Simon

This is interesting, however what does concern us is that associations are meant to be independent and above board. I AM A SCEPTICAL "OLD GIT", and I am nervous since I find non of the following on the site:

1. Legal status of the association, and therefore liability of members
2. Articles of association
3. Current committee members
4. Affilitation with any national chartered bodies
5. Address for sending legal correspondence
6. Financial standing of the association
7. Technical qualifications of the [temporary] committee that will assign a companies ranking
8. Voting rights of members
9. Law under which the association will operate

The domain name is clearly registered to an individual and not the association, so who owns the IP to the domain - is it yourself or the association.

The contact email address on the WHOIS records is to a commercial organisation - DISKLABS.

I don't wish to be negative, but is this just another ruse to (i) add a logo to a website; (ii) to understand the competitive landscape in the market; (iii) force companies to join yet another industry association or chartered body.

Personally I don't have enough time keeping up to date with the likes of the chartered bodies out there who have spent 40-100 years developing a valid professional membership and brand!!!

scegs :-O

Then one must never be asked for the money or fee to join it.........

It is little wonder that many members here are sceptical of an "International Association" that is thus-far unknown - and having to part with $$ to become a member.

Especially with the membership fee of $300-$500 (U.S I assume) - I'm sure most here in this forum will immediatly think - SCAM (i'm not trying to infer that this is in any way)
Other than a link and banner for an official sounding website, what does one get for the modest fees being asked???

I personally never thought of it as a scam. I just don't really like its idea.
I think this kind of association could be really useful but with more down-to-earth goals.
Like
- parts and firmware exchange
- referring clients who don't want to ship their media abroad
- link exchange for search engine optimization
- legal advices
etc...

Hi Disklab,
Did You Become Tier 1 From The First Day You Started Repair And DR .I Am 100000000000000000% Sure You Were Also "Fred In A shed " And "Back Bedroom" Types That Time,When You Started Into DR And Repair .Then You Invested In Tools ,Researched ,Experimented ,Learned and Slowly Migrated To So Called Tier1 [ That is You Say You Are Tier 1,I Do Not Know About Others ] .If this Is a Case Then There will Be Need for Three Websites

1 :Tier1 [ Made By You ] For Actual Tier 1 or So Called Tier1 DR And Repair Technicians
2 :"Back Bedroom" And "Fred In a Shed" Which Are Migrating To Become Tier1
3 :"Back Bedroom " And "Fred In a Shed" Who Plan To Do stay Right There

Kindly Don't Take In In The Offensive Way I Was Just Trying To Elaborate On the Issue .I Hope Some People Will Jumpinto This discussion

It is little wonder that many members here are sceptical of an "International Association" that is thus-far unknown - and having to part with $$ to become a member.

Especially with the membership fee of $300-$500 (U.S I assume) - I'm sure most here in this forum will immediatly think - SCAM (i'm not trying to infer that this is in any way)
Other than a link and banner for an official sounding website, what does one get for the modest fees being asked???

Isnt this association the exact same as Global Data Recovery Alliance (http://www.globaldra.org/), which does not seem to be very successful?

[
The IPDRA is trying to set standards, is open, has a new forum for open and frank discussion and is free.