David and I realized it’s been a big, wet minute since we all just took a moment to check in and, you know, chat, see how you’re feeling, what you’re liking, what you’re frustrated by, all that. So let’s take care of that right now, why not, with a little Autopian Reader Chat! We have a little window of time here before we have to record our podcast – did I mention we’re starting one of those? Well, we are. But we’ll announce it more formally soon, but you know I can’t keep secrets from you, baby.
Just to let you know we are listening to some stuff, I can say that we are working with our tech team to try and improve the experience here; we’re looking into speeding up loading times, getting a way to edit comments, add pictures, and more. I don’t have a clear timeline just yet for those, but things are happening, and I want to thank everyone for being patient with our tech issues as we try to win an auction for that 16K RAM expansion module that should really speed everything up, finally.
More importantly, we just want to know how you’re feeling about the stories, the pace of content, what you’d like to see more of, future dreams and aspirations, keto-friendly microwave recipes, hot stock tips, erotic dreams, your current project car achievements, tools you can’t find, and whatever else you want to tell us.
So, have at it! We’ll all try and chime in!
Boat wrenching! I’d love for someone to gift David a beat up old boat for him to try to fix up!
But seriously, so many boat engines are just marinized car engines would love to see articles on trying to fix beat up old boats! I’m trying to do that with my fleet of 2 boats currently.
I would like this too. I don’t own any (damn), but I did spend some of my best teenage summers repairing/operating boats. I love the smell of fiberglass in the morning.
Nothing beats the thrill of knowing that if you have serious enough problems, you’re not going to just be able to park them on the side of the road and go get help.
David Spent some quality time under the BMW 850 replacing 27 mm Copper Crush Washers that decided to leak on my rear differential. Smell of Gear Lube
Sent Jason some BMW E31 Concept taillight porn drawings, still waiting for the fetishist article
Love the site, all my minor quibbles have been addressed in other comments already.
Keep it up!
oh, and give us some more/better merch! Do you hate money?
And a better commenting system as well!
Am I late to the party? I brought 151 and Coca-Cola. And some green. Oh, wait wrong party, anyways, I love the site. No complaints from me so far and ones I am sure has been addressed by other members of this gloriously esteemed website.
No, no, this is definitely the right party for that. Just set it down over there.
Guys, the site is great! It’s creative, weird, fun, and sometimes informative! I check out the site just about everyday at work and I really prefer it to actually working! I wouldn’t mind a little motorsports talk here and there, not coverage of race results or whatever, maybe just some commentary when something interesting is going on.
I am thoroughly satisfied with the site, except the edit button, and pictures/video links.
I would like to particularly note that the quality of the writing here (because of WHO you all are) is frankly remarkable. Please continue to embrace the weird and the wonderful. Motorcycles, ultralight aircraft, boats, and maybe even smaller dirigibles. Diving down questionable vehicle research rabbit holes is exactly why The Autopian is so great. Yes to all that. Don’t get too caught up on matching other sites’ format. You be you.
And like MrAsa says, some of the comment-taters have interesting stuff going on, that could be of broad appeal. I’d bite. More fruits and nuts make for a better word salad. Or something like that.
Thank you for going out on a limb and doing it. Rock on.
Love the site so far – so excited for you to have your own place!
while I love the deep dives – I also love short content I can consume quickly at my desk/ on my phone, so keep both coming. I enjoy the new writers I didn’t know from Jello-picnic – and was very excited when Mercedes came on board. I like the new voices and fresh approach to auto journalism/blogging/car-hoarding-therapy going on here.
I don’t pretend to understand how Optima Batteries is paying enough to keep you afloat – and if it helps to deter ads I would happily pay for this service. I don’t think you should go behind a paywall or have restrictions on non-paying readers, but even as simple a patreon. I like to support the content I consume (but I don’t need a new battery for my car to buy an Optima)
I also really like the video segments JT did a while ago (before the autopian) where he held the audience prisoner in his basement and tortured us with obscure information no-one should know. Those were fun. also the Jason Drives were a hoot.
So considering how young this site is, I think youre doing great!
That said, Here are some random things that Id like based on my thoughts the past 45 seconds and perusing comments that are already here:
-The ‘reply’ button at the start of the comments, not the end. Not going to mention the login thing, thats been said a bunch.
