On Sat, 4 Mar 2006 08:58:16 -0800, john hauer <[log in to unmask]> 
wrote:

>There is a dark side to online forums. Strike has -er-
>struck the nail...as it were. People who continue on
>as such (team Lee vs. team grouper?)-- for years and
>years -- have successfully killed the value found in
>such forums. There is a reason that Scuba-l and this
>forum have effectively died. Noise noise noise...
>
>All the quality divers I know do not have time to
>waste on either side of the issues. Actually the
>issues have long ago disappeared. No one cares if
>blah, blah said blah blah on any forum... nor if they
>cross posted the blah blah blah...
>
>Why do I hang on and check? To see if anyone can
>transcend the noise and post about diving. It does
>happen sometimes. On other occasions I will deleted
>month long backups of digests without reading them. I
>know what they contain.
>
>I know the arguers will not cease - they would have
>stopped years ago if they were capable. If I had the
>time to moderate such a forum -- and I don't -- I
>would create a system to bar users who were unkind to
>other posters in any way. I might use a sort of
>decorum committee - or at lest put a word limit on all
>users. It has been a long time since I have read a
>post over 50 words that was worth reading. Yes, those
>50 words include quoted text.
>
>Word count on this post = 320
>
>John

John,

The issue raised by your assay had long been addressed
in Scuba-L, LONG before you began reading it.

This is one of the many postings I've made (this one 
in 1998) on the use of the DELETE key, 

http://tinyurl.com/dy8bj 

in a subject titled, "God made the DELETE key for a reason", 

the original idea of which came from a post by Dean Coding that 
had been RE-POSTED in THOUSANDS of internet lists and newsgroups, 
in a posting titled "Life Cycles of a Mailing list". 

> 6b. Maturity (a few people quit in a huff; the rest of the participants 
>     stay near stage 4, with stage 5 popping up briefly every few weeks; 
>     many people wear out their second or third 'delete' key, but the 
>     list lives contentedly ever after). 

Scuba-L survived MANY MANY cycles of 5 - 6b - 5 - 6b ....
during the years before your presence.

It is different this time.   Scuba-SE will not survive NOT
because of the bickering that had ALWAYS been a part of Scuba-L
ever since 1990, but Scuba-SE will NOT survive because it had 
entered this part of the Natural Life Cycle, for the first time,
as did Scuba-L after Scuba-SE split:

> 6a. Smug complacency and stagnation ... 
>     traffic drops to a doze-producing level of a few minor 
>     issues; all interesting discussions happen by private email and are 
>     limited to a few participants; the purists spend lots of time 
>     self-righteously congratulating each other ... 

John, there is no need to count how many words there are in 
this post.  You may skip any portion of what I have to say,
but it should be educational to you to read Dean Coding's
Ckassic article in its entirety.  You should be able to find
it easily via google:
 
            "Life Cycles of a Mailing list". 

-- Bob.   Former Chief Historian of Scuba-L


>
>The reading grade level of this post is 5th grade.
>
>>Date:    Sat, 4 Mar 2006 06:22:25 +1100
>>From:    David Strike <[log in to unmask]>
>>Subject: Re: Edukashun (Was: Re: A day for visitors)
>
>>You're both fucking, know-nothing, self-centred
>>idiots with only a ha'pence
>>of diving experience each.  My advice to anyone who
>>contemplates getting
>>into the water with either of you, is to get out
>>immediately.  (And do feel
>>free to quote this in rec.scuba!)
>
>>Strike
>
>
>
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