is allowed and encouraged to subscribe to whatever school of thought they want to. Pick whatever suits you right. But, I'm preaching to the choir here. The people likely reading this thread will be those who have already chosen. The problem is not that I choose something different than Steding, who chooses something different than Bob, who chooses something different than Matt... the problem lies in the fact that we spend energy, sometimes great amounts of it, on trying to convince each other that one way is better than another. I'm not going to go back to grade school and tell you that all ways of diving are equal. They're not. But, I'm also not the person who gets to play judge and jury in the universe of objectivism, and neither are any of you.
So, where do these struggles on the board come from? Does Nailer just wake up one day and decide that it's time to take on the OC guys for an afternoon? No. It typically arises from one person telling other people about their own style of diving, because they think they're helping to inform others. Whether this is to inform a new diver who asked a question, or to clear up a perceived misconception about [insert type of diving here], that's where it always stems from. And, that's what happens in a large-ish open forum where everyone has the opportunity to speak.
Going back to religion. Some religions have the concept that in order to be a good [insert type of worshipper here], you need to convince other people to adopt your way of thinking, praying, etc. You need to spread the good word. You need to reduce confusion around God, because reducing confusion is good. This is called evangelism. I have no intention of speaking to what I think about religion here because I respect NWDC members' rights to believe what they want about their Gods and religions. However, dive philosophies are not religions, and therefore I can make the argument that we should ALL do as much as we can to stamp out the urge to be evangelical, and in turn defensive, about our ways of diving, our equipment configurations and our dive team practices. It's diving, for pete's sake. It's something we do *for fun* (most of us). So, why make it not-fun by trying to evangelize something that need not be evangelized? If you're reading or writing stuff on this board, you're already interested in diving. No one needs to encourage you down one path or another. The person seeking knowledge will acquire it one way or another. All that we do when we push and pull each other over dive philosophy and practices is make ourselves look stupid and childish.
Now, that was a long pep-talk. In summary and conclusion, my first resort is to apologize, to set down my own personal beliefs and to remember that I'm just a person who goes underwater, like all of you. Next, I need to let you all know that some things need to change around here. NWDC is home to several groups who have different agendas. Some groups even have their own web sites that promote or cater to particular types of diving (I'm not just talking about NWUE, I count rebreatherworld folk in this as well, etc.). To those of you who want to promote your beliefs and diving styles on the web, that's great, promote away.... but not here.
Consider this a reminder that this board was built for recreational divers seeking buddies to do recreational dives. It is not a farm system for divers to find mentors, gurus, role models, instructors, gear suppliers or anything else. Sure, someone might find one of these things - but that is not the primary purpose for this venue. So, to those of you who have intentionally or even inadvertently turned NWDC into a battleground for ideas or the attention or interest of new divers, please cease and desist because I ask you to, not because I am forced to make you.
Our moderators have continued to do the very hard job of keeping this a friendly environment for people. I fear that they are not into continuing the work that they receive little gratification and no compensation for. If these flame wars over diving philosophies continue and eventually drive out one of the Mods, I will be forced to do something other than appeal to our collective sensibilities, and I don't want to. I have always been a pretty hands-off guy around here and there has traditionally only been two cardinal rules:
1) Don't be a dick.
2) Have fun.
It seems that both rules were broken in the thread I referenced at the beginning. Apologies will be openly accepted on this thread and no one will think lesser of you if you want to lay down your jet black diver gear and show your fuzzy undergarments. I'll be the first to start. I'm sorry to the DIR folk who I
a few weeks back, and I'm sorry to all NWDC members for being negligent about the deterioration of the site that has occurred. Finally, I'm sorry to the Mods, for not supporting them as well as I could have and for being absent for days or weeks at a time, when the dive club has needed direction and resolve. I'm not to the last straw yet though, so I am committed to helping us all get along.Phew....
and the same goes for anyone else here. Hope to meet you all some day at a local dive site.