50 replies to this topic

[shadragon]

I came for the trips, but stayed for the people...

I have been on three SD trips so far and not been disappointed. When you can walk into a small group of folks you are acquainted with right off the bat, you can relax a lot quicker and time does indeed fly while you are having fun. It is a fun atmosphere for both the guys and gals so kudos to Kamala for that. SD is large enough to be globally diverse, but small enough to be cozy.

In Grenada I got a table for breakfast by myself. Within 10 minutes, every chair around my table was filled and I ate with people from Texas, New Jersey and Alabama. The next day it was three more different people. The maturity level of SD divers impresses me too. Many are Advanced / Rescue or higher which is great from a safety perspective. Any beginner divers on SD trips get exposed to a lot of solid experience. And beginners are always welcome to the group.

[Bubble2Bubble]

I totaly agree with you Shadragon, that SD crew is a friendly bunch of divers.

Ok I'm a member of another web site similiar to this SD v-bulletin format but they talk about jeeps, I have recently noticed that they changed the home page to have the most popular topics right on the top...according to this SD survey...

Other Divers [ 14 ] [15.22%]
Equipment Suggestions [ 1 ] [1.09%]
Dive Buddies in your area [ 11 ] [11.96%]
News and Current SD Events [ 5 ] [5.43%]
Single Divers [ 12 ] [13.04%]
Diving Locations [ 8 ] [8.70%]
General Diving Talk [ 10 ] [10.87%]
Just Fun and Posting Your Opinion [ 3 ] [3.26%]
Women Divers [ 3 ] [3.26%]
Men Divers [ 1 ] [1.09%]
No Reason..Just Like The Website [ 3 ] [3.26%]
For the dive trips [ 14 ] [15.22%]
To make new friends [ 7 ] [7.61%]

Do you think the Topics in Red should be on the top of the home page ?
Maybe it would be better if I just started another Poll thread asking this question

Bubski

[ScubaPunk]

That's an interesting idea Bubs. It would probably make it more convenient for current members.

Currently WW has the site policys first, and the Intro area for New Members. Do you think our new members will be able to find the Introductory Area easily enough, if it gets buried? Most people don't read the site policy as it is.

What would really be cool, is if we could customize our own page to see what we wanted on the first page! Don't worry Shadragon, it's just a dream.

[PerroneFord]

I originally came because I thought it might be a way to meet another single diver. Over time I realized that was going to be very unlikely for me. As the site has shifted more to just trips, and non-diving talk, I've found myself coming less and less. I check in every couple of months now.

I've noticed that many of the other divers I used to enjoy talking about diving with are gone also. I guess we just don't "fit".

Good poll.

-Cheers

Edited by PerroneFord, 16 February 2009 - 08:47 AM.

[TonyL]

I originally came because I thought it might be a way to meet another single diver. Over time I realized that was going to be very unlikely for me. As the site has shifted more to just trips, and non-diving talk, I've found myself coming less and less. I check in every couple of months now.

I've noticed that many of the other divers I used to enjoy talking about diving with are gone also. I guess we just don't "fit".

Good poll.

-Cheers

I always liked your input, Perrone. I think you kept the diving talk lively.

I came to meet other divers in my area because it was hard to get a dive buddy on short notice and I wanted to expand the pool of divers to go with. I've enjoyed meeting local people. I like it that the group is small and I know many of the people by name and through discussions, even if not in person.

[lynnlchan]

I originally came because I thought it might be a way to meet another single diver. Over time I realized that was going to be very unlikely for me. As the site has shifted more to just trips, and non-diving talk, I've found myself coming less and less. I check in every couple of months now.

I've noticed that many of the other divers I used to enjoy talking about diving with are gone also. I guess we just don't "fit".

Good poll.

-Cheers

I'm relatively new to the site and didn't look at the threads much to start with. Could we get some of that back? Seems to me like there's space for non-dive chat and dive discussions here. I'd have to think those threads would be very educational for divers with less experience (like me).

[Landlocked Dive Nut]

Lynn, all of the previous threads are still available to be viewed, and you can get them back into discussion just by posting a new reply. The trick is going through the lists & reading older topics. There are years' worth of topics to go through & learn from.

PerroneFord, I think most of us enjoy both dive talk as well as other topics. The hardest part of running a board like this is getting more members to begin dive-related topics! Many members will add their 2 psi to a topic that is started, but not many members actually start a dive-related topic......I started a dive-related topic about proving dive skills & refresher courses the end of last week, and it got very little "action".

I think there is room for both types of topics on a friendly site like this one. Members, the challenge has been made! We love the trips and love to talk about those, but in-between the trips can you come up with dive topics for the forum?

