Cave Diving Agencies

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I would think the CDS should want their membership(current and potential) to know about grants and other resources available to them that would help(and encourage) exploration. This is valuable to membership, why in the hell would you not make it obvious that its available?

The CDS's biggest draw is their owned properties. Aside from that, they do a very very poor job of communicating with their membership and showing the value of that membership. This is probably a huge reason why membership has dropped over the years... as well as comparitive inactivity compared to the NFSA and NACD.




The attitude that the CDS notifying membership of an available grant for exploration, is "spoon feeding" information that they can't be "bothered" with finding on their own(not knowing of its existance - and it not being on the CDS website) probably isn't the best way for the CDS to attract new members or keep existing ones.

[JerseyJersey]

You are right Mat. Thank you. Dont know why I didnt see it sooner. They are horrible and probably responsible for your tax return being late also. I do apologize.

I feel better now and can move on to other things.

[SuPrBuGmAn]

LOL

[Squirrel Girl]

Yea, like he said, you have to read the members manual. Truthfully, I had forgotten about it, but will be applying again this year, to try to alleviate helium costs. Maybe we don't advertise it, so we don't have to compete with your projects for money! Ha.

Very clever!

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At convention on Friday, I talked with a BOG member. We talked about meshing the CDS and the NSS together more tightly. I told him how much I disagreed with a different BOG member who felt the price for an NSS membership is nothing compared to what cave divers spend on gear.

Sure. But, but why pay for something that doesn't do anything for you.

So anyway, this guy I talked with on Friday wanted to know, what can the NSS do for the cave divers and the CDS? We both agreed that we would like to work with people who are helpful and cooperative. He listed a name. I can think of three in particular--who seem to like to complain, but aren't willing to partner constructively. Are there any suggestions by any of you on how we can do more together? You can find the BOG yourself on the NSS website, or I can pass along the suggestions.

[jcook]

We both agreed that we would like to work with people who are helpful and cooperative. He listed a name. I can think of three in particular--who seem to like to complain, but aren't willing to partner constructively.

I am sorry but if you are directing that at Mat, you are wrong to do so. I do believe he volunteered and was the only person besides Xenia to sit at the entrance/registration/Mat-Hawking-Tickets table the whole time at the CDS conference. He always seems to offer his help, except when I asked him to take me to the GA caves he found.....jerk. Granted he is annoying and complains a lot, but really who isn't on CDF.

[FW]

I am sorry but if you are directing that at Mat, you are wrong to do so. I do believe he volunteered and was the only person besides Xenia to sit at the entrance/registration/Mat-Hawking-Tickets table the whole time at the CDS conference. He always seems to offer his help, except when I asked him to take me to the GA caves he found.....jerk. Granted he is annoying and complains a lot, but really who isn't on CDF.

No, SG is talking about someone in the NSS, not the NSS-CDS.

[mdax]

To me the organizations are similar to cliques in high school. Some people pledge allegiance to their clique, some people drift between groups to get laid and others just loner out.

I find that joining the nsscds, nacd, gue, nfsa and local grotto is beneficial. Some have cooler magazines but all groups have a diverse set of folks that love caves and when cavers of all types get together for social activities watch out cause they are way nuttier than you'd previously expect.

[aainslie]

I recently completed my Full Cave course and would like to support cave diving in some way. I know about the old agencies- CDS and NACD- but from a lot of what I've read, they seem more like a social club for local cave divers. What about the NASE? Any opinions?

Thanks

That's a little strong. I personally support both. They help ensure that the tourist caves are nice to dive

Seriously, they do more than have socials for themselves. And it's only a few bucks. In many ways we outsiders (who rarely get involved in these organizations because it's just difficult to do so) actually get to free ride from all their efforts. We should be grateful.

Right... cause its my fault I didn't know the information was available for a grant I didn't know existed.

Why get cave diving training? Having instructors spoonfeed you information. We're all such lazy, bothersom students.

NACD makes it clear, http://www.safecavediving.com/research-new.shtml

You don't know what you don't know, right?




I agree with your first comment though, I discontinued my membership due to what the grotto DIDN'T do. We can get into what I think the CDS is doing wrong again if you'd like - I purposely tried to avoid this so far. However, if I'm going to be wrongly called out for having to be spoonfed information that I didn't know existed, I'll refrain from pulling punches.

Thats apparently what you want right?

Good grief Matt. Is the weather getting you down?

[CaveMD]

To me the organizations are similar to cliques in high school. Some people pledge allegiance to their clique, some people drift between groups to get laid and others just loner out.

I find that joining the nsscds, nacd, gue, nfsa and local grotto is beneficial. Some have cooler magazines but all groups have a diverse set of folks that love caves and when cavers of all types get together for social activities watch out cause they are way nuttier than you'd previously expect.

So you are joining multiple groups? Wise

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[diveconjeff]

So you are joining multiple groups? Wise

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Can you think of a better way to expand a wardrobe with really cool tee shirts?