Do you want the Diving board to be private?

We've been getting a number of requests for this, so we thought we'd open it up for  a vote.  The proposal would be to have a minimum 10 posts to view and to participate, just like the Member's Only Fishing Reports board.

The poll is open for a week.  Vote up.

-Allen

Could someone explain why?

I know some possible reasons, but would like to understand what people are thinking.   

Could someone explain why?

I know some possible reasons, but would like to understand what people are thinking.   

Well. Why do you post your dives in members only fishing? .......

Guess they feel the need to hide 

I think my reasoning would be the same as why some members might prefer to post some reports in the members only fishing reports section:

-They want to share some details about a location that they would prefer not be visible to all guests (or with a quick easy google search).

-They want to discuss an issue that happened that maybe they want some feedback from the group on, but would rather not have it be open to all guests (maybe they had an issue with a warden, or with a resident of a neighborhood where they parked or ??)

To be honest, for me, it is more about the issue of disclosing locations on the site...want to share info, but don't want spots to get hit too hard.

The other solution would maybe to just be less detailed in reports (which is probably not bad even if we do have a members only option), but for me at my novice level of diving I learned a lot from this board and other members about what spots/areas were doable/possibly productive and part of me wants to be able to share that same info with other members who are getting started as well...

Not sure if that makes sense...

I am cool with whatever you guys decide.

Thanks again.

 

Sincerely,

Jim

I like the idea of it because it makes it feel more "club" like.  If you want to keep a certain spot on the DL or share an Ab spot you can do so knowing that your just sharing with NCKA and not Guests. If you prefer not to, you can post in a public dive section (if one were created). It gives divers an option, which is nice. Take Butterfly house for example, parking is very limited, it would suck if it got blown up. I apologize if I'm coming off as selfish or rude, it is ironic that almost everything I know about spearfishing and ab diving I learned here, and now I'm lobbying for a members only section. I feel guilty but think it would promote comradery.

Could someone explain why?

I know some possible reasons, but would like to understand what people are thinking.   

Well. Why do you post your dives in members only fishing? .......

Ya, I've been a bit confused in past whether to post in reports or this section as well.  I posted in reports since it's a bigger audience than this section & I went through the trouble of editting vid & typing up a report. 

Figure lots of fellow kayakers are interested in what goes on underwater.  Though I have in the past, I didn't tag it MO, so it'll go into public section in 2 weeks.



My biggest concern is whether it begins to alienate the dive section from the rest of the site, like a seperate forum of it's own.

I can see the value of keeping some info hidden from general public... but not sure whether having the privacy would encourage more sharing or just hermitize this subsect of NCKA further.



I'm neither for or against it, just thought I'd throw out my thoughts.   

We have thought about this over on my web site Norcal Underwater hunters but decided not to. My thoughts are if you want to share a spot or some info with some one that is what Pm's are for, I agree by making it Private it alienates people and what keeps people from just making bogus post to get there post count up so that they can see the board. just my 2-cents

Definitely good points guys. Alienating people isn't a good thing. I suppose the only way to do this would be to have a public and private one just like the fishing reports. For the same reasons fishing reports went members only.  But then you might be getting more into a sub-forum like Fuzz is saying. Maybe trying to fix something that isn't broken is not the best idea. NCKA rocks as is. Interesting subject...

Not sure how this alienates anyone.

This is a kayak fishing community first and foremost.  We just happen to have a number of members that dive, enough that it justified having a board for it.  The board is for us, not necessarily for the whole world, otherwise we'd call ourselves NorCalUnderwaterHunters.com.      In fact, let's not over-estimate our importance.  The world probably cares very little about a diving board in a kayak fishing community.  We care, so what's the big deal in having it for us only.  If we make it private, community members will still have access to this board.

FYI.  I don't care either way.  Whatever you guys want is all good.

-Allen

Not sure how this alienates anyone.

 The board is for us, not necessarily for the whole world, otherwise we'd call ourselves NorCalUnderwaterHunters.com.      .

-Allen

what is that suspose to mean ! can you specfiy for me ?

Not sure how this alienates anyone.

 The board is for us, not necessarily for the whole world, otherwise we'd call ourselves NorCalUnderwaterHunters.com.      .

-Allen

what is that suspose to mean ! can you specfiy for me ?

Nothing negative.  It just means that we are a kayak angler community that happens to have diver members.  NCUH is a diver community that just happens to have some kayak anglers.  Different focuses, that's all.

-Allen

Not sure how this alienates anyone.

 The board is for us, not necessarily for the whole world, otherwise we'd call ourselves NorCalUnderwaterHunters.com.      .

-Allen

what is that suspose to mean ! can you specfiy for me ?

Nothing negative.  It just means that we are a kayak angler community that happens to have diver members.  NCUH is a diver community that just happens to have some kayak anglers.  Different focuses, that's all.

-Allen

oh ok, thanks for answering that for me. I could not agree more.

I had to reread that sentence too, Matt. I think he means: this is a kayak fishing site---if we wanted it to be a diving-specific site it w/b called NorcalUnderwaterHunters or something that's more diving oriented. The diving section of NCKA is just a small part of the site, in general. It's not THE reason why people come here & join.

I voted Yes.
Here's my reasoning: kayak fishing in the ocean is dangerous. Freediving in the ocean is even more dangerous. If your average Joe Sixpack stumbled upon an epic spear report and decided "Cool, I know where that is. I'm gonna do that next wknd," the results c/b disastrous. Next thing you know, we have Newbies leading Noobs out into the ocean, without proper training of knowledge.
But at the same time, it's proof-positive that many of the divers who currently contribute learned everything from this site (or, more likely, people they met through this site). And it w/b a shame to disallow future members from enjoying the same experience. BUT...you only need 10 posts to access a MO section, so it won't really prevent current & future members from learning or getting into diving.

I think it would be cool from a standpoint of this.  If I am a guest and have full access to the diving boards there is not as much incentive to participate in the groups discussion.  Like was said early, having a section with a minimum of 10 posts, or whatever, it encourages members to be active which builds comradery.  but thats just piddle talk talking