About the site:

Sea-Patrol.com has no commercial interest in ‘Sea Patrol’, the Nine-Network or McElroy All Media. Sea-Patrol.com is a site run by fans for fans!

History:

Sea-Patrol.com was launched on January 1st 2007, after a ‘Coming Soon to Nine’ commercial aired. The site was initially created to generate some interest in the series; to cultivate and serve a fan base. The original concept was that it be a source of information, so interested people didn’t have to rely on Google searches. The information would be contained in one location for easy access.

From the offset, the site was community-oriented; a forum was created to allow discussion, thus building audience anticipation in the series.

The site grew steadily from this point on. As soon as new information became available, Sea-Patrol.com reported it.

When the Ninemsn Sea Patrol site was launched, Sea-Patrol.com members were immediately directed there to receive the latest content, including videos and profiles. A forum discussion was created on the Sea-Patrol.com site to inform people of Ninemsn site updates. Fans were impressed with the effort Nine had put (and continues to put) into that site.

Ninemsn character and actor profiles were copied to the Sea-Patrol.com site to correct some of the mistakes found not only within character biographies but also the actor biographies. A lot of painstaking research from members was used to update this information.

Some members of Sea-Patrol.com who use Mac OS X, Linux and also Firefox had problems viewing the Ninemsn site. A limited number of videos were uploaded to Sea-Patrol.com in the flash video format to allow these disadvantaged members to view them.

Site Growth:

When the program first aired in July 07, Sea-Patrol.com was immediately bombarded with a massive number of hits. Fans wanted to view the image gallery and create fan-fiction and fan-art for the series. In this way, the focus of the site changed to accommodate fans’ desires. An increasing interest in the up-coming series was also noted amongst international fans who hungered for more information about the show.

Since Sea-Patrol.com was launched, it has averaged 3.57 member registrations per day. Visitors have come from countries far and wide: Canada, New Zealand, Fiji, Germany, United Kingdom, Singapore, China and The Netherlands to name a few.

Content and contribution policy:

The site has always had an open door policy in terms of suggestions, questions and the like. As such, many members now contribute content to the site. The aim is to fill some gaps where the Ninemsn site does not provide content (but to avoid duplication). These areas include:

• News & Articles, with copyright still held to the original owners.
• Limited media content for people unable to view it on other platforms (also to ‘archive’ this type of material in case Ninemsn removes it when the show is off air.)
• A strong creative based community and forum.
• Extra information on the navy, the patrol boat service etc. Sea-Patrol.com has also been in contact with the navy web team, and they are delighted with the response to ‘The Real Sea Patrol’ site.

Sea-Patrol.com credits all external sources where appropriate and includes many disclaimers stating that the web site has no affiliation with ‘Sea Patrol’, the Nine-Network or McElroy All Media.

The site now has a staff working behind the scenes who collect news and control and lead discussion. The staff are un-paid volunteers who wish to help promote the series.

Future Plans:

Future growth of Sea-Patrol.com will occur within the community-focused framework already established. It will allow all forms of creative expression related to the show, though this will be moderated to ensure no offensive material is published.

Since the site is receiving considerable international interest (which I am sure flows on to the Ninemsn Sea Patrol site), Sea-Patrol.com hopes to cater for international members by informing them, for example, of local airdates.

Sea-Patrol.com is here for the long term; the goal is to support the series for as long as it runs and beyond!