User:Ladybiker

Ladybiker often uses a pen name / pseudonym of Janice H. Davidson in her writings about the bikers subculture. She has been operating internet sites since before the creation of the term world wide web. Long before this, Janice was riding her own motorcycle.

Janice is a lfelong motorcycle rider, and has become a recognized expert on the biker subculture, history of motorcycling, biker families whether independent or members of motorcycle clubs, and the biker way of life. Several of her internet sites provide resources pertaining to motorcycling and the biker subculture.

Janice helped to advance the sudden peak of interest in the biker subulture we saw from 2000 to 2005, when she created the category of biker subculture, at the Open Directory Project, in 1998. ODP was a dominant internet directory from 1997 until 2001, in feeding many search engines, and is still somehwat important. Prior to the creation of the biker subculture category, the only major internet directory categorization of sites pertaining to the biker way of life was geared to motorcycles or motorcycle clubs, completely discounting the fact that there are many independent bikers and unorganized biker families. These independent bikers and unorganized biker families, along with the organized motorcycle clubs and associations, comprise the biker subculture; a societal subculture rather than just a recreational category. The many businesses which welcome bikers as patrons are known as "biker-friendly", with a significant percent of these biker-friendly businesses actually being run by bikers. An equally significant percent of new "money-friendly" businesses are opening their doors and welcoming bikers, in order to cash in on a marketing demographic that suddenly sees aging bikers as having above average financial means, income, and purchasing power.

Thanks to the many charitable and patriotic events we participate in, and the fact that we are heavily publicizing them on the internet, the period of 2000 to 2005 has seen an improvement in the way that motorcyclists are now perceived. This was most obvious in the days following the attacks on the world trade centers on 9/11. Bikers in America, many of whom are military veterans, led the way, as American citizens, in immediately uniting against terrorism in a very visual and loud display of American patriotism, and as supporters of freedom. Now, when the public sees large groups of motorcyclists riding in group formation, we are more likely to be riding together in support of benefiting worthy causes or supporting freedom. The public is beginning to recognize that.

Janice was dismissed as a volunteer editor at ODP in 2001, after controversial disputes with senior editors. Janice contends her dismissal was due to refusal to list web sites to the bikers subculture category, if the web sites had links to adult-oriented web sites. In years 2001 through 2006, there have been similar claims by many others, that the ODP has become dominated by a group of senior editors whose interests may be self-serving. Internet sites with valuable content often take at least 6 months to get a single listing, if ever, while some sites with porn may get hundreds of listings. ODP editors are volunteers, and many of them have good intentions, but the controversies continue. Many major search engines still receive feeds from ODP, and they consider an ODP listing in their algorithms when ranking sites for search engine position.

Ladybiker became a wikipedia "user" after seeing some articles that were written by people with poor knowledge and faulty perceptions of the biker subculture writing articles about "biker gangs".

"I hope to learn more about the wikipedia community in order to make a decision about what level of contribution I might decide to make in the future. Until then, it is very important to me, that readers of wikipedia realize that some articles you find about bikers, and "biker gangs", on the internet, and in encyclopedias and dictionaries, were not written from an insiders perspective, and should be considered partially, if not completely, erroneous."

Please note that this posting, if left intact, is the opinion of Ladybiker, and is not necessarily the opinion of Wikipedia.