Why on Ko-Fi? Simple. There's no way to index posts on FB and once they have rolled off your timeline, they are almost impossible to track down again. So the 2021 CONTENT PAGE offers you easy access to the 100-odd twice-a-week better biking posts written during the past year. In terms of solving practical riding problems, the two series cover just about every imaginable area of riding. Right now, the last SIXTY DAYS of the two series are still free-to-view to all FOLLOWERS.
AND FROM THE ARCHIVE
As well as the 2021 posts, there is also the Facebook archive to investigate.
Right now, this includes every post from those two series from 2014 to 2019. These are also indexed by year, and within each twelve-months worth of posts, there are half-a-dozen 'READ for FREE' posts. And if you like them, why not sign up as a SUPPORTER? Just £3 gets you a month's access to around SIX HUNDRED POSTS to improve your riding.
And you can look out for 2020's posts too - that's another one hundred I'll be getting those up on line and indexed in the weeks to come.
It has to be the BIGGEST ARCHIVE OF RIDING SKILLS ARTICLES on the internet!
EXTRA CONTENT
And that's not all. For SUBSCRIBERS who make a regular donation, there is a growing section of specialist content. I'll be paying particular attention to this section next year.
FIND THE CONTENT INDEX HERE
https://ko-fi.com/post/CONTENT-T6T87DH7L
A BETTER QUALITY POST
One of the most important advantages of using Ko-Fi as a platform is that it offers far better facilities for constructing a post. FB is simple to use but it's hard to write longer posts - simple typographical aids such as bold, italic and even bullet points simply aren't available. That makes it tough to emphasise specific points. For a facility which encourages the use of photos and video, FB makes it hard to use mixed media effectively - embedding videos and photos at relevant points in the text simply isn't possible.
And one thing FB really DOESN'T like is people clicking away from their platform. It's hard to use hyperlinks to other content.
I couldn't have put the highlighted link to the content index inline in the text just above this section, then emphasised it in a larger font, in bold and in a different colour to make it stand out, as a very simple example of what I mean.
As a means of communication, Ko-Fi really DOES make it a lot easier to talk to you.
BECOME A FOLLOWER
Since 2013, I've been building the Survival Skills page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/survivalskills) and as I'm sure you'll appreciate, I've invested a huge amount of effort over there.
So I'm not about to dump FB but I am aware that more and more people are unhappy with FB's policies - not least the constant bombardment of adverts, the filtering of the feed that makes it difficult to follow content you WANT to follow, and the tracking issues.
But from 2022 I will PRIORITISE my Ko-Fi page.
I'm going to do this by:
- dual-posting the ToT and SoS posts here and on FB - but whenever possible the story will appear a little earlier on Ko-Fi so if you can't wait for your fix, come read it on Ko-Fi.
- cross-linking Monday and Friday's posts - they will go up here in full with just a synopsis over on FB. That will cost me some 'reads' on FB but as I'm never sure just who gets to see the posts on FB, I'm sure that those who WANT to read them WILL come here directly.
And so following me here on Ko-Fi offers you an easy way to sidestep the social media site.
Ko-Fi also allows me to link my shop and sell digital goods, something specifically prohibited by FB. That means I can provide a link to my GIFT VOUCHERS and my ONLINE COACHING, but you can also download inexpensive 'mini ebooks' on specific topics. And as I like to provide value for money, there are also some FREE mini-ebooks to enjoy.
And you don't have to be a supporter or subscriber to access the shop - it's open to EVERYONE. Just become a FOLLOWER to get regular updates.
SCIENCE OF BEING SEEN & NO SURPRISE
These are two projects I believe in passionately.
SOBS has been dropped by Biker Down - after eight years of working with the fire services on the initiative it would have been nice if someone had told me directly and not left me to find out via the backdoor - but I am determined to do my best to keep SOBS in the public eye. SOBS explains the most common collision of all - the 'Sorry Mate, I Didn't See You' SMIDSY crash. It examines the factors that cause drivers to miss bikes in traffic, it explains the weaknesses of the standard conspicuity aids and why they haven't stopped these crashes happening, and offers a pro-active approach for riders to follow to reduce the risk of being involved in a 'Two to Tangle' collision that someone else sets up and the rider can avoid. In 2021, your support was been invaluable in registering a domain (www.scienceofbeingseen.org) and right now I'm gathering funds to copyright the term - I hope to complete that next year.
NO SURPRISE? NO ACCIDENT! rewrites the way we think about riding errors and provides a 'unified theory of bike crashes'. To date our problem has been that we've believed that making riders more skilled would reduce crash rates. For the least-skilled riders, that's true. But most bike crashes actually involve experienced riders who crash in the same places over and over. No Surprise? No Accident provides a coherent, logical and above all an independently-supported theory which explains why and how riding errors happen, and creates a path forward to improve the average rider's ability to predict, avoid and evade crashes.
Your support for these projects is enormously important.
WHAT DO I GET OUT OF IT?
I get your supporting donations and subscriptions, and they will allow me to keep writing AND riding to deliver on-road practical training to those who want that - as I have put it elsewhere, you are supporting me to support your riding, whether that be virtually or in person.
Your support has allowed me to keep writing during the last two extremely difficult years, it's helped fund the SCIENCE OF BEING SEEN and with your continued support I hope to spend more time in 2022 working on NO SURPRISE.
So I'm looking forward to seeing more and more of you over on my Ko-Fi page next year. - cross-linking Monday and Friday's posts - they will go up here in full with just a synopsis over on FB. That will cost me some 'reads' on FB but as I'm never sure just who gets to see the posts on FB, I'm sure that those who WANT to read them WILL come here directly.