Here at The Truth About Cars, we’d be doing our readers a disservice if they weren’t given an opportunity to chime in about, well, pretty much everything. This is another opportunity to have your voice heard.
In addition to our webpage content — news, reviews, features, rants, and more rants — we’re adding a regular segment on our YouTube page. What’s that? You don’t visit our YouTube page? Well that needs to change, and you can start by taking a look at this.
This is the first of many news videos we have planned for the channel. It’s not just straight-up news, either. The segments will incorporate commentary — Triple A choice cuts from TTAC staff and readers. We’ll be scanning your input throughout the week. (This is an opportunity for your innate cleverness to finally get the recognition it deserves!)
Narrating the segment is Michael Accardi, editor of TTAC sister site GM Inside News. He’s easily recognizable for his enviably lustrous hair, reminiscent of a young Cat Stevens. (Remember, jealousy can make a man say harsh things, so keep the comments respectful and constructive.) Still, every aspect of the segment is open to tweaks. Content, delivery, you name it. It’s a work in progress, and you’re part of that progress.
So, take a peek at this video, which focuses entirely on the goings-on at the L.A. Auto Show, and sound off in the comment section below. What would you change? What would you keep? What’s working, and what needs work?
[Image: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles]
I thought Alex on Autos had the TTAC YouTube name still?
As far as I know, Alex on Autos and TTAC are completely separate now. I’m still subscribed to his channel and enjoy his reviews. I also like Redline reviews.
I like Alex’s reviews (informative, always the same, makes comparisons easier); I just find it odd he still has the /user/TTACVideo handle!
I also enjoy SavageGeese’s videos and Matt Farah’s stuff. There aren’t a lot of other YouTube channels that don’t grate on me otherwise.
I unsubscribed from SavageGeese because he got rid of turboswki.
Matt Farah is great, but he doesn’t make videos on things that interest me. mostly about modified cars. I sometimes watch Saabkyle04. I have been following Sofyan from Redline reviews from his old youtube channel when he was working at dealerships and I really like him, even though he can a bit snobby sometimes.
I think the TTAC handle on Alex’s channel is something leftover, maybe he forgot to change it?
From what I gathered he didn’t get rid of Turbowski but their schedules prevented them from working together.
I could have that wrong, of course.
I get a kick out of the TFLcar crew actually taking crossovers on some fairly difficult terrain (Gold Mine Hill) as well as taking offroad vehicles up some non-trivial trails (Cliffhanger 2.0). The guys aren’t the most technically/mechanically savvy (Roman is particularly obtuse sometimes) but on the whole much better than average. Oh, the “Mr Truck” guy they oftentimes have as a special guest for truck reviews is an utter moron.
Turbowski added very little value. I don’t mind him gone. It was entertaining to see him to hold his own against SG in a race. And his input into what breaks at what cars was occasionally informative. But only occasionally.
Do we have to call it T-TAC in the videos rather than TTAC?
Non-copyright background music is a bit too loud!
Background behind Michael is too plain.
Summaries are a good idea to encourage YouTube engagement though.
I thought it was always tee-tack. Tee-tee-ay-see is too long.
Literally shaking at these triggering thoughts.
Farago always pronounced it “Tee-Tack” in the old podcasts.
Maybe I was just always wrong about it. :(
“Tee Tack” is much quicker and rolls off the tongue easier. Tee Tee Ay See, is much too long to say. Sometimes saying the individual letters takes longer than the words themselves.
Teegeeack?
I have always called it T-T-A-C in my head.
It’s always been “tack” for me much in the same way that I make no distinction for the second “t” in the word letter, better, etc. Always a blended, singular “t” sound. Tee-tack seems weird, but if that’s how you see it, no worries.
Agree on the background. Something more textured/organic looking or something that gives a sense of space would be better. A comment further down mentions the audio quality. There is a bit of room in the audio which I assume is the issue. With the background looking as it does, the room tone sounds out of place. Putting up some simple absorption using 703 would be an easy fix. Depending on the room size you really won’t need a lot. Put up 4 to start with – 2 opposite sound source; one on each side wall – all at 5′ so it’s at the relative height of the source. That will most likely do the trick unless you’ve got a huge room (20′ X 20′ or bigger).
Just please, don’t become Jalopnik !!!!
talktothehand.gif
Too late!
