Posted by SLANG on November 14, 2000 at 16:29:31:
In Reply to: Re: The Dive Ghouls Return. posted by MHK on November 14, 2000 at 13:04:18:
Give us a break Mike. Don't insult the intelligence of everyone on the board by getting all righteously indignant when someone questions the altruistic nature of your post. Everyone knows that you give substantial amounts of money and, more importantly, your personal time to benefit the diving community in general; and you should be applauded for your efforts. However, as someone who has been following this board since its inception, there's no way you can convince me that you don't have an overall agenda, or that every single one of your posts does not contain at least some small comment intended to further your beliefs. Now, of course you have every right to promote your beliefs on this forum, but don't get all defensive when someone doesn't see things your way. Sometimes you sound like a broken record. Your obvious intention was to bring to the attention of the board another "solo" death. You really had to reach for this one. A guy diving in a cave in Brazil? That has zero relevance to my diving. I mean, who knows? This kid was diving a backplate and harness, maybe "DIR" killed him. Maybe he was absent the day they covered "no deep air" and "no solo diving" in DIR school. Maybe he learned just enough "DIR" to get himself in trouble. Maybe this kid would still be alive if someone hadn't decided we all needed a more macho label, and created "Tech Diving" . . .?
But it was your last comment that really made it impossible for me to remain silent:
>"But to stiffle (sic) open forums is
something that I'm not interested in..."
Exactly what effect do you think your personal attacks on people who hold out opinions that differ from yours, have on this "open forum"? How about when you attack posters who may be fairly new to diving, and are still caught up in the enthusiasm that I'm sure you once felt for the sport, and tell them they have no business posting because they don't know what they are talking about? And then libeling a well known and respected contributor to this board who DOES make a living from the sport. I don't know, it sounds like you only believe in an open forum when everyone agrees with you. You hide your attacks behind the veil of "I can't sit idly by and allow bad information to be learned by poor dumb newbies who can't think for themselves." This forum isn't your private congregation, everyone here does not necessarily have to dive the way you think they should. We don't all have to believe that George Irvine is God, or that Jablonski is Moses, and the only door to salvation is DIR. I understand your need to proselytize, but you've got to accept the fact that not all of us heathens are going to convert and be saved. And while you may find Frank Farmer's posts the equivalent of blasphemy, I find them humorous (in a very "hot air" sort of way), and a whole lot more entertaining to read than another re-wording of the Gospel According to George. And, BTW, the damage done to your credibility is certainly not going to be remedied by your beating up on someone like Kelphead.