How many of you have given up on the FP?

"SmugAardvark" (SmugAardvark) 08/26/2020 at 22:46 • Filed to: Front Page, Jalopnik

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In the beginning, I was a Jalopnik devotee. I guess that somewhere along the line, my default became to start at Oppo, then eventually work my way over to Jalopnik. Lately though, I feel like it has become more of a start at Oppo, then wander off Kinja completely.

The comments section on the FP has gotten pretty horrible it seems. And yeah, I get it, it’s the internet and people here are generally horrible. But more so than usual, unless it’s just because I haven’t been there much lately. I also feel like a lot of the writers I really liked have moved on to other things. Elizabeth Blackstock’s racing news and Andrew Collins’ adventures are about the only things I really read now. Everyone else seems to just offer hot takes, random nonsense passing for hot takes, or just self-important ramblings.

And heaven forbid anyone commenting have an opinion. I feel like it regularly takes less than 3 consecutive posts before everything devolves into name-calling or otherwise useless crap.

Maybe I’m just getting old. But am I the only one feeling this way, or is that a sentiment that others have found as well?

Anyway, here’s a thing I like. Please don’t crap all over me for liking a thing.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > SmugAardvark 08/26/2020 at 23:03

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Oh definitely. Now I look back at the “Ban Cars” saga fondly compared to what we have now.

PyroHoltz f@h Oppo 261120 > SmugAardvark 08/26/2020 at 23:05

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You’re not the only one, I find myself in the same boat.

I guess it started to get bad once PG jumped ship.

facw > SmugAardvark 08/26/2020 at 23:07

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Not me. I’m not sure I’m reading as much on the FP as I did previously, but honestly I think that’s due to external changes rather than changes in Jalopnik content. I still find plenty there to interest me.

slipperysallylikespenguins > SmugAardvark 08/26/2020 at 23:08

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I haven’t been to the front page more than a few times in the last 3 years. It’s basically a steaming pile of word garbage.

CB > SmugAardvark 08/26/2020 at 23:09

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I think I read one article a week. It’s pretty blah. My dad asked if he should read the site once, and I told him no. I remember there used to be some solid journalism and investigations into some of the weird stuff. Or when Patrick went to jail. Or Stef trying to recover from a concussion. Now? It’s bad takes and nonsense. And excessive swearing for some reason.

BeaterGT > SmugAardvark 08/26/2020 at 23:10

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It’s been several years at this point.

Poor_Sh > SmugAardvark 08/26/2020 at 23:11

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Holy crap, that's like the fanciest poshest modern race car role-playing as a classic. I must have it. 

Nick Has an Exocet > SmugAardvark 08/26/2020 at 23:11

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I’m done with it. I can’t even really post there. They integrated the comments system into the ad display somehow. Either the page is unreadable without the ad blocker but I can’t comment or the page is impossible to comment on because of all the invasive ads.

Not to mention half the articles are some combination of virtue signaling, advertisement, ancient promoted post, anti-car, or political garbage. Torch and Tracy are the only two people left writing legitimate car content anyways, so I gave up. Hopefully they end up at a place that appreciated car content.

Every time they bring in a new boss, I think “maybe this time it will be better”. Nah, just more garbage with bigger ads and more frequent green-new-deal posts. Sorry, did you come for car content? Yeah, that’s on youtube now. We’re here to tell you how to feel guilty for liking dirty nasty cars. Disagree? Good luck, we have an army of commenters to call you some variation of the word Nazi for saying you like V8's. 

