The Truth about Dive Paradise and the ScubaBoard Invasion

[The Chairman]

Actually, given that it's usually 1 for every 10, I'd figure on 10 person's worth of perks, or $10K.

You still don't get it. Look at the TON of advertising and goodwill both Hotel Cozumel and Dive Paradise garnered from this event. Do you really think that was free for them? Why can't you find a BETTER deal than we provided? Because we used the power of ScubaBoard and Social Media to leverage the venue to give us an incredibly cheap rate. The end result is that this has done wonders to promote them on the interwebz. It's something that you or the average "club" can't provide for them. Why do you think we only allow advertisers to hold an Invasion? Its an amazing and unique opportunity for LARGE resorts to showcase their property on the World's Most Popular Website for Divers.

What do I care? hahaha

That you obviously do perplexes the rest of us.

 

[Mike]

I could care less if Pete, Dennis, Roxxane or LuLu got their trips comp'd or got a private jet as a perk. I didn't sign up under the thoughts of, well it sounds like a good deal and fun, but I need a full accounting of the finances of this trips perks to the organizers before I committed. I read the offer, saw if I could fit the time off into my schedule and figured it sure sounded like something fun to try and then I booked it.

( Jeeze, the thing was practically free in the first place. I think my airfare was almost as much as the whole trip!)

Finding out if Pete got a free Porsche out of the deal after the fact still wouldn't have any effect on why I went on the trip in the first place, so why would it matter now? More power to them. Maybe I'm mistaken but is Scubaboard listed as a non-profit?

 

[The Chairman]

ScubaBoard has often been a "No-Profit", but it has never been a "Non-Profit".

I'm still looking for my Porsche and private jet.

 

[cvchief]

Seriously, I don't think Moss is hatin'.
Moss thinks SB is the type of group/organization that should organize trips and no one profits.

NetDoc on the other hand says that aint the way SB works. He says people get stuff for organizing trips.

Legitimate difference of opinion that NetDoc wins cuz he owns the store.

Don't be hating Moss for thinking everything about SB should be non commercial / non-profit. It isn't and has commercial connections. That isn't a dirty word either.

Beyond that who care how much much they got. You know someone is profiting. After that, your only question: Is it a good deal? I mean if you found two group trips to Coz. One organizer is making $20K and the trip is $1000 and the other guy is making $100 and the cost is $750 for the same everything. Which do you choose? Profit isn't a bad thing if you are giving a service, right?

 

[the Hermit]

.... secret deals is a pretty touchy subject for me... but come on....

The Invasion has a successful history, an event this size is a lot of work, and begrudging a couple of people some perks for all their effort would be awfully small... like micro small.

If the perks weren't there, I would want to put them in, just because its a good thing to do.

 

[Mossman]

I'll donate all of the profits realized from the Coz Invasion.

You'll let me audit all your profits

 

[Mossman]

You still don't get it. Look at the TON of advertising and goodwill both Hotel Cozumel and Dive Paradise garnered from this event. Do you really think that was free for them? Why can't you find a BETTER deal than we provided?

Exactly. With all the advertising provided, they could have provided wonderful deals, if only they weren't constrained by having to grant freebies to all the principals. Too bad it's not a non-profit club sort of atmosphere where all the people could have realized the benefits of group savings and not just the organizers.

 

[dougr52]

Exactly. With all the advertising provided, they could have provided wonderful deals, if only they weren't constrained by having to grant freebies to all the principals. Too bad it's not a non-profit club sort of atmosphere where all the pe
ople could have realized the benefits of group savings and not just the organizers.

hang in there mossman... darol where are you??? mossman needs help!!!

 

[The Chairman]

That's the real point: they were provided wonderful deals without costing ScubaBoard thousands of dollars. In fact, you haven't been able to show us a more wonderful deal available anywhere, so we did our job. I am not sure why anyone thinks I should be running this site at a loss. I don't charge anything for our members to participate on the best Scuba resource in the world. Those are real and tangible benefits that are given for nothing. What money I do make comes from our advertisers and a few volunteer supporters. Why begrudge me that? The fact that I created an incredibly fun event with the vision that we would not profit from shows my continued commitment to the community. I was told by the director of tourism for Cozumel that we brought more divers to Cozumel than any other group. I thought outside of the box to recruit the very best organizer I knew of AND keep the costs way, way down. Its a shame that people want to tear down and criticize what they aren't a part of. Thanks to CardZard, we had the very best time at an incredible price and ScubaBoard walked away without gaining or losing any money on the event. Yay!

 

[The Chairman]

You'll let me audit all your profits

Wow... how will you do that? I don't accept any money for this trip, either from the participants or the people taking the reservations. There is no "Invade Cozumel" accounting to be audited.