I would like to see a forum for....

[sunshine 2]

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Personally, I think the forums are already pretty spread out, and adding additional forums would just make the problem worse

yeah, what he said

___________________________________________
meow

I get a Mike hug! I get a Mike hug!

[Zenister 0]

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Why would only the riggers forum have restricted membership?

i can understand the use of "keeping the noise down" and i think a riggers forum would be a very useful learning tool, particularly for lurking information junkies like me, but i would suggest a "ask a rigger" feature that would allow non riggers to post questions to that forum...

____________________________________
Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

[Vertifly 0]

Instructors - definitely

[mustard 0]

I voted for Instructors myself, but wondered if it would be a good idea to have a place for dialog between instructors and students, rather than a separate forum for each.

I like the fact that the forums get separated out, and find that since my time is limited, I go to "Incidents" first because it has the fewest new posts and read what's on there, then move to "Safety & Training" and if I still have some time, on to "General Skydiving" -- and I leave "Talk Back" and those hugely popular places alone.

But that's just me.

***
DJan

[nathaniel 0]

not really answering your question, but another suggestion if you haven't dismissed it already:

maybe you could make a faq post always be the first post in some of the sections, like

Q: should I downsize from a manta 280 f111 to a sabre-2 135? I'm 6'6" (2m) and 240 lbs (110 kg) and I have 11 jumps. I stand up all my landings!
A: no

Q: what gear should I buy
A: we don't know, ask your instructor and your S&TA

Q: do I really need an aad or an rsl
A: depends who you ask

etc for the gear + rigging section

My advice is to do what your parents did; get a job, sir. The bums will always lose. Do you hear me, Lebowski?

[Amazon 7]

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I go to "Incidents" first because it has the fewest new posts and read what's on there,

I find it very hard to go into incidents.. whenever I see a new category and lots of new response numbers I kind of cringe...

I have watched too many"incidents" in person... and it affects you for a very long time when one is a fatality you have watched.

Amazon

[SublimeBreeze 0]

What about the ability to setup a forum for your specific dropzone or even your state, that way you could get into contact with the people who are closest to you. Just and idea

Sean

Sean
Sean In Thailand

[skydive84 0]

I think everything is fine as it is. There arent really enough people doing skysurf/freestyle/speed to warrant a special forum. The student one would be a bad idea cos there would be nobody to answer questions. General student chat can go talk back + questions in S+T or general discussions.

[skybytch 259]

We have enough forums now imho.

[nightjumps 1]

I started to select Instructors AND Tandems, but deselected the Tandem switch because I think you can encompass SL/AFF/Tandem all under one since they are now are all "Instructor" ratings.

I strongly oppose a "Students" section. Instructors have a hard enough time with Non-instructors on the DZ giving advice to students. Its very frustrating and time consuming to have to overcome objections or seeds of concern before continuing a linear path of instruction.

edit: After re-reading the thread and the forums, I'd like to add that an "Instructors" forum would be good, but wonder if it would be locked to only Instructors so we can share training methodologies, training aids, visual aids, etc. If not, then the Safety & training thread satisifies the "Instructor" request.

[lummy 4]

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I dont think the only issue us students have is Safety and Training. Although this is a big part of it, I think lots of students would like to talk to other students about their experiences, how they coped with things etc

kinda like a "Student's Talk Back"???

how about "WORLD POLITICS"?

I almost wish there were a way to do sub forums or some kind of filtering instead. That way, everyone could still be in the same "room" yet one could hang out in their own clique yet still be part of the rest of the party when they want to without having to wade thru all the noise. In other words, keep the major categories together but make it more manageable

I promise not to TP Davis under canopy.. I promise not to TP Davis under canopy.. eat sushi, get smoochieTTK#1

[Muenkel 0]

I voted for AFF and Students. I think it would be helpful instead to have a forum for the tandem through A license jumper. Ofcourse this forum would need to be heavily moderated by atleast one instructor rated skydiver.

Chris

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Chris

[Michele 1]

HH, I have to agree with those who've said it's functional and good the way it is.

