Alright guys, I've really noticed that the forum has died out. There are times when posts won't come in for weeks. I believe that a strong way of communication, in this case a forum, is a great way to bring a community together.

I frequent on another Parkour forum and have gotten to know lots of people from around the US by just posting and reading threads everyday. But on WAPK I don't know anyone at all. If I've met you at the Parkour Visions gym before, I wouldn't know it. I can't connect people on the forum I've talked to, to the people I've met at jams. At the National Jam I met some people I knew through the other Parkour forum I used, and they were from the other side of the country. I even knew what they did in their local scene, how active it was, and what the lastest news was. All from an active forum and website. But on WAPK, I haven't heard anything. There are also times when visiting traceurs ask for some information and don't receive any. That's would suck if it was me expecting for some awesome jams, but didn't get a reply.

So as you can see, if we can bring back activity to these boards, we can strengthen the community. Everyone can help by just visiting the forum everyday, and posting too. Once discussion starts, activity increases, and a strong forum is created.


Brett and I have recently become moderators to help with managing the forum. We're here to improve the forum and bring the activity back.
Please, We want to know what ideas you have for improvements of the forum!

So let's brain storm ideas for making Washington Parkour more useful for the community (I'll add to the list if we think of anything!):

• Everyone starts posting or even viewing the forum again.
• Post, post, post! Don't spam, but actually POST instead of just reading a thread and walking away.
• Actually USE the forum! There are boards for everyday discussion, talking of parkour, talking of cool pictures and videos. Put up any cool picture or video you've found, share it with everyone!
• Use REAL NAMES on your forum account. If your name is "Killaking323", how will we know who you are in real life? How can we get to learn about the traceur side of you? Because this is the internet, you don't have to use your full name. I use "Matthew W". Since you can't change your forum account name, simply put your name in your signature or someplace we can see it.
• New forum boards? What kind of forums would you like to see on WAPK?
• Website improvements?
• Anything else you can add to the list?

Proposed improvements:

• Clear up the clutter of stickies and announcements on the boards. It's hard to find the simple things like rules and navigate with so many.
• Add another forum board for visiting traceurs. It should be where guests can post so they don't have to register. It will also allow the visiting traceur to get quick replies and for all of us to know there's someone visiting.
• A forum board for discussion of learning techniques and "moves". This will help un-clutter the forum.
• An FAQ forum.
• There are many out of date threads for jams, classes, and such. Update these threads.

It's going to take awhile for us to work together and really reorganize the forum. But over time, they'll all be made. Slow and steady wins the race.

Those are some great ideas, Matthew. It might be nice to see a few changes around here, however I don't think it's completely necessary. Yes the boards have slowed down, they usually do that during the winter. I can almost guarantee that activity will pick back up as the weather improves and it gets closer to summer. That's just the way parkour is, it's a semi-seasonal activity.

Would that other forum be APK? I don't want to bash any forums, APK is great and all, but personally I can't really stand that place too much. Too much inane inexperienced banter and parkour philosophy for my liking.

Again, I wouldn't mind seeing some changes implemented in the board. It might make things better and I'd definitely like that. But I don't think that more posts = value.

Yes, it is APK.

Well, the idea is to start bringing in some traffic back to the forums. This can be done by establishing discussion and bringing interest back to the forum. Once we have posters again, we will have a better way to get in contact with community members and share news and information.

So more posts is not necessarily better, but more posts for discussion will bring in that traffic. I'm not saying you should post anything you can randomly think of. Create threads about interesting topics.

That's definitely an idea that I can get behind. I'll try to do my part and contribute a little bit more.

Please, if you're contributing, you can help by visiting and posting where you can on the forums. You can also help by advertising to other traceurs at jams about the current situation of WAPK, and letting them know we need their help!

Just like Matthew W has said, He and I have become moderators so if you have any suggestions (no matter how small or insignificant) just let us know and we'll see about getting some things changed.

If you have any concerns about any changes we have/might make you can also express those concerns to us.

This thread is a great place to talk about changes to the forum, but you can also send either of us a PM.

I completely agree with you guys. I have had a account on WAPK for a long while now, and stopped using it because the lack of community. I made Washingtonparkour.com my homepage, as a way of getting together with the other tracuers in Washington. I hope that this thread gets read by all users, and that it is acknowledged by them as well. I have met many great tracuers at open gym, as well as at freeway park and gasworks; It always goes like this: I meet someone, I train, I reflect, i leave, and NEVER see/ hear from any of them again, with a few exceptions, like the regulars.

Well, Tanner, I think that you'll see some positive changes and increased activity on here over the next few months.

Any other changes that you would like to see from the forums?

I'v noticed that not alot of people get on this site. I think we should find some way to advertise WAPK. Hang up posters, post a topic on another parkouring site, or someting like.

We've started using the FaceBook Group to connect with those on FaceBook more.

I'm also looking into the Twitter account. That hasn't been used much, and I'm trying to learn all the features.

But the more people that use the forum, the more active it will become. It's the snowball effect

I've been using the twitter to let people know when/where I'm training. If you use the hashtag #WAPK or #PKVisions and it'll be retweeted within 30 minutes or so.

Oh, I didnt see that but i think we should have a live chat box or something its alot easier than messaging and I dont really no alot of people from this site. It would be a great to get to know new people before a jam or practicing

It's a good idea, but it's much more complicated than that.

FaceBook is a great way to quickly reach people, as there are millions of ways to access it. Setting up events and such seem to work great. Right now, the WAPK Group on FaceBook is probably the best way of communication.

Hello, Im new to Parkour and Im glad to hear that the community is working to communicate better. I live in bremerton and Im looking for some people in the area to train with and learn with. Do any of you happen to know anyone nearby?

I would practice with you but i live in Tacoma