Posted by Wayne on June 05, 2001 at 17:35:48:
In Reply to: Re: I suggest a truce posted by MHK on June 05, 2001 at 16:44:34:
It sure sounds like you are competing in a non-competitive sport. I think that you are convinced that your way of diving is safest and suitable for all divers. That is probably true in a general sense.
What I get from Seahunt's writings about diving are that he believes that diving and freedom go together. And we should not have adhear to one specific set of rigid diving protocols for all recreational diving and we should recognize that sport diving is in continuous evolution and what is nifty now may not be so nifty in the future. I think that is also probably true in a general sense.
What I get from his writings about you is that he does not like you very much! It seems to be mutual, too. So we sit and hear you two throwing rocks at each other instead of discussing diving.
He certainly has a point that you seem to really go into attack mode if anyone should challenge the absolute supremecy of strict DIR as the ONLY way to dive. The bullying tactics seem to usually work. I am sure you have a fan club who sit there and say 'Boy, MHK told him on that one.' I'll bet these same folks went out of their way to say so at the SCUBA show. I think you need to dismiss the non-random visitors at the show as a method of determining who has the most fans. I was on the show floor for both days and never got a chance to meet you, although I wanted to shake your hand and introduce myself.
What I think is going on is this. Everytime you launch a personal attack on someone, seahunt jumps on your case. Then you attack him and he comes right back. You attack him and accuse him mercilessly with such things as saying he dives overweighted (he disagrees and you ignore his defenses), he dives in an unsafe manner because he does not dive strict DIR protocols, he uses a computer to get the most our of multilevel dives, he wanders based on what he sees during the dive instead of planning the dive prior to entry and sticking to it no matter what.
As I have stated here before, I think your high pitched near-hysterical rantings are harmful to your cause. I respectfully submit that you would win over more divers if you would simply increase the civility level. Those who think you are doing a service with this tone, seem to have a maturity level of a teenager. No I take that back, the resident teenager here (Matt) seems much more mature than that.
Why not tone it down and focus on dive reports that make your points, and interesting news of recent developments relating to the underwater world?
Wayne