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > SmugAardvark 08/26/2020 at 23:11

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Yeah, usually when I try again I regret it. It’s always been that way, not just Kinja times, there are always people ready to get stupid.

jeepoftheseus > SmugAardvark 08/26/2020 at 23:15

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Aye. I began daily FP check ins back around the 2012ish and always loved the best of oppo posts. This morning I realized that it’d been three weeks since I check NPoCP. It’s all gone to hell over there. I stopped commenting there a few years ago after a certain 007 obsessed staffer ban hammered me for calling them out on binge reposting BAT listings with no substance other than “can you believe this!?!?”.  Now it seems to just be a site focused on drowning its readers in ads that have a good chance of being NSFW.

wafflesnfalafel > SmugAardvark 08/26/2020 at 23:16

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Morgan automobiles - the only car company that went directly from making cars from wood to making cars with huge carbon fiber wings, (kidding, sort of...) For whatever reason Jalop seems to be attracting more troll type behavior, not exactly sure why that is. I am not interested in everything they do, but they still have quite a few really interesting things that pop up - lots more enjoyable to me than 94.6 % of other media outlets. Loved Torch’s piece on that goofy VW NHTSA HVAC “illumination” requirement thing. It’s a quirk and a feature.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > SmugAardvark 08/26/2020 at 23:17

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You know how whenever you open up Oppo you keep scrolling and clicking on posts until you see ones from your last session? I haven’t done that with Jalopnik in three years.

blacktruck18 > SmugAardvark 08/26/2020 at 23:17

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The comments are bad, the writers for the most part are barely better. Torch and Orlove are fine, the rest... M y personal favorite, aside from the grammar a nd spelling errors, is when the wri ters argue in the comments.

If thedrive's lay out was better I would probably never go to Jalopnik anymore.

SmugAardvark > Nick Has an Exocet 08/26/2020 at 23:25

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Oh yeah, the ads. I forgot to mention that they’ve sold roughly 80% of the page space to advertisements. I had the site white-listed for ages. While I dislike ads, I still wanted to support the writers and the whole team. But now, the site is almost unmanageable because of the plethora of intrusive ads and autoplay videos.

Of course, running an ad blocker cripples your ability to comment, reply, and even “ star” posts. But perhaps that’s a good thing now that I think about it...

SmugAardvark > PyroHoltz f@h Oppo 261120 08/26/2020 at 23:27

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For sure, there was a steep decline immediately after  he left. I guess things were starting to slip somewhat before that, but it certainly looks like they just chucked the whole thing off a cliff at that point.

SmugAardvark > Poor_Sh 08/26/2020 at 23:28

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If it doesn’t spray hot tea out of the fire suppression system, it’s a real missed opportunity.

SmugAardvark > blacktruck18 08/26/2020 at 23:30

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Agreed. I wish there was a site with the old Jalopnik layout (before the pages were plastered with advertisements in every conceivable spot), and the content of TheDrive. It would be magical.

smobgirl > SmugAardvark 08/26/2020 at 23:30

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Yeah I gave up years ago.

SmugAardvark > facw 08/26/2020 at 23:37

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Glad to hear that it’s kept your interest. Nothing wrong with that. :)

notsomethingstructural > SmugAardvark 08/26/2020 at 23:43

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Someone’s comment on PG is really true. The whole VC buy out blow up in general. Some of it is the car world in general is sorta bleh right now. We got the updated AE86 a while ago, the supra, the NSX, the GTR (also a while ago) , the mid engine corvette, civic type r, the bronco, Ford GT,  the ranger, a new Gordon Murray car... what’s left to talk about? 400z reveal and new BRZ(?) and then...? The car industry feels so incredibly on their game right now it’s like there’s nothing left to talk about. Electrification... But everything else is just the “more of the good parts” when the “ good” was already better than it has been at any other point in my life. There’s just not much to say.

Dead_Elvis, Inc. > SmugAardvark 08/26/2020 at 23:49

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AdBlockPlus, with a little bit of custom script to block Taboola ad garbage, + Edge browser (don’t laugh! the G/O Media universe is the only thing I use Edge for), and not only do I see exactly zero ads, no problems with commenting/replying/starring.

Note: the above is applicable only to my Win10 laptop - attempting to visit via mobile is a whole ‘nother shitshow, except when browsing Oppo.

