It is unfortunate that our group has suffered another rift. As always, when a large group of people congregate to discuss a topic there will be many opinions. I have nothing but praise for Ray and John, for without them this forum would not be possible. Ultimately, as this is their private property, they must and will set the standards. I have attempted to join the ISSUES mailing list, but am not sure if it is working, as the posts that I continue to get seem to be coming from the same Psubs address.
In MY opinion, this forum is/was about so much more than weather I should use a 3/4" or 1/2" valve. For me, this group captured the SPIRIT of Psubbing - and much of the conversation was around the excitement or dream of subbing with usually enough technical and/or humorous matter to keep it lively and interesting. This is the only internet community that I belong to, and like Gary's last post I too have be frustrated by opening my mail to 30 or 40 messages, but in good faith I cruised through them and deleted all that didn't seem as interesting or relevant to ME. That does not mean that they weren't relevant to that Author or to the intended audience. I was more than willing to put up with that minor inconvenience in order to keep the forum alive. As always when working with groups, peoples personalities will emerge and we often strayed a little off topic ( sometimes allot ). I can appreciate John taking offense to being accused of a cover up and all that other crap, but the group seems to be very good at self-policing as several member jumped to the immediate defense of our benefactors. I hold you both in the highest regards.
Having said that, I would hate to see this forum severely limited in it's scope to ONLY cover what type of valve I need, or whether the PVC is too thin. For my part I am stuck in my 16th year of post high-school education and have had nothing to do with submarine construction. But being allowed to eavesdrop on guys like Phil and Gary , Jon Shawl and Vance has done more to fuel my desire to participate first hand than anything I could have imagined. To me THAT is the purpose of Psubs - discussing and sharing enthusiasm about Subbing. Thank you for allowing me to participate.
Most sincerely - Greg