We cancelled our bookings with the Scuba Diving Magazine waiver scam operator...Jason Harris - Dive Club DirectorJuly 14, 2001 at 08:09:31I completely disagree with John's comments that what Rodales and some dive operators are doing with liability waivers is
acceptable. The point is that Rodale's latest marketing gimmick (let's collude with greedy dive operators to sell a few more magazine subscriptions) is inappropriate and over the top as usual. Look at their slogan: the magazine divers trust.
HELLO!%? Which divers? How dumb do they think we are? I don't know anyone who trusts Rodale's to do anything but line their own pockets with advertising revenue based on fake dive gear reviews and fake articles. The magazine prostitutes itself to advertisers and the result is hype designed to satisfy ad buyers, not inform subscribers with honest reviews.
That's why they are so desperate to find new subscribers. Anyone naive enough (can you say beginner diver?) to pay for such rubbish in the first place soon realizes they have been ripped off and cancels their subscription. No matter what kind of spin John and Rodale's and the irresponsible dive operators put on this, the fact remains that inserting ads or any other marketing gimmicks into liability waivers, and then sending the releases to Rodales where they can
be exploited for various marketing purposes, is completely irresponsible, an invasion of customer privacy and therefore a scam. That's why we (I am a director of a dive club) decided to cancel our bookings with a dive operator involved in the scam and rebooked with one of their competitors. | 