SmugAardvark > notsomethingstructural 08/26/2020 at 23:51

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All valid points. But there’s so much in the automotive world to talk about other than the biggest, fastest, and newest thing out there. Sure, that’s a big part of it, but I remember when they talked much more about car builds, stories in automotive history, and plenty of other stuff. Hell, I think Blackstone is the only current writer who knows anything about racing (thankfully she knows a TON , but I think she’s only around on weekends ).

Yeah, the ownership changes are a big part of the advertising and other technical issues plaguing the site. But I feel like the push to broaden people’s automotive knowledge has been replaced by a contest of who can say ‘fuck’ the most in an article.

SmugAardvark > Dead_Elvis, Inc. 08/26/2020 at 23:52

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I’m tied to Chrome on my work-supplied computer. But I have gotten around to using Edge more at home. I’ll have to check out the suggestion, thanks!

Nauraushaun > SmugAardvark 08/26/2020 at 23:57

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I still go through it all for car news. The signal to noise ratio has gotten bad though. Comments are a no-go for me.

If there’s a better source of car news I’d be interested :)

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > SmugAardvark 08/27/2020 at 00:00

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Right before the editor change I think was the worst it has ever been. However, actual real content has been on the uptick, albeit with some bad days. Today they dropped that big anti Lordstown Motors post that wasn’t overly political and actually made sense even if it was against something. The comments can be bad but usually only in the political posts.

I've found myself regularly going over there again and somehow I even got ungrayed somehow. It's better than it has been. Not great, but getting better. The ads were never that bad for me for some reason but even they aren't terrible anymore. And autoplay videos start off muted!

Dead_Elvis, Inc. > SmugAardvark 08/27/2020 at 00:01

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Works on Chrome, too, but I’ve got enough other cookie/privacy restrictions in place on Chrome that Kinja just ain’t happening.

Add these to elements your AdBlock custom filters:

cperformmedia-a.akamaihd.net

||taboola.com^

(including the pipes preceding “taboola.com^”)

edit to add: you’ll also need to uncheck “allow some non-intrusive advertising” in AdBlock’s general options menu

Poor_Sh > SmugAardvark 08/27/2020 at 00:02

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Do you think the race team owner rides in the back requesting Grey Poupon from those they overtake?

(Yes I know wrong car make) 

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > CB 08/27/2020 at 00:03

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Torch was better before he developed a potty mouth. For some reason that seemed to coincide with his kid swearing so that should be a wake up call. 

wkiernan > SmugAardvark 08/27/2020 at 00:07

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Since I am no longer in hi-skool I don’t have effortless access to LSD, so the glorious Torchinski is my next best sub sti tut e.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > SmugAardvark 08/27/2020 at 00:12

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Nothing loads. The content is “meh”. Not bad, just kinda more of the same. I get it, David Tracy is a masochist and gets off on rust. Bradley Brownell is that one smug guy in every friend circle who believes himself to be profound but everyone else knows is kind of a douche. Torch, Orlove, Westbrook, and COllins are still good. THe other occasional contributors are fine.

The web design is ASS though. I was looking for the “more stories” button one day and it was buried in the middle of so many ads. On mobile, I try to press things but I accidentally click ads instead. I have to do so many things to get to what I want to see.

The rest of the gawker-verse is somehow even more broken. Kotaku and Deadspin are absolute dogshit, if they load. Oppo is the only reason why I’m here, and the lack of reason to go to other sites is why I’m here much less, among personal life stuff.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > SmugAardvark 08/27/2020 at 00:13

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still skim every now and then. Miss Stef, fancy Kristen, Tyler. With a lot of articles seeming shorter and shorter I’d be curious to know the workload requirements of the writers from 2012ish to 2016 bankrup tcy to 2020.  

shop-teacher > SmugAardvark 08/27/2020 at 00:27

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I love Andrew Collins’s adventure stories, Torch’s ... Whatever that is, and David’s insanity. There isn’t much else I care for anymore. Even NPoCP is now “Nice Price or No Dice.” I don’t know when the hell that happened, but I noticed it a few weeks ago and rolledy my eyes  really hard at that bit of neutering.

