ActiveCaptain.com

[bfharris]

I'm not affiliated with the folks at that domain, other than I have a free account with them the same as anyone can sign up for. Just thought folks here might find it useful.

Here is a quote from their website.

ActiveCaptain currently has a visual database of over 10,000 marinas, over 15,000 local knowledge markers, 4,000 reviews, and 2,000 anchorages. Continued success depends on you. Become part of the ActiveCaptain community now. It's simple and it's free.

[David M]

There was a post about them a number of months ago. The closest thing I can associate it with is a Wikipedia for local boating information. Unlike Wikipedia, you are required to create an account and to log in in order to use the service. I forgot my account name and password so I did not see if it has improved, but last time I looked, more people needed to contribute. Personally, I think they need to drop the login idea in order to use the site except for people who want to make a contribution to the website, much like what Cruisers Forum requires. They are not competition since they do a completely different thing than Cruisers Forum, so I thought a little mention would be appropriate.

Its a nice concept.

[bfharris]

Sorry, I did a quick scan for the topic, but didn't see it, so thought I would post it new. They have all the info for my local area, so perhaps it has grown in data over the last few months. I found it completely unlike Wikipedia in that it has the satellite overlay (that might be new too) where you can easily find, print and compare to your chart. I do agree that the ActiveCaptain site should do away with registration for those who only read and don't contribute. I just stumbled on the site a few days ago.

[Hud3]

Here's just one of the archived threads discussing ActiveCaptain.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ept-10571.html

[bfharris]

Again, I'm sorry. Mods are welcome to delete this thread as I didn't intend for it to be a repeat of an old subject.

[ActiveCaptain]

I like the registration and login. Here's why...

The whole idea of the site is to promote the idea that every captain should contribute their own local knowledge to others. If everyone does it, the whole system gets better for everyone.

Now logging in isn't that much of a burden. It will gladly remember you (just like cruisersforum) if asked. But logging in makes it a no-step process to leave information if you find something you want to edit or add or review. I honestly believe that some people wouldn't go to that step if they had to mess around with logging in. It's very much like this forum - I didn't think much about responding to this thread because I'm already logged in and it's a simple process.

I know that some people think we're doing bad things with the email addresses, etc. We were accused of that in the beginning. The truth is that nothing bad has ever been done except we send out a newsletter about every 3 months (and you can opt out of the newsletter).

Frankly, I think it works. I think that our 8,000 users prove it especially with the quality of the data that we've acquired. Do we lose a few people because of it? Probably. But it's our best attempt to make the whole process work for everyone.

There are many changes coming to the site and we're constantly evaluating how it can be made better. With 18 months under our belts with it currently, logging in isn't something that's going to go away.

[FrankZ]

Originally Posted by ActiveCaptain

I like the registration and login. Here's why...

<snip>

I know that some people think we're doing bad things with the email addresses, etc. We were accused of that in the beginning. The truth is that nothing bad has ever been done except we send out a newsletter about every 3 months (and you can opt out of the newsletter).

Frankly, I think it works. I think that our 8,000 users prove it especially with the quality of the data that we've acquired. Do we lose a few people because of it? Probably. But it's our best attempt to make the whole process work for everyone.

There are many changes coming to the site and we're constantly evaluating how it can be made better. With 18 months under our belts with it currently, logging in isn't something that's going to go away.

I don't like the registration and login and here's why. I don't feel like I should have to go through the hoops to see if you can provide me a service that may or may not be valuable to me. I can't even see (or couldn't when I looked a while back) any information without telling you who I am. That is a real put off today with the heavy handed marketers that think they have some sort of right to advertise me to death because I have a email address.

Being able to opt out is, in my opinion, a bad thing. I should opt in if I want your newsletters (advertisments). It really drives me up a wall that some websites can't seem to get this right. Of course this is a fight I have had numerous times at work when someone gets the "original" idea that we have email addresses in our order entry system and we could send a "newsletter" out to these people with special offers or an email asking if it is ok to send them offers.

The simple fact is this. Whether you do evil with collected email addresses or not, the fact you require registration before allowing someone to see if the service has more than 2 data points gives the impression you are concerned about getting personal information and that leads one to the idea that there are evil things afoot behind the scenes. I am not saying you are doing evil but giving you my opinion as someone that is responsible for internet systems.

And CF doesn't require you to hand over information to read posts. I do think that requiring registration before allowing submissions is a good and proper thing. Accountability and such.

You may have over 8000 people using your site, and that is a decent start, but as for me, if I can't sample without you knowing me I won't be one.

[ActiveCaptain]

Originally Posted by FrankZ

Being able to opt out is, in my opinion, a bad thing. I should opt in if I want your newsletters...

You never registered so you didn't see that you get to request or turn down the newsletter at the time of registration. If you don't want to get emailed, you'll never get a single newsletter. If you elect to get the newsletter and at a later time decide that you don't want it, you can opt out of it.

...the fact you require registration before allowing someone to see if the service has more than 2 data points gives the impression you are concerned about getting personal information...

Nah, it doesn't work like that either. You can view all of the markers on the maps and satellite images. You can get basic information about marinas, anchorages, and local knowledge -- all without registering at all. If you want to get all of the details about a marker (how much do slips cost, what is the current fuel price, what restaurants are near, etc) you have to be registered. That's because the viewing of the full set of details is where you modify them when you see something to add or fix.

Click on this link (even if you're not registered) and you'll see:
ActiveCaptain - On The Water

You may have over 8000 people using your site, and that is a decent start, but as for me, if I can't sample without you knowing me I won't be one.

I respect your decision and you'll be missed. But you really might want to consider getting a Yahoo email address and checking it all out. You might get a different impression if you actually tried it.

[David M]

Jeff,
On the homepage of your website, it appears that one must be logged in to go any further. This of course is a new visitors perception and not the reality. You and I know this is not true. For someone who is visiting your homepage for the first time, there is nothing that says: "Since you are unregistered, you are still free to explore the website, but not all of it". My guess is that a new visitor then decides if he or she wants to register in order to explore your website. The way the homepage appears may be a hindrance to signing up new members if they falsely think they cannot proceed any further.

I would be willing to bet that if you had a trial period where everyone who is not registered could see your entire site, that you would end up with more registered members. You seem like an up and up person, but people are naturally suspicious of websites that want your email address before you are allowed to see the site.

As for myself, sometimes when a website wants my information first, I just say to myself forget it and move on...its not worth the hassle. I can get the same info elsewhere without the bother of registering. I have probably missed out of a few good websites with this attitude, but then, my time and privacy is of value as well.

Perhaps just try a trial period of not requiring any information? I really like your website and believe it to be beneficiary to boaters. I hope to see it grow and do well for you.

Just curious, are you going to do an Active Captian charts for people with the new iPhones with the built in GPS's and 3G service? That would be very cool to see an electronic chart on an iPhone.

David

[ActiveCaptain]

David - it's a good suggestion. There probably is a middle ground in there somewhere.

We'll be making some changes to the web site over the Winter. I'm not sure how to implement a trial period but I can a make a non-registered user answer an "OK" dialog before getting the details for each marker. That would make it just a little annoying but allow access to everything. Then you could have a choice - be annoyed every time you access the data or be annoyed once by registering...

[David M]

Jeff,
Perhaps just make it much clearer on your homepage that you can go into the site without registering? Sometimes people need to see things spelled out in black and white in bold Helveitca for them to get it.

Cheers,


David

[camaraderie]

FWIW... the site marinas.com offers a lot of good info on thousands of marinas with aerial pictures and no registration required. No affiliation but I like and use it a lot.