[PerroneFord]

PerroneFord, I think most of us enjoy both dive talk as well as other topics. The hardest part of running a board like this is getting more members to begin dive-related topics! Many members will add their 2 psi to a topic that is started, but not many members actually start a dive-related topic......I started a dive-related topic about proving dive skills & refresher courses the end of last week, and it got very little "action".

I think the average true dive related topic in this forum will receive less than 2o posts, and that includes moderator posts and comments from the original poster. The interest just isn't there.

I think there is room for both types of topics on a friendly site like this one. Members, the challenge has been made! We love the trips and love to talk about those, but in-between the trips can you come up with dive topics for the forum?

It's not that there isn't the room, the demographics simply don't support it. Based on what I have observed from the demographics of the site over my 3+ years here, this is not a "diving" site. It is a social networking site for divers and a portal for finding diving trips and buddies for those trips. There is NOTHING wrong in that whatsoever. But it is what it is. The recreational SCUBA market in general is this way. It's based around the diver or dive couple that takes 1-3 SCUBA trips per year. The remainder of the year they don't dive, don't do courses, and don't practice skills. Thus, discussions about diving intricacies beyond new and exciting dive destinations just aren't at the forefront.

Several avid divers over the past few years have made a concerted effort to try to spurn diving related postings, and all have failed after a short time. Again, nothing wrong with that, it's just the audience. It's a lot more exciting to talk about the latest hot dive spot, than how to improve finning technique or choose a dive light.

[Bubble2Bubble]

Ms Scubadilious

Currently WW has the site policys first, and the Intro area for New Members. Do you think our new members will be able to find the Introductory Area easily enough, if it gets buried? Most people don't read the site policy as it is.

IMHO the site policys should be at the very bottom because its univeral to have the "fine print" at the bottom of CC statements etc. The introductory area possibly could be at the very top and call it Title "Introduce Yourself" Sub Title "Start Meeting Other Divers"
PerroneFord, TonyL, lynnlchan your combined 6 psi is very much appreciated ALWAYS Divers.

No Worries Landlocked Dive Nut
I started a thread on that jeep site about valve spring problems in 2.5L engines and it completely bombed! If I had started a thread asking how I could turn my 2 door cherokee into a Monster Truck I might have had a bigger responce

Sence we all live so far away from each other and this is the only way we can comunicate..then lets post are opinions..At the end of the day WW has the final say.. and I'm sure she would like to see your opinions.

Bubski

[PerroneFord]

I did a little informal check and this is what I came up with:


By volume of replies the top-10 are:

10. Trip Reports
9. SD Group Trips
8. Dive Training
7. Cool Single Divers Stuff
6. Upcoming SD Events
5. Topics Related to being Single
4. General Diving
3. New to SingleDivers
2. Last Year's Fun
1. Non Divinng Related

Of note, Non diving related replies were 66% more than the next closest forum area, and comprises more than twice as many replies as the largest diving related area. The top 3 (all non-diving) comprise 2/3 of all replies from the top 10 areas.



In terms of ratios of threads to replies (a general guage of thread interest)

10. Trip Reports
9. Non-Diving Related
8. General Diving
7. New to Single Divers
6. Dive Training
5. Cool Single Divers Stuff
4. Upcoming SD Events
3. Topics Related to Being Single
2. SD Group Trips
1. Last Year's Fun


From this, we can see that in terms of generating responses from divers, the first actual diving thread is at #6. This seems to drive the point home that members of the site would rather talk about lots of other things, than actual diving. Mostly trips, events, and being single. Surprisingly, at least to me, is that people are more interested in talking about dive TRAINING, than general diving. I guess it's good to see people are interested in training.

There is a VERY interesting trend that shows up here. Non-Diving related replies outstrip others nearly 2 to 1, BUT, it is nearly at the bottom of the top 10 in terms of replies to threads. This means that this forum is generating a lot of non-deeply-discussed stuff. Jokes and Humor, off-topic threads that people just don't comment on much, and general chit-chat. Again, this trend seems to point out that members are more interested in chatting, than getting into deeper discussions, or talking about diving. I wonder given what all this shows, if it might not be a good idea to open an SD Chatroom, since that is where the majority of traffic seems to be. It might re-focus the actual site more on diving, and give users a proper venue to chit chat without incurring the expense of storing, and archiving all the chit-chat.

Just a thought from looking at the numbers.


