What’s in a Name?
Over the past two years, one of the biggest challenges we had to deal with was the name of this site.
The bizarre aspect of this site is the story of how the name came about.
The idea for this site started as a joke. That’s right the site and it’s name began as a joke between a few friends.
It all began because of a paper plate duct taped to an EZ-up. Written in magic marker on the center of the plate were the words “Two Stroke Mafia”
It was both brilliant and completely silly. When I got home that night I decided to design a logo for my buddies. I’m not a designer, but I like to play with Photoshop and felt that I could come up with a fun logo. Something that would bring a smile to my buddies faces.
But when working on the logo the name Mafia just didn’t seem to work. Visions of the “Godfather” and sights of men in suits wielding sawed off shotguns just didn’t fit a couple of guys into two strokes.
So a bunch of different names were tried including “Militia”, which we settled on after a couple of …umm… discussions….. filled with laughter. We thought it would be fun to taunt our four stroke riding friends with the thought of a militia chasing them on half-displacement machines.
To take the “joke” just one step further I utilized the logo to build a simple web site. We wrote a couple of articles about two strokes and linked to some articles on the web.
Because of the name we chose, we decided to fashion the Two Stroke Militia after a military group. Using the name of “The General” as the leader. Also to keep it open so that any one of us could write something as “The General”. Although this task ended up being more and more my responsibility.
At first we wrote on some message boards just to talk about two strokes. Unfortunately we were not greeted well. It was as though we were the devil or worse. We had struck a nerve with many of the four stroke lovers and it was not a good one!
Next we began to tease some of the most loyal of the four-stroke supporters. While some of them deserved it, others did not. To be honest we got bored of the message boards pretty quickly. Mostly because of the self-generated hate from the four-stroke contingent. It was a good thing we stopped being dumb on the message boards!
What happened next was unexpected, some racers and fans began to show an interest in two strokes. And they were visiting our little site.
At first it was a small trickle but began to build steam weekly. At this point of history we were lucky if the site was updated once or twice a month.
Next people started to talk about the Two Stroke Militia in our local area, asking how they could become a member. Now what do we do? We decided to have some T-shirts printed and offered them for sale on the site. Anyone that purchased a T-shirt would became a member.
We also had some stickers made up as well. A few stickers were included along with the T-shirts and each member was listed on the web site as a member of the Two Stroke Militia.
Who knew it cost so much to have some T-shirts and stickers printed up? It took more than six months to sell out the first printing and decided not to offer them in the same way again.
Whenever we found new two-stroke news, information or a video we updated the site. This helped to build up a bit of a fan following. To be honest we were surprised and amazed.
Last year I decided to update the site again to make it easier to add new information. Because it was easier to add new information I was inspired to add whatever two-stroke news I found.
We started to build up a very loyal following. We were receiving visitors from all over the world. (visits from over 115 countries as of today!) Not only that by some fans and racers started to share their two stroke stories with us.
Now we have out-grown the joke name. It’s time to change it to reflect that we are now a resource for two strokes racers and fans.
We don’t have every news item nor do we claim to know all there is to know about two-strokes, but we have built up a group of supporters and friends that have been extremely generous in helping the site to grow.
For all of these folks we say a great big thank you. We appreciate your support and the fact that you would even talk to us. In many cases not only did you talk to us, but you shared important information with us freely. Then allowed us to post it on the web site and to forward the two stroke agenda. Thank you!
To all of you, we dedicate our new updated name. From today on this site will be known as Two Stroke Motocross.
Welcome to our site. We hope you enjoy your visit and look forward to hearing from you.
Long live the Two Stroke!
John Nicholas
Comments
By 2strokecountry on June 26th, 2009 at 2:56 am
Great story John , huge fan of the site. Thankyou to you and your friends for not giving up when you were toasted by the 1 eyed supporters in the world ( its there way or no way ). Looking forward to many more great reads, long live the 2-stroke, cheers
By JustEnduro on June 26th, 2009 at 9:12 am
After reading this story, I don’t feel so bad anymore. I thought I was the only two stroke fan edging on psychotic. I clearly am still an amateur in this department by comparison.
I did the “message” board thing as well. I got a similar response.
I even had a odd individual from the UK try to track me down in Australia. That was funny. He managed to track down a friend of mine, who would have loved to have had the opportunity to have met this individual in person. I have seldom/never seen this friend loose a 2 stroke debate, or a more enthusiastic encounter in person or on wheels. An individual who would physically carry his two stroke up and over ledges on a trail ride.
Anyway…here’s hoping that the 2 strokes will climb back on top of the ladder in the next two years.
And here is a hope that Honda doesn’t have a bike ready to compete for the next 50 years.
I might have to forgive Kawasaki a bit sooner.
Like the new name. But sorry I do prefer the older name. Militia sounds good to me. Militia has a slight anarchist ring to it. Being a two stroke fan in the last 10 years almost automatically qualified an individual as an anarchist in the MX sense of things. “Against the current trend”
Really like the site!
By JohnNicholas on June 27th, 2009 at 2:43 am
2strokecountry,
Thank you for being a fan!!
While we considered giving up the site, we never gave up hope that the tide would change. It appears that it has started already.
The myopic supporters will feel the change…. Braaaaap!
JustEnduro,
Yeah the message bard thing, I just don’t understand. Even when you think you have “won” a point, someone says something even more off-the-wall then the first one. It’s difficult dealing with smart dumb people.
They have points to make but ignore all facts on the way towards their personal opinion. Besides debating a spode that has no idea about the history of the sport, just began racing, but prefers going to practice days, rides a four stroke because it is easier to ride fast than a two stroke, but feels he knows more than you, just because, will never agree with you no matter how many facts you state or prove. To me that fight is a waste of time, energy and brain cells.
As it stands now, the sport is divided and slowly dieing. This is not only because of the world economy. The racers at the backbone of the sport do not have the money to be competitive on four-strokes. You will find it almost impossible to sell a used four stroke. How can you update to a newer bike every few years?
Yes, you will see a change in the near future and there will be two strokes!
As for the name change…. when we first started it the Militia name was perfect for all the reasons you stated. It was one of the main reasons we chose it. But now as I move forward I find the negative connotations over power what we’re attempting to accomplish with this site.
Just by being a two stroke supporter at this moment in history, you are going “against the current trend.”
You devil!