Personal Submersibles Organization

The Personal Submersibles Organization (PSUBS) is an internet based society promoting discussion and sharing of information relative to the safe design, fabrication, and operation of small privately owned manned or unmanned submarines for recreational use. The PSUBS organization is considered by many to be an authority on small submarines used for recreational purposes.

History

The roots of the PSUBS organization are based in sporadic discussions about submarines in the rec.boats.building electronic newsgroup occurring in early 1996. Those early discussions did not fit within the charter of "surface" boat building so they were moved to private email between four primary participants. By late fall 1996, discussions were becoming difficult to track and reference because they existed on the personal computers of the participants. Jon Wallace and Ray Keefer, two original participants, decided to create a website and employ the use of a listserver to keep track of the email addresses of participants and capture/archive discussions within a central repository. Additionally, they hoped these communication tools would attract more people into the discussions. In February 1997 the first archiving of PSUBS discussions began with a total of six people registered as participants on the mailing list.

In October 1997, the official domain name PSUBS.ORG was secured to provide a definitive identity for the organization and for the next ten years the group operated with very little structure and a solitary goal of providing a forum to collect and disseminate information about small submersibles. Wallace and Keefer performed occasional moderator duties and also provided technical expertise, plus funding, to keep the web server and listserver operating. By 2007 it became obvious that the group had grown as far as it could without any formal structure or leadership. Wallace and Keefer incorporated the organization under the name PSUBS LLC to further the goals and charter of the original website, provide new avenues of services to participants, and strengthen our ability to continue providing the Internet's foremost information repository for personal submersibles.

In 2009, PSUBS began offering formal memberships to provide a sense of ownership and comaradarie by participants as well as develop direction and structure for the organization to facilitate better recognition and position within the underwater community.

References
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