We have developed an online marina database with some unique
capabilities based around content, communications, and community. It's
all about sharing knowledge among the community of marinas and boaters.
The database has free access for anyone. It's called ActiveCaptain
(www.activecaptain.com).

ActiveCaptain is not commercial. There is no cost. There are no
advertisements. It is designed to be a place where you can find
marinas, anchorages, and local knowledge visually on worldwide maps.
It should be fast and interactive...and fun.

We've loaded the initial database full of 8,000 marinas in the US.
Each entry holds 116 fields broken up into 5 sections and 49 groupings.
The database includes common things like phone number, lat/lon,
website, etc. but we also track things that aren't often documented -
are pets welcome, diesel price/date, internet access, slip price per
foot, and many other items. There is also an extensive capability for
reviewing and rating a facility. Anchorages and "local knowledge" are
much simpler and will be added next.

We need people to review the marine facilities in their area and make
additions, corrections, reviews, etc.

ActiveCaptain is all about community. The framework will allow others
to share their knowledge and experience. Adding the information you
know into this framework will help many others and end up helping
yourself when you cruise to an area that you are less familiar with.

==================================
Karen Siegel
Castine, Maine

I checked this out. It appears to be for real and there are easier ways to
harvest email addresses for the spammers.

It's these folks who appear to be solid:

http://www.activecenter.com/

It's one of those "Why are they doing this?" things. No ads or other source
of income. OTOH they already have the infrastructure to do it without much
investment so it could well be a nice hobby contribution.

There is way too much security for the purpose. You have to register, get
and email confirmation, click to confirm, etc. Maybe that's necessary now
to keep troublemakers out of their servers but the site is only going to
become useful if a LOT of people join and round out the very minimal
information that is currently there, most of which could be found in other
ways. The sign up procedure will keep a lot of people away. I certainly
would have never bothered with it if it wasn't people right in my backyard.

Worth a look and encouragement but I'm skeptical that it will ever take off
unless they make it more accessible and get more useful information into it
themselves.

--
Roger Long

"on_the_water" wrote in
oups.com:

www.activecaptain.com

Oh, sure, don't forget to "register" so you can be spammed to death.

This website isn't "free" as long as there is a registration of personal
information to fill out......no thanks.

Larry
--
Democracy is when two wolves and a sheep vote on who's for dinner.
Liberty is when the sheep has his own gun.

"Roger Long" wrote in
:

Worth a look and encouragement but I'm skeptical that it will ever
take off unless they make it more accessible and get more useful
information into it themselves.

--
Roger Long



They won't even let you LOOK at the website data unless they harvest your
information, FIRST.....

Just reeks of spammers....

Larry
--
Democracy is when two wolves and a sheep vote on who's for dinner.
Liberty is when the sheep has his own gun.

Larry wrote:
They won't even let you LOOK at the website data unless they harvest
your information, FIRST.....

Just reeks of spammers....


That's why I wouldn't have even bothered to take a look if it weren't for
the local interest.

This will probably doom the effort for it depends on the participation of
lots of people, many of whom will feel the same way.

Hopefully, they will be monitoring this group and take note.

--
Roger Long

Larry wrote in
:

"Roger Long" wrote in
:

Worth a look and encouragement but I'm skeptical that it will ever
take off unless they make it more accessible and get more useful
information into it themselves.

--
Roger Long



They won't even let you LOOK at the website data unless they harvest
your information, FIRST.....

Just reeks of spammers....

Larry

Larry,

All they did was ask for your information in 4 screens instead of 1. They
only asked for a user name, password, first/last name, and e-mail address.
That's no different than any other site. However, I agree that it's
strange that they won't let you view it without registering. Normally the
above is limited to posting.

-- Geoff

All they did was ask for your information in 4 screens instead of 1. They
only asked for a user name, password, first/last name, and e-mail address.
That's no different than any other site. However, I agree that it's
strange that they won't let you view it without registering. Normally the
above is limited to posting.


You can view all of the markers on the maps and satellite images
withouth registering. You can see the name, address, phone number, and
average rating of each marina without registering. It's sort of easy
to check it out and see that. If you want to access and change the
large amount of details for a facility, you need to register.

Enjoy!

....Jeff

I know of Jeff Siegel from his many postings on the http://
lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers-and-trawlering. (How do I
make that a link?) Jeff seems to be very helpful and a straight
shooter. But for much more on this subject see the current posting on
Panbo.com the very respected marine electronics blog. He explains
their business plan and how they intend to keep this service free. I
really trust they are not doing this to harvest personal information.

Rod



On Jan 26, 7:16 pm, wrote:
All they did was ask for your information in 4 screens instead of 1. They
only asked for a user name, password, first/last name, and e-mail address.
That's no different than any other site. However, I agree that it's
strange that they won't let you view it without registering. Normally the
above is limited to posting. You can view all of the markers on the maps and satellite images
withouth registering. You can see the name, address, phone number, and
average rating of each marina without registering. It's sort of easy
to check it out and see that. If you want to access and change the
large amount of details for a facility, you need to register.

Enjoy!

...Jeff

It's common to launch a site without ads, build up the user base, and
then if it's successful enough eventually put ads on it to monetize
it. I don't know the website owners but I totally support that
business model. It's how many hobbyist websites turned into careers.
More power to them if they can make a living off an ad driven site
while offering a great service to users for free!

The concerns of using a niche marine site to harvest email addresses
is unfounded, the volume just isn't there. You just don't put the time
into building a quality site like they did unless you're really
passionate about offering a great resource to the boating community.

Todd

--
http://sailsugata.com
http://gearandboats.com

On Jan 26, 8:53 am, Larry wrote:
"on_the_water" wrote groups.com:

www.activecaptain.comOh, sure, don't forget to "register" so you can be spammed to death.

This website isn't "free" as long as there is a registration of personal
information to fill out......no thanks.

Larry
--
Democracy is when two wolves and a sheep vote on who's for dinner.
Liberty is when the sheep has his own gun.

Sounds to me like this larry fellow is what we in the technology
business call a "FUD Slinger"
Fear, Uncertainity, and Doubt.
As a boater and a Marine electronics professional, I think this site
is a great idea and I look forward to using it.
Istaboa
Be Kind...

On Jan 29, 3:33 pm, "thuss" wrote:
It's common to launch a site without ads, build up the user base, and
then if it's successful enough eventually put ads on it to monetize
it. I don't know the website owners but I totally support that
business model. It's how many hobbyist websites turned into careers.
More power to them if they can make a living off an ad driven site
while offering a great service to users for free!

The concerns of using a niche marine site to harvest email addresses
is unfounded, the volume just isn't there. You just don't put the time
into building a quality site like they did unless you're really
passionate about offering a great resource to the boating community.

Todd

--http://sailsugata.comhttp://gearandboats.com

On Jan 26, 8:53 am, Larry wrote:



"on_the_water" wrote groups.com:

www.activecaptain.comOh, sure, don't forget to "register" so you can be spammed to death.

This website isn't "free" as long as there is a registration of personal
information to fill out......no thanks.

Larry
--
Democracy is when two wolves and a sheep vote on who's for dinner.
Liberty is when the sheep has his own gun.- Hide quoted text -- Show quoted text -