Bill Putnam wrote:My rant for today, triggered by the post above:
Why do we have two separate rescue forums: one that requires registration and one that doesn't? It's confusing and duplicative.
We post details to the registered users only forum, and all the good stuff is there, so what purpose does the other one serve?
Thanks for sharing your rant about this, Bill. You bring up some valid concerns, along with half-answering some of your own questions.
Here's a little history about why we have dual cave rescue subforums. Initially cave rescue information was all in one place, and visible to all. But after certain incidents, members expressed concern about sensitive information (rescue reports, names of rescuers etc) being in the public domain on a discussion board. So in December 2006, the rescue forum was made private by forum administrator Wayne. In discussion with the moderators at the time, a few of our colleagues expressed the same concerns you just did. Particularly relating to general rescue information and techniques continuing to be publicly available on the forum.
Therefore a compromise was reached. Two subforums. One for rescue, the other for
rescues. The cave rescue forum is a public area to discuss techniques, equipment, safety and related issues. The rescue - registered only section is a limited-access area to report and discuss cave rescues (ie specific events). These descriptions are clearly stated on the
forum index page.
In my opinion hit-and-miss media reports are one thing, but as you know our specific rescue event topics commonly include posts by people with first-hand or other insider knowledge. All this at a time when the public and media and family members are often hungry for information. Sure they can sign up and get access, but if they don't know that stuff is there because it doesn't show up in a Google search - why would they?
The system may not be perfect, but I think it mostly works the way it is. There is obviously some overlap between the two rescue forums, but "confusing and duplicative?" Well, maybe to a few people who don't quite understand which forum to post which information in (or they forget). But hey, such is life.
Incidentally there's nothing stopping somebody from starting a "lessons to be learned" or "ounce of prevention" topic in the public cave rescue section, and promoting all the good things like welcoming new cavers into the fold, getting the safety (and conservation) message out to the broader public, fighting Snobby Grotto Syndrome, etc.