• From: Land Of Subarus, Colorado
  • Registered: 2009-04-30
  • Posts: 9,416

Re: I have left Jalopnik

TeamDFL wrote:

Another Jalop writer bails.  They must be real task masters over at Gawker.

Let me guess... You didn't want to put in face time at the NY office.  I certainly cannot blame you.  New York City is not the place to bring piles of project rust and the commute from places with enough affordable square footage for the typical car enthusiast will drive you nuts with the 3+ hours of commuting each day.

Nobody ever asked me to come to NYC. All Gawker wants is for the writers to get 10 billion Facebook/Twitter/Digg/Fark views every day, which means "good" posts must have boobs and/or the words "LOL FAIL" in them. My stuff doesn't really qualify.

Murilee Martin aka Judge Phil on Facebook
Murilee Martin on Twitter
Judge Phil's Lemons posts on Car and Driver
MurileeMartin.com

Judge Phil's Website

27 Reply by EyeMWing (edited by EyeMWing 2010-09-29 05:57 PM)

  • From: Baltimore, MD
  • Registered: 2010-05-20
  • Posts: 1,745

Re: I have left Jalopnik

Trufax: There are maybe 4 weekday articles per week I could stand to read on Jalopnik. There were almost none per weekend I couldn't stand.

Your writing appeals far more to the kind of gearhead that spends too much time beating on rustbuckets than to the kind of gearhead that has time to mess around with twatter and friends. And that's unfortunate, because as far as I can tell, there isn't anywhere else for the scheduled-tetanus-shot, junkyard-dog, crapcan-pilot type to go. Everyone else is always just interested in fancy new shiny stuff, fancy old shiny stuff, or is hung out on counting twits and twats like Gawker.

The contest to replace you is, frankly, offensive. Judgement is on numbers of new unique viewers? REALLY? New unique viewers don't equate to anything but server load and a handful of ad impressions. It's the repeat customers that are where the money comes from.

Driver, Pit Monkey, Rod Buster and Engine Fire Starter
Team FinalGear
  • From: Texas
  • Registered: 2010-02-22
  • Posts: 949

Re: I have left Jalopnik

Judge Phil wrote:
TeamDFL wrote:

Another Jalop writer bails.  They must be real task masters over at Gawker.

Let me guess... You didn't want to put in face time at the NY office.  I certainly cannot blame you.  New York City is not the place to bring piles of project rust and the commute from places with enough affordable square footage for the typical car enthusiast will drive you nuts with the 3+ hours of commuting each day.

Nobody ever asked me to come to NYC. All Gawker wants is for the writers to get 10 billion Facebook/Twitter/Digg/Fark views every day, which means "good" posts must have boobs and/or the words "LOL FAIL" in them. My stuff doesn't really qualify.

Jalopnik... now with 100% less Jalop content.

ALLEGEDLY!

-Dave
Scuderia Ignorante // Modena / Dearborn / Aichi Prefecture / West Texas
  • From: Land Of Subarus, Colorado
  • Registered: 2009-04-30
  • Posts: 9,416

Re: I have left Jalopnik

EyeMWing wrote:

New unique viewers don't equate to anything but server load and a handful of ad impressions. It's the repeat customers that are where the money comes from.

Gawker most definitely doesn't see it this way. Gawker writers are judged entirely by unique visitor numbers. A reader gets counted once per month. After that, he or she doesn't really matter- oh, sure, they like raw pageview counts, but uniques are king (followed by referrals from social-media sites, because Everyone Knows social-media is the Next Big Thing). My numbers on Jalopnik were respectable (because all the Down On The Street and Project Car Hell posts in my back catalog brought in tons of search-engine hits) but not good enough.

Murilee Martin aka Judge Phil on Facebook
Murilee Martin on Twitter
Judge Phil's Lemons posts on Car and Driver
MurileeMartin.com

Judge Phil's Website

30 Reply by Bender/StickFigureRacing (edited by Bender/StickFigureRacing 2010-09-30 08:03 AM)

  • Registered: 2009-05-01
  • Posts: 526

Re: I have left Jalopnik

How do I unlike Jalopnik on Facebook?


