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Apparently Mr. Joel Markwell, dissatisfied with the controls on free speech exercised on the Compuserve forum, feels a compelling need to liberally vent his insults, misinformation and innuendo on the TechDiver list. His recent profane and arrogant attack, directed against George Irvine and indirectly against all those individuals who have invested tirelessly in the Woodville Karst Plain Project was just far too annoying to ignore. Markwell's derogatory characterizations of Irvine are really aimed at his colleagues and organization by direct inference. His cute attempts to portray himself as a technical diving insider and computer savant (note his copious use of underscore characters "_") are lamentable. Markwell's recent explosion of indignation over a series of supposedly bogus posts (which mysteriously possess all of the detailed Compuserve header information associated with his account) has further discredited him amongst the seventy or so WKPP members who subscribe to these lists. Most of us have quietly waited and watched him spew his uniformed nonsense until the insult volume became intolerable. Joel Markwell doesn't know George Irvine, he certainly has not dived with the WKPP, he has not dived in deep Tallahassee caves, by his own admission he has not even taken a mixed gas diving course, yet he freely renders endless pronouncements and opinions. George Irvine, unlike many who pontificate on this forum, speaks with the imprimatur of actual diving experience. When you routinely and safely complete exploration dives over a mile out at 300 fsw, exposures in excess of 100 minutes and endure 9 hour decompressions without incident I would venture to say that your opinion on matters pertaining to technical diving might carry some weight. In deference to George Irvine's experience and accomplishments Mr. Markwell has chosen to smear him with all manner of obnoxious invective, sexual and scatological insults as well as foolish challenges. Markwell, who claims to have dived in Mexico, Peacock Springs and several other well traveled dive sites feels that he now has ample license to argue endlessly and authoritatively on all aspects of cave and technical diving. Markwell began his lecture series on technical diving when he chose to pontificate on line placements in Mexican caves, a subject on which I am certain he has attained professorial status. Rather than listen and accept (and maybe learn something) what George Irvine had to say on the matter Markwell chose to argue endlessly with him. Markwell fell into the same trap that most of the "experts" do who reject offhand what Irvine has to say because it conflicts with their "personal preference" or they think his message is too "arrogant" . Rather than ask someone else whether Irvine knew what he was talking about, Markwell jumped into action and started his terminal arguments. Markwell has no idea what he is talking about. Everyone in the WKPP who has worked with George Irvine knows he speaks from experience. Unlike Markwell, Irvine listens and learns from the many people who have made significant and often unheralded contributions to cave and technical diving. These contributions are incorporated into the extensive policies and procedures which govern operations and safety for the WKPP. Markwell and many of his team of experts over on the Compuserve forum still live the fantasy that "technical" diving should be discussed and practiced like coin or stamp collecting. This stuff is deadly serious business and if Markwell doesn't believe it perhaps he should ask some of the people on the Cavers list for the "scorecard". Irvine knows this sorry fact. He doesn't give a damn whether he hurts peoples feelings as long as keeps them alive. This business is filled with strong personalities, big egos, shade tree experts, people with something to prove and lots of Alfred E. Neumans. Basically what you have is a very volatile mixture for sure and certain death. What Irvine strives to do is get the job done and keep everyone alive. Argue with that.
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