7 replies to this topic

[diveguy101]

I was wondering where the money goes from the membership fees. Is SD filed as a Non-Profit organization? I tried E-mailing Kama-la but failed to get a response. I'm just wondering. Does anyone know? Most forums are free with all the features. Thanks.

Don't worry I'm not the IRS. Just want to know whrer my money is going when I pay for it.

Edited by diveguy101, 17 January 2010 - 06:05 PM.

[Landlocked Dive Nut]

I'm sure Kamala will respond to you....she's been on the Belize trip with spotty internet, got home very late last night, and is probably spending today unpacking, cleaning gear, checking snail mail, getting re-acquainted with the hubby, etc. Meantime, I'll answer the best I can....and Kamala can fill in more info when she has time.

First, SD.com is a dive club on steroids. It is a for-profit business, with Kamala as the owner & the only "employee". The rest of us who hold any type of position actually volunteer our time to the site (for many different and personal reasons). SD.com not only provides trips for divers without buddies, but it is also a full-fledged travel booking agent. Want to go somewhere, but SD does not have a trip planned for the right timing for you?? Ask Kamala to quote you a price on the trip....she can usually beat the best deal you can find on your own.

You may have noticed that SD.com does NOT have advertisements all over the site, popping up at inconvenient times. The membership dues that Premier Members and above pay each year help to keep our site ad-free. It is not cheap to buy software for, and to maintain a dynamic message board site like this! Other sites have to sell ads to help keep going. Don't know about you, but pop-up ads annoy the hell out of me!

Besides, Premier Members and above can get $25 back as a Rebate after each & every SD.com trip they take.....whether with the group, or by having Kamala book a trip for you separate from the SD group. I took 3 SD.com trips last year, and got $75 back.....so in essence Kamala paid me to be a Premier Member. Try getting that from one of the free, ad-plagued sites!

Your dues also get you "first dibs" on the SD.com trips. For the first 7 or so days that a new trip opens for Booking, only Premier Members and above have access to that trip, and have the ability to sign up. On popular trips, the entire trip can fill up in those first seven days, so unpaid members never get a shot at signing up. Happens sometimes.... and Kamala lets the members who support the site have first shot at the trips.

Finally, I think this site is designed to protect it's members, in particular it's single female members. Kamala believes that if someone is willing to give her financial information to join the site, there is somewhat less of a chance that person is a perv who is going to stalk the SD members or cause other types of problems....and if they do, she has info to help track that person down and shut them down. That is why only paid members can send Personal Messages to other paid members - it's incentive to join & support the site, and PM's are a great way to set up local dives with other members in your area, or for meet & greets. Only those with certain duties on this site can email Members, and even then we cannot see your email address and we have to have an SD.com email address ourselves to get it to work. That all has something to do with spam rules on the server and to our members.

So, you've been very active on this site, had lots of questions, gotten lots of advice & answers from many of us, and your dive training has not even started yet. If you're this interested in SD.com and you're not even a diver yet, then go ahead and spend another $35 and join. Take a trip with us this summer and get your Rebate, and that takes your membership dues down to just $10 for the year. Isn't the information & camraderie found on this site worth $10 per year? Many of us think so.....

[DiveGeek]

I don't think I could have said it any better . . .

[diveguy101]

Thanks. I just read where Kamala took a dive trip recently. I will look into paying for a membership. I'm recovering from my vacation. I spent a lot of money. I want to meet members here and take dive trips. I would have fun! Members here are fun to talk too. I do own several business. One I just started and currently working on. The other company is a Web site I own. It is broken and looking to get it fixed. I would like to become a business member here and offer discounts to each member. I'm waiting till the Colorado members have time to meet. It's winter here and everyone wants to stay warm.

Take care.

[WreckWench]

Thanks. I just read where Kamala took a dive trip recently. I will look into paying for a membership. I'm recovering from my vacation. I spent a lot of money. I want to meet members here and take dive trips. I would have fun! Members here are fun to talk too. I do own several business. One I just started and currently working on. The other company is a Web site I own. It is broken and looking to get it fixed. I would like to become a business member here and offer discounts to each member. I'm waiting till the Colorado members have time to meet. It's winter here and everyone wants to stay warm.

Take care.

Tammy did a great job of summarizing the benefits of the membership dues. I think we have another thread/topic on it as well. We hope you join as a premier member first and then you can upgrade to a business member later or simply wait until you can do as you wish.

You have correctly surmised this is a fun group and one that is helpful and courteous as well. We look forward to sharing your new diving experiences with you. When do you start classes? Have you read the book already? Are you already a swimmer? Do any other water sports? Why did you want to be a diver...the real reason and not the HBO movies that um....motivated you! LOL!

[WreckWench]

I tried E-mailing Kamala but failed to get a response.

As Tammy said I have been traveling leading a trip for the last 8 days. And I get over 100 emails a day so now I have over 1000 emails to play catch up with just from this trip.

Since we have replied here...please forgive me if I don't reply again....now only 999 more to go!

[diveguy101]

Ok. Sorry. I understand. I hope you had a safe and nice dive.

[WreckWench]

Ok. Sorry. I understand. I hope you had a safe and nice dive.

Apology accepted and yes we had a great trip!