Got it! no More Jalopnik

Team: V-Ram/Altamont Team: Knights of the Round Track/Reno/Buttonwillow/Thunderhill Team: Death Mobile/Sears 2010/Thunderhill/ChumpCar  Spokane/ MSR Houston/Buttonwillow/Sears. MRolla Project /Reno
http://stickfigureracing.blogspot.com/
  • From: 5,280 ft.
  • Registered: 2009-05-01
  • Posts: 1,298

Re: I have left Jalopnik

IgnoranteWest wrote:
Judge Phil wrote:
TeamDFL wrote:

Another Jalop writer bails.  They must be real task masters over at Gawker.

Let me guess... You didn't want to put in face time at the NY office.  I certainly cannot blame you.  New York City is not the place to bring piles of project rust and the commute from places with enough affordable square footage for the typical car enthusiast will drive you nuts with the 3+ hours of commuting each day.

Nobody ever asked me to come to NYC. All Gawker wants is for the writers to get 10 billion Facebook/Twitter/Digg/Fark views every day, which means "good" posts must have boobs and/or the words "LOL FAIL" in them. My stuff doesn't really qualify.

Jalopnik... now with 100% less Jalop content.

along with death and taxes, there is one other certainty in life:  everything eventually gets crappier.

mike - Schumacher Taxi Service
12+-time loser
"Winner" - We Got Screwed, NJMP '11

Buzz Killington's Website

  • From: DF-Dubya
  • Registered: 2009-08-19
  • Posts: 820

Re: I have left Jalopnik

Their newest contributor just put up one of her first posts, with the lede "Penis-Shaped Rocket Breaks 400 MPH. Driver's Ego Instantly Engorged."

This was one of the comments ... too bad I'm not starred and couldn't promote it.

"Right, because the shape isn't decided at all by aerodynamics.

Thanks for telling us about the technical specs of the car (that isn't a rocket) beyond that it's powered by a "modified Pro Stock engine".

Also, it's nice that we're making penis/ego jokes, while ignoring that the car is named after the guy's late son who died of cancer.

Also also, thanks for not telling us about the record that he broke, or the significance of it.

All that said- Nice headline, should get alot of clicks."

Summer's Eve Racing - '09 Yee-Haw; '10 Gator-O-Rama, NorDal Hooptie, Yee-Haw; '11 Gator-O-Rama, NorDal Hooptie (Winner, Class A!)
TARP Racing - '11 Yee-Haw, Heaps; '12 Gator-O-Rama (Winner, Class C ... Looking for a Class B Win to Complete the Trifecta!), Heaps; '13 NorDal Hooptie, Gator-O-Rama

33 Reply by jimeditorial (edited by jimeditorial 2010-09-30 08:11 AM)

  • From: Toronto, Ontario
  • Registered: 2009-05-03
  • Posts: 1,114

Re: I have left Jalopnik

They obviously aren't in it for the long run. Uniques and referrables are short term selling points for pump and dump operations. Social Media? Only until the Next Big Thing, whatever that is.  Repeats are where  the money is IMO...

Jim "Endo" Anderton
30 years of racing and still not Brambilla.....
  • From: Land Of Subarus, Colorado
  • Registered: 2009-04-30
  • Posts: 9,416

Re: I have left Jalopnik

YesIFit wrote:

too bad I'm not starred and couldn't promote it.

I still have admin powers over Jalopnik commenters, and I star all Lemons racers. What's your Jalopnik commenter name?

Murilee Martin aka Judge Phil on Facebook
Murilee Martin on Twitter
Judge Phil's Lemons posts on Car and Driver
MurileeMartin.com

Judge Phil's Website

  • From: DF-Dubya
  • Registered: 2009-08-19
  • Posts: 820

Re: I have left Jalopnik

I can be Stig?

