Front Page Author Questions

"CAcoalminer" (CAcoalminer)
07/11/2016 at 11:00 • Filed to: None

So, I was doing some research about a particular vehicle and decided to search the major U.S.-based magazines’ websites for reviews of it. Well, while searching Road & Track’s website, I was astonished to see two very familiar names listed as authors of articles there- Máté Petrány and Brian Silvestro. I acknowledge that I haven’t been reading the front page nearly as much as I used to but since when did Máté leave Jalopnik? So, this got me curious and upon further inspection, I’ve noticed that a few of the old staff are no longer posting on Jalopnik.

1. Where did Aaron Brown go?

2. Where did Sean MacDonald go? (I’m not a motorcycle person but did find his posts interesting from time-to-time.)

3. Where did Tyler Rogoway go? He was quite possible one of the best writers on the site!

Does Jalopnik not post when a staff member leaves? Not even a good bye and well wishes? By the same token, are we not introducing new authors either? For instance, who is this Kristen Lee person?

Also, I wanted to take the time to ask why Alanis King isn’t a full-time author. I find her content and posts to be extremely interesting and well-written.

On top of that, I noticed that a disturbing amount of content is extremely similar between the front page and Road & Track (no, I didn’t take the time to check dates and times to see who posted what first).

Finally, does anyone else find the front page not nearly as interesting as it used to be? I’m not sure what it is but I find myself mostly scrolling through the front page and maybe clicking on one or two articles rather than the majority of them as I did in the past. On top of that, when was the last time Jalopnik wrote a legitimate car review? Do they just not get invited to press drives anymore?

P.S.- What happened to the feature where you could click on an image and comment on that specific portion of it?

DISCUSSION (62)

Tripper > CAcoalminer
07/11/2016 at 11:04

Sean Mac is over at Cycle World

CB > CAcoalminer
07/11/2016 at 11:05

Sean and Tyler both left/were let go, but both of them are still writing. Maté was let go. Aaron... no clue.

Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction > CAcoalminer
07/11/2016 at 11:08

Commenting on images disappeared a few months ago. We get image captions instead. The ability to comment was way better

Urambo Tauro > CAcoalminer
07/11/2016 at 11:08

I miss image annotations too. I don’t understand why they had to go. That goes for text annotations, too. It was really nice to stop in the middle of an article to look at responses to a particular paragraph.

(BTW, Tyler did actually receive a proper send-off . His work can now be found over at The Drive .)

Rico > CAcoalminer
07/11/2016 at 11:14

I believe all those people (not sure about Aaron) got fired from Gawker.

With regards to the content, it likely has to do with embargoes on reviews/editorials and if they end for all publications at the same time.

Alanis King did a great new E Class first drive article. It was well done and when I scrolled up I saw it was a totally new author.

What car were you researching?

Funktheduck > CAcoalminer
07/11/2016 at 11:28

I wondered what happened to Brian.

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > CAcoalminer
07/11/2016 at 11:30

Hardigree used to be pretty good about noting staff changes and Jalopnik goings-on in occasional editorial posts. Patrick doesn’t seem to make them as much - I don’t know if that is just his style or direction from Gawker.

Tyler is basically doing the same as thing now at The War Zone sub-blog of The Drive: http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone

Sean was laid off, but has landed at Cycle World.

Kristen had a pretty good intro post actually - but it kind of caught me off-guard because it didn’t really announce her as a Jalopnik hire - it was sort of implied: http://jalopnik.com/owning-a-car-i…

CAcoalminer > FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com
07/11/2016 at 11:39

I’m glad to hear that Tyler and Sean have both moved on to bigger and better things.

I must have missed Kristen’s post.

CAcoalminer > Urambo Tauro
07/11/2016 at 11:40

My thoughts exactly. I loved being able to point out specific parts of an image.

Thanks for that link. Glad to see he’s doing well.

CAcoalminer > Rico
07/11/2016 at 11:44

Thank you for the information.

I’m researching the 991 GT3 RS. I never really considered it before now but am considering a modification that will make it much more appealing (to me, at least).

CAcoalminer > Tripper
07/11/2016 at 11:45

Oh ok.

CAcoalminer > Funktheduck
07/11/2016 at 11:45

I’m very happy for him. It’s great to see people having success.

LongbowMkII > CAcoalminer
07/11/2016 at 11:47

I skip over about half the posts now.

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > CAcoalminer
07/11/2016 at 11:49

Yeah - I nearly missed it too. I feel like several years ago Jalopnik made a bigger deal of changes, but maybe I’m imagining it. It would be nice if they would use the featured articles at the top to keep something like that pinned for a few days.

CAcoalminer > FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com
07/11/2016 at 11:51

That’s a great idea.

PotbellyJoe and 42 others > CAcoalminer
07/11/2016 at 12:04

Aaron is at Tech Insider.

http://www.techinsider.io/author/aaron-b…

Justin Hughes > CAcoalminer
07/11/2016 at 12:10

1. I’ve seen some of Aaron Brown’s writing at The Drive.

2. Sean MacDonald has landed a nice gig over at Cycle World.

3. Tyler Rogoway now runs The War Room over at The Drive - basically, the new Foxtrot Alpha.

I found out about Máté because I follow him on Twitter. The entire Gawker office in Budapest was closed, and he got the boot. I didn’t know Brian Silvestro was also at R&T, but I’m not surprised considering the quality of his work.

