Launch of AfricanDiver.com - a free online diving magazine

[paul.hunter]

AfricanDiver.com (http://www.africandiver.com)is a free online diving magazine focussed on all types of diving in Africa.

The first issue is now available for download or, if you prefer, you can download sections of the first issue. AfricanDiver.com will be published every three months – the next issue being due on 31 December this year. We welcome contributions, enquiries and feedback. Our hope for AfricanDiver.com is that it is relevant, thought provoking and positive. While this issue has a distinctly Southern African feel to it, future issues will include contributions from other diving places in Africa. We celebrate everything that African diving has to offer and we want you to, as well. Please visit our website often, email us at info@africandiver.com and subscribe to be notified when issues are available for download. Spread the word, dive the seas and may your bubbles always be free.

[paul.hunter]

Hello all

Any feedback on our first edition would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Paul

[PeteM]

Hello all

Any feedback on our first edition would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Paul

Advertising it by spamming on other peoples forums is a bad idea

[nik_the_brief]

Advertising it by spamming on other peoples forums is a bad idea

TBH if the magazine's free (which in this case it is) I can't really see the problem in trying to encourage as wider readership as possible on any and all forums (I think that should be fora if I'm going to be a pedant) related to diving.

Just my tuppenceworth.

[Vic]

TBH if the magazine's free (which in this case it is) I can't really see the problem in trying to encourage as wider readership as possible

I've got lots of free stuff I want you to know about. Shall I send it all to you?

Vic.

[nik_the_brief]

Hello all

Any feedback on our first edition would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Paul


Hi Paul

Personally I like it very much - a nice layout, a great deal of information. It's also pleasantly free of too much clutter and advertising and some fantastic pictures (especially in the Sodwana Shootout article).

I for one will be reading future copies with more than a little envy at the sites on your doorstep. Keep up the good work.

Nik

[nik_the_brief]

I've got lots of free stuff I want you to know about. Shall I send it all to you?

Vic.

if it's relevant, I can take it or leave it ya see. Pretty simple to ignore what I'm disinterested in. :D

[Vic]

if it's relevant, I can take it or leave it ya see.

It's very relevant. To me, anyway; you'll have to wade through it to see if it's any use to you. I can split out the salient stuff into no more than 15 or 20GB, and stick it straight in your inbox, and you can take or leave that as you please...

Pretty simple to ignore what I'm disinterested in. :D

Really? Is that a challenge?

And I'm pretty sure you meant "uninterested"...

Vic.

[PeteM]

TBH if the magazine's free (which in this case it is) I can't really see the problem in trying to encourage as wider readership as possible on any and all forums (I think that should be fora if I'm going to be a pedant) related to diving.

Whilst I have some sympathy with that view this would appear to be a commercial undertaking being funded by advertising (for instance the final page and the big DAN advert). Posting it once was fine and was accepted by the moderation team, bumping the post however was not and is specifically excluded by the AUP, if he wants advertising why should he expect to get it free - particularly if they can not stick to the AUP?

[nik_the_brief]

It's very relevant. To me, anyway; you'll have to wade through it to see if it's any use to you. I can split out the salient stuff into no more than 15 or 20GB, and stick it straight in your inbox, and you can take or leave that as you please...

Relevant to you is not necessarily relevant to me. It's a little different choosing to read one of many threads on an internet forum to having 20 Gigs of drivel posted to you directly I'm sure you'd agree.

And I'm pretty sure you meant "uninterested"...

Vic.

No - I definitely meant disinterested - if you're going to be a pedant and argue semantics at least get it right, nowt as embarrassing as showing your own ignorance eh. :rolleyes:

dis·in·ter·est·ed - [dis-in-tuh-res-tid, -tri-stid]

1. unbiased by personal interest or advantage; not influenced by selfish motives: a disinterested decision by the referee.
2. not interested; indifferent.

