Why we read Jalopnik and Autoblog: the STI

"Mosqvich" (mosqvich)
08/04/2013 at 22:46 • Filed to: Why, Autoblog, Jalopnik

So after !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! gently ribbed me about posting the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! story after he'd posted it already, a fact I saw after I posted mine, it started me thinking about why we visit sites like Jalopnik and Autoblog. Well, it's because we want to know more and more and more, and right now.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

I saw the BRZ STI story on Autoblog and thought "that'd be cool to post on Oppo." So I do. After Mike and I went back forth, I meandered over to RoadandTrack.com, Automobilemag.com, CarandDriver.com, and MotorTrend.com where I found nary a mention. Why didn't they post anything? Because they're all sitting at home watching True Blood , while !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! are slaving away all weekend feeding our insatiable appetites for automotive news and tidbits.

I don't want to be too hard on the big mags. They still do great work and I love reading their long-form articles in print or on my iPad, but in this instant-news age, we cannot live without the hard work that goes on all week at Jalopnik, Autoblog, and the other sites.

So, cheers to Mike Griffith, Mike Ballaban, and Jeremy Korzeniewski for taking the time, paid or unpaid, to bring us news that is informative, factual, and entertaining nearly 24 hours per day.

DISCUSSION (9)

Agrajag > Mosqvich
08/04/2013 at 22:54

Concurred. I think it has something to do with their work enviroment as well. Where they are like "oh cool I'm gonna post this." Another place might be "oh cool I'm gonna have to write an article monday."

moarpowerr > Mosqvich
08/04/2013 at 22:59

It's true. That is why I am addicted to Jalopnik, Oppo, and (less so) Autoblog. I like to keep myself up to date with what is happening in the industry. I also like reading the articles the big mags have, but that put them out only so often. There is no excuse in this day and age of instant communication why these big mag websites don't have a portion of their site as a constant updated blog with current event and news in the auto industry

ZeedGTI > Mosqvich
08/04/2013 at 23:00

Well said.

I can't wait to see the headline "HOT: BRZ STi LEAKED!" in the October issue of *insert mainstream automotive magazine here*

Mosqvich > ZeedGTI
08/04/2013 at 23:01

LOL! Exactly.

Michael Ballaban > Mosqvich
08/04/2013 at 23:03

Thanks Dan, your words really mean a lot. I wish I could write something a bit more elaborate and eloquent than that, but I've been up working for the Jalopniks since early this morn and I've got to go to bed.

I've got work tomorrow.

Mosqvich > Michael Ballaban
08/04/2013 at 23:11

Keep up the great work! We are counting on it.

Fred Smith > Mosqvich
08/05/2013 at 03:07

I agree with everything you've said here except one thing:

The USAT guy IS a real journalist. His video was stupid and clearly flawed, but he's payed to write for a reputable outlet and that makes him a journalist. You, as an unpaid writer doing so on a rather fantastic community forum (albeit one with a direct link to a reputable outlet as we've seen here), are a hobbyist, and while that is something rather neat, it's certainly different from professional, published journalism. The most common term for an online hobbyist writer is "blogger", so he was not out of line to use that term.

I too, no matter the fact that I've written for Jalopnik on a volunteer basis and have been featured on their front page via Oppo many a time before, am merely a hobbyist. I'm quite proud of my hobby and the amount of people who have read and been informed by my writing, but I know there is a major divide between people like us who write for fun (even if we do so with the goal of writing as a career in the not too distant future) and people like Urken, who writes professionally, even if us hobbyists are clearly doing a hell of a lot better a job than he is (as is the case here). I haven't found the post in which he claimed you to be nothing more than a mere blogger, and I'd assume that it's written in a very derogatory manner and intended as an insult, but in reality it's just stating a fact that in no way changes the fact that you proved the issues his piece held.

I'm in no way meaning to offend you or any of the other hobbyist writers on oppo (we have some rather fantastic ones, after all), but that difference is in fact a fairly important one and, while he was wrong to seemingly intend it as an insult, Urken not incorrect in stating the difference between a "blogger" and a "journalist".

Everyone currently working at Jalopnik proper, for the record, is a professional journalist doing so for a reputable outlet.

Mosqvich > Fred Smith
08/05/2013 at 09:09

I don't disagree, in fact part of the problem in that case was actually the fact that USA Today didn't bother to print any of the text from his original article. However, peeling the onion back a little further one sees that he most likely started out as a blogger himself (he was employed at AOL after graduating from college). I guess my reason for bringing that up is guys like Mike Ballaban work hard at working up to the big leagues, if you will. So we all start somewhere. Dan Roth, of Autoblog, saw the comments by the author and suggested the real journalist himself had done a poor job on the video. The written piece was much better as I pointed out in my update and encouraged readers to go to it, though the analysis was still flawed. Our community here responded in pretty large numbers. Where his original article appeared, at the time, had very little input, though the comments were pretty similar to ours.

At any rate, I take no offense at all! The bottom line is we get to be fed with a constant stream of news both here on Oppo and at the FP. It's an analog to the cable news paradigm of upsetting the big media outlets' proverbial apple cart back in CNN's early days when it was derided as well.

Mosqvich > Fred Smith
08/05/2013 at 09:40

And you know what, you made me think. That part of the article was pretty irrelevant and I removed. My thoughts don't change, but it takes away from the message of what good work these sites do for enthusiasts. Thanks!