WOW! I didn't know this, did you?

[Mario S Caner]

Fellow Dive Buddies,

I routinely log onto Forbes.com as a tool to do research about different companies regarding different issues. While surfing the site, I stumbled upon something I didn't know about ScubaSource...

It has the #1 user ratings in Forbes "Best of the web" section for 4 years running!! All the people there that have voted prefered the SSN the most. Forbes rated it 5 stars and said it is second to none on how it compares to everything else out there. You can even click on the ScubaSource line and contribute to the questionnaire on their site. There are more than 45,000 POSITIVE remarks and less than 13 negative remarks!

Thank you :royal: on a job very well done! I feel proud to be part of the masses that know the real story.

 

[rcohn]

That is pretty impressive to be number 1 on a list that includes all the other major players! Forbes makes the sites sound so large, is it really that large? I like Scubasource and getting a plug like that from a name like "Forbes" is very amazing.

 

[King_Neptune]

I have to admit, today was looking kinda crummy with the usual load of work and all the phone calls and there just wasn't much smiling going on... That is, until I read this post... hehe...

Wow, where to begin ... This is a rare moment in time so catch it while you can, chances are you wont hear this kinda horn blowing again, all of us usually refrain from this kinda thing.

Forbes Magazine (known around the world at being the authority on just about anything they touch although I personally dont agree with everything they say) so it would be an understatement to say we were blown away and extrememly happy to see the review. We knew nothing about it until someone pointed it out to us. Many of the others in that list are the biggest of the big in their area which makes us proud to be placed amoung their ranks.

Next of all, I just have to giggle when people say they thought Scuba Source was small or just these forums.

Did you know that ....

1) The Scuba Source Network (SSN) is made up of more than 300 domains online.

2) The SSN has been Microsoft's "#1 Featured Site" 7 months in a row, and we were once before as well for 4 months running.

3) We have been published in "Computing Magazine" as the #1 outdoor recreational site online for the years 1999, 2000 and 2001.

4) The SSN was Yahoo Magazines "#1 Pick" for outdoor recreational sites 2 years running.

5) The SSN gives away more than 26 domain names for Free (Geocities Style) Website hosting and (Hotmail Style) Free Email (at ScubaCity.com) with more than 150,000 users.

6) The SSN built the Internets First True Scuba Exclusive Search Engine online, before all the clones built theirs (at ScubaSearch.com)

7) The SSN has the Largest Online Global Directory of listings for Diving related clubs, shops, Orgs, etc with more than 16,000+ listings, that's more than all the other sites out there added together!

8) The SSN has offices on all corners of the Globe. (New York, Florida, Washington State, Southern California, Scottland and Australia)

9) The SSN has Directors, Programmers and Technicians that are former Oracle, Adobe and other programmers, our server admins were involved in the development of Geocities.com, 50megs.com, etc... and some worked for places like Critical Path, 247Media, Charles Shwab, etc etc...

10) The newsletters that we send out go out to more than 150,000 subscribers each time.

11) Amoung our many, this forum happens to sit on one of our OWN Dual PenIII 1Ghz w/2+ Gigs Ram Dell PowerEdge Server sitting on 4 OC-12's!

12) Every single day we field and (at least try) to reply to more than 300 Emails a day. And unfortunately the phones are no less pounded.

13) Last January when Alta Vista's "Wild Wild Web" did a segment on Scuba Diving we were the ones that did all the Underwater Video for the whole show and that was one of us being interviewed the whole time. (Out of our Catalina Office). During that time we had to pay to have EXTRA lines connected to our servers because we got more traffic per day than any other dive site gets in a year as it showed over 87% of the US and Europe!

Part of what makes up the SSN, and whos founder is a director of the SSN, is the Women's Scuba Association... When no one else could care less, the SSN stepped up to the plate to make sure the WSA lives on since we believe that with women making up something like 49% of all newly certified divers, that they deserve a voice and we took them under our belt to insure just that.

And I could go on but the Biggest things I will not let out of the bag just yet, so far what I have said is public knowledge and I wouldn't want to spoil the other surprises, hehe. Yes, we are fully aware that OTHER sites like to CLAIM how they are the biggest and, well, it looks like they are right in thinking that if they say it enough times you will believe it. You will notice something about the SSN... We wont walk around beating our chests and making wild claims or anything else like that. We will continue to quietly move from one project to the next until all the foundations are laid and the troups are in place. Our goal is to do what no one else in this industry has dared to do on a global scale. We just feel that it is about time that the actual "Divers" have a say.

There are few other sites out there that I respect within the diving Industry, and I'm not ashamed to say who they are. 1) diveguide.com (which just happened to be #2 on the Forbes list) and diverlink.com ... Both of them are fairly unbaised and respectible and have been on the web as long if not longer than the SSN, and the SSN has been around for MANY years now.

