Reconfiguring this website

[onepimpinsummer]

did I get this right? you might shut down FKSA.org? C'mon viewers! Get the word out there. I enjoy the site. I look for new posts everyday. It's a shame more people don't use it.

Here are some ideas:

I don't think florida people use the web/forum as much as other people. Or at least they don't know about it if they do. I have lived in FKA and MAKA areas and even upstate NY, but its in my opinion that florida people are happier and more active. I think it's because of the sun and weather. so maybe they dont use the computer as much as northerners? I don't check the locations of people on purpose usually, but just off hand from what I remember, it seems not many people from florida are posting on kiteforum.com and I would think there are more kiters in florida than in other major areas of the country wouldnt you? More people post on MAKA than on FKA it seems. Is FKA in the search engines? Perhaps when people do searches it doesnt show up as often? MAKA is a yahoo group, so maybe they show up more in seaches because of that?

So how to get people over to FKA? Having several regulars would be a plus. That way when a newbie posts something, they can get several solid opinions.

Also the viewers here could help get the word out on kiteforum about the FKA. cant really post about it, but these viewers and the regulars could have fksa.org listed in their signiature and as their website. That way they can respond to ppl on kiteforum about other topics while at the same time are advertising fksa.org for free right? I know I always check out interesting websites if they have them listed on the signiature at the bottom of their posts. I was glad to find FKA as an alternative to the mass, unorganized, worldwide junk on kiteforum. There are some good things on there, but if you are looking for stuff pertaining to florida, its a nightmare sorting through everything and trying to get a good answer out of it. Of course what I'm saying is cheating a bit, but definetly a way to get people to notice the FKA. FKA doesn't have all the BS that the big forums have. Its a great benefit to the sport. FKA is a non-profit organization too, so I don't think it's a sin for FKA users to have the link in their signiature. plus for many many topics its much more helpful to have a network of locals to correspond with rather than guys from europe and other parts of the world, so you really aren't taking away from kiteforum, just organizing the florida locals into a group where they can relate to people that kite and run from sharks in the same waters and wind as they do. Ok ok, that shark bit was just for my own humour, but seriously, I had FOUR shark encounters in 5 days time in Key West and New Jersey!! I never see sharks, but now I can't seem to get away from them.

How about some shops or schools to put a link to fksa.org on their website? New kiters taking lessons and what not are surely to check out the websites of their preferred shop/school and are probably very likely to take interest in the fka for advice and know-how. Maybe the shops won't go for it, but some may.

Well I hope the site doesn't get shut down. This site is definetly a good service. Especially for those that are unsure of the sport. Their answered questions here can help keep them safe. I would post on here more, but I am in the middle of relocating and a half dozen other objectives, so expect to hear more from me in a few months when things calm down. That is if the site is still here. keep up the good work Rick.

[purdyd]

Originally Posted by RickI

or parts of it anyway.

Although lots of people visit this site, very few ever post anything. It could be approached like a library where people aren't expected to contribute content. Otherwise it seems kind of silly to keep things going on the current basis. Input?

well, not sure why you don't get more in your other forums but in the case of this safety report forum, what more can be added?

You provide such a complete and unbiased observation and a service to the community. But it is not the stuff to produce discussion. And that is ok.

David

[func]

I agree with purdyd. I'm always following the links Rick posts on Kiteforum - very usefull site for info. I usually don't have a lot to say about it though - I come here to read and learn so I don't make the same mistakes.

[cglazier]

Hi Rick
Please don't take the lack of posts as a lack of appreciation for all your efforts on safety. Sometimes when I read your accident reports I am speechless and have nothing to add. But your efforts keep reminding all of us of the dangers in our sport, and hopefully prevent more accidents.
Keep up the good work.

:wink:
Chris Glazier

[jimmyc2]

Rick,

I agree with all the above posters. We are all appreciative of the work you have done (and hopefully will continue to do): spreading the word on safety, providing a great venue for news, event reports, site reviews. I hope you will keep this site going as it is a great place to visit when I'm stuck in my cube daydreaming about kiteboarding.

I would not take the lack of posting as an indication of the usefulness of this website.

Thanks for all your work Rick,

Jim Canniff

[A-Get]

Originally Posted by RickI

Otherwise it seems kind of silly to keep things going on the current basis. Input?

Hi Rick,

Actually I just register to your forum a minute ago... but have been reading all your posts from the "Lessons From The Hard Side" since months...

