Why GRM > jalopnik

JG Pasterjak wrote: 3. If 2 is comprised entirely—or even mostly—of pustulent, leaking, word-anuses, they will scare away 1, and never emerge from their dead parents' basements. jg

Truth there for more than just forums. Nothing is more fun than watching old time car guys abuse the newbys till they go away, then listening to the whining about how hard it is to attract new people to (insert activity of your choice).

the redesigned view worked for me for a few minutes the other day, and i have to say, as a concept, its not a bad idea. the headlines bar on the right side was laggy as hell and sometimes would only move the facebook link up and down and not show any stories, and when it did show stories, it took a few seconds for the scroll to take effect. i liked being able to go back a few days into the stories with just a scroll to see what i missed since i can't friggin stand the broken website

Streetwiseguy wrote:

JG Pasterjak wrote: 3. If 2 is comprised entirely—or even mostly—of pustulent, leaking, word-anuses, they will scare away 1, and never emerge from their dead parents' basements. jg

Truth there for more than just forums. Nothing is more fun than watching old time car guys abuse the newbys till they go away, then listening to the whining about how hard it is to attract new people to (insert activity of your choice).

which is exactly why i'd rather talk guns with a bunch of car guys than on the actual gun forums. haven't been back to rimfirecentral in weeks since i realized that unless you were doing full custom everything you had nothing to share with the 10/22 crowd, and i was only looking at the nearly dead marlin bolt action section

nderwater wrote: I realize that I'm getting into the weeds here, but what would you guys think if the foum ads were interactive (mouseover expands the image to show the sponsor's full magazine advert) or were more prominently located (nestled between every x # of forum posts)?

I'd think this would be absolutely horrible, and only encourage the use of things like AdBlock.

Advertisements are a lot like public displays of affection. They're mostly annoying, occasionally humorous, and just about never show you want you actually want to see.

Streetwiseguy wrote: Truth there for more than just forums. Nothing is more fun than watching old time car guys abuse the newbys till they go away, then listening to the whining about how hard it is to attract new people to (insert activity of your choice).

"Man, how come all these new kids are just dumb ricers?"

I love you guys. Seriously, it's our community that makes this place special more than any software or page layouts.

As JG alluded to, we're in the midst of some changes to our site that will include a little more ad space, but like he also said the forum users are a priority, so don't expect huge changes to the functionality here. Presentation, however, should be greatly improved.

Mostly we'll be:
churching up the look and feel, especially on the home page
making it easier to go from one place to another on our site (and between GRM and ClassicMotorsports.net)
fixing some reliability issues
making it easier to find content like articles, event coverage, etc...
* adding new features and a LOT of content. Streamlining the process of adding content will let us give you much more of it.

The changes will happen over at classicmotorsports.net first so we can evaluate what works and what doesn't before bringing it over here. It's still in development, but no one...and I mean NO ONE is more eager than I am to get the fixes in place.

Javelin wrote: Agreed with Salanis. I make the vast majority of my car products based solely on whether or not they advertise in GRM. Racing Beat, Flyin Miata, GoPro, Falken, and Mazdaspeed can all count me as a customer because of it. I like that your ads online are so low-key as well. I will actually refresh the forum until the BaT ad comes up to click on it rather than type in their name.

This post makes me warm and fuzzy Readers like this keep our doors open! Subscriptions are important, but when our readers buy from our advertisers it makes everything right with the world.

Thanks!

Hey Joe, you need to get the Advance Auto on St Rt 22/3 in South Lebanon Ohio to advertise in the mag - you will get all kinds of ad recognition from them on my account

FWIW, this is seriously the only website I visit every single day. Compound that with the fact I visit multiple times each day, and you have a real devoted follower, and I am certain Im only one out of MANY who do the same. Its due, in part, to the fact that your staff and your writing, and heck, your other forum users all "get" me, and I get them too. I am excited to see when the will Javelin start, Im excited to see the new FF car, Im excited to hear about the A&M Challenge car. I literally make time to check your board for updates on these, and others. Just the same as I was excited to see the hybrid Fiero and Wartburg updates of threads in the past. You dont see that stuff elswhere, and you cant find un-fanboi fans of nickel-dimes and hachi-roku on other forums. The user here make me happy, and the staff make me want to come back by giving a crap. You take the stuff we care about on here, and put it in the mag, and youre all cool about it, and humble enough without kissing ass or coming off as fake. Its us who should be thanking you!

Tom/Joe, is there any chance something like an advertiser's index will wind up in this round of site changes? I, and I expect a few others here (Like Javelin), give a little higher credibility to the GRM advertisers than ads from other sources.

For example, a few weeks ago I wanted to check on something that was in one of the magazine ads. I didn't have the issue with me so I took a look on the site to see if that vendor had an ad here. I looked around, including the Catalog section, and didn't find anything. When I got home I found the Fuel Safe ad and sent my buddy a link to their locking flip-top caps.

I imagine the advertising in the magazines is handled differently from the websites. Don't know if there's a good way to tie the two media types together that still makes good business sense, but I suspect there is.

What is a Jalopnik and why is it even being compared to GRM?

ReverendDexter wrote: Advertisements are a lot like public displays of affection. They're mostly annoying, occasionally humorous, and just about never show you want you actually *want* to see.

I would normally agree, but one of the things that makes GRM unique is that its advertisers actually are businesses which are relevant and offer thing we might want to see.

Rob_Mopar wrote: I imagine the advertising in the magazines is handled differently from the websites. Don't know if there's a good way to tie the two media types together that still makes good business sense, but I suspect there is.

That's what I was kinda getting at (but failing?) in my first post. I don't always have a copy of GRM handy, but these days I'm almost always connected to the internet.

ReverendDexter wrote: Advertisements are a lot like public displays of affection. They're mostly annoying, occasionally humorous, and just about never show you want you actually *want* to see.

That's a quote for the ages.

In reply to Rob_Mopar:

It hasn't been a priority yet, but that's a terrific suggestion.

Tom Heath wrote: In reply to Rob_Mopar: It hasn't been a priority yet, but that's a terrific suggestion.

There's an Advertiser Index in every issue of GRM.

If maintenance/cost isn't too much of a problem, it would be great to have a similar list (with links) as a forum feature.

The "Playground" could be much better than it is currently.

nderwater wrote: I realize that I'm getting into the weeds here, but what would you guys think if the foum ads were interactive (mouseover expands the image to show the sponsor's full magazine advert) or were more prominently located (nestled between every x # of forum posts)?

A really interactive ad could take a fair sized advertising budget to code, and not all GRM advertisers are the sort who hire professionals to make their ads. Jerry usually throws our ads together whenever he can find an uncommitted afternoon.

Great suggestions guys! Having an interactive advertiser index available online is a great idea. There is an excellent chance we will be able to implement this on the new site.

Also, don't give up on the Advertiser Playground. We only started it a short time ago, and it has been gaining steam. I mention it to every client I speak with, so look for more great deals, and information soon!

Thanks again for the input! This has turned into a fantastic thread.

Joe Gearin wrote: Great suggestions guys! Having an interactive advertiser index available online is a great idea. There is an excellent chance we will be able to implement this on the new site. Also, don't give up on the Advertiser Playground. We only started it a short time ago, and it has been gaining steam. I mention it to every client I speak with, so look for more great deals, and information soon! Thanks again for the input! This has turned into a fantastic thread.

Thanks

I poke around in the Advertiser Playground as well.

I'm looking forward to being able to bounce between here and the Classic site. I did enjoy the experiment a little while back having that as a forum option here.