During the early years of the sport, forums were an integral part of scooter riding. With so few riders spread throughout the world, they would congregate online, forming a tight-knit community. As time went on, riders logged on and off, trolls had their heyday, hackers and spambots wreaked havoc, and the quality of forums slowly declined. Today, somebody is trying to change that. Chris Gascoigne, already an accomplished rider and industry guy, has resurrected one of the most popular forums, the
RideWire. He recently opened the site to the public and I hit him up to get the full scoop.
Jordan Jasa: What is the RideWire?
Chris Gascoigne: The Ride Wire is a community for freestyle scooter riders.
The original Ride Wire forum was started by Brian Boston a few years back. What made you want to start it back up?
Yea that's right, the original Ride Wire was created by Brian Boston. Brian actually helped me on a few steps of setting this new website up, he's a great guy.
I saw a need that the scooter community had that wasn't being properly addressed. In the past the Ride Wire was such an awesome community and I wanted to try and bring that vibe back. I've worked really hard on the forum side of things and am really happy with the way it has turned out. I feel that it's a great starting point for the new Ride Wire.
What makes the RW better than the other forums?
That's a great question. My answer may sound kind of contradictory but it isn't. My main goal for the Ride Wire is to build a community place built on Unity. After all, you cannot spell community without unity. What sets the Ride Wire apart is the fact that we are taking advantage to technologies that are available to us to better serve our members. We have integrated a Thank/Like/Dislike system already. We've also brought back the Chatbox which is proving to be a popular place already. The main things that set us apart is support and feedback. We have a suggestion sub-forum that gets taken seriously. If you have an idea submit it, I'll do my best to make it a reality. As long as its in the best interest of the community of course.
That sounds awesome. Is there anything else you'd like to add about RW?
Certainly. My hopes for the Ride Wire is to create a community free of hate and teaming with support. It is my personal belief that the sport is in our hands to do what we want with. We catch a lot of negativity just because we do what we do. We should be constructive with each other instead of tearing each other down. Join the Ride Wire if you want to be apart of what makes our sport great. Thank you Jordan, Steven T and Inside for the opportunity to talk a bit about what the Ride Wire is and where we want to go!