The reason I didn't register and "react" to your posts ealier is the following:
- Most of the time your analysis is 99% in the right direction :wink:
- Most of the time, when you post a subject, it is followed by other post from you, and I actually never thought the aim of this forum section was to "make people react" but "inform people".
- Most of the time, there is death or very bad injuries involved, and I wouldn't write things like "He didn't have an helmet, it was his choice..." under such circumstances... :cry:

I think what you are doing in this forum is really interesting for anybody who wants to avoid "the worst"... and is clever enough to follow your advice or at least understand the risk he's taking when not wearing an helmet, riding with onshore winds or something like that.

Hope you will continue (even if not in a "Forum-like" form), we need this !!!

Ben

[ricki]

Thanks for your input guys. It is good to know that someone is out there! You are right, several of the forums on this site may not be all that interactive, although questions are welcome. Then again there are some forums, the general area -Kiter Buzz and the regional forums (various areas of Florida, etc.) that are primarily intended to be interactive.

Well, I guess you can take a horse to water but you can't, necessarily, make him type posts. Strange but true. Thanks for all the suggestions I will continue to try to work to improve participation in areas where it makes sense.

Looks like it takes a considerable amount of your time/money to maintain.I hope you maitain it, although I have only started this summer I know your efforts have help me avoid serious injury or worste.

I am the classic know it all /daredevil , love to hear people saying how crazy I am etc, love to show my broken bones xrays and scars .Not anymore . After reading and rereading your accidents reports and related safety material ( ie helmet reports/leashless/low and go etc ) I have earned a lot of respect for the kite. Took lessons , still moving really slow and taking my time , Refuse to even consider riding my boards until I get totaly proficient at body dragging upwind . At this rate it will take me considerably longer but it will reduce the chance of me ending up in one of your post. The poor responses on your site are not indicative to the important service and value you have provided .
Thanks for the safety information to date (there is nothing comparable on this planet) ....also applying more safety to all my sports

[lopini]

Rick:

Let me tell you how I got here and what my initial thoughts are on the lack of participation.

First off, I live in Sarasota, I am 28 years old, I have never been kitesurfing and until today I near knew anything about it. The closest I have ever come to kitesurfing was seeing people doing it near the bridge on 275 heading to the airport (each time almost causing an accident because it was so hard not to just watch). Until today, I did not know what it was really properly called and although it seemed like one of the coolest things to try, I put that idea in the box of things I will talk about doing and never look into and put any effort towards (that put it in the same category as skydiving, getting scuba training and taking a trip, etc).

That said, this afternoon INHD 2 on Comcast had a program all about kitesurfing. I came across it 5 mins into the hour long program and had found this web site before it was over.

The program was amazing in HD and focused on the Red Bull championship in Maui; however, it did not really address some of the FAQ's someone who has NO CLUE would ask. That is what led me to www.fksa.org.

Let me first say your site has truly impressive amount of information and knowledge on kitesurfing. I have spent about 2 hours on your site and it is obvious you do a tremendous job capturing and posting all things kitesurfing, and I was particularly happy to see you’re stressing of safety and respect for beach rules. For a sport that most people know nothing about (from an active 28 year old's perspective in Sarasota, FL), you also have more local information for FLA than I would have ever thought was out there.

With that said, I almost left your site several times because you had so much information and topics, I could not find out simple answers to questions I had about the sport as non-kitesurfer. It has been frustrating because I really wanted to get some of the most basic information on the sport and when I googled "kitesurfing FL," your site was one of the top ones to choose from. Knowing NOTHING about the sport and living in Florida, the web site for the "Florida Kitesurfing Association" seemed to be the absolute best place to get some quick answers on where you do it, the costs involved, etc. While your site has that information somewhere in it (probably more than once), it is most definitely not where it should be on a web site that promotes the sport in Florida. I could be wrong, but I would think my profile (single, young, male, money to spend and most importantly very interested in kiteboarding) would be your low hanging fruit for potential new members to your site and the kind of slightly more mature and responsible people that could help the sport as a whole if they got active.

With that profile being me, I felt like I was working on a research project for my job while looking for the basics; Granted I tend to be overly critical sometimes because part of my background is in web design and information architecture. I think your post about closing part of the site is on the money...although you really are not going to close anything....just organizing it properly.

