ElloCoaster is an online thrill-seeker’s magazine based in western Canada.
Back in 2013, a new social media network called Ello was created and enjoyed an early frenzy of support due to Facebook disallowing anything other than your real name as your online handle. Ello promised no ads, no data mining, no problems with alter ego accounts, and no selling of your personal information.
All of that is fine and good, but the main feature for me was their image displays. Unlike other sites that ‘dumb down’ your pics into low-res garbage, Ello displayed them full-res and full-sized. I had been looking for a place to put photos and coaster reviews and such and this seemed a good fit.
A year or so later, the page had really taken off. While still just a fledgling site compared to some well-established coaster sites on other platforms, it was quite popular by Ello standards at that time. Interestingly, most of the followers of the page were not coaster enthusiasts, as that group hadn’t really made the trek over to Ello yet. Writers and photographers loved it, though!
Early 2015, as Ello grew and content became plentiful, the creators of Ello launched “Ello Communities” - a hub for specific interests, to make it easier to find content you want, such as “Ello Music”, “Ello Architecture”, “Ello Art”, and so forth. Each Community would be curated by a person and would be the launchpad for everything related to that subject. Ello liked what I was doing with my page and wanted to know if I would curate a community called “Ello Coaster”. I said sure.
As the concept of Communities evolved, and as Ello itself evolved into a site primarily for artists to showcase their works, it became obvious that my vision for the site no longer fit with what was expected as an Ello Community hub. I asked for permission to keep the name “ElloCoaster” and move my content to a stand-alone site away from Ello. They said sure, no problem. Thus, “Ello Coaster” the Community dissolved and “ElloCoaster” the site was born.
The site remained mostly a travel blog and photo gallery until 2017, when I got tired of waiting for someone to recreate the Mitch Hawker “Best Wooden Coaster Poll” and decided to do it myself. I attempted to contact Mitch, but only got dead ends. I then dove into online courses to learn coding and started writing my own poll tabulating software. After much frustration, a working copy was up and running. I reached out for help and a man named Grant Barker stepped in and took my little app and blew it apart, deconstructed it, rebuilt it, added tons of features, and basically made it infinitely better. This poll likely wouldn’t still be around if not for him!
Two years into the poll, and we decided to tackle a steel poll in addition to the wood poll for 2019. That involved a complete reworking of the tabulation software as well as a change in ballot format from text to spreadsheet.
In 2021, the site was completely overhauled and rebuilt on the latest version of Squarespace.
I hope you enjoy your time here.
Jim Winslett - Calgary, Alberta