[jsi]

There's a hell of a difference between people who love yachts, design yachts, sell yachts, work yachts, build yachts, own yachts, and "yachtparazzi."

I hope I've made my point.

jsi

[outmywindow]

I do believe that this so called "Yacht privacy" issues are misdirected and based on hypocritical BS, geared solely towards selling more papers and getting hits on the web.
Shouldn’t the so-called concerned parties sue “Forbes” for publishing their annual incomes and other personal information? Now about the Government for tapping peoples phones? Maybe with their combined incomes they can buy and take off the market all digital cameras, but wait, that would spur another debate similar to “do people or guns kill”.
As mentioned by others, true Yachtsmen marvel at the Yacht itself and share images with like-minded enthusiasts, the owners can jump in anytime at their discretion, if they crave recognition or want to tell us about their toy.

[Diane M. Byrne]

Originally Posted by YachtForums

Loren…

I received a copy of the article yesterday and found myself in a quandary as to whether I should speak up, or shut up. As politically incorrect as this may be, I think the time has come to say something…

1. Privacy & security are paramount at YachtForums. We've made every effort to create a comfortable atmosphere for owners. We don't discuss owners or their businesses, unless it is otherwise public information published in other forms of media. This is one of the reasons our membership is approaching 10,000 now.

2. A yacht's location ranks in the top-10 of the most useless topics on the internet! Although we have to keep in mind, for a lot of people that are new to our world, seeing one of our majesties in person is exciting and it instills a sense of wonder that often results in a Google search. There is no harm intended by enthusiasts who speak up to say "hey, I saw that boat too!", but they don't think about the big picture when posting their excitement. More than a few times, I have edited or removed content that seemed security sensitive, as have ours moderators.

3. Some people have NO "write" to be in this business. One evening while I was seated with 30 of boating’s best known writers, one editor informs the rest of the group that Diane from PMY refers to her forum members as “Yacht Stalkers”, going on to say “it's a pain to baby-sit them”. And now, we have an exert from the Wall Street Journal confirming what Ms. Byrne thinks about her members...

Which begs the question… what makes you think you belong to this world Diane? Have you ever designed, engineered, built, navigated, sold, owned or worked on a yacht...??? I think NOT. I'm sorry, but a literary degree does not qualify someone to write about our world... or pass judgment on those who appreciate it!

Carl, I wish you had contacted me before repeating the story you relate. I do not refer to the PMY forum members as Yacht Stalkers, not have I ever said it's a "pain to baby-sit them." The forum members--enthusiasts, industry members, yacht owners, yacht captains, even people who've joined as a result of searching for info on a yacht they happened to see--know that I enjoy the give and take of information and learn as much from them as I hope they learn from participating. And Robert Frank from the WSJ knows how I feel about yacht spotting as well as his article.

As to your own questions, my 14 years as a respected PMY writer and editor make me a member of the marine world. I invite you and your members to ask yard reps, brokers, etc. how they view me. If after doing so, you still believe that my work and journalistic credentials are not worthy, perhaps we're best agreeing to disagree. But realize that by extension, you're questioning most of the marine media--indeed, the media in general. Many marine journalists have not built/designed/engineered a yacht, just as many art critics have never painted masterpieces, finance journalists have not started multimillion-dollar companies, aerospace reporters have not built planes, etc.

If you or anyone else wishes to contact me directly, I would be glad to explain what I did and did not say--to people in this business, to forum members, to the WSJ reporter, etc.

[C4ENG]

I thought people bought big beautiful yachts to be able to show them off and to be proud of what they have accomplished in life.

[Loren Schweizer]

Originally Posted by Diane M. Byrne

Carl, I wish you had contacted me before repeating the story you relate. I do not refer to the PMY forum members as Yacht Stalkers, not have I ever said it's a "pain to baby-sit them." The forum members--enthusiasts, industry members, yacht owners, yacht captains, even people who've joined as a result of searching for info on a yacht they happened to see--know that I enjoy the give and take of information and learn as much from them as I hope they learn from participating. And Robert Frank from the WSJ knows how I feel about yacht spotting as well as his article.

As to your own questions, my 14 years as a respected PMY writer and editor make me a member of the marine world. I invite you and your members to ask yard reps, brokers, etc. how they view me. If after doing so, you still believe that my work and journalistic credentials are not worthy, perhaps we're best agreeing to disagree. But realize that by extension, you're questioning most of the marine media--indeed, the media in general. Many marine journalists have not built/designed/engineered a yacht, just as many art critics have never painted masterpieces, finance journalists have not started multimillion-dollar companies, aerospace reporters have not built planes, etc.

If you or anyone else wishes to contact me directly, I would be glad to explain what I did and did not say--to people in this business, to forum members, to the WSJ reporter, etc.

Well, water under the bridge and all that... Diane M. Byrne. I suppose we're all a fairly proud bunch here at YachtForums... and perhaps a lot of us do feel a bit miffed... at the very idea of the 'extension' aspect of your reply.

This YF grouping has a decided passion for what is posted here. Who would not feel denigrated by being considered as mere voyeurs by the "questioning marine media"? Heck, some of us are part of the marine media.

And, as a little aside, this site has beat the crap out of the print magazines as far as timeliness and pertinent information is concerned. While no one here, hopefully, is going to make a 'mountain out of a molehill', maybe the "media", as you say, has progressed beyond what you have experienced in the new medium known as the internet forums.

This is the new deal, honey.

[jakeh]

Anyone who purchases a huge yacht, and allows the refit or build progress to be gladly reported in the media thereby reinforcing their status as super rich deserves the attention they recieve. The current race for supremacy in the super yacht battle where titans of industry try to continually outdo each other by building larger and more lavish toys requires the media documentation in order to garner the attention of us mere mortals or there is no validation. I fail to see the problem we are merely doing the job assigned to us.

[Talon]

Which ever way you look at EVERYONE would come under the guise of a 'Voyeur', pureley and simply because of their interest.
The 'Stalkers' are the media trying to get pictures of those onboard, not admiring the actual sleek lines of the yacht.
I for one am more interested in the yacht!

One of the best places to learn about a yacht are on the brokerage sites.
THOSE ARE THE REAL DETAILS OF INTEREST!!