liveaboard.com Can I trust them?

[tridacna]

I'm not moderating the thread.

Really?

On December 9 you sent me a threatening PM as a mod warning me to back off criticizing LA. You posted it ON BEHALF OF THE MODERATORS. I'm confused.


"You've made your point. Now please let it go.

@chillyinCanada on behalf of the moderators"

 

[chillyinCanada]

I shall have to take my lumps for that

 

[Jonn]

Poor Kathryn; I felt bad for her this whole time. She has the job of defending the indefensible, and she’s doing her best at it without much help from her teammates. A “satisfactory response” might be coming out with “we’re just another two-faced middle man website, hustling for a buck without adding much value, and our ‘reviews’ are a Potemkin paradise where nothing bad ever happens, much as you would expect them to be.” That would not satisfy her bosses though, and she would get fired. Liveaboard.com is being sleazy here but probably not actually fraudulent, and that’s about all you can expect from them.
Does ANY website actually have honest reviews? How would they ever stay in business like that?! Caveat emptor.

 

[tridacna]

Poor Kathryn; I felt bad for her this whole time. She has the job of defending the indefensible, and she’s doing her best at it without much help from her teammates. A “satisfactory response” might be coming out with “we’re just another two-faced middle man website, hustling for a buck without adding much value, and our ‘reviews’ are a Potemkin paradise where nothing bad ever happens, much as you would expect them to be.” That would not satisfy her bosses though, and she would get fired. Liveaboard.com is being sleazy here but probably not actually fraudulent, and that’s about all you can expect from them.
Does ANY website actually have honest reviews? How would they ever stay in business like that?! Caveat emptor.

Sorta kinda correct. Other sites stuff tons of fake BS reviews and the genuine bad ones become hard to find and barely skew the data. We all know and recognize that model. LA just don’t bother publishing the negative ones. And censor the mediocre ones.

Enough of this now, time to dive. Just not through Liveaboard.com

 

[ontdiver]

There is an inherent risk in making a single source choice and this IMHO is really the core issue in this thread. While it is really a shame that Liveabord.com has failed to respond to the issues raised on SB, I somehow suspect the company is weighing the pros and cons of being more transparent within the context of preserving their brand. And yes.....time to dive.

 

[The Chairman]

I somehow suspect the company is weighing the pros and cons of being more transparent within the context of preserving their brand. And yes.....time to dive.

The truth is not the best option: it's the only option. Everyone makes mistakes, even mods on ScubaBoard. Even me. Well, especially me. We learn. We improve. We do better. There's no guidelines written for what we do here. But the mods and I really feel the truth is best out in the open. We accept criticisms, both fair and not so fair.

However, it's a fine line we walk. We see people get overly aggressive and we try to be a calming influence. Sometimes our desire for fairness backfires and we look bad. We live with it and keep doing what we know to be right. We're big enough to take "our lumps", as Chilly posted. We're honest enough to accept those criticisms publicly too.

 

[Jay]

LiveAboard could have said something like:

- we're reviewing our Review System and Rules and will update that Policy in a month.
- we're amending the score calculation inputs and here's how it'll be computed

It appears that there is no input for safety related aspects, so a boat with a blocked fire-escape will score highly.

In my view a boat with a blocked fire escape should score zero.

If you are dissatisfied with the overall score, please let me know and I can find out how that is calculated.

Many thanks,

Kathryn

It's taken Alberto too many emails, posts, over too many months. I wonder how many others simply gave up.

@chillyinCanada, the inappropriate moderation aside, any business built on some degree of dishonesty will be caught out somewhere, somehow along the line. How loud/impactful that becomes depends. On SB we have a chance to shape the industry we support with our $ and with our individual voices. Don't you agree that LiveAboard needs to fix their Review/Ratings system?

 

[ontdiver]

Don't you agree that LiveAboard needs to fix their Review/Ratings system?

If there is to be any meaningful movement on this item, someone needs to PM Kathryn on behalf of SB, once again expressing concern - in a respectful, balanced manner - for their current review/rating system. The writer would need to make the point that there is a greater likelihood that divers will book with liveabord.com if they feel they can trust the information on their site. If not, they should not be surprised if they are subjected to criticism on various social media platforms. This would not be good for their corporate image nor for the suppliers they represent. A polished communique is likely to get someone's attention.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Read the comments of someone who actually used Liveaboard.com.

Review of First (for me) Liveaboard in Egypt: Brothers/North Route

 

[Jay]

Chilly, why do you keep trying to divert this thread from the real question / topic of whether LiveAboards ratings and review system needs fixing.

The question of How to achieve something is somewhat secondary when there’s corporate obtuseness.