Ciels-
Michele

~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek
While our hearts lie bleeding?~

[littlestranger 0]

Wouldn't Students and AFF be the same thing?

[jtval 0]

hh, Im thrilled the way it is, but Im not afriad of change either.
how about a ( .)Y( . ) forum! BWAAHAH!

My photos

My Videos

[poohbeer 0]

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We have enough forums now imho.

agreed, you don't want to divide up too much..
Only create extra forums because you HAVE to, not because you can.
And no forum will make a discipline more popular.. if it's popular there are lots of topics on it already.
If there are too many topics of one discipline, then give them their own forum as not to dilute the rest.

------- SIGNATURE BELOW -------
Complete newbie at skydiving, so be critical about what I say!!
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

[Antithesis 0]

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What about the ability to setup a forum for your specific dropzone or even your state, that way you could get into contact with the people who are closest to you. Just and idea

Now that would be cool. Perhaps a little in excess but still fun. Maybe a states forum for a limited time only to get to know all the dz'ers from your state or maybe a states forum every 3rd month for a week like a special event. But, why stop there, It would be ignorant to think that this site is not international why not include all the countries that enjoy skydiving?

I travel the land, Work in the ocean, Play in the sky

[WrongWay 0]

I think there should be a forum for people wanting to whine about Olav. There seems to be enough of that going around the freefly forum to start its own........

Wrong Way
D #27371 Mal Manera Rodriguez Cajun Chicken Ø Hellfish #451
The wiser wolf prevails.

[jmpnkramer 0]

Hey there Head Honcho:

I am not a big time poster but I would think that you could combine rigger, Tandem, AFF, Coach, and IAD. The forum being controlled for those with the ratings. This way instructors could share experiences and be able to learn from all over. We would be able to discuss what went wrong and how we could make it better.

This is just my personal opinion. I like learning of how things went on different dives and try to gain something out of it. Even the god ones.

As always Big Guy thank you for running this site.

Take Care,

Keith (KRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

The REAL KRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMER!

"HESITATION CAUSES DEATH!!!"
"Be Slow to Fall into Friendship; but when Thou Art in, Continue Firm & Constant." - SOCRATES

[peek 20]

In general I think the current forums may get diluted if too many others are created.

The only one I think might be very helpful is a "Students" forum

... BUT !!!!

If students use it to give each other bad advice it will be counterproductive.

What they could use it for that would be very beneficial is to discuss their frustrations when having difficulty with particular jumps, manuvers, areas of learning, etc.

These are things that I don't think they can discuss with most instructors, for several reasons.

Their instructors
may not have the empathy for students,
may have forgotten what it was like to be a student,
may be busy and not very approachable,
may not care. :(
etc.

There is no one like someone doing the same thing you are doing to better understand your problems.

In other words, "Ask your instructor" may be good advice from us, but may not be very helpful.

As instructors we focus on the safety and physical process of skydiving, but to the strudent much of it is mental, e.g., nevousness, performance anxiety, etc.

[eddytheeagle 0]

Empty vote... why on earth did you do that?

Cause I think that the forums we have now surve the purpose well

Don't underestimate your ability to screw up!

[metalslug 31]

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What about the ability to setup a forum for your specific dropzone or even your state, that way you could get into contact with the people who are closest to you. Just and idea.

Hmm.. looking for other skydivers in your state or even your own DZ ? Very easy to do, really.. just consult the Skydiver database right here on DZ.com for a shortlist of folks from, for example, Eugene Skydivers.

This is my main criticism of expanding the forums.. a great many members do not yet realize how to fully utilise everything that HH has already made available to us.

It has also happened more than a few times where members post in an unsuitable forum and then end up cross-posting or having their threads moved elsewhere. Now it's perhaps set to become an even more analytical process of pin-pointing exactly which forum to post in, especialy if the thread touches on a wider spectrum of related issues.

If, for example, the S&T forum is being expanded for Instructors and such.. then will the 'Search Posts' functionality be enhanced to be able to group forums together again to assist the topic search ?
If not, then finding useful info on S&T may become something of a hit & miss exercise.