-Pictures on comments? There are things that can go with it- storytimes, ‘stump the torch with (tail)torches’, further user engagement
-Reviews: Yes, new car reviews are coming in, and thats awesome! But what about random reviews of the 2017 Nissan Versa that was a rental for an event? I am sure we all love new cars, but I know I also look at buying used. Lets see an autop look at the car after 30k of abuse, and is it worth a second look?
-Pandemic throwback: The random trivia nights were a great distraction. Any chance at even a monthly trivia event hosted by the Autopian for nothing more than bragging rights?
-Lets get artsy: Many people have you-pull-it yards near them. What can you make from parts pulled there? What cars have awesome upholstery for garage seats? What lights are good for decorative lighting? Can you make a sculpture from a toyota Camry, Saab 9000, and ZJ?
Oh, I second the artsy thing! That would be cool.
Hey
LOVE the engineering articles, and Rex at the Lane Museum (Hi Rex, thanks for the peek at the library!). The weird stuff that you can’t get anywhere else is what pulls me in and the humor in the articles is what keeps me in – the editor’s notes, the crazy scenarios (taillight community? Really?), the unusual topics all keep the site interesting. I could do without the reviews of the new models since those are everywhere and hugely subjective, but I did enjoy the look at how the Ford pickup showed an approximation of load weight in the taillights.
As an accompaniment to the engineering articles, think you could talk to custom car builders – pros and backyardigans both – and see how they design and build things without the benefit (or in spite of) of engineering degrees and computers? As someone who thinks he’d like to build a car from nearly scratch as a retirement project I would find that interesting.
I guess my overall suggestion would be to keep it weird. That carves out a niche for you in all the noise and you’ve done a pretty good job of standing out that way.
I don’t know why, but your articles never show up in my Google News feed even though. I haven’t been to the lighting company’s site is a long time but their stuff shows up while I hit your site every day and you never show up – is that a paid promotion thing?
Thanks for the hard work, keep it up!
Hey
I love stories about people’s backyard project cars! One of my favorite old features on That Other Site was the “Build Of The Week.” (I think it was Stef Schrader who did those?)
I was actually just thinking about pitching an article to David about a friend of mine who has been customizing an old hearse for 20 years now. One of those guys who can make anything, worked for years as both a mechanic and a body man. He’s like one of those jazz musicians who can just play by ear, only with machinery. One of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet, too.
In fact, I think I’ll email both him and David right now…
I still want Autopian After Dark at the Lane. With Bourbon tasting.
Keep up the great work. You have done an amazing job assembling talent and producing content right out of the gate.
Loving the site and content, thrilled you poached Mercedes, and although the comment system is clunky and horrible I’m thoroughly enjoying the sense of community and relative lack of the usual internet nastiness. Happy to be able to read well-written, informative, and entertaining articles about cars without being beaten over the head with political viewpoints (fine to have a point of view, just don’t want it drilled into me constantly) and without the continual nagging slideshows / popup ads / autoplaying videos / clickbait techniques. With that said, and I’ve said it before, if you need to do some reasonable and tasteful things to drive some revenue it’s okay – just respect your readership when doing it. I totally dig the utter insanity that goes on here, as well as the deep and thoughtful engineering deep dives.
I’m sincerely hoping this has turned out the way Jason and David wanted. I am legitimately concerned that they make enough money off this venture to be worthwhile and that they don’t burn out.
Signed, a happy and faithful reader
As many others have said, I have enjoyed the journey so far. Keep it up. Mostly have minor issues.
I know you are working getting the profile section smoothed out, it still wants me to update but offers no way to do so beyond a profile picture and a background.
Having a notification when our comments have replies would be great as well.
Couple of other random suggestions:
1. What about a video chat on occasion? Give us a couple of days notice and sign up to talk to you live or a live stream youtube style.
2. Are you interested in reader stories on their automotive experiences (vehicles they are proud of, vehicles they are not, work in the industry, the one that got away…etc)? This can either be submitted by us or an interview by your team.
3. How about more meet ups as time allows, generally give us some time to prepare and be there. It is hard for me to get to Detroit from the East coast in a couple of hours notice. 🙂
Fastest way I could get to Detroit from PA, MD, DE, NJ… is to go into MD and go up (one of the “R” named exits) — havent done it in a few years. Ya wind up with W.VA on ya left as ya make it to OHIO. Then they got that stupid Interchange around PA / Ohio / W.VA which they bill you like FITTEEN bucks to get through (no actual mention of cost upon arriving.)
