Someday you’ll boast “I read TTAC before reading TTAC was cool.” Back when the website looked like a parked URL site. When reviewers had to pretend to be new car buyers. When the TTAC’s “take no prisoners” editorial stance was diss-missed as AWAKitude (Anyone With A Keyboard). Back before the site threw auto show Bacchanalia for its loyal readers paid for by firewalled advertising, branded merchandise and TTAC Buyer’s Club car sales. Rewind to now and you’ve got some work to do. Yes, you.
First, get off your literary ass. Your comments have demonstrated your ability to kill, crush and destroy misguided, misinformed and mentally misaligned malcontents. As Rafiki would say, it is time– to move your passionate intellectual insights from our award winning comments section (if there was such a thing) onto TTAC’s editorial pages.
TTAC now publishes some ten 800-word articles per week: seven rants and three reviews. Our site stats indicate that you read most everything we publish. Don’t you know it’s karmically dangerous to snipe at our work without once putting YOUR fully-fledged ideas about the automotive industry in the cybernetic cross-hairs? Email Managing Editor frank.williams@thetruthaboutcars.com for TTAC's Writers' Guidelines.
Write a rant. Start by turning your “WTF were YOU thinking?” comment into a fully-fledged rip-post. Or write about something that’s been pissing you off since Wheels were Hot. Contrary to popular belief, there is no TTAC “party line.” Want to start a GM Recovery Journal? Game on. Think Greens are a bunch of hypocritical proto-fascists? Tell the world. Consider global warming a more dangerous threat than the Mustang GT500? Just check the topic with Frank (for duplication and libel), and then let loose the canines of conflict.
I know: you’re not a professional writer. No sweat; your passion is enough. All but a handful of our scribes are gainfully employed doing other things. Ask the guys and gals who pour their heart and soul into their work for this site: I’m a kick ass editor. If you can write something halfway decent, I’ll Hunter S. Hemingway your text until it goes from zero to apoplexy in one paragraph. And you have the right of final approval.
Next, buy some TTAC swag. Remember those stupid rock and roll T-shirts you bought, feeding the band’s cocaine habit just to prove how hip you were to total strangers? Well it’s time feed our writers’ beer budget just to prove how hip you are to total strangers. The TTAC logo may look a bit like a prison tat, but the motto kicks ass. Show me another license plate frame that flaunts your knowledge of a dead language (hint: “the truth conquers all”), refers people to a way cool website and doesn’t advertise some skanky car dealer.
TTAC T’s are excellent quality and so not gaudy. The TTAC mug tells the world you’re no mug. The mouse pad asks the rats what they’re made of. Yes it’s expensive stuff. But TTAC can’t lose on the deal (no inventory costs), we make a few bucks per purchase and you’re not that pimply-faced teenager who depended on his/her parent’s largesse to make a bold counter-cultural statement. And if you can think of another deeply desirable item we should be selling, share it with the group below. (Check back on our selection from time to time.)
Speaking of sharing with the group, you’re an automotive alpha. Friends, family, co-workers and bored strangers on flanking bar stools depend on you for car buying advice. Eventually, we’ll have all the info they need to buy a car. Eventually, you can hook them up with an independent car broker through the TTAC Buyer’s Club. Meanwhile, email a link.
In fact, anytime you read something on TTAC that makes you eject coffee out your nose, email the TTAC link. By the same token, anytime you read a review or rant that makes you wonder what ignorant mind could assemble such fetid tripe, email the TTAC link. And anytime you leave your cubicle to go to the can, come back and email a TTAC link.
In the last five years, TTAC’s explored strange new viewpoints. We’ve sought out controversial ideas and sacrificed sacred cows. We’ve boldly gone where Edmunds, Car and Driver and The Detroit News have never gone before. Now it’s your turn. Write for us. Buy from us. And tell the world that TTAC is here. Tell them we’re hungry for the truth.
The bard said small curs may not be regarded when they grin; but great men tremble when the lion roars. I say I'd rather face a single lion than a really determined pack of curs. Anyway, you do your part to increase our ferocity and we’ll do ours. Fair enough?
I would just like to say that I’ve been reading this site for 3 or 4 years and you guys do a great job. I will do my part! Keep up the good work.
When will stock options be divvied out?
Most assuredly you don’t wish for me to write the GM recovery journal.
I’ve spent a little over $12k on a 1999 Suburban with 85k miles to keep it running.
I would love to write an editorial. Just think, my first published article. Acclaim and fame would follow. Oh well, dream over.
I would absolutely love it if someone started to do a “GM Recovery Journal”. I think it would bring a nice point/counterpoint to the site, and also maybe change the perception of the site somewhat too.
I may even try my hand at an editorial as well… A secret dream of mine has always been to work for a car rag …
Well worth the effort in all areas to keep this site vital.
And I think a bunch of small curs growling can be pretty scary.
Also, everyone should remember that you can view the site in the current new form or the “classic” form by clicking on the little word classic on the top right of the pages. That gives you purely sequential articles and the plain-jane nothing but the truth format you’ve come to appreciate.
