Exposure of surf breaks
There's obviously rules that should be followed but these are never spoken about on the Internet and IMO it's usually those who are new to surfing that most frequently break them.
Can SN put up a rules of surfing page covering, among other things, the exposure of spots and what is not allowed or 'not cool' in surfing. At least it's then being spoken about.
We've thought about making public our 'guidelines' regarding the naming of surf spots, but to be honest I wouldn't expect any other website to adhere to them.
Every surfing website makes its own decisions on the content they publish, whether it be GPS coordinates to sensitive surf spots, or galleries of Alana Blanchard's arse. Every content decision made slowly influences the branding of that website (as well as its revenue, to a degree).
We're very comfortable in the path we've chosen. Some decisions we make - such as the two above - will probably result in less traffic to Swellnet compared to other sites that choose to publish them, but in the long run we hope it'll benefit our branding and our business.
Maybe I didn't explain myself well but just like the war on drugs we should be treating the users not the suppliers.
Most people know the rules but not everyone. It would be more for the general public and newer surfers. If they know whats right they'll take a stand and maybe voice their opinion about it and then maybe the sites will be forced to change. It's a pretty long bow to draw but knowing whats right and wrong should help reduce the exposure of spots.
Not saying you guys should do it, maybe it's not a good idea, but is it discussed enough online?
So SN copped a bit of flack for their updated forecast layout. Additional areas etc. I looked at a competitors site today and found a new layout; within the new layout a brief of the changes including a new surf spot database providing information on 850 spots around Australia.
Now that is fucked. Not sure what info they're planning on putting in the surf spot breakdown but I couldn't think of anything worse. Exposing spots has never been cool, I understand their motives but shouldn't sensibility override the need for hits?
Maybe we can call on anonymous to bring them down?