After tons of response and some good feedback from my recent post on bike theft, I’d like to announce Stolen Bike Listings here on BikePortland.org. This will be a community-driven effort. Here’s how it will work (hopefully):
- Your bike gets stolen (sorry).
- You visit this site and click “Register” on the right sidebar.
- Once logged in, you create a post about your bike and when finished click “save as draft”. (just ignore “Post Password”)
- Then you go to “Upload” if you have an image you’d like to add.
- Once the image is uploaded, return to your post and insert the image URL and click “save as draft”.
- When I log-in as the adminstrator, I’ll see your post. I’ll glance at it, make sure it’s porn/spam free, and hit “publish”. That’s it.
Here are some reasons why this just might work:
- Other sites will be able to display the RSS feed of the stolen bike category.
- Anyone can leave comments below each listing if they need more information or perhaps have a tip as to its whereabouts.
- BikePortland.org is visited by hundreds of Portland cyclists everyday that are out there on the streets ready to spot your beloved steed.
- The Stolen Bike Listings page can evolve into a trove of local wisdom and tips about how to fight the growing scourge of bike theft.
- Local shops that sell used bikes can check this site to make sure they’re not dealing with stolen goods.
I have added the first listing. Check it out.
This is an evolving effort and I rely on feedback and insights from you to make it better. Also, please be forgiving as I tweak things here and there to make this all work just right. And remember, the more people that know about this, the more listings we’ll get and the more bikes we’ll recover. So if you like the idea, feel free to spread the word.
So, anyone had a bike stolen recently?