*** The Raw numbers ***

Topics Replies Replies per topic


Non Diving Related 4641 44194 9.5
Last Year's Fun 284 29533 104.0
New to Singledivers 1844 29402 15.9
General Diving 1280 20074 15.7
Topics Related to being Single 314 14686 46.8
Upcoming SD Events 384 13570 35.3
Cool Single Diver's stuff 199 4908 24.7
Dive Training 202 3998 19.8
SD Group trips 82 3989 48.6
Trip Reports 429 3551 8.3

[ScubaPunk]

PerroneFord, I think most of us enjoy both dive talk as well as other topics. The hardest part of running a board like this is getting more members to begin dive-related topics! Many members will add their 2 psi to a topic that is started, but not many members actually start a dive-related topic......I started a dive-related topic about proving dive skills & refresher courses the end of last week, and it got very little "action".

I think the average true dive related topic in this forum will receive less than 2o posts, and that includes moderator posts and comments from the original poster. The interest just isn't there.

I think there is room for both types of topics on a friendly site like this one. Members, the challenge has been made! We love the trips and love to talk about those, but in-between the trips can you come up with dive topics for the forum?

It's not that there isn't the room, the demographics simply don't support it. Based on what I have observed from the demographics of the site over my 3+ years here, this is not a "diving" site. It is a social networking site for divers and a portal for finding diving trips and buddies for those trips. There is NOTHING wrong in that whatsoever. But it is what it is. The recreational SCUBA market in general is this way. It's based around the diver or dive couple that takes 1-3 SCUBA trips per year. The remainder of the year they don't dive, don't do courses, and don't practice skills. Thus, discussions about diving intricacies beyond new and exciting dive destinations just aren't at the forefront.

Several avid divers over the past few years have made a concerted effort to try to spurn diving related postings, and all have failed after a short time. Again, nothing wrong with that, it's just the audience. It's a lot more exciting to talk about the latest hot dive spot, than how to improve finning technique or choose a dive light.

Personally I think SD is a very well rounded dive board. The Dive Related Forum has over a thousand topics under "General Diving" alone. It's difficult for me as a recreational diver to think of new diving topics that haven't already been discussed. I'm sure there are many more technical aspects of diving that could be opened. Most of the divers that I know from this board dive whenever they can get a chance, not just the 1-3 trips they take each year. When the weather permits, I am in the water. That's where you will find me on most weekends. Most of the divers I know are the same way. Now I just have to get trained for diving with a dry suit, and I can dive all year long.

[PerroneFord]

That might make a VERY interesting poll. Not how many dives do you have, but how many diving events do you do per year. Basically to glean whether you have folks getting 50 diives per year by doing 2 dives 25 times a year, or 50 dives per year doing 2, 7 day liveaboards.

I'd be VERY curious to see the results of a poll like that.

Edited by PerroneFord, 16 February 2009 - 10:03 PM.

[ScubaDadMiami]

Even I don't have that much time on my hands for such a detailed examination. Sounds to me like someone needs to get back in the water soon.

Interesting stats. Yeah, sometimes I wonder if it has all been said before, and that maybe this is why nobody wants to bring it up again. However, I can't help but think that we might learn something from going over it again and again.

[lynnlchan]

I'm an analyst by trade which makes me somewhat annoying... but - did you look at views per thread? For instance I read DrBill's threads religiously but I don't post. There may be people reading the diving threads that are learning but don't feel they have anything to add.

Also - reviewing what the site is, doesn't mean it's what the site will be. The only way to change something is to be involved. Like LLDN mentioned, start some of the threads up again. If they came up on my list of new posts, I'd be out there reading them. As it is now, I only search through them when I have a specific question.

I like both aspects of SD. I like that there are a lot of experienced divers out here that can address any questions I have. (I just bought a new wetsuit based on advice I got here.) I also like the chit chat of the community.

[Landlocked Dive Nut]

I can't help but think that we might learn something from going over it again and again.

This is an excellent point.

No matter how good or experienced a diver you are, it does not hurt to re-examine our training. Training issues & methods of training are constantly evolving, and so is our sport. I was certified not quite 3 years ago, and this past weekend I was allowed to observe the OW training of a friend. She was trained at the same LDS that I was, but the training has evolved and some things were taught in her class that I did not receive in my training. In addition, some portions of the training have been changed, to incorporate new data or schools of thought. Even though I've managed to collect 100 dives in my log, I still learned some new things just observing that weekend OW class.

We have a very wide range of dive experience in our membership. Every time I reply to a newer diver's question, I am reinforcing my own training. Every time I read a topic that extends beyond my current level of training, I am preparing myself to take that next step in my training.

Like Lynn, I read all the new posts since my last login. I'm happy devouring the 2psi of other members on dive issues, and I'm just as happy developing my internet friendships with the great people I've found here.

It's all good for me!