A Thought for the Jalopniks

"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch) 01/10/2019 at 13:23 • Filed to: Tips, Jalopnik, Overland, Off-road

10

31

I was just going back through one of my old !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ...one of my first good ones...and I remembered that it was shared to Truck Yeah and eventually Jalopnik. It got 17.5k views and 111 comments back in 2015 and it didn’t even include any memes, divisive content or hot takes.

That was nearly 4 years ago now and what’ s happened to SUV sales, Off-road aftermarket and social media “Overlanding” in that time?

It went away quietly.

Nah, it’ s blown up. It’ s the single hottest trend in cars right now.

So where’s the coverage? I realize that, much like Car and Driver and a few of the other mags there is this idea that the SUV is antithetical to the Jalop life and so they’ve repressed the trend despite the fact that the sedan is dying and and in spite of the fact that we are living in a golden age for horsepower and handling.

Now you don’t have to agree with me that the SUV enthusiast* is as much a part of car culture as Miata Lyfe™ , but the truth is that they sold 9000 Miata’s in the us last year and they sold 240,000 Wranglers in the same time. Here is something to think about - They sell an order of magnitude more 6 speed manual wranglers than 6 speed manual Miatas.

*Its here I should distinguish, for the benefits of the comments section, an enthusiast versus any old motorist that just buys what they think will work best for them. Still, the Off-Road enthusiast crowd is HUGE and getting bigger year over year.

It’ s not that they don’t occasionally go off-road or review off-road vehicles (Godspeed Andrew’s recovery) but it’ s pretty light compared to the rest of the content. I know PG wants 2019 to be the year of car culture and not so much news and reviews. Well...

I suspect the coverage is light partly because of what I mentioned above about car culture generally thumbing its nose to the SUV and partly because they are a car blog in !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which has never made a lot of sense to me. Michigan? Sure, it’ s the heart of the industry. West coast? Y ou bet, car lovers paradise. New York City? The place that sent Cadillac packing and where the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! is between 22 and 45%? That’ s neither here nor there though.

So here is my suggestion

More overland coverage - There is a ton of cool car guy culture here as well as opportunities for stories and visually interesting content. T here are 2 HUGE overland expo’s each year. Not as big as SEMA but large and certainly more interesting.

Van Life - This is the new-age hippie movement that blogs will wax poetic about with rose colored glasses in 20-30 years. Get on it now. Cool stories, cool people, lots of stuff happening in the space.

More off-road focused content - Doesn’t need to be overland to be off-road, these are the people that are really passionate about their cars and their car based life.

More David Tracey and Andrew Collins period.

Get your writers involved - Your writers need to experience the off-road life to get it.

If you are looking for inspiration i know of a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! you can follow

The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock > HammerheadFistpunch 01/10/2019 at 13:28

1

17.5k views and 111 comments not bad, but got nothing on The Ultimate Ground Speed Check - Tales from the Blackbird .

AestheticsInMotion > HammerheadFistpunch 01/10/2019 at 13:30

0

I forgot about Andrew’s injury? Any updates on that front?

And yeah seeing some more overland-specific writing would be fantastic. Give a writer a budget to make their own camper van, send them off, etc. 

Nothing > HammerheadFistpunch 01/10/2019 at 13:31

2

Hell, just the clicks/comments they’d get from people complaining about trucks and SUVs should make it worth it.

diplodicus forgot his password > HammerheadFistpunch 01/10/2019 at 13:32

0

I watched that on prime a few months ago, it was an interesting documentary.

Or were you talking about living out of a van type van life?

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > HammerheadFistpunch 01/10/2019 at 13:33

1

They dropped indefinitely wild just when it was gaining traction.

HammerheadFistpunch > AestheticsInMotion 01/10/2019 at 13:33

0

He’s doing a lot better, but down a finger sadly.  

HammerheadFistpunch > The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock 01/10/2019 at 13:33

0

sure but its better than most articles they post on a daily basis.  

HammerheadFistpunch > Nothing 01/10/2019 at 13:34

0

This is very much a thing.

HammerheadFistpunch > diplodicus forgot his password 01/10/2019 at 13:34

0

either would be amazing, but the later is what I was talking about.

benjrblant > HammerheadFistpunch 01/10/2019 at 13:35

9

More David Tracey

respectfully disagree on this front, at least until his publications seem to stop promoting people doing sketch and dangerous things to their vehicles before driving them cross country.

Jalopnik letting Truck Yeah wither and die was a bad call right when that segment was exploding. 

