I found a nice article on SOS
 

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Seriousoffshore.com To Expand Editorial in 2010
Written by Matt Trulio
Friday, 15 January 2010 17:36

In a little more than a year, seriousoffshore.com has grown from a fledgling website started by high-performance boat enthusiasts Chris Sunkin, Craig Hall, Ted Ginnity and Nick Kamenszky to the strongest high-performance marine site in existence. Driven primarily by compelling message boards, seriousoffshore.com has become the place for intelligent, civil discussion on every conceivable subject in the go-fast boating world.

That’s because so many of the site’s members are more than enthusiasts. Many of them work, or have worked, in the high-performance powerboat world and are experts in their fields. In short, seriousoffshore.com has the kind of resources it takes to grow from being an outstanding forum for discussion to a broader—and equally outstanding—online editorial product.

“The members we have on this board—we couldn’t possibly pay them enough for their talent, expertise and knowledge,” Sunkin told me earlier today. “And they are generous enough to want to share all of it.”

To that end, Sunkin said seriousoffshore.com will expand its editorial offerings in 2010. While the form of that expansion is far from final, it likely will include daily and weekly blogs, interactive online features, exclusive video segments and a real-time, technical “question-and-answer” section. And those are just a few of the ideas Sunkin and his team are working on.

Do I believe in the future of seriousoffshore.com? Absolutely—so much for that I have agreed to work with principals in an editorial capacity, from helping new blog writers “find their voices” to creating original content.

I love to finish the week with good news. And the future of seriousoffshore.com is very good news''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''


Wow. :eek::eek:

Wonder if they will have a follow up article on why the people who started SOS are no longer there?

Man good read you really don't give up do you? The other 10 threads about SOS were not enough? I don't know Chris but SOS is cool the people are cool same as here it's about boating not drama...

That article is absolute blasphemy! Without OSD's direction, Alec's money and Jayboat/Sharkey's photos that site would have never succeeded! Atleast from what I have read here on the subject over the past few days some would be led to believe that is how it went down! :D

This whole situation reminds me a show that I was watching a while back. A man is cheating on his wife at home in their own bed. He's caught Red Handed in bed with another woman when the wife comes home early. The wife goes wild yelling at the husband, "How could you do this to me, How could you do this?"

The husband looks at his wife and says, "What? What are you talking about?"

The wife continues to scream about him cheating on her while the woman he was cheating with calmly gets out of bed, puts on her clothes and walks out of the bedroom. The man also calmly gets dressed, makes the bed and turns to his wife and says, "What woman honey? There is no other woman here! Are you feeling ok?"

The woman looks around and sees that the bed is made, her husband is fully dressed and there is no sign that another woman had ever been there. Point is, Liars lie. When caught red handed cheating, they just tell more lies.

The very people mentioned in this story who created SOS have to feel just like that woman. They caught Chris red handed trying to chat a kid's charity out of money, and they all walked from SOS because of it, and they all agree that the guy was a pathological liar, yet they see people on these boards continue to support CS exactly because he is such a persistent liar, who when caught in lie after lie (in his own words) just tells more lies, and gets away with it.

I do wonder if they will do a follow up story. I'd pay to read that.

perfect assessment.

Great post, Robert. A lot of people just don't seem to get it, or don't want to. That's ok. Those that were involved and were actually doing work behind the scenes get it. And they care.

Here's an interesting image, sent to me last night by a Chris Sunkin fan.

I just posted it on the main forum over there and asked Chris Sunkin if he has nothing to hide, why did he alter this document. (it was emailed by him to Alec) Wonder if I will get a reply.

The full size image is here: http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/1...eredproof1.jpg

http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/1...eredproof1.jpg

I was asked to be a blogger over there and was (and still am) looking forward to doing it. Does that make me bad or wrong?

IMO if you looked at the whole picture and decided that Chris did nothing wrong - then of course not.

I don't see how anyone could do that but to each his own. If on the other hand you agree that he's a pathological lier and you still want to post over there. That's enabling him and I don't get why anyone would do that.

Not to me it doesn't anyone can choose to view or participate anywhere they like. This isn't about SO per say, this is about Chris sunkin being a liar and a thief. I'm chatting with a friend in emails now that posts over there.

