Do you think the forum is quiet ?

[chris moody]

I agree 9-R, it should say lets build ourselves a worldwide guide to slipways. I would edit the post, but then your comment would not make any sense to future readers. So I'll leave it as is, but agree with your comment that my words didn't reflect what I was trying to say very well.


--
Chris Moody

[9-R]

Do they actually get called sibs in America / Canada ?

Forgot to touch on this and might be a very good point! Not on forums, but in everyday life encounters, majority of the people I talk to refer to them as 'Zodiacs'. They'll do the same with soda/soft-drinks here by referring to any of them as a 'Coke' in general, throughout as I've found in my travels and relocations.

If I say inflatable boat, they think I mean a toy blow up boat and get a confused look on their face. 'Zodiac' to them means a SIB or RIB style of boat and they typically express how they've seen one out and about or know of someone who owns one. They don't care what manufacturer it is. Dinghy also gets thrown around a lot and may be more general throughout the States but typically refers to a much smaller SIB.

So, with that, maybe some of your key words in the search index should be more common words or brands like 'Dinghy, Zodiac, Achilles', etc. I see Saturn, a cheaper Chinese brand, is getting more people to look into it over here.

[Martin]

That's brilliant info, thank you.
Do you have lots of boating friends, or pals on boating forums ?

Is the f-rib known about , or is it mainly ribs and sibs?

Does anyone frequent Australian sib sites ?

[Paul]

Thanks for the above comments and suggestions chaps
Martin and I view this forum as YOUR forum with us acting as 'caretakers' providing a platform for you enjoy exchanging ideas, information and banter
It's our 'hobby' with no financial gain to ourselves with any profit being put back into the running of the site
This ethos was set in stone from the start because of our previous experiences with other forums
Having met many members on here it's very encouraging to the both of us that they are as enthusiastic and passionate about THEIR forum as we are ......... long may this continue

Hopefully the opening of 2 dealerships in the USA, Spain and other countries will spread the word about this site and therefore make it more world wide 'friendly' not that it isn't in the first place
guys and happy Sibbing wherever you are

[ArcusFlyer2]

Hi,

Just to report my observations. I joined a few weeks ago, great forum.
Probably due to the hacking situation, when the forum came back online my account was still active (ArcusFlyer) but when I logged in the forum was completely blank, just got the message 'the board contains no forums' or similar and various access denied messages to everything.

I read that it was a known issue that some recent joiners would lose access due to the rollback, that's fine, but you end up in a catch 22. You can log in but you cant see anything, but you can't re-register because your account still exists so you get 'email address already in use' if you try to re-register.

I am able to post this because I have re-registered a new account 'ArcusFlyer2' with a different email address, but this issue may well put other people off if they ended up in the same situation as me.

Jus tthought Id let you know in case you werent aware.

Ideally please delete my ArcusFlyer account then I can re-register with my original (preferred) email address.

Hope that makes sense.

[Martin]

Hi Arcus.
Sorry for the problems, it really has been a pain in the butt.

I have deleted your Arcus account so hopefully you can re-register again.
Please let me know if any issues arise

Martin

[ArcusFlyer]

Thanks Martin,

That did the trick - I've re-registered with my original username and original (preferred) email address.

[Martin]

My pleasure and sincere apologies for the issues.

[9-R]

Do you have lots of boating friends, or pals on boating forums ?

Is the f-rib known about , or is it mainly ribs and sibs?

Wouldn't say 'lots' since I've only really been in the SIB world for 2 years now. I've notified anyone I know of this site. Only Gwozhog has stayed. So that 5-7% retainage mark noted earlier is probably correct. I had been selective in who I invited because so many can have a pompous know-it-all attitude. I don't think that reflects on SIBs but in general. I have been a member of a small Jeep forum for a while because it's very similar to this forum. It's had numerous software issues but we all still stick it out.

I understand quality over quantity and in general I agree but it's one of the reasons I started the What-you-did-to-your-SIB-today thread. There, I'm looking for quantity, sometimes jibber-jabber. The reason? Not only does it get members active but I like reading and seeing what others are doing. You may post about something you did to fix your engine but in the pic I see a cool rod & reel holder you mounted to the transom. I've gotten a lot of ideas that way both on this forum and others of different subject. We've gotten off topic every once in while on the others but it's fine. It always comes back around without moderation and is just a fun continuous lengthy post.

Not sure about the F-Rib knowledge. SIBS & RIBS are best known along the East and West Coast of the U.S. but still no where near as popular as in Europe, Australia, etc.

[Andy B]

majority of the people I talk to refer to them as 'Zodiacs'.

That's not just an American thing, although it may be more so than here.

I've had several conversations with people who refer to SIBs as "Zodiac's" Which gets confusing as I actually own a Zodiac.....

I think it's a case of Hoovers to vacuum cleaners
Bic's to ballpoint pens
Zodiac's to SIBs

A lot of armed forces use Zodiac boats and I think that's where people mate the connection....