About DiveAdvisor.com
Dive Advisor is a comprehensive communication network tailored to the needs of the Global Scuba Diving Community and Industry.
Out network:
- Provides divers with the most extensive directory of dive sites, shops, certifications & marine life.
- Offers divers real and trusted advice based on user generated content in the form of Dive Logs, Reviews, Media and Articles.
- Enables Divers and Dive shops to follow and message each other through a safe and non-personal space.
- It is a completely neutral project, funded by independent entrepreneurs and not affiliated with any other brand, company or trademark.
Divers can log dives digitally and share the wealth of knowledge that is kept in each log with the rest of the world. This ensures that our database of "Sites & Shops" is populated by real Dive Logs, as well as reviews, articles & photographs. Dive Shops can now log dives for their customers and promote themselves to a highly specialized network of divers.
In the long run we aim to garner a reputation that will make the Dive Advisor Log Book a worldwide recognizable standard accepted by Dive Shops as proof of experience.
Our team of writers are all qualified and experienced scuba divers who research destinations and translate data into meaningful and useful information that can used as a guideline for choosing a dive destination.
For almost every destination that we have listed, we have supervision from a member of our ‘Board of Advisors’ who are carefully screened professionals with a minimum qualification of Instructor who oversee to the best of their ability the validity of the articles written by our writers as well as the listings of Dive Sites & Shops within our directory.
In the long run, we promise a commitment to meaningfully improve the world of scuba diving as well as the planet that we enjoy diving in. If done responsibly & ethically, scuba diving is a great benefit to the environment and the economy of any host nation. The presence of Scuba Divers creates an economic incentive for wildlife preservation and pollution control. It also provides a source of funding to the entire industry to achieve the goals of protecting our environment. By uniting the actions & voices of divers from around the world we promise to participate in truly meaningful conservation efforts.
FAQ's
Is DiveAdvisor.com affiliated with any other brand, licensing body or company?
No, DiveAdvisor.com is a completely independently owned communication tool that allows Divers to share their dives, articles, photographs and experiences. It's intention is to become the ultimate online database of all dive shops, sites & marine life as well as a social network that connects and meaningful digitizes the communication within the scuba community.
Why DiveAdvisor?
DiveAdvisor is the most sophisticated network created for the scuba diving community & industry. Besides a web based application delivered through diveadvisor.com we also have mobile applications delivered through both android and iPhone platforms.
We have a team of professional writers, researchers, developers, designers as well as a ‘Board of Advisors’ that comprises of the most qualified divers on the planet. We have been carefully studying the needs of the industry and preparing a tool that we believe best suits their needs. We have spared no expenses or efforts in ensuring the best possible information service possible for our users.
What are the benefits of using DA to a Diver?
1. An ability to build a profile of Dive Logs & Photographs that is convenient to use and exportable to various formats.
2. Participate in a social network and community that is truly relevant to diving and does not impeach on your privacy or personally identifiable information.
3. Contribute to meaningfully documenting the world beneath the surface in a database that can be helpful to others and hence to yourself.
4. Have a scuba specific blogging platform that engages other scuba divers. Your blog can be found at “username.diveadvisor.com”.
5. Have access to information about 7,000 Dive Businesses, 19,000 Dive Sites, 300 Certification Listings, 1000+ Types of Marine Life and 120 handwritten articles for free.
What are the benefits of using DA to a Dive Shop?
1. The ability to create an online listing that is tailor made to the needs of a Dive Shop and have an enhanced web presence on a site that aims to become the standard in the field.
2. Gain ‘followers’ and growing your following of divers.
3. Document the Dives that you conduct and gain free ‘advertising’ on the relevant Dive Site Profile Page.
4. Meaningfully communicate and interact with your customers by digital verifying their Dive Logs and positioning yourself with their ‘Dive Stream’.
5. Publish articles & photographs.
Privacy Policy
Overview
In order to operate the website that we do, it is necessary to collect PII (Personally Identifiable Information). This document will outline how this data is collected, why it is collected and how it is protected.
Data Collection:
The only data that you will be asked to provide to the website will be done through the web or mobile interface, in other words - you will not be contacted by phone or in person for any additional information. All data is submitted voluntarily either through forms or dive logs and done at the will of the user.
Why Collect:
The most sensitive information that we collect is the Divers Qualification Information. We believe this is an important of identifying your level of experience and specializations as a scuba diver. We are looking to build a network of legitimate divers that will contribute to a meaningful and relevant dialogue. The only other piece of personally identifiable information on the website is the Date of Birth - something that we store as an additional precautionary measure to identify you in case of a password loss/account lock out. All other information is directly relevant to the nature of the interaction that you would like with the website and how you would like to use it.
How We Protect:
As far as possible we use SSL for transmission of all sensitive data such as account settings and Dive Log entries. Our servers are dedicated and have no 3rd party access other than the 'Hosting Company' staff itself. We have an implemented culture of security & privacy which involves regular self audits, password resets and employee integrity. All 3rd party developers interact with data through an API on a need to know basis, without ever having access to the entire database.