Then ya wind up somewhere around Cleveland and I think DEEETROIT is 2hrs NORTH from there.
My fastest time.. bout 8hrs. Mind you, I was drivin my wifes shitbox at night. I had a fierce cold. Taking DAYQUILL AT NIGHT. I was driving through a blinding snowstorm… and my wife kept saying OH FUCKING DAMN.. WE ARE GONNA DIE.
A question for readers: On a scale from one to 10, how much does The Autopian come off as an asylum run by the patients?
If 10 is Toyota and 1 is Gerald Weigert, I’d say it’s Malcom Bricklin/John Delorean 6.
About a 13.
You actually encourage my ranting, so, at least a forty-twelve.
(Get someone familiar with Bill Watterson to explain that one to you.)
Yukon Ho!
It feels appropriate to use Torch’s Pontiac-to-Renault Parisienne scale here: I would give your scale question 5 Renaults. Which means not only is it effectively coming across like an asylum run by patients, but that it is positively and appropriately doing so. 🙂
My scale goes to 11! This is a This is Spinal Tap reference in case you don’t know it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHCmkV27200
To seriously answer your question depending on the author it swings wildly. That being said never muzzle The Bishop or anyone else for that matter. I love it here and don’t want it to change too much.
I think the site actually comes off pretty well… That being said, sometimes I think there’s weirdness injected in some of the articles for the sake of doing it. I love the off kilter topics but some of your hypotheticals can just go alottle far. I wouldn’t call it an issue but could be if it stops being authentic.
It’s a fairly low-amplitude/high-frequency oscillation: maybe 4 to 6, wavelength of a half-week. Occasional spikes down to 3 or up to 7.
Your featured articles right now are the CTR reveal, a hot Elantra review, a defense of cars as art, a history of GM J-bodies, and a (fucking amazing) piece on scale RC cars. To a visiting layperson, that’s a good mix of mainstream auto-journo stuff and quirky but not insane fare. (Quick aside: the label of “mainstream auto-journo stuff” in no way denigrates Thomas’ work; he could write a piece called A History of Toyota’s Beige Colors: From Taupe to Fleshy and I would read every word of it).
I’ve read every single piece you and Jason have published since 2016, so I know what batshittery to expect under the hood here…and I like it. A lot of us do. An enjoyment and appreciation of the aforementioned batshittery inherently creates a sense of community among your readership. And it’s easy to find, but not so prevalent as to shoo away someone who’s ambled into this joint for the first time.
I SECOND, THIRD AND FORTH every comment that THAT dude said.
P.S
How many “colors” do Toyota consider Beige… and how many are just paint samples inside the Sanitorium? 100 extra points.. if you can match up the interior of same car.
Yes.
8.5.
But then who would know best how to run an asylum? The patients of course.
More like a Waldorf school for the criminally insane?
Some folks have mentioned the pace of things on this site. Maybe the load times are slow, or they would like a bit more content. I don’t totally agree with them. Load times, eh? I don’t really care. I’m supposed to be “working” anyhow. The article can load in the background for a while. The pace of content, however, I think is great. I was concerned at back on March 32nd that you & Torch would burn yourselves out, but you’ve gotten help (top notch). I’ve read every article/post on this site (still working my way through Tycho’s from today) and enjoyed them all for different reasons. I’d greatly prefer you & the team to take your time and do it right. No rush. No burning out.
Id like to question….
Are we talking.. regular mental patient Asylum?
Are we talking Gotham ARKUM Asylum for the Mentally Instable — that The Joker, Penguin and others keep getting out of.
I vote it as….
