This old can of worms again.

In general, DIR divers are very well trained and, AFAIK, very competent divers. They ought to be with the amount of training and scenarios they do on every dive.

DIR is not for me as I prefer a bit more choice in how I kit up for a dive (eg using a FFM). I have definitely witnessed, first hand, some elitism from a few DIR divers but there are a few !!!!heads in all walks of diving so it is no big surprise.

AIUI, certainly in the UK, there is a bit of rebranding going on and there is a movement away from the name (not the philosophies) of DIR to the GUE brand.