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I feel like with a niche within a niche website like this you sometimes need to just make the content you want. Mix in the stuff you need to do like the new car reviews, but chasing metrics like others do would make it less special.
A couple of my favorite YouTube channels have started chasing metrics (or at least that’s my interpretation of the change in content they’re producing) and it sucks. They’ve stopped making the kind of videos that attracted me to the channel in the first place because dumb, contrived drama drives more clicks. I sincerely hope the same thing never happens here.
Two of the many reasons I became a subscriber were to support Jason’s batshit crazy articles and stories like this. I’m still waiting for one of you to get arrested for speeding in Virginia and having to spend a weekend in the pokey like Patrick did back in the heday of the old site.
I subscribe and stay on the site most of the day to read stories. I have found that when you allow the metrics to rule all, you get a website that is only good for metrics and not subscribers. If your subscribers are up and renewing, then that is the best goal to have. Metrics makes the urgent beat out the important.
Definitely a little late to the party but I applaud you (Jason) for not living and dying by analytics. I understand their need and use but there’s always a new way to curate data. If you’re looking at how long someone stays on an article and numbers are down across the board, you then need to cross reference world events and look for external circumstances. It’s a slippery slope
I get it; as a young site, you need to understand what works and what doesn’t for both your users and your advertisers. But keep in mind that most of us are here because we liked the work that you and David put out… it’s also why I became a member… so that I could help you guys keep doing that. So don’t let analytics dictate everything…. because that’s how you get headlines that say “dodge is offering 8000 dollars to customers of new dodge chargers,” an “oversight” as you called it that even had an accompanying article banner art.
Your second year was an interesting one from a reader perspective and while I can’t say I loved everything ( who can?) I’m sticking around because the Autopian team is full of writers who care about their subject matter and I appreciate it.
So Jason, keep doing what your doing. Matt and David, keep doing the same. And lastly, that was way too many car reviews skipped last week. Let’s not repeat that for 2025.
It is interesting how car reviews seem to be secondary or even tertiary to everything else on the site. I (as i imagine most others do too) come for the wacky articles and daily dump, but I do wish I could stay for the latest car reviews too.
That said, The cars they do chose to cover are the more interesting ones (Thomas seems to 1:1 pick the same cars I would if given fleet access), and maybe it’s too much of an uphill to fight for engagement on reviews when all the youtubers essentially live off of being first to market with that content?
I assumed they just weren’t getting many cars as the young site… but knowing they had that many cars not reviewed (and yes, Jason’s health was obviously a top priority) is a little concerning because I think we all respect their opinions and their fresh take on the topics. Yes I live the quirky articles that make the site home, but there’s only so many RVs I can read about (not to pick on Mercedes – i actually think the coverage is great). Long term, i don’t know that the site would survive on a journal of their daily adventures.
I love Jason’s batshit articles just the way they are! 🙂
Seriously, as others have pointed out, this site has a nice balance of seriously informative stuff and pure entertainment. I like it, and it sounds like the site has good traffic overall.
I’m definitely not smart enough to pull inferences from quantitative data like what Chartbeat shows, but surely it can’t get everything? Like, even if the canned ham bumper story doesn’t top the metrics, there’s no telling if the whimsy of its very existence doesn’t help. People might not click on the article but maybe the headline makes them smile. Maybe it’s a subconcious vibe-enforcer that helps with the love of the site. Maybe I’m talkin’ out my speculum, who knows. Not me, I said that at the beginning of this.
Jason, I’m a little concerned. This is the third time you have used the word speculum out of context ( I think, maybe I’m missing something). However “timing light”, “bar’s leak” and “dwell meter” , three terms I would expect on a site such as this appear not once.
Has anyone administered a Rorschach test?
Well if you were trying to get traffic over all else, it would have been streamed hams, not canned.
Don’t want that, you have principles!
I have experience with similar analytics I won’t get into for dumb reasons, but coming from the creative side analytics are fools gold that tempt the money men to demand stunts. Be wary. Some stunts will raise your numbers, but unless the they are authentically on brand the new visitors won’t be sticky AND you run the risk of peeling off loyal users who feel like the site/show/whatever has lost its way. For example, casting Wade Boggs in a Cheers episode is a good stunt because the Sam Malone character had been a relief pitcher for the Red Sox so it made sense. It drove baseball fans to a show they hadn’t seen before, some of whom stuck around for more.
On the other hand sometimes you just have to say fuck it. The most successful stunt ever was pairing Run DMC with Aerosmith, which launched one career into the mainstream and relaunched the other. Neither entity wanted to do it, it wasn’t on brand for either one, but Rick Rubin insisted and the rest is history.
Always trust your gut Torch. Though you had your’s worked on, so..,…
Believe in your heart, Torch!
Matt: make sure someone has remembered to pay the AWS bill. The first couple of years they let you run on credit but eventually they’ll invoice you.
I bet those invoices are being used to stabilize Jason’s Apple IIe.
Adding to Sam’s list: Please make sure to add a calendar reminder to renew your domain name and website security certificate, and remember who was the last person that registered/renewed everything in the first place (ie- renewal email reminders not going to a defunct/inactive email).
Matt hit the nail right on the head: Yin and Yang. The mesh of David’s analytics and Jason’s gonzo are the engine driving this site. Either alone would likely be too much for readers to handle, and neither individual can (nor should) deny their true nature.
Personality helps keep this place great.
Torch’s stuff usually has some sort of a Donnie Darko/Princess Bride/Shawshank Redemption/Rocky Horror Picture Show vibe to it. Under appreciated at the moment, but eventually recognized for the masterpiece that it is.
Stay strong Torch. I love the stuff you write.
So, being a musical theatre nerd, every once in a while there’s a group on my feed that pops up, where they sing a famous song from a famous musical, but one person doesn’t know the words. They go back & forth a bit, and the one person just has to use context clues to fill in their part of the song.
It’s hilarious, and that’s why I think one person not using Chartbeat sounds like a great idea.
Obsessing over stats like this killed the passion I had for the small business I used to run, to the point that it broke my brain. I applaud this decision.
Matt, David….let the boy do his thing.
Yeah, fuck Chartbeat! We like this place because you write what you want to write.