Since you use phpBB for your board and it appears like you have previously used Rapid Decision Corp for design work, reorganizing and cleaning up the content should not take long at all. Since you have stated you have great traffic, I am positive if you do cut the number of topics in 1/2, have a dedicated place for links to other kitesurfing sites, and most importantly, better classify your visitors and direct them where they need to be on your site. Some examples:

1) When I came to your site from Google, I should have immediately seen where your information and FAQs for newbies is located. You need a better FAQ for newbies that should only be updated once or twice a year, and a separate forum where newbies can ask veterans questions....and on going Q&A if you will. If you had that, and was strict about directing off-topic newbies there for answers, you have taken care of your responsibility to newbies...keeping in mind this is the minimum needed - you obviously would want to dedicate more of your site to promotion of the sport to newbies if that was your intent for the site.

I would think if you would leverage your current users and create topic for suggested Q&A's, this would be painless. I would just make sure you spell out the answers to the 4 W's...Who is into this sport now, What equipment is needed, how much does it cost and what is the basic terminology used in the sport (I still see it referred to as kitesurfing, kiteboarding, wakeboarding...which is right? This is the number one reason people who want to add to a discussion or ask a question in a forum fails to do so....no one wants to look like an idiot, even if they admit they do not know much about the topic) Where do people kitesurf and where can someone get lessons?

This should also have the added effect of building frequent posters out of your membership (longer-term members will not be asked the same questions by newbies regardless of the topic, and you will be better fostering an environment for more in depth discussion.

2) Your long-term members and advanced kitesurfers have more focused reasons for visiting your site. Meet people to kitesurf with locally, learning about events, weather conditions, etc... You have great information on your site for them, and have the regional FLA sections well organized....you just need to bring it more together.

3) Lastly, once you get more posters, your job as the admin will become more time consuming. Have you though about having some regional admins you trust that have better address local topics and questions, in addition to better promoting discussion and the web site in general. I suspect that you get the majority of your traffic from one area of FLA and when someone come by from a different area and sees few posts or few recent posts, you are losing them. Having someone in charge of their regions will keep fresh information on the site for everyone and keep them coming back because your have the local information exchange they want.

I know I tend to write my blogs like stereo instructions, but I hope that gives you some ideas.

As for me, I am totally psyched to get started. Anyone that has any thoughts on local places in Sarasota to buy gear and local recommendations who to use for lessons...please PM or email me...I am ready to start ASAP. Actually, I would love to talk to anyone that kiteboards in the Sarasota area and pick your brain.

Chris

QUICK UPDATE: After I posted this, I went through the site some more with an eye reviewing its organization, not looking for information. In some instances it is not that the tpocs are not organized....it is that the "Subject" lines tell the user nothing discriptive about the post. "Check this out" and morbidly excessive: "Kitesurf break his neck and dies" posts are not appropriate titles. If the subjects told me something tangible and it agreed with what was posted, I would be more likely to reply. I bet most of your users have to click on each post before they know if it is something they want to read....cutting out the "Wind is king" posts takes care of that, and if you have members that like that posting style, confine it to the right area. I also was struck by number of "downer" posts and articles about accidents, shark attacks, etc... Don't get me wrong, that is important information that should be included and easy to find for new users, but I got the feeling you are trying to scare people about the sport or this was done for some reason of full disclosure...in anyevent, a bad-news section is fine, but who wants it scattered everywhere about the topics? The best post I saw was someone who said they never posted, but always visited the site and the topic was about a specific beach and some people that are breaking the rules and are putting access to that beach in danger.

[ricki]

Thanks for all your input. It will take some time to carefully consider and respond. One thing stands out, this site was never intended to be a stand alone phpBB site. I had wanted to have an html shell with a reasonably well organized format for more rapid navigation. The problem is that I am normally writing content and haven't taken the time to learn how to prepare an html site. I have had a lot of very capable help from programmers but they get busy with work demands. Bringing us back to where we are today. I am going to try to bite the bullit and figure out how to assemble a basic html architecture to compliment what current exists. As far as time committment, not a problem. I have started and moderated several kiteboarding forums over the years. Significantly, the phpBB site allows for many moderators to spread the load. There are several currently but we need more along with interactive users. I would like to have moderators for each quandrant of the state as well as some of the special interest forums.

There is an intro to kiteboarding forum currently on the site at:

http://fksa.org/index.php?c=13

This could be easier to find of course and will be with the expanded site.

There is also a new article on how to select an instructor or school at:

http://fksa.org/viewforum.php?f=93

More to come!