Oh my god
Jump
Welcome to the jungle, we’ve got fun and games
We got everything you want honey, we know the names
We are the people that can find whatever you may need
If you got the money, honey, we got your disease
In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your sha-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n knees, knees
Mwah, I, I wanna watch you bleed
Welcome to the jungle, we take it day by day
If you want it you’re gonna bleed but it’s the price to pay
And you’re a very sexy girl who’s very hard to please
You can taste the bright lights but you won’t get there for free
In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Feel my, my, my, my serpentine
Ooh, ah, I want to hear you scream
Welcome to the jungle, it gets worse here every day
You learn to live like an animal in the jungle where we play
If you got a hunger for what you see you’ll take it eventually
You can have anything you want but you better not take it from me
In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your sha-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-knees, knees
Mwah, I’m gonna watch you bleed
And when you’re high, you never ever wanna come down
So down, so down, so down, yeah
You know where you are?
You’re in the jungle, baby, you’re gonna die
In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your sha-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-knees, knees
In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Feel my, my, my my, serpentine
Jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your sha-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-knees, knees
Down In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to you
It’s gonna bring you down, huh
20
I honestly love the site. Some days news is slow but I can almost always find an article that I get excited to read. I love the incredible level of detail y’all go into, maybe it’d be cool to see more articles on cars, I’d love to see new reviews of old cars, maybe cars you guys wish you’d been around for when they came out, or a readers’ rides segment. Either way, I love what y’all do and I specially love the outlandish ones about dragons or fictional Jeepsters.
I love the site overall, and while I have no complaints, per se, I do have some wishes. I would be nice if the comments section were more conversational (e.g. notifications for responses to comments, being able to see who gave a comment a thumbs up, etc). A podcast is exciting–it wasn’t on my wish list, but it is now. Of course there are things that need to happen organically–more writers and more content–not a lot more, but more. Mark’s post the other day about RC trucks was absolutely delightful–it’s not something that I would have known that I want to read about, but now I am curious about the not car car related things people are into. (It kind of reminded me of discovering https://www.youtube.com/c/3Dbotmaker –which now that I’m thinking of it I think I found via Jason on the Jell-O picnic site. Somebody should interview those guys or something.) Anyhow keep up the excellent work.
Mark is incredible. I look forward to more long-form from him!
I feel the mix of content has been excellent so far. I’d be happy with more current news, automotive history, and wrenching posts. Love the ones with car brochure photos as discussion starters as well. Only technical issue I’ve noticed, other than the well-known speed issue, is that for a time when logging in and clicking on an article would notice I was not logged in anymore to comment. Refreshing the browser window seems to fix that.
I’ve had the same issue with logging in/no longer being logged in, also I’ve had a few issues of thinking I was replying to the original post but wound up replying to another comment, and vice versa but that may well be operator error on my part! Otherwise love the content, unfortunately I just don’t have the time to read it all.
I’m enjoying everything so far! my only big gripe is I’d love to get email notifications when somebody replies to my comment here, otherwise I have to keep tabs open with anywhere I made a comment and refresh them just to see if anybody replied.
Otherwise, loving things so far! 🙂
Yeah! Or an auto-digest email twice a day or even once.
I try to remember where I commented/not leave someone hanging, but I’m easily distracted.
Something I’ve enjoyed reading elsewhere are rental car reviews, a chance to look at a fairly new car outside of the curated press trip.
A chance to be more open about faults perhaps, or to see how a vehicle holds up in the real world, after some hard usage. A chance perhaps to test out a lower spec version that might not be in the press fleet.
Overall though I really am a fan of what you guys have done here in a short time. Keep it up
It’s not uncommon to see the odd base model on local media fleets for week-long test periods. Testing of low-trim models is a great idea, I might be able to develop something with that.
That would be nice, but is not exactly what I meant. To expand a bit, I think the idea of sourcing vehicles from outside the press fleets (or test driving outside the press events) carries its own advantages. Rental cars are one way to do that.
There’s maybe no easy way to solve the access vs objectivity dilemma in product reviews and automotive particularly. And I think the reviews that have been written here so far have been mostly well done. I want that to continue. But many other publications that used to have a rep for “telling it like it is”, are little more than press release regurgitators now. I’d hate for that to happen here. Just musing out loud a bit about ideas that a brand new startup could use to differentiate itself.
Again, this is not to detract from everything you guys have done so far, which Ive really enjoyed.
I totally understand where you’re coming from. Access versus objectivity is often a tricky subject in automotive journalism, but I have some good news. Because we don’t rely almost entirely on access to make good content, we can be thoroughly objective. A week of testing on my awful local roads can speak volumes about a car and I can assure you that I’ll let readers know about anything that breaks on test. Press cars often lead lives harder than rental cars, so you’d likely be amazed to hear some of the stuff that’s broken on me in the past.
