Oppo QOTD: How did you first find Jalopnik?

"Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis" (Dwhite95)
12/18/2013 at 17:01 • Filed to: None

VS post below got me all nostalgic. I went the long way to finding Jalopnik. Spent at least a year or two watching Fast Lane Daily, I remember when they got rid of Derek D for a week and it was a major bomb, a lot of drama for a youtube at the time. At the same time I was reading a lot of Autoblog. Then I came across this article about an author who bought an old IH truck back in 2010. Great story, find it !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! Well, a lot of the comments involved about how this story belonged on Jalopnik due to its personality. So I checked it out, and the rest was history. So, how did you guys find this place?

DISCUSSION (57)

SpeedSix > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 17:04

I believe I was looking up something (I don't remember what exactly) online and I came across Murilee Martin's Down on the Street series not long after it finished up. After reading a few articles, my attention was caught by the sidebars and I looked through other articles and got hooked.

dogisbadob > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 17:04

I actually found it from an article about exotic car rentals, back in 2008.

FLD is awesome.

phenotyp > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 17:05

Right around the time of the infamous Enzo crash . Late 2005-6. Jalopnik became a daily read around then.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Hoccy > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 17:06

I think I made a user here when they were making a DLC pack for Forza 2 or something, but it's so long ago I can't really remember correctly.

Goshen, formerly Darkcode > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 17:06

Via a link in some shitty forum I used to read. Late 2011. I'm such a newb.

scoob > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 17:06

I believe it was this article that got me onto Jalopnik. Loved this place ever since.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Leadbull > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 17:07

Chris Harris said something about "Jalopnik" on /Drive. I think it was related to his Ferrari article. Anyway, I was curious, so I looked it up and quickly fell in love.

chilidog > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 17:08

A guy I know posted on Facebook something like "Our Lemons car made it on Jalopnik!!". I had never heard of this funny-sounding website, so I checked it out.

And I was hooked.

Sn210 > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 17:08

Twitter actually. It was the only thing I liked about twitter. Switched to Oppo because of more stories and content.

BarryDanger > SpeedSix
12/18/2013 at 17:09

Same here, DOTS with Murilee... I thought he was a girl for about a month or two.

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 17:09

I was looking for information on the Civic Type-R back a few years and came across an article about a high-po Civic Diesel that they were putting together in Europe. I've been hooked ever since.

DasWauto > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 17:09

Mid 2010, I think, a friend told me about or showed me a post he had read.

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > phenotyp
12/18/2013 at 17:11

Bout the same time for me. Only gained the ability to comment this year though.

Gamecat235 > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 17:13

Through Kotaku and io9.

< <

> >

(I'm a recovering comic book geek, video game addict and lifelong armchair fanatic of the scientific method, and have been reading sci-fi for 30+ years. I've also had a subscription to at least 2 car magazines at any point in time for the last 15 years).

Matt Hardigree > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 17:13

About a week or two after Spinelli started posting I saw an article on Wonkette, a blog I was fond of, announcing that Gawker had started a new car blog. I went back and ready every single article even though they were mostly designed just to fill space. My life changed forever that day.

phenotyp > Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire
12/18/2013 at 17:14

Yeah, I think I commented a few times in like 2007-8, and then pretty much never until about a year ago.

$kaycog > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 17:19

I found Jalopnik during a Google search for info on the Ford GT. I liked the articles, so I read them everyday but never read the comments. One day, while killing time, I read them and was impressed by the knowledge and humor of the commenters. One of the guys (engineerd) had a Ford GT avatar, so I thought I'd give it a try. That was over five years ago, and I'm still here.

It's a "Porch-uh" > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 17:21

I was an avid Autoblog reader for years, then through various shares in social media, Jalopnik articles started popping up more and more. Some articles were awesome, while others I found to be pedantic bitching so it took me a bit to warm to the site (even though the mix of articles is still about the same). It's been a few years since I've been to Autoblog (I had actually forgotten they existed until I started thinking about this). Discovering Oppo (plus being able to post there) has been a big draw back.

zadtheinhaler > BarryDanger
12/18/2013 at 17:23

Wait, what?

Vee Ate Injun > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 17:24

sometime around 2005, 2006. i wish i could remember the article that kicked it off for me...

CAR_IS_MI > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 17:25

I've been here so long, I don't recall.