Summer's Eve Racing - '09 Yee-Haw; '10 Gator-O-Rama, NorDal Hooptie, Yee-Haw; '11 Gator-O-Rama, NorDal Hooptie (Winner, Class A!)
TARP Racing - '11 Yee-Haw, Heaps; '12 Gator-O-Rama (Winner, Class C ... Looking for a Class B Win to Complete the Trifecta!), Heaps; '13 NorDal Hooptie, Gator-O-Rama

36 Reply by priapism (edited by priapism 2010-09-30 08:27 AM)

  • From: Sherman Oaks CA
  • Registered: 2009-08-16
  • Posts: 422

Re: I have left Jalopnik

Someone said: Jalopnik: now 100% Jalop-free.  The site is getting really boring and unoriginal.

Sorry to see you go, I enjoyed your posts and learned a bunch about stuff I'd never thought twice about.  And thanks for the moonshine at CMP!!

37 Reply by st_rage (edited by st_rage 2010-09-30 08:27 AM)

  • From: Atlanta, GA
  • Registered: 2009-09-01
  • Posts: 561

Re: I have left Jalopnik

Judge Phil wrote:
YesIFit wrote:

too bad I'm not starred and couldn't promote it.

I still have admin powers over Jalopnik commenters, and I star all Lemons racers. What's your Jalopnik commenter name?

All Lemons racers you say?  That would have been useful last week when I still read Jalopnik.  I rarely commented, but on the rare occasions I did it was disheartening to see them disappear into the void.  I'm glad to see the Lemons posts are up on your site.  Jalopnik is a heck of a lot less interesting to me without them.

Our Lady of Perpetual Downforce
http://www.perpetualdownforce.com/

st_rage's Website

  • From: ny
  • Registered: 2009-05-15
  • Posts: 525

Re: I have left Jalopnik

i stopped going there when they posted 67 times a day to join them on facebook and the other crap

39 Reply by YesIFit (edited by YesIFit 2010-09-30 08:59 AM)

  • From: DF-Dubya
  • Registered: 2009-08-19
  • Posts: 820

Re: I have left Jalopnik

Maybe not quite on the same level, but makes me think of this...

"They came first for Wes,
and I didn't speak up because I don't ride a motorcycle.

Then they came for Sam,
and I didn't speak up because I didn't really read Jalopnik for the car reviews.

Then they came for Ben,
and I didn't speak up because I was already losing interest.

Then they came for Murilee
and by that time no one was left to speak up..."

Summer's Eve Racing - '09 Yee-Haw; '10 Gator-O-Rama, NorDal Hooptie, Yee-Haw; '11 Gator-O-Rama, NorDal Hooptie (Winner, Class A!)
TARP Racing - '11 Yee-Haw, Heaps; '12 Gator-O-Rama (Winner, Class C ... Looking for a Class B Win to Complete the Trifecta!), Heaps; '13 NorDal Hooptie, Gator-O-Rama
  • From: 5,280 ft.
  • Registered: 2009-05-01
  • Posts: 1,298

Re: I have left Jalopnik

YesIFit wrote:

Their newest contributor just put up one of her first posts, with the lede "Penis-Shaped Rocket Breaks 400 MPH. Driver's Ego Instantly Engorged."

This was one of the comments ... too bad I'm not starred and couldn't promote it.

"Right, because the shape isn't decided at all by aerodynamics.

Thanks for telling us about the technical specs of the car (that isn't a rocket) beyond that it's powered by a "modified Pro Stock engine".

Also, it's nice that we're making penis/ego jokes, while ignoring that the car is named after the guy's late son who died of cancer.

Also also, thanks for not telling us about the record that he broke, or the significance of it.

All that said- Nice headline, should get alot of clicks."

the first guy who responded to that with "*begins slow clap*" got unstarred:

KNaudi was unstarred

real nice.

heart-clicked you, YIF...oh noes, Buzz Killington's star is at risk!

mike - Schumacher Taxi Service
12+-time loser
"Winner" - We Got Screwed, NJMP '11

Buzz Killington's Website

  • From: 5,280 ft.
  • Registered: 2009-05-01
  • Posts: 1,298

Re: I have left Jalopnik

eljefe17 wrote:

i stopped going there when they posted 67 times a day to join them on facebook and the other crap

fo' realz.  and most of the FB commenters are stone idiots.

mike - Schumacher Taxi Service
12+-time loser
"Winner" - We Got Screwed, NJMP '11

Buzz Killington's Website

  • From: Seattle, WA
  • Registered: 2009-10-28
  • Posts: 2,111

Re: I have left Jalopnik

Judge Phil wrote:

I still have admin powers over Jalopnik commenters....

