The death of Jalopnik
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I'm callin' it, shutting down Oppo was the final nail in the coffin. Tracy and Torch are the only two writers of value, the rest of em are rank amateurs. I feel bad for the staff in general, but Herb's got it coming. RIP Jalopnik.
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I don't think the dead can die again though lol.
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@midengine Agreed. Unfortunately
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@midengine Rank amateurs can become pros.
I'll be supporting our OPPO alum there (and elsewhere).
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@midengine I feel like The Drive has some of the pre-hogan Jalopnik vibe.
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For some years the place was a jumping off point for new writers. Many of whom did their best work immediately after leaving before succumbing to the pitfalls of Conde Naste money.
So far as bloggers with media credentials go. The only piece missing from hundreds of similar outfits is an audience. Rebooting JalOpponik isn't so far gone if things came to that. Excepting ownership of the Jalopnik name which would require some rebranding.
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I miss the early-ass days of Jalop.... with Ray Wert's stuff and Wes writing random blogs that were sorted vehicle related. It was still real good for a while but the last 2 years have been pretty meh. Not sure where we'll get that vibe from now if ever again.
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I mean, I think @Miss-Mercedes is pretty good. She was one of the most active Oppos in terms of doing outrageous stuff and seeing her actually get paid for that is fantastic.
That being said, I agree, David and Jason forming their own "brand" or whatever kinda confirms this.
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@adamftw The Changli content was good but the video quality was really terrible early on. That really had the old school Jalopnik energy.
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@whoistheleader Yea that was sort-of enjoyable. I'm real hard on video content (because I went to school for it blah blah) and the front page stuff never did it for me. I did enjoy the frightening video updates on instagam from DT on all his shitboxes, I'd watch more of that. He would make a for a good Motor Trend show with some help producing.
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@adamftw said in The death of Jalopnik:
DT... I'd watch more of that. He would make a for a good Motor Trend show with some help producing.
Maybe on German MT. The US is too lawsuit happy for his hijinks. Europe seems to be tightening up the cut of his jib so who knows anymore.
Otherwise, that would be a season to remember.
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I'll probably keep clicking over there once or twice a day, but I don't think it'll be the news and entertainment source it used to be for me going forward.
I really miss the days when Jalop would actually post news. I'm back to checking autoblog, motor1 and netcarshow for news and reviews about upcoming cars and industry news. Used to be I could go straight to jalopnik for the no-bullshit take on whatever was going on that day.
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Jalopnik is dead. Long live OPPO!
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@midengine Bitching about the FP has been an oppo past time since day 1. The more and more time I spent on oppo, the less and less I visited the front page, I think it's because oppo is more geared toward us oppos and the FP needs to attract a much wider audience.
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@stuckmtb said in The death of Jalopnik:
I really miss the days when Jalop would actually post news. I'm back to checking autoblog, motor1 and netcarshow for news and reviews about upcoming cars and industry news. Used to be I could go straight to jalopnik for the no-bullshit take on whatever was going on that day.
Jalopnik was the last stop on that list for me. Motor1 took it upon themselves to buy up a considerable number of smaller news site focused on smaller segments of the motorized vehicles field. From the time that started until now they have made sweeping changes that removed ability to easily use the site or enjoy their content.
Prime example is the photo viewer they use. 1/4 of the screen is slideshow you clicked to open to ENLARGE the photos. Rest of the screen is ads and silly design wankery with their logo or design language writ large across it. This was changed from the best full screen slideshow I've ever seen on the web. Whatever processing they did was just magical when fed photos of impeccably prepared showcars glistening under the lights.
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@MidEngine You know how there used to be that site Hasmaldonadocrashedtoday.com? There needs to be Hasjalopnikpoliticizedthishour.com
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It's not what it was, but as long it get the ad clicks, it will stay on. It may just devolve into a morass of hateful trolls and clueless sniping. A zombie form of life, to be sure, but continued existence...technically.
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yeah, Deadspin is still alive.
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@e90m3 said in The death of Jalopnik:
@midengine Bitching about the FP has been an oppo past time since day 1. The more and more time I spent on oppo, the less and less I visited the front page, I think it's because oppo is more geared toward us oppos and the FP needs to attract a much wider audience.
I think the structure of Jalopnik offered a much needed counter. Handing Oppo's test vehicles was a key turning point in realizing the difference between being a professional journalist and having some ability to convey knowing more than they do about a subject in written form. Once that relationship gained a parasitic element there was no going back.
The hope is some people learned their lesson and temper desires to avoid falling into obscurity. Recent years have seen numerous crippling setbacks with excommunication of Oppositelock being one of the final virtual structures toppled. It will take hard work to recover from this setback in ways that actually move forwards outside corporate security and serious tech infrastructure.
As much as this is the wrong move right now. Creating a My Private
IdahoOppo for exceptional presentation of high level video, writing, and photography by members will be a positive. Somewhere offering the structure under our own guidance members can aspire towards being a part of. -
I don't hate the Front Page at all. I also don't think the writers are bad at all, some are a little better than others, but for those who are new there...remember they may have worked for years elsewhere. I don't read a lot of the content there at all, but part of that is that I have very weird and specific tastes so a lot of it doesn't always interest me.
I'll still be supporting them as there are still a few writers there I really enjoy the work of, and we have to Oppo alumni there as well now!
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@rallydarkstrike
I don't have outright hate for any of the writers but I think some display a significant amount of ignorance and also arrogance as well.I don't have a problem with Mercedes and crew ripping apart that gaudy H2. I DO have a problem when there's a distinct written hatred for pick-ups and full-size vehicles in general. That ain't Jalop.
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FP started dying when Murilee left, and it became a haven for arrogant "expert" bloggers full of wikipedia knowledge, and YT/fb quality commenters.
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@fintail I enjoyed when Alanis or Kirsten would do long form articles. Specifically the Bartstool Sports one was fantastic and showed what good articles are.
Now you get Bradley driving a TRX and instead of focusing on critically reviewing the vehicle, he takes the time to politicize the vehicle and what it stands for. If he took the time to write a separate article and then link it to that review, I think it would have been quite good. Time and place is not the M.O. of some Jalop writers. But that's the way she goes at G/O.
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@nomdeplume Seems to me there's a fairly large hole in the online media universe for a quality auto-news focused website. I hate that I have to go to 12 different sites to get all the news these days, but there just isn't any great option out there anymore.
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@carsoffortlangley Agreed, Mercedes has game however she's very new to the staff. A budding talent all the same
