@ scuba saar-I see you haven't posted much.... just a word to the wise, your post is blatantly commercial (as Mike so "eloquently" put it 
) Another thing to remember is that this group collectively, has dived all over the Philippines.
As you've already seen some people are also quite sensitive about "touching" anything underwater too
Commercialism and things that might not be considered "eco-friendly" are not going to go over too well here... my suggestion would be come in, try to be helpful, get to know people, and not promote your area as being "better" than everyone else
If you mention your own site in response to peoples questions as another choice... then most folks won't kick to much. There are other people here who have dive business' also. You won't see them badmouthing anyone (without reason) just to promote their own shop. They don't mind recommending other people and dive shops .
If someone is coming to their area they may offer to help, but don't slam others in the process. If someone is traveling to another area that they are familiar with they're willing to offer "local knowledge" or point them to someone who is.
If you promote yourself to the exclusion of others, namely by doing what you did here... suggesting that other sites are not good and everyone should come dive with you.... what can I say... just be prepared for some abuse and not accomplishing anything positive for yourself.
If you want to promote your area then my suggestion would be to write about the great diving there and include quality photographs (we all love good photos here). This will go a lot further than asking, "Don't you get tired???", implying that other places are no good. We, as I said earlier, collectively as a group, have dived all over the Philippines. We know better
And while I'm here let me offer a quick photography lesson I'm not near as skilled as Jon, Mike, and some of the others, but I get lucky every now and then. I'm sure they could offer up much better examples
The photo you chose to post, is just so, so.... barrel sponges just aren't all that exciting
If you wanted to show a photo of a barrel sponge, then maybe one like this would have been better....
I realize it's hard to tell, you can't see the top of the barrel sponge, the area at the base is covered in crinoids, (and it doesn't have a diver hugging it), but trust me this one is about twice the size of the one in your photo.
Note all the pretty colors, the blue water, (visibility appears to be pretty good here... not so good in the photo you supplied) and don't forget the fish
This is much more attractive to the average diver than a photo of a barrel sponge being hugged by a diver, with no fish, no color to speak of and so so visibility based on the photo. Remember your objective is to promote diving there, not have people look at it and go... "so what".
Here's a much smaller barrels sponge... again note the colors, fish in the photo, the blue water with vis appearing to be at least 50 feet, and the excellent buoyancy control being exhibited by the diver in the background. You notice that he's being very "eco-friendly" also
These were both taken in Anilao by the way, a place many of us never get "tired " of
) Another thing to remember is that this group collectively, has dived all over the Philippines. As you've already seen some people are also quite sensitive about "touching" anything underwater too
Commercialism and things that might not be considered "eco-friendly" are not going to go over too well here... my suggestion would be come in, try to be helpful, get to know people, and not promote your area as being "better" than everyone else
If you mention your own site in response to peoples questions as another choice... then most folks won't kick to much. There are other people here who have dive business' also. You won't see them badmouthing anyone (without reason) just to promote their own shop. They don't mind recommending other people and dive shops .
If someone is coming to their area they may offer to help, but don't slam others in the process. If someone is traveling to another area that they are familiar with they're willing to offer "local knowledge" or point them to someone who is.
If you promote yourself to the exclusion of others, namely by doing what you did here... suggesting that other sites are not good and everyone should come dive with you.... what can I say... just be prepared for some abuse and not accomplishing anything positive for yourself.
If you want to promote your area then my suggestion would be to write about the great diving there and include quality photographs (we all love good photos here
). This will go a lot further than asking, "Don't you get tired???", implying that other places are no good. We, as I said earlier, collectively as a group, have dived all over the Philippines. We know better And while I'm here let me offer a quick photography lesson
I'm not near as skilled as Jon, Mike, and some of the others, but I get lucky every now and then. I'm sure they could offer up much better examples The photo you chose to post, is just so, so.... barrel sponges just aren't all that exciting
If you wanted to show a photo of a barrel sponge, then maybe one like this would have been better....
I realize it's hard to tell, you can't see the top of the barrel sponge, the area at the base is covered in crinoids, (and it doesn't have a diver hugging it
), but trust me this one is about twice the size of the one in your photo. Note all the pretty colors, the blue water, (visibility appears to be pretty good here... not so good in the photo you supplied) and don't forget the fish
This is much more attractive to the average diver than a photo of a barrel sponge being hugged by a diver, with no fish, no color to speak of and so so visibility based on the photo. Remember your objective is to promote diving there, not have people look at it and go... "so what".
Here's a much smaller barrels sponge... again note the colors, fish in the photo, the blue water with vis appearing to be at least 50 feet, and the excellent buoyancy control being exhibited by the diver in the background. You notice that he's being very "eco-friendly" also
These were both taken in Anilao by the way, a place many of us never get "tired " of
I don't think he's being flamed... he's being teased unmercifully about what most of us think was a poor choice in photo 
