Kommunity

After 2 years of organizing on meetup Toronto Bladers, in 2021 I will be also organizing on a new platform known as Kommunity

All trail events for distance, endurance, marathon which require more skilled skaters will be moving to Kommunity. On meetup I will still organize minor events for everyone, mostly for fixed locations such as race tracks, parks, slalom and similar.

About Kommunity

As a platform Kommunity brings several advantages in comparison to meetup.

It is free!
Platform developers that actually listen the users and work together with the users to provide a better experience
Mobile app without trackers (at the moment of this writing)
Privacy oriented mobile app.
Private profiles
Private events
Electronic waivers upon registration
Event text formatting and embedded links
Member follower options
Event participant approval list
Integration with at least 7 social media platforms
Free choice of independent chat platforms
Unlimited RSVPs, always free
Wait listing option
Upload videos, slides and photos
Create talks and tutorials about the activity
Better disclaimers and waiver system upon joining group
Custom questioners
Member invitation options (email, link, etc)
Zoom integration
Tag options
Chat history of the group chat platform, is private and under the control of the same group and is removable at any time when we use a third party app.

Reasons to move away meetup

If a quick research about meetup, their website, app problems, interfaces and at times rude technical support is not reason enough, in comparison with Kommunity, the later offers several advantages starting by not being paid.

The bladers group

Unfortunately management of the group is very restrictive to one person only who only logs in once or twice a year (if that much)
Some group management features are not available to all organizers which limits the what the group can do.
The group has not been updated in almost a decade
Meetup accounts getting disabled for chatting to much among friends in private
Meetup accounts getting disabled because the member logged in from another country or from what is thought not to be a usual ip address connection
Meetup accounts getting disabled because of meetup spam filters that ignore legit communication between members
Meetup accounts getting punished because someone complained about someone else that was not woke and therefore was against minorities
Too many inactive organizers that have not skated for months or years or have given up inline skating.
Too many catfish members that only RSVP to mess with the event
Too many bots pretending to be members
Too many members that never login or even subscribe to the group notices
Too many female accounts that are actually bots just to try to attract men
Too many women that RSVP and last minute do not show up to the event and don't even care to change the RSVP to let us know
Too many women looking for hookups or for that cute guy that they might meet, instead of actually skating
Too many members that are not even in Canada but actually live in other countries and never join any event
Too many members that block messages from organizers
In 2021 around 400 accounts have not logged in to the group in over 2 years
in 2021, 90% of the skaters are assumed beginners in terms of skill according to their profiles
Main organizer has never addressed any group issues or assigned someone to them
Main organizer has given up skating and moved to a different sport and has not done maintenance to the group
Rude meetup tech support
Mobile app full of trackers and privacy invasive features
Permanent online chat history
Involvement in politics
Discriminatory methods done by some meetup administrators
Paid service
Poor social media integration
others...

Event types

Kommunity will be to organize intermediate and advanced levels events for invited skaters that do inline skating who have demonstrated such levels of skill and commitment to the sport.

Private chat

The new platform will run with an existing private chat platform which will be filled by invitation only. We use signal-app only and for intermediate and advanced inline skaters who are invited.

Invitation only

In the past a lot of effort was put into being all inclusive with females for the inline skating events on meetup. However the outcome was not what was expected and therefore, events on Kommunity will be invite only and having in mind the following:

Over 80% of the RSVP's no shows on meetup were from females who don't even change their RSVP to let us know that they can't make it.
Around 90% of the RSVP's that were initially set to go but then "did not go to the event" have been from females.
50% of female participation in the past was more interested in meeting men and hook up rather than actually skating. (The group is for skating, not dating. No means NO). This is not a dating group, hookup group and or a boot call group.
Most female skaters that have shown up for events, are actually beginners by any standard even without including ICP. This group is not for beginners of any gender.
Due to distance, length and characteristics, events on Kommunity not only require more skilled skaters but also more physical endurance and stamina as they are more physically demanding of the skater.
There are female exclusive groups and events out there for females. In the name of equality, there should not be a problem with this group and who is in it.