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > HammerheadFistpunch 01/10/2019 at 13:36

2

Or we just keep reading Overland. I’m okay with that dot gov.

HammerheadFistpunch > benjrblant 01/10/2019 at 13:37

6

David’s exploits...while super sketch...are exactly the kind of engaging content that drives readership.  I do wish he’d be a little more upfront about the dangers of what he’s doing though.

HammerheadFistpunch > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 01/10/2019 at 13:38

2

Dropping IW was stupid and they should feel terrible about it.

diplodicus forgot his password > HammerheadFistpunch 01/10/2019 at 13:41

1

That’s actually something I was thinking about the other day. 

Censored > HammerheadFistpunch 01/10/2019 at 13:46

1

I support this mission.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > HammerheadFistpunch 01/10/2019 at 13:46

2

I agree, I really liked Wes’s writing and his articles were actually interesting and contained real content.

vicali > HammerheadFistpunch 01/10/2019 at 13:47

1

The interest is there. Heck, you already started building it here for us as a cool place to hang out.. I don’t know if it would be the same with Kinja Deal Skottle and Spork ads all over the place.

The attention of BigJ might be a double edged tactical hammer battle axe.. when you just need to split kindling.

btw, O&E has been an awesome place.

I sit down a few times a week and catch up with my ‘Internet friends’ on youtube. Tim and Kelsey, HFP, my other overland peeps.

It’s cool to know you people. It’s fun to watch your videos. It’s awesome to be able to chat.

Thanks HFP for making the space.

nermal > HammerheadFistpunch 01/10/2019 at 13:54

4

They’re too busy dumping cash into their video production team, only to post a buncha videos on the Youtube that get <1k views. There are channels for all of the Gawker sites, and their view counts are reflective of the quality.

It’s kinda sad, there are some extremely talented jellopnik writers that are capable of writing extremely good articles - See any of the long-form, story-driven ones that are posted every once in a blue moon for proof of that . The ongoing problem with the Gawker properties is that they suck at actually making $$$. This results in either layoffs or talented people leaving to get paid more elsewhere. 

shop-teacher > HammerheadFistpunch 01/10/2019 at 13:54

1

Agreed on all counts.

“More David Tracey and Andrew Collins period.”

Especially that.  

TorqueToYield > HammerheadFistpunch 01/10/2019 at 14:06

0

NYC is a surprisingly great driving city i f you have a bit of local knowledge. There’s nothing like hitting miles upon miles of green lights going uptown. And except for Manhattan the easiest way to get around is normally a car, hell even in Manhattan it can be faster and easier to drive.

MattHurting > HammerheadFistpunch 01/10/2019 at 14:08

1

Agree on all points, but especially on the fact they are based in NYC. It never made sense to me either. No big deal, but it’s just weird.

Future Heap Owner > HammerheadFistpunch 01/10/2019 at 14:25

0

As in, it’s immobilized, or it’s gone?

RallyWrench > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 01/10/2019 at 14:40

1

Wes and IW are still   worth reading on Outside’s site , good stuff. Just did a piece on Thule acquiring Tepui, the RTT company.

HammerheadFistpunch > nermal 01/10/2019 at 14:48

0

I’d complain but my livelihood is people throwing money at my for very few online views. Granted the subject matter doesn’t make it easy, but truly they don’t care.

HammerheadFistpunch > Future Heap Owner 01/10/2019 at 14:53

0

Gone.

HammerheadFistpunch > vicali 01/10/2019 at 14:53

0

Thanks!  I doesn’t get the views it used to put the content is still as good as ever, if not better!

Cash Rewards > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 01/10/2019 at 15:09

1

I'm sorry, "I'm ok with that dot gov" is not currently available due to a lack of funding.

Tekamul > HammerheadFistpunch 01/10/2019 at 15:13

3

Don’t get your hopes up

#LaneSplitter

thejustache > Tekamul 01/10/2019 at 16:27

0

I see I’m not the only one that remembered that coming and going. Jalopnik’s bike coverage is about 95% “riding motorcycles is scary and dangerous” and was only ever slightly better with LaneSplitter. At least there was the hope then that it could get better...

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > HammerheadFistpunch 01/10/2019 at 16:46

0

Yeah... I wonder what we could do to grow the community a little? I like how insulated we are, with generally nice commentators and stuff , but it is very disheartening to work on a post for days/ weeks, only to get less than 2 00 views and a handful of comments.

Future Heap Owner > HammerheadFistpunch 01/10/2019 at 16:49

1