Vee Ate Injun > BarryDanger
12/18/2013 at 17:29

hah, that's right! he turned out to be a " burly, hairy, sweaty, balding man who doesn't worry about butt-crack exposure when bending over an engine compartment with a Mickey's Big Mouth in one hand and a wrench in the other" (his words, not mine)...

http://jalopnik.com/305947/news-fl…

KnowsAboutCars > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 17:29

I was searching some stuff from Google and came across Jalopnik sometime in 2008 and I have read it daily since 2009 or early 2010.

njp1589 > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 17:30

This article.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

I was on the Miata forums at the time, clicked the link, and found the other articles to be mostly agreeable.

So I stayed.

Vee Ate Injun > SpeedSix
12/18/2013 at 17:30

DotS was cool. i've been meaning to kickoff a similar series here on Oppo. currently gathering material...

zadtheinhaler > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 17:38

I can't remember the exact post (2007-2008 or so), but there was a cross-post from Gizmodo, which I was heavy into at the time along with Lifehacker, but had never bothered to make an account because I was mostly into just skimming the news.

When I got to the Jalopnik main page though, and started reading the comments?

I knew I was home.

Love strange cars? Pine for the lack of manuel transmissions? Trucks that looks like the box they came in? left-field comments from all over the globe?

I've largely transferred to Oppo, as the signal/noise ratio on some FP posts are sometimes worse than /. 's declining years, but I'll still brave the choppy waters. If I'm especially brave and not-right-in-the-head, I'll put on my asbestos jammies and head over to Jezebel to see what I can say without disturbing the hornets.

Simon L > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 17:39

I suddenly got a lot of hits on my youtube video in which I ghost ride a combine harvester, and then people were saying that Jalopnik sent them there. A fortunate day! By the way you dirty-minded people, that's my girlfriend, not my sister.

HammerheadFistpunch > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 17:40

I was on gizmodo working at a tech company back when it was interesting and the commenters and authors weren't dicks, and I saw there was a carmodo...I haven't been to giz for 2+ years but I doubt I have been away from Jalopposite lock for more than 5 days.

Stef Schrader > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 17:43

Shoot, way back in its early days, I guess.

Probably searching for 911s or something, or linked from a friend.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 17:50

I stumbled upon this old post from 2010 about the Alfa 2000 GTV. Back in the days of Project Car Hell and Down On The Street.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Been here ever since :)

area man > Vee Ate Injun
12/18/2013 at 17:51

I started one earlier this year but ran out of gas as I got really busy in the fall. I hope to do restart it next year

http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/tag/in-plain-s…

shpuker > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 17:54

Hell if I remember. Was at least back around 09-10 Potentially earlier. My memory isn't quite that good.

ausgezeichnet > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 17:57

There was some weird Audi promo/contest that you had to go to several different sites like a scavenger hunt or something its been a long time so I don't quite remember all the details. But once I found it, I was hooked for life.

Updated: Tracked down the old email since curiosity got the best of me. It was a promo back in 2005 "A4SumOfTheParts.COM" you had to go to different sites to collect the parts. I could have won a 2005 A4 or a palm treo. Oh the dreams

Vee Ate Injun > area man
12/18/2013 at 18:05

wow, you did some heavy lifting on those write ups. kudos.

mine will be similar, albeit modest-sized compared to yours, but from the perspective of a Jalop living in Los Angeles, a city rich with automotive goodness. i've found some good ones so far, but i have to start carrying my DSLR camera (because iphone pics aren't the best - but you know what they say about "the best camera is...")

area man > Vee Ate Injun
12/18/2013 at 18:12

Thanks, hopefully you're more dedicated than me! It's hard to stop once you start, until you take a vacation and totally throw yourself out of the rhythm.

Victorious Secret > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 18:25

Through Gizmodo, to landmark it a year before their infamous iPhone 4 article.

Just clicking along, procrastinating, there I found something about cars and thought "Oh hey, that looks interesting"

Never looked back. I'm approved on most sites, authored on a few, still come back here. It was too much fun and the people at the time and even today make the entire thing very fun to do, so its never been a hassle. Till recently at any rate, but times change and you go on with it. Sad to say you all will have to find another angry Canadian to fill my void, I should get a medal or something for services rendered.

It has been much funs I think and dare I say very educational. Or slightly educational. Okay, it hasn't been educational at all. But I came and stayed for the lulz and I have never been disappointed.

Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis > Victorious Secret
12/18/2013 at 18:29

Oppositelock - Come for the lulz, stay for the lulz.