Well, Phil, you saw to it that a couple of my cars starred on that site even if I never did, so for that you have my thanks.  I stopped commenting there about four months ago as I found the atmosphere increasingly distasteful (though I kept reading your stuff, naturally) and would close my account were such a thing possible.  I'll look for your writing elsewhere.

1982 MG Metro 1300: IOE 2015 Pacific Northworst GP, Longest Distance 2010 Cd'L Box Wine Country Classic
1980 KV Mini 1: Worst of Show and Fright Pig Supremo 2009 Concours d'Lemons
1978 H Special: Second-Round Elimination 2010 Lemons Pinewood Derby at Sears Pointless
1967 SAAB 96: IOE 2012 Pacific Northworst GP, Organizer's Choice 2022 Hell on Wheels California Rally
  • From: Lost in the Rockies
  • Registered: 2009-10-06
  • Posts: 1,008

Re: I have left Jalopnik

Judge Phil wrote:

I still have admin powers over Jalopnik commenters, and I star all Lemons racers. What's your Jalopnik commenter name?

Mine is tetanusneon (yah, not so creative that day). Sad to see that someone got un-starred for participating in a little criticism.

ONSET/Tetanus Racing, est. 2008.
Guest drives: NSF, Rocket Surgery, Property Devaluation, Terminally Confused, Team Sputnik, The Syndicate, Pit Crew Revenge, Spank, Hella Shitty, Sir Jackie Stewart's Coin Purse, Nine Finger Drifters, Salty Thunder, Panting Polar Bear, Vistabeam, Hangar 13, and Escape Velocity.
74 races so far.

cpchampion's Website

  • Registered: 2009-05-01
  • Posts: 526

Re: I have left Jalopnik

Our Team was so happy to be published and have photos on Jalopnik. A lot of our friends joined
just to keep up with all of the Lemons stories and photos. Thanks Phil, we will now send notifications to our friends to check out the continued antics of Lemons on your web site. http://murileemartin.com

Team: V-Ram/Altamont Team: Knights of the Round Track/Reno/Buttonwillow/Thunderhill Team: Death Mobile/Sears 2010/Thunderhill/ChumpCar  Spokane/ MSR Houston/Buttonwillow/Sears. MRolla Project /Reno
http://stickfigureracing.blogspot.com/
  • Registered: 2009-09-23
  • Posts: 199

Re: I have left Jalopnik

Judge Phil wrote:
EyeMWing wrote:

New unique viewers don't equate to anything but server load and a handful of ad impressions. It's the repeat customers that are where the money comes from.

Gawker most definitely doesn't see it this way. Gawker writers are judged entirely by unique visitor numbers. A reader gets counted once per month. After that, he or she doesn't really matter- oh, sure, they like raw pageview counts, but uniques are king (followed by referrals from social-media sites, because Everyone Knows social-media is the Next Big Thing). My numbers on Jalopnik wa ere respectable (because all the Down On The Street and Project Car Hell posts in my back catalog brought in tons of search-engine hits) but not good enough.

Maybe a certain group could sway the contest numbers, Vote For The Worst-style.

Somebody needs to enter the contest with a bunch of LOLiPadPenismissle articles to get pointless pageviews.  Forum members will do what they can to drive traffic to those articles and boycott the competing ones.

After El Limon Grande wins, every post will include a rant against Facebook et al, and a picture of a Lemons candidate.

46 Reply by IgnoranteWest (edited by IgnoranteWest 2010-09-30 10:47 AM)

  • From: Texas
  • Registered: 2010-02-22
  • Posts: 949

Re: I have left Jalopnik

Judge Phil wrote:
YesIFit wrote:

too bad I'm not starred and couldn't promote it.