The correlation is, that as long as a known liar,thief and con is the owner of that site, it will always have that stigma. would you invite that guy to your house for dinner? Just think about who you choose to hang with, let your own conscience be your guide. You are still welcome at my table for beers :)

I disagree Margin. As has been stated before in one of the OTHER threads...it's a nice community over there. I don't know Chris...saw him on a dock at Michigan City last year and said hello. He's opened a window of opportunity for me that I'm pretty excited about.

Oh...and my only other association with him was positive to the extreme. When my friend Brian (Straight Jacket) was killed last fall, Chris contacted me about getting a picture to him that would be displayed at the Serious party in KW in a place of honor on the bar. He then sent a pic of that to Brian's dad. IMO...that's pretty classy.

And that's good OSD, cuz I get thirsty.

Hmmmm, I wonder where the idea for that act of respect came from?

I actually proposed that we get a picture and a donation jar and place them on the bar with a sign that said "Buy Brian a drink. All donations go to a local children's charity in his name" but I was told that was too much of a downer for the party. :(


I haven't said much about what has transpired but, I will say this much.

Close working relationships are built on MUTUAL TRUST. I was targeted and accused of being untrustworthy by a few of my fellow board members and then locked out of the moderation forums by Chris because of my personal relationship with Castrophe. Nothing more, nothing less. It was alluded to that I was involved with the takeover deal , which I was not in any way whatsoever, and that I was a "Rat" feeding the group of four "inside information" about the goings on in the board room.

NO evidence or proof of any such action by me ever. NONE!

I was essentially kicked to the curb anyway because Alec is my friend so therefore, I was guilty by association.

It was those actions and accusations that made me think the descision of my future as a B o D member and Moderator on SOS had been made for me by Chris and so I submitted my letter of resignation to Chris via PM.

He actually had the nerve to pm me back stating that he had expected me to testify here on OSO in his favour and that stating that doing what he was accused of here was not in his character.

Funny, he sure didn't stand by me in our very own boardroom.
He never questioned the accusations being sent my way.
He never gave me the benefit of the doubt after my dedicated service to SOS since day one yet he was disappointed that I did not do the same for him here days later. :(

He then sent a PM titled "Apologies are in order" and explained that he knew it wasn't me being a "rat" and that he had discovered some sneaky back door access to the board room by the group of four, which by the way I verified as completely false with each one of the group,so another untruth, yet he allowed the false accusations against me to stand.

What was said in the private forums there after my resignation, I have no idea and really I don't care BUT, things being said about my friends while I was still a moderator and board member there were down right insulting and disturbing.

Constant finger pointing at Alec as the ring leader because he has money and calling the other three lemmings for following Alec in a coup attempt were utter bullchit. Even after some of us had spoken with Nick, Alec, Craig and Ted and were told in no uncertain terms that they had asked Alec to join them and we conveyed that information to the rest of the board members, Chris continued to point his finger of allegation ONLY at Alec just as he has been doing in several of the ongoing threads here.

When I complained about that fact, I was essentially targeted with false accusations of involvement.

Guilty by association again.

Funny thing is the head accuser, after doing his own research into what was being said about Chris came on here and announced his resignation fro the SOS B o D and sent me an apology by PM as well as a personal telephone call. ( thats being stand up in my opinion )

Like I stated at the top of this post,close working relationships are based on MUTUAL TRUST. No possible way could I trust someone who allowed my character and integrity to be assinated while claiming to know I was not involved nor guilty of what I was being accused of.

If any of this makes any kind of statement about Chris Sunkin's character, so be it.

I know my own and that is why I had to resign from Serious's Board of Directors.

sommerfliesby,

A lot of us were excited about what we were doing over there. The site is still benefitting from the inertia of the work done by people who no longer wish to be associated with a liar and a thief. The whole concept of the upgrade and expansion was very cool... those now being asked to participate should be asking themselves why it didn't happen on its original schedule.

Here's part of the answer:

Most people who weren't board members were not aware of how much work was being done behind the scenes to grow that place and make it unique. I wasn't on the board, but I was aware of what was going on because I was directly involved with a lot of the activity. (For example, I printed that picture of Brian that you mentioned.)

Attached are some photos many of you may not have seen:
a cover composite for a planned yearbook that would feature pictures of the media section photographers,
a rate card for the book
and a business card for Alec.
(props to Imax and his brother for that logo)

Preparing the artwork for that business card caused an event that really opened my eyes.