I just noticed the “classic” form is back! My TTAC has returned!
Thanks for adding this.
Window stickers of some kind. Honestly, automotive alphas don’t put bumper stickers on their cars. But a window sticker would be cool.
And do I actually have to point this out, but a keychain?
I’d like to see a GM anti-death watch too. I tried to get their PR department interested and that didn’t exactly go over well. (DW #109)
Someone outside of the RenCen could make it happen. Or at least give it a shot.
“I would absolutely love it if someone started to do a “GM Recovery Journal”
I’m not all that fond of fiction works anymore, personally ;)
New TTAC Slogan
“The Truth, And Nothing But The Truth.”
It’s certainly been a while since I took Latin, and I know technically word order doesn’t have to matter in Latin, but shouldn’t it be “Veritas omnnia vincit”?
TTAC Classic, yes!
Although I’ve already purchased a bumper sticker with the license plate logo, I’m awaiting t-shirts and other merchandise with the Classic typeface, please: Avant Garde Demibold.
BTW, TTAC is up to number 3 in Google rankings, but is stuck there behind the Tobacco Technical Assistance Consortium and a Virginia state education training program. The phrase “TTAC” permanently on the home page somewhere instead of in a review or editorial might help, any webheads know better how to goose Google rankings without getting the smackdown?
Robert – I’m sure I can find some TTAC swag that will light my lamp, or at least give you the impression that it was the swag that did it.
In truth, I read your site because it is not about the corporate PR one finds in paper ‘zines, but represents a variety of real-world opinions about cars written by people who obviously enjoy them. I think that a reader section, beyond the individual replies to specific reviews, could be cultivated into a real voice of the car-knowledgeable community. And somehow, it would be nice to think that there is someone at the various manufacturers who will listen to these voices. All of us, because of our obsession with things vehicular, are I’m sure frequently asked for opinions by our friends, colleagues and neighbors about “What car should I buy?”
Much as I like enthusiast cars, it is apparent to me that the “right” answer for many people does not need to be a car that I would buy, but one which is suitable for their needs and their personal likes. An excellent French mechanic I know told me recently that, as much as he loves the character of european cars, he frequently tells customers who solicit his opinion that they should just go to the Toyota store and find a model which does what they need. He says this not because he thinks that Toyota meets the needs of everyone, but because many folks are just looking for reliable transportation that works well, and Toyota has done an excellent job of meeting this need.
So opinions about cars should be written to highlight those things that a particular car does well, as well as those things which it does not do well. As much as I love my recently acquired BMW 335i, I have friends who find the latest in electronics a far higher priority than I, and for these people an Acura, Infiniti or Lexus is likely a better choice.
You have obviously struck a chord among the enthusiast community, and I think that soliciting longer opinions from your readers (“rants” if you will) will make the site even more vital and more pertinent to the car business.
Most of all, I think most of us secretly hope that GM or Ford or Chrysler will actually figure out that passion, and not accounting, makes for great cars. And that as much as the advertising types may dislike the idea, the American public is interested in finding the best product for the job, and not simply to buy what marketing tells them they should buy.
As the Aussies say, Goodonyamate!
Just don’t dumb the site down to the level of Car Domain.com with its zillion photos of tiny cars with large wheels and sound systems that cost 20 times more than the car might retail for.
I recommended this site to a guy who runs the swap meet in Reno, during Hot August Nights. He reported that he found it “hard to navigate.”
It might be a good idea to reconsider how things are indexed; and to index the past editorials, according to topic, in a manner similar to how the reviews are archived under make.
The poster who mentioned a window sticker is correct. One that might read thus:
TTAC: the best place on the web to find out the truth about any car you want.
So… let me get this strait… your logo is a car tag, but you don’t actually offer a car tag?
Brilliant!
Also, I’m not sure that Latin was the right choice for the motto. I guess if your goal was to have people have to ask the purchaser what it means as to give said purchaser an opportunity to tell them about the site, then I guess that’s kick ass… but still kind of lame, if you ask me.
I believe something funny/catchy/memorable would have served you better… or even something inflamatory… like ‘Your car mag blows’.
Perhaps this would be a good topic for user suggestions/voting/etc.
BimmerHead:
So… let me get this strait… your logo is a car tag, but you don’t actually offer a car tag?
Unfortunately, that’s an item CafePress doesn’t offer (yet). I’ve put in a request for car tags, plus travel mugs and key chains. I don’t how responsive they are, but hopefully they’ll add them soon.
I’d love to give a perspective from Detroit. Please respond with details of your health care plan, pension plan, overtime policy, and coffee allotment.
labrat:
I’d love to give a perspective from Detroit. Please respond with details of your health care plan, pension plan, overtime policy, and coffee allotment.
Be careful what you ask for. I just emailed you a copy of the Writers’ Guidelines.
