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Marti - 3/23/2009 12:42 AM 
Hey Cutie,
Maybe it would help if you used the great picture of you smiling instead of the eternally stern pic you currently use as your profile photo... I don’t think most folks are on this site for dive-religious reasons and simply don’t understand why someone would reject them simply because they haven’t dived with them yet. For my own part, I am living my ambition to dive Atlantic wrecks with experienced divers simply because I was open to the idea of hooking up with local divers I haven’t dived with yet.
No sermon, just observation from someone who knows what a joy it is to dive with you, if only on short training dives.
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Hey Danny,
How are you doing? I’ve been on both sides of this dilema. When I started to accumlate a lot of buddies, and it felt a little out of control, I thought I would only accept buddy requests from local divers who I had a real shot of diving with. So I turned dow a couple requests. I got one "no problem" reply, and one "did I say something wrong" reply. I felt genuinely bad. Then I got kicked off a girl’s buddy list who lives in AZ (I’m in CA). No clue why. I guessed it was the distance thing. I only became her buddy because she said she was applying for a job in CA and we almost met for a mid-week dive in San Diego. Again, I felt a little bad, this time for the reverse descrimination. So I then decided to always accept a buddy request. And I am glad I have. I have made a few recent friends with people in other countries. One buddy in India is a hoot to converse with. He has a fresh perspective on the sport that is fun. We’re even buddies now on Facebook. A couple days ago I met a buddy from Germany, who I can hopefully dive with if they ever visit the US or I Germany in the future. Who knows.....
Not sure if this helps at all. But I’ll send you a buddy request, and I hope you accept. Maybe you’ll be in So.Cal some day and need a buddy.... Stay wet!
Rich
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I can converse with anyone and everyone without being their buddy. I’ve had wonderful conversations with people from this site. Most of those people are not on my buddy list.
On the flip side - You aren’t getting on my buddy list without so much as an email to say hello first. Too many people on this site drop a buddy list request without so much as an email before or after. I don’t want faces, I want real buddies.
Those who know me know that there is nothing about distance in my selection process. Unlike most of you I’m actually homeless. I travel all year long. I work 13 weeks a year in Maryland doing financial consulting. I usually spend 2-4 months a year in the Keys. Last year I spent 3 months on the boat through the Pacific. I don’t care where in the world you are. I have dive gear and will travel. I try to spend 13-26 weeks a year traveling. You live in Kiribati? Been there - which island? You want to dive Electric Beach? I’ll stay near the pipe because the water is warmer. There’s a Spanish Navy submarine at 200FSW off the coast of Spain in the Med? Yeah, don’t forget how cold that water is there. While you’re at it, look up the military history of Spain in the sub era and figure out who sunk it. Who wants to go to Fiji? You know the on DB Member who emailed me back and forth 5 times? Not on my buddy list. If she can make it to Fiji then she’ll make it to my buddy list. If not then maybe we’ll make a dive somewhere else in the world. A dive is a dive when it comes to making my buddy list.
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I fully understand what you are saying. I was introduced to this site by a friend. I was in Hawaii and had no one to dive with. He told to take a look and the I found a lot of great people to dive with while I was in Hawaii. I moved to New Jersey and had no one to dive with there. I jumped on the site and looked around and found out about a divebuddy get together at Dutch Springs. It met some really great people that day. I have made a lot of great friends and had some great dives thanks to the site. I try to help promote the site as much as possible as well as promote the sport I love so much. I answer every message that is sent to me that asks me a question. If you send me a message that makes a statement, I respond only if I have something to say. I look forward to diving with everyone I meet until they give me good cause to never dive with them again.
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I understand what you saying, but I am of the mind that,THE MORE BUDDYS THE BETTER , you never know when your going to be somewhere off in the blue and remember, HEY I know someone over here thats on my buddy list that I can contact at the last moment and see if they wanna dive,,, case in point,, we were on a dive trip to the channel isles year before last and we had a cancelation at the last moment,, joe at n-depth scuba called a buddy of his way out in fresno? I believe, she came down to ventura and dove with the rest of the group... another good thing about having buddys on your list is that you don’t have to MEMORIZE the buddy you were thinking of when your in the blue,, you can go to your list and know for sure the one you were thinking of ... It works for me anyway,,,its alot easier then scanning every buddy ... 
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To me - a buddy at least has to talk to me. Buddy isn’t a status that is simply handed out...it is bestowed. We email. Maybe we talk. We make plans for an outing for scuba talk or scuba actual. We follow through on scuba talk and hopefully ensure there is a scuba actual. You make the list.
An ex-girlfriend of mine on this site actually moved me down a catagory when we broke it off. We still talk but I was no longer a top-tier friend. While I won’t move you down if call of a bar meet-up I will say that you have to achieve buddy status on my list.
Like I said - I put more faith in bubbles (until I break down and by my CCR). The DIR group in Atlanta talks about diving. I didn’t join because I actually want to GO diving.
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