What happened to Ootboot?

How Ootboot became Outdoorsica

• Posted on November 18, 2007 at 12:07 AM

Let's start with a thank-you to those of you who have been with us from the start. The early adopters will know that this site came into existence as Ootboot. We thought it was a pretty good name at the time. It played on the "out and about" idea, but it didn't carry too much baggage or meaning.

We hoped people would pick up the name "Ootboot" fairly easily, and that it would just become part of the vernacular. Sort of like "Google" did, except that we know we're playing on a rather different scale. (Wouldn't it be great if the number of people interested in ice climbing, or surfing, or backwoods trekking, were anything like the number of people who searched for Brittney getting out of a car in a miniskirt?)

But back to the main plot line:

We launched as Ootboot, and ever since (in our short existence) have been building up our user base while at the same time working on improvements to the functionality of the site. We really want to give outdoor activity people a tool they can use to help them get outside and enjoy the thing that they do.

But we kept having conversations with people who liked the idea but struggled with the name. How do you say it? How do you spell it? What does it mean? Sorry, how do you spell that again? Are you only about Canada?

So we decided it was time to make a switch. Something easier to remember, to spell, and maybe something that did carry a bit more meaning with it, to point new users in the right direction.

And so we arrive at Outdoorsica. It has that repository-of-knowledge feel to it. And we think it pretty clearly says that it's about the outdoors.

We hope that in this reinvention of the site, people don't think too exclusively along the lines of wikipedia-type resource: Outdoorsica is much more than just a user generated encyclopedia. We are that, of course, but we're really excited about the other ways that outdoor information comes together here -- with photos, videos, maps, blogs, people, and yes, wiki-style encyclopedic entries about all activities that take place in the great outdoors.

What do you think of the name change? We'd love to hear your thoughts. You can comment below, or click on the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of the page.

More functionality, more improvements, more ways to bring you information and connections to enable your passion for the outdoors -- all that is coming up soon.

See you outside.

---the Outdoorsica team