scubamagazine.net are spammers w/shady business practice

[underwatercolours 0]

I wonder if these companies are truely sponsoring scubmag****.net

 

I asked INON about it and they told me they never paid them and had asked to be removed. It was gone for a while, not its back.

[pakman 0]

I've sent an email to those housing companies...

[Scubatooth 0]

Eric

 

just wondering since the buttons are a derivative artwork that you did, would it be possible to claim CR infringement for ripping them off?

[brendiver 0]

Wow, this thread is fascinating,

 

My question - what does this guy have to gain from his actions??

 

Where's the $ in what he is doing, or am I being naive as a "youngster" in this Web 2.0 world??

[Bill22 0]

Wow, this thread is fascinating,

 

My question - what does this guy have to gain from his actions??

 

Where's the $ in what he is doing, or am I being naive as a "youngster" in this Web 2.0 world??

 

 

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.

[Nick Hope 151]

Here on Wetpixel, his username is "RebreatherDave".

RebreatherDave was hanging out on the video forums a year or two ago. He had an Amphibico housing and was a bit clueless about it, but seemed like a genuine nice guy hoping to improve. I gave him loads of help as did others like Wagsy. But then he vanished. I'm really surprised to hear that he is the notorious [url=http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=17238]scubamagazine.net[/url] [known spammer -editor] [known spammer -editor] spammer.

[indigo 0]

Dear All,

 

I keep getting 'we miss you' emails from scubamag / idivechick

 

Joined the forum, but got a bad feeling so stopped participating. Having read all this thread, and looked at the pictures it is obvious to me that the chicks a dude!

 

Lets face it, diving is still a male dominated sport, especially when it boils down to the very technical stuff. Not saying that I don't enjoy a good technical discussion about things I understand or want to learn more about.... but there aren't that many girls / ladies that would post up gazillions of pictures of the insides of rebreathers! (Girls are interested - just not THAT interested).

 

Also, I found it very fishy (no pun intended) that the very attractive 23 year old idivechick did not post any pictures of herself whilst participating in the sport.... I'm sure that a good looking young lady in wet neoprene would have had a lot more success in seducing the boys into her / his web of deceit!

 

I don't have an issue with folks making money from setting up forums etc, as long as they treat their customers with respect - and honesty is a cornerstone of the relationship.

[Guest segal3]

So...I saw RebreatherDave aka Dave Bischof aka iDiveChick driving in his white and blue truck today on the 101 freeway getting onto the 405-N...

 

[Guest echeng]

That is AWESOME. Next time, get your passenger to hold up a sign that says, "I LOVE YOU, iDiveChick!!"

[Scuba_SI 39]

RebreatherDave was hanging out on the video forums a year or two ago. He had an Amphibico housing and was a bit clueless about it, but seemed like a genuine nice guy hoping to improve. I gave him loads of help as did others like Wagsy. But then he vanished. I'm really surprised to hear that he is the notorious [url=http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=17238]scubamagazine.net[/url] [known spammer -editor] [known spammer -editor] [known spammer -editor] spammer.

 

My guess would be he tried spamming as a different login, and Eric blocked the IP, thus removing access for his genuine account.

 

The other option is that he could be a transvestite and that is his alter ego; He probably still lives with his mom and borrows her DSL - maybe he gets home from work, locks his bedroom door whilst he slips off the overalls after a hard days work and gets in to some lingerie. Sitting on his Spiderman Bedsheets as he tries to make some new friends as the woman he always wished he had been. Don't be so hard on the guy...

[TheRealDrew 0]

Sitting on his Spiderman Bedsheets

 

 

Hey what is wrong I with Spiderman Bedsheets? I mean...umm ..just curious...

[wagsy 0]

So...I saw RebreatherDave aka Dave Bischof aka iDiveChick driving in his white and blue truck today on the 101 freeway getting onto the 405-N...

 

 

Classic, is that really his truck...

[Drew 0]

Just gets better. The SM.net team turns up in the philippines looking for freebies to shoot a promo video. Apparently has a bit of a following in the philippines... probably all set up to spam from

[WaterWorks 0]

this is an old thread but I only JUST saw it!

 

And the problem is he is STILL at it!!!!

 

Eric, can you get something put into as many printed magazines as possible and into as many pro blogs out there as you know of? i.e. Tony Wu's blog etc......

 

I BEG all members of the WetPixel community to band together in order to get rid of this crap - for once and for all.....

 

He has (stupidly) built a large FaceBook presence (his error!) and so we can all get in there and start harassing him until he disappears along with his fraudulent activities....

 

On FaceBook you can find him under Dave Allen - the one with a pic of him posing underwater looking into cam carrying a Phenom housing and breathing off his rebreather..... you can then go and find his "Group" which is known as "[url=http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=17238]scubamagazine.net[/url] [known spammer -editor] underwater photography and videography"

 

Oooh! He just messaged me:

 

"I owe no explanation - Wetpixel's false post drives massive traffic. Why would anyone want to stop that?! It has been a massive publicity driver."

 

Now Eric, THAT'S slanderous (on his behalf against you......)

 

is this guy serious!?!?!?!

[WaterWorks 0]

I've sent an email to those housing companies...

 

did they ever get back to you about it Pakman? the more I read (and the more he blocks my attempts to ask him, politely, for an explanation) the more angry this whole thing makes me....

 

can't anything be done about this?

 

Permanently?

Edited August 20, 2009 by WaterWorks

[Drew 0]

Seriously dude. He's not worth the time. This thread is to warn people about his business practices, not wage a war against someone who'd do all those things. We have no vendettas against him now that he's banned from this site.

[WaterWorks 0]

Seriously dude. He's not worth the time. This thread is to warn people about his business practices, not wage a war against someone who'd do all those things. We have no vendettas against him now that he's banned from this site.

 

you're right Drew - we've all got far more important things to be doing than worrying about people like him....... my beef, though, is the detrimental impact that these "types" have on us hard workers.... one can only presume that we can make a fairly well informed character judgement now and totally block him from any attempts to socialise or join any further communities...

[underwatercolours 0]

FYI for those of you who are on Facebook, this guy calls himself Dave Allan. He doesn't reference his website, but has the domain punched all over his images. You can also see him live and in person at the Long Beach Scuba Show. He's one of the presenters! I wonder if he's going to bring iDiveChick too.