I still have admin powers over Jalopnik commenters, and I star all Lemons racers. What's your Jalopnik commenter name?

ooh! ooh! mine is farmerdave

ALLEGEDLY!

-Dave
Scuderia Ignorante // Modena / Dearborn / Aichi Prefecture / West Texas

47 Reply by YesIFit (edited by YesIFit 2010-09-30 12:18 PM)

  • From: DF-Dubya
  • Registered: 2009-08-19
  • Posts: 820

Re: I have left Jalopnik

Wow, they're busy today. The new contributor's posts are causing people to complaining, so comments are getting removed and stars being taken away left and right.

See, e.g --> http://jalopnik.com/tag/thenursery/

Summer's Eve Racing - '09 Yee-Haw; '10 Gator-O-Rama, NorDal Hooptie, Yee-Haw; '11 Gator-O-Rama, NorDal Hooptie (Winner, Class A!)
TARP Racing - '11 Yee-Haw, Heaps; '12 Gator-O-Rama (Winner, Class C ... Looking for a Class B Win to Complete the Trifecta!), Heaps; '13 NorDal Hooptie, Gator-O-Rama
  • jkfoto
  • jkfoto
  • Ripened Lemon
  • Offline
  • From: SLC
  • Registered: 2009-05-30
  • Posts: 303

Re: I have left Jalopnik

Bender/StickFigureRacing wrote:

Our Team was so happy to be published and have photos on Jalopnik. A lot of our friends joined
just to keep up with all of the Lemons stories and photos. Thanks Phil, we will now send notifications to our friends to check out the continued antics of Lemons on your web site. http://murileemartin.com

+1!

Team photographer and "sure I'll drive" hanger-on: more races than I ever imagined... MRolla/FX32/Mormon Meteor IV
http://www.facebook.com/StickFigureRacing
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jkiel/coll … 604631509/
http://www.jkiel.com/

jkfoto's Website

  • From: Redondo Beach, CA
  • Registered: 2009-05-05
  • Posts: 273

Re: I have left Jalopnik

So - I am correct in guessing that the people who win the ten spots to compete for the job will be folks who have hyperactive twitter ADD and get 1000s of their twitter/facebook followers to click on their jalop article - EVEN though their articles may be horrible and/or not really car related?  So is it correct in assuming that Gawker wants people who bring with them connections to new 'clicks' rather than people who can bring some interesting commentary/cool car stuff to their ostensibly car themed website?  Interesting.

Phil - glad to hear you are still involved with Lemons and just ditching Jalop.  Good luck! 

+1 on getting a star -- my tag is slowlane

http://jalopnik.com/people/vbarbarie/

If you need a link where i've commented - you can use my post race whining about the peoples curse...blah blah blah -- I'm innocent etc. smile
http://jalopnik.com/5338514/and-the-peo … ng-bmw-540

BlackIronRacing_V's Website

  • From: Land Of Subarus, Colorado
  • Registered: 2009-04-30
  • Posts: 9,416

Re: I have left Jalopnik

BlackIronRacing_V wrote:

So - I am correct in guessing that the people who win the ten spots to compete for the job will be folks who have hyperactive twitter ADD and get 1000s of their twitter/facebook followers to click on their jalop article - EVEN though their articles may be horrible and/or not really car related?  So is it correct in assuming that Gawker wants people who bring with them connections to new 'clicks' rather than people who can bring some interesting commentary/cool car stuff to their ostensibly car themed website?  Interesting.

Gawker would prefer to have sites full of great, original content that brings in lots of new regular readers... but they'll settle for posts that just go viral on Twitter/Facebook/etc and bring in a ton of one-time visitors. Sadly— particularly for one whose wife is a print journalist with a lot of pride in her profession— all journalism seems to be headed down this road.

Murilee Martin aka Judge Phil on Facebook
Murilee Martin on Twitter
Judge Phil's Lemons posts on Car and Driver
MurileeMartin.com

Judge Phil's Website