I personally think Elizabeth Blackstock is a terrible writer, and was genuinely angry that they rehired her. I’m not the type to trash anybody or complain in comments, but since we’re talking about FP writers, I’ll go ahead and say I don’t think highly of her writing.

They should have rehired Stef!

SmugAardvark > shop-teacher 08/27/2020 at 00:43

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I think Blackstock’s first tenure really showed her lack of writing experience. But I’ve got to say, this go-round has been MUCH better in my opinion. While I don’t agree with all of her opinions, her racing knowledge is commendable, and seemingly in short supply around the site these days.

But yes, they definitely should rehire Stef.

SmugAardvark > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 08/27/2020 at 00:45

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I refuse to read Deadspin anymore. The site was gutted of intelligent discussion and replaced by a combination of bad takes and worse takes. And yeah, the current iteration of Kinja is abysmal. Just straight up garbage. Anything of value in the design has been pulled in favor of more ad space.

SmugAardvark > Poor_Sh 08/27/2020 at 00:46

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They’re all British, so I think it plays.

sony1492 > SmugAardvark 08/27/2020 at 01:20

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Jumped ship a while back when the ads got excessive. I’m always on mobile and right now its a crapshoot if/ when the comments will load. And that’s important because the content is usually n ot entertaining or of much note, the only reason to go is read bad takes in the Morning shift, or after a shitstiring post.

I spent alot more time over there when foxtrot alpha was posting regularly along with more motorcycle content. Independently the  internet will lead me to genuinely good jalopnik articles, but they’re always 4 -8 years old

MiniGTI - now with XJ6 > SmugAardvark 08/27/2020 at 01:29

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I LOVE a Morgan, any vintage any style.

SmugAardvark > MiniGTI - now with XJ6 08/27/2020 at 01:38

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As do I. Straight up gorgeous cars. I really think that as long as my next house has the garage space available, I’m going to pick up a 3-wheeler (unless I somehow find an incredible deal on an Aero).

SmugAardvark > sony1492 08/27/2020 at 01:39

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Same here. Really, some of the best, most insightful and well-written stuff was the offshoot sub-pages.

RacinBob > SmugAardvark 08/27/2020 at 01:41

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Ooh Gingerman! I wasn’t bad in turn 1. Since this is a cars forum here’s 10 minutes of me racing there. ....

SmugAardvark > RacinBob 08/27/2020 at 02:07

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Thanks for contributing! :)

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > SmugAardvark 08/27/2020 at 04:45

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ewww a morgan!

team boatley me :D

but yeah...i barely check the fp nowadays........its gone down hill hard..

Berang > SmugAardvark 08/27/2020 at 05:23

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You need to comment and fave (bookmark/save whatever they call it now) the articles you like if you want to see more like them.

Berang > shop-teacher 08/27/2020 at 05:26

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I would guess the renaming of NPOCP has to do with the recent twitter discourse about “crackhead” being a racist stereotype. Not that it really changes anything so far as the conten t is concerned.

Berang > SmugAardvark 08/27/2020 at 05:28

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I liked this one recently :|9

https://jalopnik.com/the-forgotten-story-of-cadillacs-brass-era-vtec-1844463416

Ssfancyfresh > SmugAardvark 08/27/2020 at 05:37

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I gave up on the front page shortly after the herbs took over and polluted the experience with intrusive advertising. The editors break up the body text   in order to have an advertisement appear every 4 lines or so. And god forbid you scroll far enough to get a pop up ad with video and sound.

Peace out jalopnik.