Kristen only just started recently. So far, so good.

Alanis is great, and not just because she’s FPed some of my work. :) I like her writing, and even better we’re both cat people. Lately we’ve talked cats more than cars. She’s still a college student, which is why she does most of her Jalopnik work on the weekends. Still, it’s pretty cool to be published while still in school for journalism. Been there, done that myself!

tl;dr: Jalopnik has lost many writers, hired one, and other sites seem to be snatching up their old writers. They also don’t repost from Oppo nearly as much as they used to.

RedlineZ bought an SV (And is getting rid of the z) > CAcoalminer
07/11/2016 at 12:20

tyler left of his own accord and found a job at the war room writing for thedrive and received a proper sendoff. Mate and Sean were basically shitcanned in the middle of the night while they were working on their material for the next few days. just gawkers shitty business practices, tell a guy he’s got a stable job at lanesplitter then fire him as soon as he puts a down payment on a truck. theres a reason why they have been hemorrhaging talent here.

Funktheduck > CAcoalminer
07/11/2016 at 13:25

Ditto

Jonathan Harper > CAcoalminer
07/11/2016 at 14:51

Aaron wrote for Tech Insider and now is at The Drive along with Tyler Rogeway.

Mate got sacked a few months ago, and is now contributing to Road & Track it seems, where Brian is an intern.

Brian Silvestro > Justin Hughes
07/11/2016 at 15:00

thanks m8

Brian Silvestro > CAcoalminer
07/11/2016 at 15:11

Thanks!

Aaron Brown > PotbellyJoe and 42 others
07/11/2016 at 15:50

Was!

Michael Ballaban > Brian Silvestro
07/11/2016 at 15:55

Same. Brian, what happened to you?

PotbellyJoe and 42 others > Aaron Brown
07/11/2016 at 15:55

ok. and now?

Brian Silvestro > Michael Ballaban
07/11/2016 at 16:38

Not unlike you, I like cars more than I like finances.

Brian Silvestro > PotbellyJoe and 42 others
07/11/2016 at 16:43

last name drive first name the

CAcoalminer > Brian Silvestro
07/11/2016 at 16:52

You’re welcome, my friend. Hope you’re doing well. It’s been quite a while since we last spoke.

CAcoalminer > Justin Hughes
07/11/2016 at 16:54

Thanks for the thorough response.

CAcoalminer > Jonathan Harper
07/11/2016 at 16:55

Thanks.

CAcoalminer > RedlineZ bought an SV (And is getting rid of the z)
07/11/2016 at 16:55

That’s very unfortunate. I would have hoped that they were treated much better than that.

DasWauto > CAcoalminer
07/11/2016 at 17:39

Please tell me that change is replacing the PDK with the six-speed from the 911R, or that from an earlier GT3 RS. If so, you’re my hero.

RedlineZ bought an SV (And is getting rid of the z) > CAcoalminer
07/11/2016 at 19:41

yea if i remember correctly sean got an email in the middle of writing and Mate found out when he tried to log in to Facebook and found that he was removed from being an admin on the jalopnik page. then jalopnik went on to post 3 articles he wrote after they fired him.

CAcoalminer > DasWauto
07/11/2016 at 20:23

You’re a very smart young man.

CAcoalminer > RedlineZ bought an SV (And is getting rid of the z)
07/11/2016 at 20:23

My goodness that’s shameful.

Brian Silvestro > CAcoalminer
07/11/2016 at 21:15

I’m doing great, hope you’re the same. It’s been forever. Very busy as always. I hope you find the car you’re looking for.

DasWauto > CAcoalminer
07/11/2016 at 22:05

Cheers. I hope it pans out for you.

Aaron Brown > PotbellyJoe and 42 others
07/11/2016 at 22:41

Writing news for The Drive

Aaron Brown > CAcoalminer
07/11/2016 at 22:43

AOTD ended. Interned at Business Insider’s site Tech Insider doing car coverage and am now writing car news for The Drive.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > CAcoalminer
07/12/2016 at 01:03

The theory going around was that the gawker/hulk Hogan/peter thiel lawsuit was the driving factor for a lot of what has changed. I think Sean and Maté were let go very shortly after the judgement.

CAcoalminer > Brian Silvestro
07/12/2016 at 09:13

I’m glad to hear that.

As for myself, I am doing wonderful. I’m officially retired and the better half and I have moved to our ranch in central Texas. It is quite a departure from our lives in Dallas but in all of the best ways. Concerning the car, you know me, I’m always looking for something new and exciting. Haha

CAcoalminer > DasWauto
07/12/2016 at 09:14

Thank you.

CAcoalminer > Aaron Brown
07/12/2016 at 09:16

I’m happy that you have gone on to bigger and better things. I wish you much success in the future.

CAcoalminer > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
07/12/2016 at 09:17

Cost cutting?

Aaron Brown > CAcoalminer
07/12/2016 at 09:38

Thanks dude! Really appreciate that.

CAcoalminer > Aaron Brown
07/12/2016 at 09:44

You’re welcome.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > CAcoalminer
07/12/2016 at 09:49

Yeah. I think I’ve even seen that flat out denied by staffers, but the timing is awfully perfect. Thus the current oppo banner.