Alec's plan was to carry the rate cards to the Miami Boat Show and sell advertising for the book face-to-face with potential sponsors. Great idea, and if you know Alec you know how charming and persuasive he is, so it was a no-brainer to meet these industry folks in person. (I should also note that the idea for this project was Alec's and he paid for my design time and the printing of the rate card and business cards out of his pocket. He was also prepared to pay any upfront printing costs of the magazine and recoup the money with ad sales.) At this point Alec decided it would be a good idea if the email address on the card reflected the sos domain- alec a seriousoffshore.com. Like I said, a no-brainer, right?

Not in chris sunkin's world.

Anyone with the slightest bit of tech savvy knows that it takes about two minutes to set up an email address on an existing domain. At this point I learned that the site admins had been trying for MONTHS to get passwords from chris sunkin so they could do minor maintenance and other tweaks to the site. All they got was excuses, or no response at all.

However: during all this time, chris sunkin had been telling them how hard he had been working to prep for the big upgrade, etc. And so, as the boat show was approaching and still no help about the email address from chris sunkin, Alec made a phone call to the gentleman who handles the back end tech stuff on the servers. During the course of the conversation, Alec asked him a question about the progress of preparations for the upgrade- something to the effect of, "Hope Chris hasn't been working you too hard". His response was:

"I'm not doing anything. Chris hasn't asked me to do anything."

So now, we are on the edge of May and still nothing. Draw your own conclusions, but try not to get too excited.

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/9...rprelim1ni.jpg

http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/8...tecov9x4ni.jpg

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/6...zcardfinni.jpg

Yes but the only reason that Nice Community is over there in the first place is because Chris bamboozled fellow members into putting thousands of hours of free labor into into SOS by creating a new and highly respected offshore image for himself out of thin air. Then from all accounts he used the good name of the site to try and cheat a children's charity out of money - and he may very well have succeeded as he has never accounted for all the tickets sold and monies collected - despite the repeated requests by people mentioned in that story to do so - before they outted him.


The guy has been caught in lie after lie. To patronize Chris' site now spits in the faces of our fellow boaters who created that site and were most harmed by Chris' lies.

I have a brilliant idea! Why dont we start a 6th thread on this linking all the other threads together! Im typing fast before the padlock is thrown on this thread..........

They were great times and a lot of hard work and enthusiasm went into supporting Chris Sunkin.

We did some neat stuff , had some great parties and all around good times.

I've seen Dollabills thread on here about the good old days and the laughing back and forth with the posters on that is terrific. Good stuff.

Now to plan events on behalf of members and have fun and enjoy this stuff 1 password isnt enough. Shame.

Anyway I get to go boating this weekend with an old friend.
He and his brother were in the airforce .Paratroopers.

They have tons of great stories to tell.
Got a plane to catch.

Everyone enjoy their weekend.

The only opportunity you are opening up is for you to be dictated to, lied to, deceived, and used.

I remember when Steve sold OSO. He said he saw an opportunity to take the forum to the next level. The next level he was talking about IMO was the elimination of bias and one person control (i.e. dictatorship). To eliminate the "in" crowds and welcome all boaters with open arms. Yeah the bully's will still hang around, but they have no clout with IB. That is a good thing. IB may not be offshore boaters, but they are unbiased. That is a feature that some could never get over. They are in the business of running a website. They are not in the business of promoting industry leaders, picking sides, or playing junior dick tracy. They run the website, the boaters as a community control the content. On OSO every member is just one out of 45,000. We are all equals.

For me I logged out and will never return. In my opinion he is a schmoozer looking to just make some coin in the indusrty. I could care less what boats hes owned, but to stake claims and then never prove them losses all of MY respect. Wether you call it a pretend or a lie I will never contribute to such a person. Until then I will be tweaking on my new 1350's :lolhit:

Gee that sounds so familiar... and yet.... nobody understood it when I walked away over a year ago:bunny:

then why do you feel the need to click on them and comment? you are the one that looks foolish, people want answers we give them, nothing more and nothing less. Many people feel cheated in one way or another, and this allows them a chance to ask and have the questions answered without fear of retribution.