I’m loving what you guys are doing, I don’t have any complaints. It’d be nice to get a notification if someone replied to a comment. It helps keep the conversation going but it’s not a deal breaker.
I gotta hand it to y’all: the site is even better than I expected. The content has been great, and there’s a wide variety of topics being covered, with each of them having actual effort put in (unlike other automotive news sites). My only annoyance is the lack of a notification system for comments and replies. It’s a bit of a pain to have to check in and reload the page. I know you guys have a lot on your plate, but if there is a way to add notifications that would be great. Overall though I love the site. Keep up the good work!
That will be a part of my role here! We want to make the Autopian the best car site on the net! Of course, that means improving this comment system, but there will be more. So if you have any ideas if what you wished you could do on a site like this, feel free to add them! 🙂
Also, your name and profile picture are absolutely perfect.
One other real question:
What is the goal here again?
I kinda want YOU to be giving me my daily news and gossip, versus the other brand. Is that one of the goals? Are you also trying to grab a little of that piece of that pie? Cause, no offense, you have not quite replaced them in that regard, and I’m a bit frustrated. Again, you are scoring 10/10 on the content you ARE providing.
The goal is to be the best. Full stop.
And I won’t give up until we are there.
I agree that our news coverage needs work. That’s currently a red item on our internal Autopian scorecard document. It was intentional, as we had to ramp up in areas that would allow us to stand apart from our competitors, but we understand that the news and reviews that you see everywhere else are still things you expect, and we haven’t lost sight of that.
One of the things I’d like to see is the weird stuff we’re all working on.
I know we have a wide range of readers with a wide range of skills. I’m sure someone out there is working on something I’d love to read about, but I’ll never see their build cause I’m not on the same forum/social media site where they post.
Except, I am on the same social media site they post on, this one; there’s just no way to showcase reader’s projects here.
It would need to be curated somehow and as you guys grow that will be 100% a pain in the ass (its probably already at a level of membership where it would be a pain in the ass to select only a couple per month,) but I’d love some form of Reader’s Rides
My current project (adapting LSx cylinder heads to a Ford 300ci I6) is one that is gaining ground on the interweb, I know of three or four other people doing the same project, but its so awesome that I’d love to see more versions of it.
Maybe that could be one way to curate it.
August, those members that are building a 4WD vehicle with a stock block, send in your projects.
September, anyone participating in the Sundae Cup race series, send in your car
etc
In this same vein, perhaps also feature curated Youtube creators who are also Autopians?
Total self promotion here, but I run a very small youtube channel dedicated to playing with ridiculous automotive garbage. I post (very nearly) weekly videos, and would be happy to also produce a forum thread style article “What I did this week” to accompany each video for people who don’t have time to watch, but have a couple minutes to read.
Check me out at Alchemy Motorsports on youtube if that might be an idea you are interested in pursuing. You have my email from my registration and can also message me on YT if you want to chat further on the idea.
Also this is a thing I would be interested in reading/viewing myself, not just of value to self promote.
Great idea!
From hints i see here and there ,autopian readersmust have some seriously interesting rides.
This is a BRILLIANT idea. Perhaps it could be a part of your user profile. Click on a name and you get to see a reader’s rides or even comment.
In addition, perhaps we could even feature reader projects in say, a weekly series.
One of my roles here will be to improve the user experience, so keep these suggestions coming!
I am all for this and will be a tester. I am always breaking stuff at work by testing so want to expand my horizons.
How is this for an idea?
One of the members here finds a vehicle for sale ( I didnt intend as a for sale kind of thing, but I suppose it could be that too, I was thinking more like the “here are the cars I found for sale” kind of thing ), they can message others about it. Not like “oh, I will send it to George and Darleen”, but a general notification. Members can say “I am interested in notifications about within of with price between and . So people can help each other out, without annoying those who are not interested.
Dude I bet my stupid shit box build would blow some minds around here. I love seeing everyone’s projects.
Can you all setup a public calendar so we don’t worry about you when you’re gone for a week?
David refuses to, because then we could stop him from making terrible decisions.
Jason did, but it’s only accessible with an Apple IIgs with Marinetti and a PC Transporter.