Napoli > SmugAardvark 08/27/2020 at 06:29

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All of the anti-Tesla clickbait articles killed Jalopnik for me. 

shop-teacher > Berang 08/27/2020 at 07:10

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I don't Twitter, so I'll take your word for it.

old-busted-hotness-still-cant-comment > SmugAardvark 08/27/2020 at 07:23

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It’s always been a clusterfuck, but the content used to be worth it. Not so much anymore. My adblocker is at redline, 100+ pieces of bullshit blocked and they still sneak some in by calling it content.

Blackstock’s racing content is very welcome, though. Much better than the previous weekend fare of “I saw this car. I took this pic. I don’t know what this car is but I like it.”

Oh, and I changed browsers so I could see the comments. Kinja won’t recognize my old password so I’m back in the grays over there. But fuck it.

Wallaby > shop-teacher 08/27/2020 at 08:31

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You didn’t even mention Eric Shilling who is as far from a car guy as it’s possible to be. He also habitually abuses the use of commas which leads to some truly horrible sentence structure. It’s actually k ind of shocking for someone listed as an editor.

shop-teacher > Wallaby 08/27/2020 at 09:21

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He mostly writes articles I don’t bother to read, so I didn’t even think of him.  I like racing, so I’ve read a lot of Elizabeth Blackstock’s articles.  Very rarely do they serve anymore use than to remind me to check racer.com instead.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > SmugAardvark 08/27/2020 at 09:29

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What in the most unholy of design ethos is this unreadable bullshit:

A Boy and His Longtail > SmugAardvark 08/27/2020 at 10:05

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I check occasionally now. The Drive has become my new FP. If it wasn’t for NPOCP (wait, NPOND now), Torch’s sometimes interesting stuff, and David Tracy’s misadventures, I’d be gone. If one of those goes, that’s probably the end for me.

NYankee1927 > SmugAardvark 08/27/2020 at 12:43

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I really only go to the front page when I’m bored to shit stir in the comments section . There is almost nothing I agree with in the articles and I find them to be stunningly low quality. I’m only there for Tracy and Torch adventures.

SmugAardvark > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 08/27/2020 at 18:16

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Yeah, not only is it over-crowded, there’s no way of telling how recent an article is. AV Club went to the same format, and some of the articles on their front page are several years old.

SmugAardvark > Berang 08/27/2020 at 18:18

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Indeed, it was a good read. But I feel like those are few and far between these days, when you used to be able to find multiple quality write-ups on each page.

SmugAardvark > farscythe - makin da cawfee! 08/27/2020 at 18:19

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I love all the sexy British cars.

RacinBob > SmugAardvark 08/27/2020 at 23:21

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PS, I was probably giving up 30 Hp to the Probe....

Chariotoflove > SmugAardvark 08/27/2020 at 23:50

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You’re journey is pretty much mine. The FP used to have a better class of riff raff commenting because the material was in general better. But as they’ve cycled through editors, their standards for what constitutes content has deteriorated. I very seldom click on there anymore.

SmugAardvark > RacinBob 08/28/2020 at 18:19

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I really need to do a Lemons build. I keep talking about it, but never actually see it through.

RacinBob > SmugAardvark 08/29/2020 at 14:51

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Its a lot cheaper and less stress to do a Lemons buy than a Lemons build. 

SmugAardvark > RacinBob 08/29/2020 at 18:13

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That’s undoubtedly very true. But to me, half the fun is to see the project go from start to completion. Plus, when you’re talking about competing on a shoestring budget (at least in the relative terms of auto racing), I’d hate to find out where the builder cut corners to save some pennies while I’m out on the track.

Of course, there are some things I’d have to farm out, like roll cage construction and ensuring safety requirements go above and beyond the minimums. But unless I was very familiar with the builder and their processes, I’m fine with busted knuckles, mild burns, and the like.

On the other hand, I still have the occasional nightmare from my Spec E30 build, and that was more than a decade ago...