Oh… and as for benefits:
Health care plan – Our utmost sympathy when you’re sick
Pension plan – Whatever interest your bank pays on whatever you save from the $50/article
Overtime policy – We’re in favor of it (overtime)
Coffee allotment – As much as your $50/article will buy at Starbucks
Angry and snarky isn’t the same thing as telling the truth. I haven’t read the writers guidelines, but from reading the results it seems that a holier than thou, dismissive attitude must be in there somewhere. Whilst amusing at first, it gets old and really isn’t relevant to the vast majority of enthusiasts or casual car users. At this moment in time, Consumer Reports comes closer to the goal of providing the truth about cars, at least in the area of reviews. They even have real test equipment and comprehensive reviews, not 800 word mind dumps. A shopper could read every single car review posted to ttac and not come away with a shortlist of cars to consider for their particular needs and desires.
Desperate editorials begging readers to help bring in more money are also not exactly a top drawer marketing technique. Don’t you criticize Detroit automakers for guilt tripping customers into buying their “American” products instead of having the product proudly stand on it’s own?
Perhaps you need a “submit a story” link somewhere on the site. I think a lot of people hesitate to ask about submitting a story because frankly the writing here is so good it’s intimidating.
All I’m looking for is a general format FAQ type thing. Before right now, I didn’t know the finder’s fee was $50. I’m assuming it’s still an 800 word limit, right?
For me, all I can review is crappy rental cars I get for work, does that pass muster? What if my temporary chariot is the latest generation, but a year or two old?
Anyway, I’d like to try my hand at writing something. So what do I do next?
jthorner: Correct: being angry and snarky is not the same as telling the truth. But you're comparing apples and oranges: style and message. One can tell the truth in a variety of different styles. As the post above states, we're catholics in that regard. If you (or anyone else) wants to tell the truth in your own inimitable fashion, you are most welcome to do so right here, right now. That said, yes, there is a TTAC house style. I make no apologies for that. If you think there's too much anger therein, well, fair enough. But it is my firmly held belief that intellect is nothing without passion, and vice versa. I'd rather our content be angry than boring. As for car shopping, again, you're right: there is more buying information at Consumer Reports and other automotive websites than at TTAC. (At least at the moment.) So? We have a different mission: to provide our readers with a look at the "soul of a new machine." Whether we succeed or fail, in your mind or others, that is our goal. As for "desperate editorials begging readers to help bring in more money," I don't see it that way. I'm inviting readers to "invest" in our progress– and get some branded goods! Whether they do so or not is their personal choice. There is no "guilt trip" involved. Anyone who prefers to hang onto their hard-earned cash or read a different website– and it sounds like you fall soundly into that category– is free to do so. At the end of the day, we're no different to Detroit. We stand or fall on the quality of our product. Which is exactly how it should be.
Aeroelastic:
I’ve sent you the guidelines. Anyone else who wants them should email frank.williams@thetruthaboutcars.com.
Frank will give you the inside dope on which cars we need reviewed. In general, with certain caveats, rentals are OK.
Never mind about writing quality. As I said in the previous comment, passion is the key. The writing process is collaborative; I’ll make sure the prose is angry and snarky enough to piss off the likes of jthorner.
RF-
Thanks, this is gonna be fun!
Desperate editorials begging readers to help bring in more money are also not exactly a top drawer marketing technique. Don’t you criticize Detroit automakers for guilt tripping customers into buying their “American” products instead of having the product proudly stand on it’s own?
Do you really think we should go there?
1. We are a small group of enthusiasts publishing on the Internet in our spare time.
2. They are multi-national corporations with thousands of full time employees in Marketing/PR, some of which draw huge salaries.
Yes, I think we can do what we do and criticize Detroit for doing the same.
What the heck I’ll email Frank and maybe I’ll take a stab at it. Although opinions are just that, one advantage to this site is that it offers real world perspectives. We all have our own tastes and needs and a generic autoreview seems just that generic.
I will buy a good size (400mL to 500mL) coffee mug that is at least 3″ in diameter (so I can stick my hand in to wash it) with TTAC’s classic logo.
There might be value in writing a marketing case study based on the TTAC plan. You know, one of those Harvard Business Review things you read in MBA school. And then creating a brick-and-morter consulting business based on the knowledge acquired running TTAC. Seems more lucrative and plausible to me.
RF — Thank you for this mass-invite. Like another post said, I have always had an interest in writing, just too intimidated to do so because of the talent and expertise on TTAC. Now I will give it more serious consideration.
And I love the TTAC gear. My suggestions:
– Travel mug – low end (price conscious, maybe a set of two)
– Travel mug – high end (stainless steal, high margin)
– Golf Balls (again, both low and high end: Titleist NXT & Titleist Pro V1, or Nike Mojo and Nike One)
And thank you for the return of the “classic” view!
I just received my bumper sticker (to be affixed to the window) and plate frame. It’s good quality stuff that you shouldn’t be hesitating to order.
Now for the deep question; Which item goes on the 2002 and which goes on the Mazda3?
Love the site. I have a suggestion on TTAC logo merchandise: Can TTAC logo bumper sticker be offered as a magnet or glass cling? I have a new paint job, won’t do stickers.