Posted by Richard on July 25, 2001 at 21:35:10:
I slipped out of California for a couple weeks on vacation with my wife to the Great North West for some fine diving and giant octopi wrestling. I come back to Diver.net to the usual mindless squabbling amongst this bill board’s participants. I read where some of it’s more recent participants have become silent or flat out absent of original thought. Some have forgotten that what is read can be taken either in or out of context. It’s the out of context assumptions that are making a fool of those who continue to spew forth accusations. Some have fallen so low that they insist on rallying their position by accusing others of outright lying. Others incestuously try to B.S. their way through a topic, only to get caught and pointed out as the posers they are. Others think that they can use the BBS as a propaganda machine by promoting upcoming events, or forcing others to see in marquee fashion that their old, antiquated style of diving is superior. So much for reality.
Editing of this BBS is obviously rampant, this is additionally true to what I have read in the most recent posts. On one thread that I posted to before we left, I counter accused another of drinking alcohol in between dive days after he originally accused one diver of doing it. Since I have seen this diver on a multiday trip drink a good portion of red wine in between dive days, I pointed out that the kettle was calling the pot black. The next day, poof! Both posts were gone. No profanity, no name calling, just counter proof of an accusation being made. That in itself shows the people who run this billboard have their own agenda and one must question the honesty of those who run it, and so should it's advertisers. Integrity rules and that is NOT the case on Diver.net. Advertisers, you too can have this prime marketing demographic. MHK is right. It as become obvious that when the discussion and click rate drops, the owners and editors of the bill board become vocal in an attempt to create controversy. The more controversy, the more clicks. The more clicks, the more dollars to be collected from the advertisers. If it’s not money, the more free gear and boat trips are passed along. Remember this DDS, Great Escape, Peace, Abyss, Aquaflite, and Sea Divers.
Here are some quick bullet points for those who are keeping any kind of score.
MHK and his team of crack D.I.R. promoters headed by teelee and Walker score again using the media to their own advantage. Must be nice having an inside track teelee. I have always agreed with the message, but I am not too sure about the MHK personal motive. No one does this kind of stuff at his own cost without getting anything out of it, not even a smart businessman as MHK looks to be. Asking George to come out and join the fracas over the weekend was pure genius. My spy on Catalina says business was slow on Saturday for the D.I.R., but brisk on Sunday with my spy even getting into the water with Halcyone gear. Can you D.I.R. guys figure out who the spy was? He came away with a high desire to switch to back plate and bladder. He also came away with a high desire for George’s escort. What TV stations were those that showed up interviewing you guys Sunday afternoon? Good job on taking the point to bring a new wreck to the L.A coastline or Catalina MHK. I commend you on your efforts to improve the quality of diving down there. I wish I can say the same for others. Seahunt, are you reading this?
The weedheaded one has stopped posting the mindless "me too" responses and has opted to cross post articles found elsewhere in an apparent and vain attempt to divert the nasty trysts that have evolved. This is OK to a point in my opinion, but it’s still a wasted use of server space. Just think how serious she would be taken if she ever decided to use proper text capitalization and punctuation. The first grader written approach has gotten old real quick. All in all, it should not have come to this. Act your age you knot head. Lab classes still dear? Start acting like it.
Raider Karl, or now CalAbDiver, is having deep problems in being able to discern between a real poster and a sock puppet. He accuses one JRM of being any one of multiple sock puppets on more than one bill board or email list. Boy was his source of information off track, and downright misleading. Clue to Karl, I was TWO of the sock puppets you accused JRM of being. I had a good laugh on that one. Go back to your
"source" and tell them to cut their hair and get back on the Hughey, they are both being recalled again. The next time you want to play whack-a-mole, use the right sized club. The charity abalone to MHK was a nice touch. I bet Wolfie destroyed it by trying to over prepare it. How about it MHK, how did it taste?
JRM had an identity crisis propagated by CalAbDiver. If JRM wanted to create a sock puppet and cause trouble on this bill I am sure he is clever enough to do it cleanly and without detection, I don’t know the troll, but., it does sound like JRM had a bad weekend at the D.I.R. demo. What was tlee doing pulling your regulator from your mouth anyway? Was HE out of air? Refer to the above paragraph Karl for the real clues.
Seahunt oh seahunt, get over yourself please
Your mindless accusations are infested with fleas
If starting a fight best have your facts straight
Every time you open your mouth, you make MHK look great.
