Announcement, Please Read and Share

[Bryan]

The manuals and catalogs sections contains over 6GB of FREE information that can be viewed 24/7. These files are a very valuable resource for those wanting to research or repair their gear. Hosting and Sharing these files IS NOT FREE. I pay a monthly fee to provide the service and it takes time and money to keep the files organized, links up and running and to add to the database as I get more information.

When you share a direct link to one of the files, have the courtesy of posting or letting the person know it was provided for them by Vintage Double Hose. This gives them an opportunity to follow up here for more information or to purchase the parts and supplies they might be looking for.

I see several sites hosting my links with no acknowledgement of the source. Vintage Scuba Supply's forum is the worst offender. If this does not change the manuals and catalogs section will either become a password protected area or worst case scenario disappear all together. Running a free service with no benefit to the person paying for it is foolish. I realize that many folks may not realize they were doing this....Now you know. Please don't do it anymore. For the rest who are too stupid to grasp the concept or simply don't care the gravy train has left the station.
So next time you are quoting a source and sharing a file link from VDH to backup your discussion or supporting your information remember to ACKNOWLEDGE the source that provided it for you.

[ScubaLawyer]

Bryan, I'm not the most tech-savvy person on the planet, but I had an idea. Would it be possible to set up each of your file sharing links so that if someone clicks on it they would be taken directly to the VDH main website. Then, perhaps a secondary link would pop up that, if clicked, takes the viewer to the document they were looking for? Again, I know nothing about it but I have seen something similar on a few attorney web-sites. E.g., someone finds a legal statute or other document they were looking for, they click on that link and the advertising attorney's web page pops up with a box asking if the viewer wants to proceed to the document. Don't recall the actual websites right now. Saw it a year or so ago. Anyway, my 2psi. Mark

P.S. Bryan is right. Always mention VDH as your source for any document link maintained by VDH. It is not only common courtesy but it also gives thanks and acknowledgement to the person making the documents available for all of us to use and learn from. I shall now step down from my soapbox.

[Ron]

Hi All,

Just to expand on what Bryan said from the technical standpoint, many websites on today's Internet are not "one" web site. Our site, as an example, is really a shopping cart site, a forum site, a series of web pages, a database, and a bunch of security applications. You all just happen to visually see it as one website, because that's the way that we've engineered it. By we, I mean Bryan, Paul and his team, and me. We have a lot of people working late at night to do this, and I know that you guys know that already.

To the specific issue with Drop Box. Drop Box is a third party web site, engineered, designed, and deployed by a totally separate company from VDH. They have software limitations on their service, and one of them is that a public folder can either be public with a password, or public without one. I cannot block specific IP addresses or sites from accessing our Drop Box as long as they have the public link. In the past, since we are small, Bryan decided that he would leave it up to everyone's best judgment, which is clearly not working at this point.

I am looking at several solutions to migrate away from Drop Box, because it is not as robust as we would prefer. I currently cannot deny anyone access to the Drop Box who has the link, and if I implement a password it is going to exclude a lot of our less tech savvy customers, which of course we do not want to do. I answer questions from people often, and some folks are still using America Online via a dial up telephone modem (God bless them and their patience in the era of big web pages and video) to get on our site. I get that technology is complicated, so I try to keep this place as simple as humanly possible, because it is our passion.

The catalogs and such may be free for those of us who use them for our hobby, but as the guy who Bryan pays to maintain the back end of this stuff, I promise you that it is neither free nor quick. Bryan also pays by bandwidth, which in simple terms means that we pay for the maximum amount of data that we expect people to use on a monthly basis from our site. All those pictures, catalogs, files, etc. literally cost him.

If I come up with a better solution that is simple, easy to access, and more secure, then I will let everyone know when I deploy it.

Thanks all,

Ron
Site Admin

[Bronze06]

I don't think that Vintage Diving would be the same if it wasn't for the wonderful information and people on this website. When ever I post a video I always make a plug for VDH and the Scuba Museum. Recently I even added A&D as well as Vintage Scuba Supply along with VDH and TSM. This is only right due to all of them, but mainly VDH, being instrumental in making my hobby an affordable reality. So spread the word folks.

Thanks, Russ

[Bryan]

Ron just finished the re invention of the Manuals and Catalogs section......If you have a moment please give it a test drive and let us know what you think. It was a hell of a lot of work for him but we agree that this section is crucial to the site and as a tool for the researcher and DIY diver no matter what site you frequent....

I took hella flack for having it down.....Tons of people wanting access. ENJOY! and thanks for your patience.

[Creed]

Ron,
Do you think that there is enough interest to maintain it as a private torrent?

[Ron]

I'd consider it, but you have to remember the majority of our audience. I get weekly emails from people who use AOL dial up. The type of audience that frequents the site has no idea what a torrent is. Most of my emails are lost passwords and such. Now, that's what I am here for and I am happy to do it. A torrent might be a bridge too far for most people. I try to keep the site simple, because these divers really want simple and my goal is to make it easy for them.

I also thought that a DVD, thumb drive, etc. might be useful for those who want physical media and are not comfortable with just viewing them online. That also mitigates the guys trying to use our services via modem.

I'm open to ideas though as long a Bryan approves. If you guys tell me that you want stuff, I will do it if the boss man is good with it.

[Bryan]

Something new and even better will come along. I would have been just fine leaving it on Dropbox but I was sick of seeing all our hard work used by folks lacking the common courtesy to quote their source. But considering who was doing it I'm not surprised. We used Files Anywhere for years and it will work again for us even though it's not as fast as Dropbox.
Computer issues are the main question I get....I wish there was a way to remotely clear browsers or caches..........Why don't you have XXXXX for sale anymore??? I do, I'm looking at it right now and I have 5 in stock.....No you don't, my computer says you are out of them and have been for like evah....When was the last time you cleared your cache? I don't know how to do that......Well I think we have found the root of the problem and it's not the VDH website....

Trust me it's not any specific age group....I have run across divers 1/2 my age that fear the innerweb, WiFi, high speed connections and internet browsers that don't load up on floppy discs with a 20 free hours coupon just as much as ones my age or older.....

I'm just glad we got them available again....All recent E-bay auctions lacked real credible information because the VDH files were unavailable....

[Douchebag]

Onedrive is cheaper than Dropbox and the free version has more than double the free Dropbox.