In recent times I have noticed a distinct lack of use on the Jackrabbitt site, and it made me wonder if the amount of effort put into running the forum and the website is actually beneficial to anyone. The principle to Jackrabbitt is to form a community, a way of meeting people and getting the soul sports message known, but it would appear that word of mouth is actually the best form of this and the website/forum is not actually needed, especially with mediums such as Facebook and MPORA easily available.
Let us know what you think. What does Jackrabbitt mean to you?
July 16th, 2010 at 8:38 pm
Jackrabbitt is a name I am proud to be associated with. It gives a sense of belonging to people involved across the action sports. A name that people can relate to…if you associate yourself with JR then you know you have something in common. It was through JR that I found snowboarding, climbing and biking (although I should probably get back on a bike soon to be able to make that one a legit reason!) It is a name that can be passed on to others to get them involved and it’s a name that keeps people in touch with each other even if we live hundreds of miles apart. Plus it has a cool bunny for a logo…
July 17th, 2010 at 4:37 pm
i am not as eloquent as ems so this will not sound as inpiring. Being part of jackrabbitt has given me so much. It has given me friends that i know i will not loose touch with even though i am moving away for a while. Friends that i would go out of my way for, and who would go out of their way for me. I never believed that i would meet the kind of people that i have so much in common with. I have been introduced to a differnet culture that i didnt know much about, but tht i know will always now be a part of my life. I will never forget jackrabbitt no matter what becomes of it, and i will never loose the friends i have made through it. and yes i like the bunny too.
July 17th, 2010 at 11:41 pm
Ems and Alice have covered this nicely, JR brings us all together and lets people know what we’re about. I wouldn’t be the same without JR and I’ve made some friends for life and had some of the best experiences of my life thanks to it. The website going would be sad but Facebook ultimately fulfils the needs of us all.
July 17th, 2010 at 11:42 pm
Of course we do! But you have to realise that Dan alone does not make Jackrabbitt, even though your twitter handle says @iamjackrabbitt
We all need to chip-in and your main job should be kicking our asses to do so
July 19th, 2010 at 9:50 am
agreed!! we all need to get our acts together if we don’t want to see jr die out! it’s NOT a one man job…
July 21st, 2010 at 2:14 pm
I wouldn’t know any of you if it wasn’t for Dan pushing stuff forward and for then having a site and forum to be part of. I say it stays but it also needs to evolve and more people need to be able to access the blog to keep it fresh and varied.
July 21st, 2010 at 8:54 pm
this is only my personal opinion :
I think keeping JR seperate from facetube and the likes is a good idea, by all means integrate them but i like the seperation of organising adventures in one place, if i want to know about biking etc i know where to look, as opposed to flicking about on facebook for it..
its better than word of mouth as its all recorded & wirtten down, if i forget ( and this regularly happens) i can find it easily..
although it doesnt get as many hits as other websites the forum is active enough given the number of members it holds, the homepage is the face of JR and needs to stay, the amount of peolpe who ask what is JR after looking at the car, and they all get told to get on line and check it out..
the brand itself perhaps could use some more marketing but at present i have enough JR tee’s & hoodies to sink a ship…
JR wont die, its more than a website and more than the people, more than the clothes, more than the adventures, take any of them away and it will keep going, like a worm with its head cut off……
proudy
July 22nd, 2010 at 11:18 am
To me Jackrabbitt has always represented the best times of my life and a tool for introducing new people to new things which they previously hadn’t considered. Either that or they had considered doing them and just needed JR to push them in the right direction!
I wouldn’t be who i am today if it wasn’t JR and I think that goes for most of us.
Unfortunately as its been primarily Carlisle based and half the residents are now spread hundreds of miles apart, the challenge is keeping spirits up and a very large number of people in the know!
I agree with Mason to an extent because Facebook etc would seem to be the easiest way to communicate to the masses these days HOWEVER as someone who now does quite a lot of random adventures down south, arranging an “event” each time just takes too much time and is fundamentally flawed because you only ever invite people you already have as friends…
Its probably a design/technical nightmare but personally I would find a massive shared calendar more useful than the forum. (not replacing it but complementing it) Then people can easily post where they’re going and what they’re doing and people can join in where they like. It saves having to create a long winded “event” on facebook each time and also presents a perfect spacing for advertising if it gets a lot of traffic. Maybe you could filter down to places you’re local to or certain sports? It could then be easily to linked to by just about every social network out there. With time and brand awareness (and awesome clothing) people would know to check this every time they wanted to meet new peeps and try something new…
I may just be talking completely pants but thought i’d throw it out there
July 22nd, 2010 at 3:05 pm
Well JR basically got me started doing most of the extreme things I’m now able to do today. Snowboarding was the main starting point, going on a holiday with a lot of people I only sort of knew and learning a sport I was scared to death of doing. Now each time I do it I’m growing in confidence, and I wouldn’t have got there without the support of all of JR crew. This has led me to go on and take on the epic challenge of learning how to kitesurf, which I never thought I’d be brave enough to attempt. JR has pushed me beyond what I thought I could do, and more importantly give’s you the gut’s to go out there any just try things before you tell yourself you can’t do it, because more often than not….you can!
