It's Labor Day and I hope you're not working. I gave everyone the day off but scheduled out most of the day so technically I am, but I'm mostly just sitting around, chatting with friends, enjoying a relaxed day. That's why there's no TMS or QOTD/AOTD. Why not chat a bit with me, your Editor-in-Chief/internet car news man-butler?
I saw Kotaku's Stephen Totilo answering questions on Friday and I thought it was a good idea. If you're around on Labor Day you're either someone forced to work today, a Jalopnik super fan, or a European. I'm setting this post up like one of our Q&As so fire away.
This also gives me a chance to update you with what's going on with the site, something I plan to do every month in the name of transparency. I'll answer your questions as honestly as I feel like answering any questions. Just a few topics to get us started.
Reviews: Yes, we're going to have a leader board (it's been coded, still working with it) for our reviews. We've got someone familiar with stats doing an analysis of our numbers to see where we are and, in early analysis, the biggest issue seems to be with value. We may reconfigure how we determine that.
Also, some thoughts on Travis Okulski's Nissan Juke review from last week. Some of you thought the score was high, but I'm driving it again this week and I'm comfortable with it. Frankly, we can't beg for unique/awesome cars and then diss them when they arrive.
From an enthusiast's perspective, there's a lot to like, even if it's not an amazing performer.
The Election: Hey, people are running for office. We always run into the problem of one group claiming we're "damn socialists" anytime we write about one party and "evil conservative bastards" when we write about the other one. Sometimes in the same week.
This is unfortunate, because cars and politics can't be separated. Decisions made by our country's leaders impact the cars we can buy and how we can use them.
Our only agenda in political coverage this year, and always, is to:
1. Find the humor (politicians say ridiculous things about cars)
2. Represent the enthusiast (someone has to)
3. Explain the truthiness (calling bullshit)
Kinja: Hey, we switched up the comments, again! I've explained a little bit about what we're doing, but I know if you have questions so shoot. A lot of you have contributed useful info on how it's working (and where it doesn't) to the feedback@gawker.com email address. Thank you, the input we're getting goes into improving this version and making changes of the future.
Next Week: I'm going to be out for big chunks of next week and thus will be leaving Travis and Jason in charge. Maybe you'll like it better?
The Smiths: I'm generally pro, been listening to them a bit today. What are you listening to?