I recall the words of the Animals yet again, “he’s too dumb to know when he’s being insulted”. Recent responses by Seahunt confirm that. He has been nailed by his own words and actions exhibited at the Orange County D.I.R. demo. I know because I was there. Seahunt was very vocal at the demo that he felt D.I.R. diving had no place in recreational diving California. During one of the more heated discussions he kept pointing out that Jablonski didn’t have enough experience diving in California and therefore Jablonski had no basis to say that D.I.R. works here. What happened? Now you say you never said that?. Also seahunt, please leave the essay writing and posting on your own web site, boring is being kind as I have been diving California way before your experiences. Your observations are common at boring at best. The phrase you used to describe your propulsion from reef top to reef top was like a helicopter. Picture in your head how a helicopter moves, it has a primary set of gyrating blades that create lift. I can see where MHK got the gyro thing in his mind, as it did for more than a few others including myself. I got through the first two paragraphs of your “pre” sport diving treatment and decided right there that you are genuinely starved for attention. ZzzzzZZZZ!, That kind of dribble is nothing more that what we were all taught and philosophized 30 years ago in La County Lifeguard training when we started diving. The difference is, you are trying to put a personal spin on it and flavor to it to make it more palatable to people claiming it as your own. It's sad that what I have seen do far lacks originality. What you will end up with I am sure, will NOT be what is expected by MHK and the others who are waiting. At least D.I.R offers up something new to the California sport diver. Your essay will be nothing more than a re-warmed general outline with your own personal self serving views added in as self promotion. That’s OK, in your mind seahunt, you are still the king of Condessa Drive. And as a final clue for seahunt, there is more to fun diving than NOT diving D.I.R. Stop crying and and take the marbles out of your mouth. Stop feeding on the public hero worshiping as you are stealing Saint George’s thunder. One last piece of advice, work on the text formatting so the rest of us don’t have to keep guessing.
Steven Kenney has laid off discussing dive gear configuration and moved onto arguing about hyperbaric counter diffusion, mammalian reflex, FFM usage and CO2 buildup. He continues to dare argue with others who have much more training and experience in the topics. It was good fortune others pointed him out for the non-authority he really is. This is a good thing until which time Dan Volker got involved. Dan may be civilized in his communiqués, but his points have the weight of a sledge hammer coming down on an over ripe plum. Remember one of Steve’s recent admissions Dan, “These are my opinions and have no basis on facts.” It’s his trump card when he gets nailed to the wall trying to make yet another observation based on his own brand of personal fiction.
Gasp! MHK agrees with Ken Kurtis on proper usage of a drysuit not as a primary buoyancy device. Could the tide be turning? Let’s hope so. Continue to keep those slanderous statements in check boyz while at the same time being honest. There’s a lot of pot hole filled road ahead to cover. Too bad Ken speaks as a shop co-owner.
Tleemay doesn’t like being called a zealot and I don’t blame him. When I think of zealots, I am perhaps polarized by what the news media portrays a zealot to be, as are many others. Take a poll somewhere of what comes to mind when someone hears the term zealot. Branch Davidians, Moonies, those who instigate Jihad. It is a nasty connotation. I remember someone calling tlee some rather nasty things on rec.scuba a couple years ago. That was a bad place to be for the poster. This is a bad thing. I suppose you can keep calling me an ankle biter tlee, but this billboard needs someone like me and you know it. By the way, sorry to have missed MHK coming back from Monterey. I really tried to wait up for him. None the less, tlee is still a GUE tool.
Good ole’ AA-Diver with an emphasis on ole’. It’s hard to pin him down on a topic. He seems to flip flop on the issues faster than a frog on a Bahamaian hot plate. He continually postulates himself to suit the temperament of the bill board. That is not necessarily a bad thing, just very convenient for him, and confusing for those who watch and keep score.
Kevin, the other wreckaholic. He wrote some clever words in describing what could have happened during the D.I.R. demo last weekend at Avalon. Too bad his black hat bad guys never showed up for the final showdown. I for one would like to see more of this from him. And a 12 foot by 5 foot mailbox? Give me a break already you brass hound!
Msblucow, now there is a surprise. Recent posts display facts straight, to the point and first hand experience. We knew she could do it without one of the D.I.R. people shoving their arm up her spinal column. Sheer brilliance ‘cow. You are on track to become he true conscience of the D.I.R. sport diver.
Wayne-O may have had a rude awakening this past week. There appears to be bad PADI instructors out there after all beyond even the Sport Chalet corporate hyperbole. Hope he can take Dalia over to Casino Point to see first hand the atrocities as MHK suggests. Reality sucks and so does most of the open water training out there. Wayne-O and Dalia are perhaps the exception to the PADI norm. An Avalon love fest may be in the fold. A three-way is in the works?
Anyway, we had some great diving off Nanaimo with Bryce Christy. Awesome vis and some rather interesting high flow dives. The octopi smoked up nice and was excellent with spaghetti one night. Dry suit diving at it’s best. Night dives were interesting. We had to wait until 11 PM for the daylight to go away. I can home with 7 rolls of 36 400 asa. I’m off to the photoshop!