Bill22

Thanks, that would likely be my report from my trip there last June I loved Club Ocellaris... I'm headed back to the Philippines in April. Even though the focus this time will be on Tubbataha and Palawan (Puerto Princesa, El Nido, Coron), I'm still going to squeeze a few days in at Club O before I head home Sorry, I don't post at wetpixel much... I've kind of been lurking for the most part and trying to soak up knowledge where I can. I'll re-post my report when I get a little time...

It was suggested to me on another board, that I go ahead and get the 160, then sell the DS125 and use the money to defray the cost of buying a second DS160...end result is an upgrade to a dual DS160 system. This is something to think about since the TTL will work using them together according to Ikelite. Realistically, I may not be able to do that for a few months. I've been buying both dive and camera equipment recently in preparation for an upcoming trip to the Philippines. In the meantime I'll have a dual strobe system for my upcoming trip. I'm looking at a brand new DS125 system (not used) for $943 (with a dual sync cord replacing the single). I can get the DS160 for $1017.00. Not enough saving there to NOT get the DS160 if it's the better strobe and it matches okay with the 125. I'm wondering how the DS160 will match up with the DS125? Even if they do sync, there have to be differences I would think, between that setup and one that used "matched" strobes???? Any thoughts on that? Thanks!

I'm ready to add a second strobe. I currently have a DS125. I was going to purchase a DS160 since the DS125's have been discontinued, but now have the opportunity to add a second DS125. I checked with Ikelite and they tell me that I will be able to hook a DS160 with my DS125 on the dual sync cord and still have TTL (not the case with older DS125's that haven't had the upgrade). The main differences I see: DS160 Energy Rating 160 watt-sec Recycle 1.5 sec Guide # (ISO 100) 76' Surface-38' underwater Full Power Flashes-225 Firing Modes-TTL, Full, 9 fractional powers Modeling Light-5 watt LED DS125 Energy Rating-110 watt-sec Recycle Time-1 sec Guide # (ISO 100) 64' Surface-32' underwater Full Power Flashes-250 Firing Modes-TTL, Full, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 Modeling Light-Built in Halogen The big ones that jump out at me are number of full power flashes and LED vs Halogen for the modeling light. Any comments on the advantages/disadvantages of both? I need to make a decision soon. Thanks to everyone in advance for your input

The money for online forums comes from advertising on the site. Advertising rates are based on the "traffic" to the site. The better his site looks, the more traffic he can draw. Some companies might not want to advertise on a site that engaged in less than ethical practices. Potentially there is money to be made, but of course it's possible to make no money. Same risk whenever anyone starts a new business. Generally one has to be prepared not to make any money the first few years while getting established. In this particular case I personally was more than willing to help him out in getting established. I re-posted material and photographs that I had posted on other sites and posted new material and photographs on his sites. This is what someone needs who is running an online forum if they want to eventually make money. People to participate. The more participation, the more traffic. The more traffic, the more money they can charge for advertising. There's nothing wrong with having a business and making money. What this thread is about is some of the ways that most people consider to be an unethical way to go about it. When I ran across this thread, I decided not to participate on his site anymore.

I was quite surprised that "Pinay Pam" was made an administrator on the [url=http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=17238]scubamagazine.net[/url] [known spammer -editor] [known spammer -editor] PPD facebook page. By her own admission she was a brand new diver. Something didn't seem quite right, but I figured, "what the heck" maybe Dave was as much a sucker for a pretty face as the rest of us guys can be at times I thought at first that the fact they were using the same name from scubaboard was not very good, but decided it must not be much of an issue since some of the PPD'ers from scubaboard were posting there also. When I ran across a link to this thread on another board, I posted it on PPD's facebook page. I deleted all my photo's from the [url=http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=17238]scubamagazine.net[/url] [known spammer -editor] [known spammer -editor] facebook page and left the group. I deleted as much content as I could from what I had posted on scubabmagzine.net's site and placed copyright notices with the items that I couldn't delete (I had posted trip reports from the Philippines and Japan and included some of my best photos). As I was finishing this, I found myself BLOCKED on his site Just another chapter in the story ;-)