Our Promise:
We will never sell or share your private information with any 3rd party. Ever. We promise to keep complete integrity of all records & private information at all times. We encourage you not to share personally identifiable information for public knowledge. Things like your address, phone numbers and occupation are irrelevant for a meaningful dialogue around scuba diving.
Your Consent:
By using our website, you agree to the Privacy Policy of our service. All information provided by you is done voluntarily to be used for the purpose directly relevant to the activity of the website or as described above.
Other Notes or Concerns
Cookies:
We do not use cookies other than ones that are temporarily stored to track certain activity within a dialogue or interaction.
Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act Compliance:
We are in compliance with the COPPA, we do not collect any information or anyone younger than 13 years old.
Online Privacy Policy:
The Policy outlined above is relevant only to all information collected and used through the web and not any offline activities that individual clients may have with DiveAdvisor.com (for example: Advertising, Sponsorship or Dispute related information).
Contact Us:
Privacy is a very important aspect of managing any 'Social Network' and we take it very seriously. If you have any concerns regarding our Privacy Policy, a vulnerability that you may have spotted in our system or a question you have regarding our methods of operation please email us at privacy@diveadvisor.com
Terms & Conditions
I agree to the following terms:
- I am over 13 years of age.
- I will not post content that I did not create.
- I will not provide false information regarding my qualifications.
- I will not impersonate any other person, brand or entity.
- I will express my opinion objectively and without paid or unpaid explicit bias.
- I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
Sharing your Content & Information
All content that is shared is done so completely voluntarily & intended to be shared with others. We advise not sharing any personally identifiable information such as addresses, phone numbers, credit card details, nick names or even personal life matters. We recommend sticking to diving related content such description of the Dive itself, the terrain, animals and any other adventures that may have taken place. The nature of information flows these days means that we are only directly in charge of only a part of the process and hence cannot be held responsible for any sensitive information that is displaced as a result of using our service.
Safety
DiveAdvisor.com cannot be held responsible for any financial loss, death or injury whatsoever, caused by actions directly or indirectly related to any information posted on this website. We urge users to understand that the core of the content around Dive Sites & Dive Shops will be Dive Logs published by users and therefore can be either intentionally or unintentionally dis informed.
The Advisory articles written by our authors need to be viewed as opinions and not fact. We have tried our best to ensure that we only employ experienced scuba divers, but we have no guarante that everything they write is completely accurate. Moreover, conditions changes and many things like visibility or abundance of marine life are an opinion.
Information presented on this website needs to be seen as a culmination of opinions, not factual data: after having studied a couple of the Dive Logs, reviews & articles you should have a fairly objective understanding of the site, business or destination. Please do not base your safety on recommendations made by others. Always dive responsibly.
Privacy
By using this website, you agree with our "Privacy Policy".
Protecting other People's Rights
It is important to understand that making a statement that negatively harms someones reputation and is NOT true is libel, i.e: defamation. We urge users to be truthful and objective when reviewing Dive Shops or Sites. Any users that are caught manipulating our system in order to benefit a particular entity will be tracked down and banned from the site with possible legal filings. DiveAdvisor.com cannot be held responsible by Dive Shops or Instructors for publishing negative (or positive) opinions being posted by users about them. DiveAdvisor.com simply provides a platform for users to post their content, much like a blogging platform such as tumblr, and cannot be held accountable for views expressed by the users using the service. We will gladly investigate all matters that indicate questionable behaviour or false information through privacy@diveadvisor.com.
Disputes
DiveAdvisor.com is operated by ABSea Tours JLT located in Dubai, UAE. All possible disputes relating to any operation of the website have to be addressed through disputes@diveadvisor.com
Copyright
We respect Copyright and will gladly investigate any reports of copyright infringement. Please report all complaints & reports to copyright@diveadvisor.com. The only media that we accept is written words & pictures, please note that you are only allowed to upload content that was created by you. Explicitly; if its a photograph and you did not personally shoot it, you should not post it. If its written words/notes: if you didn't write it, don't post it. In regards to video content; we don't host video content and hence all copyright related notices must be addressed to the host, e.g: vimeo, youtube, putlocker etc.
Disclaimer
DiveAdvisor.com cannot be held financially responsible for any loss that results as of using our service, directly or indirectly.
Trust & Security Department
There is a lot of web fraud and security violations, a lot of them come through socially engineered schemes that trick the user into a certain behavior that reveals sensitive information. Also, at times competitors maybe playing unfair against each other to gain an advantage. In this section, you are welcome to open support tickets, or call us for immediate support & we will try to help you with any security related issue.
Reminder, Dive Advisor will NEVER contact you for personally identifiable information.
All communication from Dive Advisor will be carried out through an official @diveadvisor.com email adress.
We urge you to contact us via privacy [at] diveadvisor.com if you have any concerns or spot any suspicious behaviour.