Disinterested and uninterested share a confused and confusing history. Disinterested was originally used to mean “not interested, indifferent”; uninterested in its earliest use meant “impartial.” By various developmental twists, disinterested is now used in both senses. Uninterested is used mainly in the sense “not interested, indifferent.” It is occasionally used to mean “not having a personal or property interest.”
Many object to the use of disinterested to mean “not interested, indifferent.” They insist that disinterested can mean only “impartial”: A disinterested observer is the best judge of behavior. However, both senses are well established in all varieties of English, and the sense intended is almost always clear from the context.

[Vic]

Relevant to you is not necessarily relevant to me.

It's relevant to you. Even if you don't know that yet.

It's a little different choosing to read one of many threads on an internet forum to having 20 Gigs of drivel posted to you directly I'm sure you'd agree.

No, I wouldn't.

You've chosen to give your permission for someone to use the fora for his own advertising and in direct contravention of the UAP, thus consuming BSAC resources (both time and money). Yet you object to giving away your own resources for someone to do similar.

No, there is no difference - except in who has to deal with the problem. You clearly don't like unwelcome missives; I suggest you don't encourage them on someone else's account.

No - I definitely meant disinterested

fair enough - you've deliberately chosen a word with an ambiguous meaning in this context, despite there being a clear, unambiguous alternative. That of itself speaks volumes.

Vic.

[GaryC]

Your all doing a wonderful job. It should be in the top 10 online dive magazines soon.

Gary

[nik_the_brief]

No, there is no difference - except in who has to deal with the problem. You clearly don't like unwelcome missives; I suggest you don't encourage them on someone else's account.

Clearly there's how you see it, how I see it and how it really is.

Personally I enjoyed taking a few minutes out to read some (IMHO) interesting articles. It appears that you enjoyed taking a few minutes out to complain on this thread about what you consider to be unwelcome 'spam'. Presumably we're both happy.

Arguing over the internet, I really can't be bothered. Even semantics and etymology, I do too much of that in real life and get paid nicely for it :D . Alright Vic you win - enjoy the warm glow of smugness I'm sure it's engendered. :rolleyes:

[Vic]

Clearly there's how you see it, how I see it and how it really is.

The reality is down to the AUP. That's what governs commercial (and other) behaviour here.

If you don't like it - campaign for a change. If you accept it - it needs to be followed. The original post in this thread was perfectly acceptable. Deliberate bumping is not - that's explicitly prohibited.

Personally I enjoyed taking a few minutes out to read some (IMHO) interesting articles.

And there is nothing from stopping you doing that.

There are, however, rules to prevent these fora becoming overrun with "helpful" commercial postings. These need to be followed. And they weren't.

It appears that you enjoyed taking a few minutes out to complain on this thread about what you consider to be unwelcome 'spam'.

No,. I didn't enjoy it. I did it because it frustrates me greatly when people turn up on a forum and start handing out permission to do things with reources that don't belong to them, and that the forum community has considered inappropriate.

Arguing over the internet, I really can't be bothered.

Recent behaviour would give the lie to that statement.

Vic.

[nik_the_brief]

Recent behaviour would give the lie to that statement.

Vic.

Sorry about that I just find it a bit too much fun to resist on occasion. ;)

It genuinely amuses me how het up people get about trivial little issues (in the grand scheme of things) and I can't help myself winding them up a little tighter whilst picturing the veins throbbing in their temples.

Really Vic, chill out, it's only the internet! We all have different opinions and views about the importance of rules. Personally on the rules thing I'm with Douglas Bader - "Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the blind obedience of fools." - Unless, of course, we're talking safety rules.

This would have been a PM but you don't appear to accept either them or e-mail messages...

I genuinely didn't mean to cause you irritation or annoyance over such a comparatively trivial matter. It's only since I trawled a few of your most recent posts that it's become apparent to me that you seem to be giving up a lot of your own time and trouble to manage or moderate this site. I appreciate that someone has to peform this thankless role.

One minor and perhaps criticism though is that you could be a little less ascerbic and argumentative (yeah I know that's rich coming from a smartarse lawyer) in your general approach to the task. It can make the forum as a whole rather offputting to a new person unfamiliar with posting in such places. Speaking as a newbie to the BSAC forum but a regular denizen of many others across the 'net it's perhaps easier for me to give you that objective feedback.