Btw, go to Diverlink and ask him where he got the look for his pages, hehe, (I love teasing him about this). The VERY first page of his site... Does it look fimiliar? No? Ignore all the water looking background... Still nothing? If not, compare it to the ScubaSearch.com Engine or the ScubaEvents.com Calendar or the AquaTrader.com Classified Ads System, etc ...

Do I think the SSN is the greatest thing since sliced bread to the diving industry? Well, considering that what I feel is the SSN, then yes, since I feel what the "SSN is" is all of you put together. That has been our goal from day #1. Btw, at the time of me writting, for future historical and properity reasons, I will mention that we now have 458 members on this forum, and this is only within a few short weeks of opening it and we have never sent out an email yet or any other forum of letting people know other than word of mouth or a few lowly links on the bottom of some of our other pages. Not to bad for how "small" we all are, hehe.

Hope this sheds alittle light...

=-)

 

[Mario S Caner]

:royal: Since I am semi-new to the Internet, I had no idea that Scubasource was such a big part of the diving industry. I just thought that you put together a kick-butt site or two...

Holy Cow dOOd, I can see why other companies out there would need to keep patting themselves on the back to survive... It's like playing monopoly where no one else has any properties and :royal: has Hotels everywhere! It's just a matter of time before they all wind up selling the farm... The more I ask around to those I know within the diving industry I now notice I get one of 2 responses 90% of the time ...

1) Oh Yeah, they are awesome, I have contacted them before and they helped me free of charge even!

2) Yeah Yeah, well they will be gone in months, just watch, they always come and go ...

ehehe, I enjoy watching them sqirm!

Mario

 

[Dee]

I had no idea SSN was so extensive and such a big part of the diving community. I was just happy to find another cool message board. I'm one of the original Diverlink members and this is the only other message board I feel truly comfortable with.

King, you can brag anytime!

Dee

 

[King_Neptune]

Dee,

Thank you, what you said is what has kept me going all this time. What I see and others seem to fail to, is that what you said is actually very sad.

and this is the only other message board I feel truly comfortable with.

This is a sad but VERY common thing I hear alot of and it is why I feel the diving Industry needs a changing of the color guard. Why that isnt a MAJOR wake up call to these other "self proclaiming Leaders" I will never know. We should feel comfortable anywhere but that isnt the reality of things. I will share with all of you what really sets my blood on fire and why I continue to go about things the way I do, In a stern yet stealth manner (aka keep on walking quietly yet carry a BIG stick!).

Some years ago now, one of the female divers that came to our sites asked why, within days, she saw ALL the Women's Scuba Association (WSA) links dissapear from the "Scuba Diving" magazine and website. I told her I did not know, that this was the first I heard of it, and that I would look into it.

What I found was, is and should be to all divers EXTREMELY upsetting... "Their" official stance was that 1) Because the WSA was Associated with the SSN, a BIG Corporate site they WOULD NOT SUPPORT THE WSA!!! After one of the ladies within the WSA forwarded me that email from them I almost lost my cool. I swiftly wrote them a nice long and stern email questioning their poor sence of judgement. I kept their reply email to me and have it tucked away for a rainy day. What they told me was that 1) The WSA and women within the diving Industry are a "Minor detail" and that their was no need for such an agency as the Industry is more geared for MEN and their was no sence in "making waves" in a "smoothly running system". *GASP* WHAT?!?!?

If you haven't already, please read the NEWEST article we have placed on our sites by the Underwater Archaeologist Dr. Athena Trakadas (What an awesome name too!) and tell me women divers aren't of any merit and dont "deserve" their support!!!
No, I am not a woman, but this made me LIVID all the same! Why you ask? Well, I'm just the kind of person that a) HATES HATES HATES elitest crap like that, b) I favor the Underdog all the time and c) I pray God has mercy on the soul that ever harms my wife, and as far as I was concerned they just slapped my wife and mother in one SWIFT SMACK!

I guess that one could say, In a nutshell I hope to have the SSN, lead by example.

=-)

 

[Dee]

That shouldn't surprise me but it does. Most of us women divers come across that attitude frequently but, in my case, it's usually men divers. That's OK because I just love proving them wrong! But for a large business to have this attitude is scary.

I think SSN is doing a great job at leading by example!

 

[Mario S Caner]

As a diver, that upsets me as well, so you're not alone.

Collectively we can all stand by the issue and protect everyone's rights ...

The constant additions to our already loud voice will someday make everyone else out there stop what they're doing (wrong) and listen.

Go big or go home!

Mario

 

[Military Diver]

rcohn,

What made you think Scuba Source was small? I regularly work and play with many divers and just about ALL of them (except those not into the internet) know about Scuba Source. I've been reading parts of Scuba Source for more than 3 or 4 years now.

 

[Mario S Caner]

Military Diver,

I for one am new with the Scuba realm on the internet, but know how to recogize a quality site when I see it.

This is my home, and I find joy in the fact that my scubaboard family is growing from day to day!

Sea you in the Deep Blue!

Mario