WATVA Blogs

In this day and age, when people post things to the internet, some tend to forget how easy it is to share the said published whatever. Think about that.

What I mean by the above statement is the internet is often overlooked as a small part of the lives. However, because the internet is always there, always connected and available for ANYONE, anything that you publish online can be accessed in one way or the other. 

There are plenty of places to share content. Heck, as I write this I have installed a blogging script to let me and the other bloggers to share our writings. It wasn't that hard to do. To start your own blog is easy and can be done for free using various sites. The most popular way to share content though, is widely overseen. Social Networking (see my other blog about social networking: Tweet What? Status Where? Plus Who?)... Ah yes, what couldn't be easier to share photos from your cell phone or computer than Facebook! I admit, I often post photos to facebook from my cell phone for my close friends and family to see because I want them to experience something that I have just experienced. 

This can (and very much does) be used by clubs, associations and businesses too. We post photos right to our WATVA facebook page all the time, because it's really easy right?

This is often where people stop the sharing process. They take their photos, upload them to Facebook, and wham they are done! Right?

STOP THE PRESSES... Er... Typing!

Once you upload something to the internet, the odds of ever getting it off are pretty slim. So say someone uploads a photo of Bubba riding in what appears to be a creek but in reality it's an off-road challenge course that doesn't have course markers in the photo. All of Bubba's friends think that is pretty cool, as it appears he is going to get his machine covered in mud and to Bubba, win the race. To make it easier for others to view, Bubba "tags" his local ATV club in the photo as the club did organize the event. Everyone is happy right? You may think that...

How about we take the same local club that organized the event, which is the same club that is trying to open some trails and routes in the township that has a few locals who do not support ATV / UTV development. Later that month, at a local meeting, the ATV club stands up to share their progress of getting a trail established. At this time, the few people that oppose the trail make a motion to speak and present the photo Bubba took saying these are the same club members riding off-trail somewhere destroying the environment. Of course, to the town board that doesn't ride, these photos are examples of what they do not want to see! Bubba, in the mean time, is clueless as to how they got the photos and has to try to explain they are at an event (usually in this case, none of the town board members were there to verify this and the development could be stopped right there).

Sharing photos on Facebook is simple. Finding them is also simple. The anti atv folks in the example could easily search Facebook for the clubs page. With that, they can click photos and see all the photos uploaded and tagged for that club and save them on their computer. Why would anti ATV people view the page of the ATV club? To look for examples of irresponsibility that they could use to halt opportunities to the club for trail development. 

Sound far fetched? It's not. It happens every year in Wisconsin (and around the world). The example could be used for posting photos to any web site, not just Facebook. Google has a great habit of finding your web site even if you don't insert any keywords in your coding. Thus, anyone looking to cause trouble could easily find and exploit anything on that site even if you're technically not showing anything wrong.

There is a good PSA on YouTube that you can watch below. Granted, there is no PSA on posting ATV photos (yet... dun dun dun), however apply what the video says to our sport. Also, ignore the Chinese :)

WATVA has developed a set of online guidelines to help clubs understand what they might want to post, and might not want to post. It's sad that we have to take these measures to prevent negative image, but trust me when I say in our sport image is EVERYTHING. The section of the guidelines about print and digital media are as follows:

With the increased popularity of All-Terrain Vehicles (ATV), there has been a significant rise in the negative depiction of ATVs in electronic and print media. This media allows vast numbers of the general public to view images of ATV usage, many of these show very inappropriate behavior. We must be sure that the images that are being portrayed by ATV users will enhance the public’s opinion of ATV use rather than detract from that view. These suggested guidelines are intended for the use by individuals and organizations involved in the planning and construction of Print and Electronic Media.