Spinopsys

[…] It looks like the idea of Giving Thanks for traffic is going a little viral - ok it’s not a full blown virus but it’s nice to see others doing it too. Thanks to Spinopsys, Trevor, Christian and the Retrospector for passing on the thanks. […]

Golly, thanks… I don’t know if I qualify as an “elder” of any kind.

Your site is a wonderful place for dialog and I have thoroughly enjoyed the many conversations- especially the face-to-face kind. We’ll have a great blogger meet-up in February.

Actually you are an “elder” judging by the many cycling bloggers who view you as an example.

You’re just like a great big Yoda you are……on a Masi.

Many thanks for yet another link there Phil:)

There is no “try”, only “do”.

Wow, I don’t know if I merit that or not, but thanks just the same.

You are doing good things here Phil. As we discussed over beers in April, building community takes time. The cycling community is sometimes slow to respond to change and is deeply rooted in traditions that go back many years. Trying something new is always scary for the industry as a whole. However, I do feel that things are getting better. We aren’t the only ones having this conversation, that’s for sure…

I wish we could convince organisations like Bicycle NSW of the benefits of blogging. Blogging could be a great way for them to disseminate information about current cycling issues and would be a great way to get comments quickly and organise “calls to action”.
I’ve previously used their form emailer to suggest this, but never received a reply.

BNSW needs to take their web presence in general more seriously. Web content needs to be current, or not at all.
The current Big Ride homepage is symptomatic.

Apparently BNSW has recently contracted out the Australian Cyclist magazine, which is a start, the first issue under this outfit should be the next, apparently it’s gonna be exciting!?*

Now if only they could contract out the whole outfit. Kidding! Yet, a more moribund crew would be hard to find.

Interestingly I’ve found the same thing with the Australian version of Bicycle Industry News, I’ve sent e-mails etc and never a response from the principal. Rude.

I think as Tim and Lela point out, there is a general lack of understanding of new media issues within a large majority of the extended industry.

Organization websites are pretty bad around here too. Very few of the teams, clubs or organizations put much of an effort into their sites- though some do an excellent job. Overall, it is pretty “amateur”, relying on the time and efforts of volunteers who would rather be riding their bikes than working on websites. I think blogging, especially blogs with multiple authors could do amazing things for many of these groups.

In the end, the enthusiasts are not unlike the industry itself. I hate to say it, but we are ahead of the rest of the pack. We’re not superior, we’ve just picked this all up way before other folks. The good news is that things are getting better. There are people very likely reading this entire dialog and giving serious thought to all of this.

No, thank you, Phil. Consider the love spread.

Thanks Philip. My little blog seems to be in pretty good company on this list. Now I need to go check out the sites you listed that I have not seen before.

As previously mentioned, thanks to you for providing a great resource here at Spinopsys.

[…] Recognise Your Top ReferrersEven though I’ve not done this myself yet, I’m sure you’ve seen many examples of this. Often, this comes in the form of a post linking out to your top referrers, and is fundamentally good blogger etiquette. However, it does come with a couple of pretty unavoidable and mostly insignificant problems. One: Like any sort of outbound linking, a small number of bloggers you don’t link to will feel slighted (only in the spur of the moment in this example). Two: Your readers might just call you out (only jokingly here!). […]