Decay buys too many beaters > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 18:35

Through io9, my old job afforded me a LOT of downtime and one day I stumbled across Jalopnik (and then inevitably oppo)

Tom McParland > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 18:48

After I finished reading Alex Roy's The Driver I started looking into his website and stumbled on Jalopnik.

Redd, the RX-7 that could > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 18:52

My friend was really into tech so he followed Gizmodo on twitter, I followed them too and used it to keep up with latest jailbreaking news for my third gen iPod Touch. Eventually, I wandered to the bottom of Gizmodo where all the Gawker sister sites are and saw Jalopnik, I made the connection between this name and a jalopy, and voila! I've been following Jalopnik ever since. However I only discovered Oppo right before the Kinjappocalypse took place.

1337HPMustang > $kaycog
12/18/2013 at 19:08

Ford gt avatars unite!

$kaycog > 1337HPMustang
12/18/2013 at 19:08

Hey, avatar bro! :D

lat0102 > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 19:34

I first heard about Jalopnik when I met Ray Wert a couple years ago

Gaseous Clay > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 19:47

I think it had something to do with some Forza contest. since I'm not one of those asshat painters and I once said something about star wars that annoyed that douche mod from denmark, I had to rely on the contests that guaranteed a unicorn to ever actually see one

Matt Brown > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 20:28

I found Jalopnik through Dan Neil. I shot him an email after some amazing article he wrote back when he was with the LA Times and he mentioned Jalopnik in his response.

I totally forgot about that until just now.

MisterHotshot > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 20:54

I first heard of Jalopnik from the Forza 3 DLC pack they sponsored. I had extreme difficulty pronouncing the name correctly. Jay-low-pin-nick? Whatever. Anyways it wasn't until the big C7 reveal that they released in November 2011 that made Jalopnik a part of my tabs I open up daily on Google Chrome. Been loving this site since.

Krieger (@FSKrieger22) > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 21:32

I think it was some sort of listicle featuring a Subaru Impreza a long time ago. While I've been an active reader for the past few years I only started commenting/oppoing recently...

syaieya > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 22:02

http://jalopnik.com/5556453/the-re… Bored at work one day, looking up something on the S class race car.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Been here ever since.

Agrajag > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/18/2013 at 22:59

A friend, probably around 2007.

Vee Ate Injun > area man
12/18/2013 at 23:01

well, i'll probably encourage people to use the tag and share their own finds, to pick up the inevitable slack i'll leave. hey, i already have a job - don't need another one!

Agrajag > Gamecat235
12/18/2013 at 23:01

What does recovering mean? That you stopped collecting for a while and have resumed, I hope?

Gamecat235 > Agrajag
12/18/2013 at 23:11

I now read what interests me, but not much else, which means not really buying anything new, and mostly re-reading what I have.

I used to devote most of my money to comics every week once upon a time.

Bullitt417 > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/19/2013 at 08:56

Late 2008 was when I first stumbled upon Jalopnik. I honestly don't remember how or what I was looking for but I liked that the editors not only gave their opinions on the subjects but then provided the source material for me to read and form my own thoughts. I became a commentor in early 2009 and have not looked back since.

Crossdrilled > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/19/2013 at 09:57

Followed a link from Autoblog, which I found from a website called Leftlane New, which I found from a website called ConceptCarz which I found from a chick who went to highschool with, who I met after she correctly identified a Koenigsegg CCR form across the room from a printout I had

JohnehGTiR > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/19/2013 at 10:37

I don't think I found Jalopnik, It found me.. in some crazed dream it came to me carried by a 2014 corolla on the back of a unicorn firing rainbows out of its eyes.

At least, that's what I think happened. Not sure really how I found it, but I don't think I've stopped reading it for longer than a week at a time since I did find it.

ChubbaGeek > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/28/2013 at 19:09

For me, it was a Six Degress of Separation type of thing.....big sci-fi geek TV and movie geek, so I read stuff at Blastr all the time. Well, they occasionally post articles with stuff taken Jalopnik's fellow Gawker site IO9, including articles that would be posted at Jalopnik due to being about transportation.

Being a novice gearhead just helped with staying with the site :D

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
12/30/2013 at 23:53

I did a Google search about something many years ago before Jalopnik was owned by Gawker. I think it was something about Russian cars and it might have one of the Project Car Hell articles that came up.

Oh and it's incorrect that Jalopnik was founded by Gawker, as stated on Wikipedia. Gawker bought Jalopnik.