Not sure how this next bit will sit with everyone. I sometimes don’t feel a part of JR because I get the feeling a lot of the time it is orientated around biking, which is understandable don’t get me wrong. I feel that if JR is meant to be for everybody and anybody interested in sports then it needs to have more substance. Only when we have holidays together as a large group does it feel like I am part of the crew.
Ultimately I have met many people through JR and I only hope I get to meet many more!
July 22nd, 2010 at 7:41 pm
Being fairly new to this JR marlarkey not sure whether my views carry as much weight as others; but here goes.
Do we need still JR – YES (mainly because I need some JR branded clothing – why haven’t I got any yet!)
Do we need the website – people have made good points about how other mediums can be used but I find it quicker to see what’s up riding wise on the forum then either post something or use the dog & bone.
If we didn’t have the website I’m not sure I would have got to meet so many good people to go riding hang out with. It’s also a good medium to see what other dangerous activities there are for me to try (Dan that doesn’t include mustard eating !)
July 23rd, 2010 at 9:09 am
On another note, sites and forums like this are ideal if you are new to an area and want to find people to hang out with and enjoy your hobbies with, i’ve been trying to find something similar down south that has a good active group and site that organises events etc….. not easy to find.
Sites like facebook etc are all well and good but if you are new to an area and want to find out the local places to bike, climb, etc.. and want to find people to do that with you need websites and forums that are active and encourage you to join in, and that is what this website and this group of people have always done.
July 23rd, 2010 at 10:19 am
like coley i’m pretty new to the JR site, infact i’ve only been on 2 rides with you guys, but they were the 2 most enjoyable (one of them the most painful) days riding i’ve ever had! if it wasn’t for this site i would never have been biking with you guys.
if its a question of finding new members then i guess its a case of advertising more/better. I just tried to find the JR site on google without using the words jackrabbitt. i couldn’t find it. is that not a slight flaw? it’s all well and good having a website to tell people who we are and what we do etc, but if they can’t find it then what use is it? is there anyway to make this site come somewhere near the top of the search results when people search for things like “carlisle mountainbiking” or whatever. i know when i started biking i spent ages looking for other people in and around carlisle who enjoyed the same sport as me. it took me about 9 months to find this website, and i only came accross it because someone linked me to it from another forum (bikeradar).
what about putting adverts into the news and star. once or twice a week they have a little section of “clubs and society’s events” or whatever. they pretty much just say what the activity is and when and where to meet in the morning. if there is a ride planned enough in advance then it wouldn’t be hard to put a little notice in the paper inviting others to come along as well.
What about posters in Palace cycles, Scotby cycles, freetime, cotswald, mountain hardware, the skatepark, the dry ski slope, and any other outdoorsy shops and places that are in and around carlisle. infact i’m willing to bet that the cafe’s and bike shops at whinlatter, mabie, ae and most other places that we visit would let us put up a poster or 2 in the window.
and as for the hoodies, how much and where do i get one from?!
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:52 pm
I have to agree with Laney…it is mainly biking orientated, which when I ever get my back built up and back on track again then it may be more relevant…but at the same time, i think it’s up to us to put different things on there if we’re not biking…i.e if you’re doing any kitesurfing, tell us how it went. I’m gonna make a concious effort to post more about my goings on rather than leaving it to other people in the group. This also means that if there are more posts going up about events, rides or get togethers down south…new people can still relate to it. The idea is that JR isn’t JUST about carlisle and the people around here…and now we have so many to represent JR down south…why not organise rides, trips to go snowboarding, surfing whatever it is you’re doing and get the name known down there too?
Basically, I’m saying that I have taken the forum and the site for granted and relied on the fact that i can get the info of what’s going on through dan…but that doesn’t really help the continuation and expansion of JR…so it’s kicked me up the butt to do more blogging, posting, and yes…ADVERTISING!
July 23rd, 2010 at 4:18 pm
I’m with you Ems! I definatly will make an effort now to blog anything I’m up to, to help give a little bit of variety! I’ll do a write up of Sardinia if that’ll be of any use too