If you are under the delusion that he was somehow going to bring boat building back to Bucyrus, you are surely mistaken. Living there you should know better than most ;), come on look around.

teambaja, please don't take my above post as offensive, if that indeed is the case, then he led you and the ex-baja employess down a road of lies and deceit as well..:)

I'm at a loss for words!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wholly chit, man I just kind of skimmed over that the first time. I'm a professional accountant IMO this is fraud plain and simple. You can't alter bank documents like that. This is a lot more serious than I expected. Man, you guys still following Chris around need to have your head examined. A man is only as good as his word.

Just to be clear:

THIS DOCUMENT WAS SUPPLIED BY CHRIS SUNKIN.
He emailed it to Alec when first confronted about the check.

Oops :eureka:

All I want to know is did the author also do a write up on Chris's fleet. :evilb:

Holy phuck I just went over there and I have been erased:eek:
POOF!!! gone like I was never there won't let me log in NA..DA...nothing

I just checked, you are very much still a member of SOS.

still shows me as a registered member, but I was told I couldn't log in, honestly i haven't tried since dec of 09..just another case of smoke and mirrors, all is NOT as it seems :)

I would be more than happy if all my posts and started threads were gone, but they cant afford the loss of content. :)

No... Not really. :rolleyes:

Why not just let it die and move onword?

yes ..really.... better to light a candle than curse the darkness :)... in time everyone will move on, and only time will dictate that, there are questions people need answers too, we are answering them honestly. if everything is answered to your own satisfaction, then no need to click on this thread :)

Is it boating season yet?

:gfight:

best of luck in your indeavers...

Ya I know that my post's are still there but he has pulled some BS with the pass word so he could read all of my PMs.
And now he doesn't know how to put it back.
The only reason I was going over there was for the Steve1 build threads , I will miss those.

Dont worry about that Mark.
I'll get the whole thing for ya.

Thanks Alec.
Don't worry about it, I"ll live.

am I wrong, but I thought even a board admin can't tap into PM's?

An Admin can change the e-mail attached to your account. then you simply have the system e-mail a password change to the new e-mail. You change the password and voila, you can see all the PM's. the problem you have is that now the password is changed and the user can no longer log in. But if you change the e-mail back to what it was, the only thing they know is that their password stopped working and they had to reset it. So if you ever try to log in to an account and your password no longer works......


PM's are not private.

We have a WINNER !!!!! :drink:

:Score-101010::Score-101010::Score-101010::Score-101010::Score-101010:

And they said it was just me...... :rolleyes:


I still have not got an answer as to whether or not my Banner Ad has been removed ???

A simple yes or no would have been sufficient...


Perhaps a larger WATERMARK will work ???

That bank statement might look good across the SOS forum ?? :eek:



.

Well, I have taken time to give this some thought today. I certainly do not support those who are going overboard or who are enjoying this situation a little too much. I can understand the "let's move on" attitude when this happens and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth as well.

Here's what I don't get: Chris built a reputation as an industry expert with VAST knowledge over here and then left to set up the SO entity. Many saw him as a man of PRINCIPLE and joined him there. Now those that continue to post there, after leaving here because it was the right thing to do, say it's not about the owner, it's about the playground?

Am I getting this right? :(

I have pm'ed Nick on and off since I came here in 2001. He has helped me with info on many occasions. Out of respect for him and what he tried to accomplish on SO I don't see myself supporting that site any more.

What am I feeling now? Disappointment.... :picard1:

That would be a good politicaly correct word for it:eek:
.................DISAPPOINTED..................... ................
or.............DISOLUTIONED....................... ..............
..with the..DELUSIONAL................................... ....

We vote with our feet :coolcowboy:
Time will correct all of this...I was not wronged in any of this...don't have a dog in this fight...but holy cow! This happens all the time....someone works or patronizes a place...likes it...but would do things a little differently, starts up another business like the one he/she is copying....in the end, it all comes out in the wash, the will rise or fall on their own merit.
I was always puzzled by the boat racers and all the organizations fighting and bickering....rules exceptions for so and so, bragging rights...chest beating...etc...seemed like if they pooled their resources and dealt with the minor differences for the good of the races themselves...they would have had much more success.
Just like the Indy 500 hasn't been the same since a group of racers decided they would do things differently...Natural progression of things I guess...