[Geysers] Thanks to geyser people last week...

[David Schwarz]

   Sorry to pull out a week-old discussion, but I haven't had time to reply
until now, and I think there were a few things left to be said on the
subject of "rude" gazers, and particularly about the letter Udo received.

On 7/26/06, Bruce Jensen <bpnjensen at yahoo.com > wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
> I agree it would be generally great if GOSA members would act as gushing
> ambassadors for the organization and Park and thermal features that they
> love so well, but as "visitors" (which the July 14 letter points out) they
>
> are no more obliged to act this part than the average visitor.


   This is the key observation of the discussion, and it bears repeating.

   I'm surprised to see people citing the early- and mid-1990s as a time
when gazers were polite and had good relations with visitors.  I assure you,
there were surly gazers from the very foundation of GOSA, and in the
mid-1990s, they got a lot more attention than a single letter to the GOSA
store.  At the time, neither GOSA's subscribers nor the Park Service
adequately appreciated the simple fact that Bruce articulated above.
Representatives of the Park Service regarded GOSA as a formal organization
with  enforcement power over its members, and went so far as to expect it to
censure or punish them when they violated an implicit code of conduct.  For
their part, some GOSA members--and I use the term for convenience, because
technically (and legally), GOSA's only "members" are its directors--expected
special treatment and privileges not extended to the general public.

   With the ever-growing non-membership, I hope it's clear how absurd it is
to judge the group--which at this point is a loose collection of individuals
with a common interest and a subscription to the Sput--on the behavior of
any individual, or, for that matter, to judge it as a group at all.
Precisely because it has no membership requirements, GOSA could not remain
the small, close-knit group of researchers and enthusiasts from the late
1980s.  Today, it's a random cross-section of society, with a bias toward
the eccentric--you know, the kind of people who would spend days or even
years of their lives waiting for boiling water to come out of the ground.
Think about it.  Of course some of us are a bit... well, off.

   Although visitors and casual gazers who catch the business end of a gazer
in a bad mood have my sympathy, I'd also like to say something in defense of
those who spend their summers in the park and who may come off as a bit
rude.  Although it's been a while, I've spent more than my share of summers
in the park, so I'd like to offer a little perspective on what that's like
in terms of the contact with visitors (and even other gazers), especially if
you hang out in the high-traffic parts of the Upper Basin.  The average
person walking by has about as much interest and curiosity about what
they're looking at as most of us would in a museum of mold spores.  I'm not
saying they're wrong, I'm just saying that when they ask a question about
what you're looking at, all they usually really want to know is "If I spend
a couple of minutes here, will anything happen, or should I move on to the
next labeled attraction?"  The typical response of a visitor to a gazer
waiting for Grand is an incredulous "You mean it might be _hours_ before it
erupts, and you're going to wait?!"  I think most of you can figure out (or
know first-hand) how that translates if you're waiting for Giant, Fan and
Mortar, Splendid or something even less likely.  Hint: It usually involves
them backing away slowly while carefully maintaining eye-contact.

   After answering versions of the same question ten times per hour for
weeks or months, and getting in return varying degrees of indifference, if
not mirth and derision, is it any wonder that long-term gazers eventually
start giving monosyllabic answers until they have reason to believe that
someone is genuinely interested?  After all, it's not their job to act as an
interactive trail marker.  In fact, for most of them, it's their vacation,
so they have at least as much of a right not to be harassed and/or laughed
at as a visitor has not to be dealt with curtly.

   So.  Is snapping at a visitor rude?  Absolutely.  But so is demanding
information from someone who is neither responsible for providing it nor has
advertised its availability.  This goes for many gazers as well as
visitors:  If you walk up to one of the long-termers, whether you know them
or not, inundate them with questions, and then leave without expressing the
least bit of gratitude, don't be surprised if you start getting the cold
shoulder.  No one likes being treated like an information dispenser.  That
goes double if you're asking questions to which you really ought to know the
answer.  I'm thinking along the lines of, "When is it going to erupt?"  The
surly answer is "If I knew that, I wouldn't be waiting here."  It's also the
only honest one.  The fact that someone has seen Fan and Mortar 50 times, or
Grand 500, doesn't mean they're able to call it more than a few minutes in
advance, if that.  If they could, they'd come out when it was going to
erupt, see it, and leave.  "When was the last Turban?" also qualifies.  If
you've been at Grand more than 20 minutes, and you don't know the answer,
then you're just being lazy.  If you've just walked up, you're more
justified, but even then you know the next one will most likely be within 15
minutes.  Have a seat.  Take a swig of water.  Do some calisthenics if you
must.  But if your time and/or patience is so constrained that it makes a
difference to you whether the next Turban will be in 5 or 15 minutes, you
may want to reconsider your choice of hobby.

   All I'm trying to say is that if you've found a fellow gazer brusque,
please take a moment to ask yourself whether you were polite yourself.  If
they didn't know you, did you bother to introduce yourself?  Did you ask
whether they had a moment, or would mind answering a question or two?  Did
you thank them (assuming they answered your questions)?  Far too often, the
"experts" are expected to provide answers without even the cursory
politeness we'd all spare when asking a stranger for the time of day.  Some
of them just flat out don't want to be disturbed, but I assure you, some of
them just want a little civility themselves.

David Schwarz
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