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LETTERS AND AWARDS
STEVE WEINMAN, EDITOR
I AM CONSTANTLY AMAZED by the sheer number of readers' letters we receive at DIVER. We could fill the Off-Gassing pages several times over, and with good, thoughtful contributions, too.
What do divers write to us about? Many of these missives have complimentary things to say about DIVER, and occasionally we let pride overcome our natural modesty and print them. Of course, a fair few point out inaccuracies in past issues, and we try not to shy away from these, either.
Some letters are responses to previous articles, and may be followed by responses to the responses. Some of these then evolve into long-running threads (airline baggage allowances is an obvious example). We would have to curtail these if it wasn't that they keep throwing up interesting snippets and novel viewpoints.
Letters that open up completely new lines of thought are always welcome. You may disagree with the sentiment expressed, but these are often the ones to win the lead-letter prize.
Then there are the letters complaining about some third party - a dive centre, tour operator, training agency or a piece of kit. We have to treat these with care, because it could be that we're simply being used as a blunt instrument in some on-going row.
If a letter slags off a dive centre, for example, for the sake of balance we must first get that centre's side of the story. Often the accused put up their hands to the alleged offence; sometimes they threaten to call in their lawyers, but the process could end up in a welter of claims and counter-claims, six of one and half a dozen of the other.
If this happens, we may just have to withdraw quietly and leave the combatants to it, because there's nothing printable left for us.
The opposite sort of correspondence is the paeon of praise, perhaps for a dive centre which pulled out all the stops to make a holiday special, or a supplier who bent over backwards to replace an item of equipment in time for an upcoming dive trip. We're receiving more and more of these lately, which would seem to indicate that there's a lot of exemplary service out there.
So where are all these good-news letters, you say? We don't often see them in the Off-Gassing pages. Well, call us cynical, and please don't be offended if you're one of the many who have sent us such mail, but it's not always easy for us to distinguish genuine expressions of admiration from cunning pieces of advertising.
And that, after our little tour of Off-Gassing's inner workings, brings me to the DIVER Awards, which we decided some years ago would be the best way in which to recognise and reward excellence in the diving industry. You pick out the good guys by giving them your vote, and they win bronze DIVERs, which they can then show off to gain new business.
The Awards kick off this month, and you're warmly invited to take part. And if you don't agree that they're a great idea, why don't you drop us a line about it?
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