TTAC has gone FULL JALOPNIK.
Never go full Jalopnik.
12 characters password rule is STUPID. Also not able to remember the account and has to log in almost daily is STUPID.
Otherwise it is cool, I really enjoy the articles from Hammer Time, Junkyard Find, and Piston Slap.
Also the “prove your humanity” thing is broken. Just leave it blank and it works fine.
In a way that proves humanity more than Captcha ever could.
And after I jump through the hoops, stop sending me to the wordpress site!
Disqus for the comments would be nice; it’s much more functional that the WordPress. (Better threading, live updates so you don’t have to keep hitting reload, etc.)
Youtube is better for viewing something new and not so much for commenting unless you are going to police it. I like Disqus too.
Disqus is alright. Hooniverse uses it, since IntenseDebate imploded, taking all the comments with it. :-(
I don’t think I like the idea of another large site feeding my privacy data to Disqus. They already receive too much and we don’t know where it goes.
Ah yes, the “pivot to video.” Good luck with that.
How about getting us a new, less crappy comment system? The one that people keep saying is coming, but we never seem to get?
I’m not trying to be too harsh, but there’s definitely some salt here.
Yes, this. I’m sick of the urls, and comments that run off the edge of the page.
For the video, I’d recommend a better mic and seeing if someone can do a little audio processing. Goes a long way and it’s kind of something you only have to learn once.
For TTAC in general, I’d like to see:
– migration to Disqus
– continuation of sales analysis
– more coverage of the wholesale/retail side of the business
Me? Jealous of Michaels long hair? No, Just no. My hair is blonde and short and I like it that way! :)
So this is just a 5 min video of what I’ve already read. Not sure why I’d want to watch it. On the other hand it’s been a rather mediocre show, so maybe that’s why I’m bored.
Generally I do not care one iota about on-line website video services, sorry. I am a reader, not a viewer.
Please concentrate on fixing the log-in process. Generally I have to make multiple attempts to log -in.
Why do some comments “run” outside the edges of the page?
Why do some links mysteriously disappear?
Agree. If I wanted to watch television, I’d own one. The few YouTube (and other video service) shows I’ve watched took 20 minutes to tell me what I could have read in 3.
YouTube is blocked at work so no can see = not interested.
Just to echo others: would love a move to a more forum like commenting system with signatures, private messaging, ability to link photos, videos, URLs, etc.
My feedback would be to focus on unique, value-add content.
– Plenty of other sites publish press releases and toothless reviews.
– Less content is better than mediocre content (you may want to rethink that video idea)
– Leave the political click-bait and “daily deals” to Jalopnik.
Please don’t lose sight of Farrago’s vision about what made TTAC unique.
Re videos: I do think the “roundup of stuff at a big auto show” is a good place to try video content. This was OK. I’m not a video person however.
Re site in general: I like discussions about working on project cars (ideally beaters). I like write ups that go in depth into technical specs (especially off road). And where are the write ups by gtemnykh? I saw him write somewhere that he submitted some stuff.
More “feature-length” articles.
I really enjoy the type now known as “deep-diving,” similar to what Rogoway and Trevithick do at The War Zone, multi-page affairs with lots of detail and insight. We do occasionally get them here. – I know these are intensive, difficult affairs to concoct – but they’re oh-so satisfying.
already too many reviews on youtube. May be I should start my channel?
I’d rather read an article with pictures instead of watching a video. More information and less time wasted that way.
1) You need to work on the audio. It needs more post processing to clean it up. The number one thing you can do to improve the quality of a video if you’re on a shoestring budget is quality audio.
2) I’m not thrilled with all of the marketing department provided video clips. I’m guessing this is in part to the content you’re covering. I would suggest other video sources.
3) If you watch the news, or almost any other talking head video, your talent is almost never center screen on a blank background. You should offset left and have some kind of graphic to the right, beyond the TTAC bug in the lower left of the video. This is more pleasing to the viewer
4) It’s too long. People today don’t watch videos this long. Break up the content and shoot for 90 seconds.
5) More car reviews in print, PLEASE.
5) More car reviews in print, PLEASE.
Since I’m not thinking about buying a car 365 days of the year, TTAC for me is about wasting time at work while not really wasting time at work. Print has to be the primary focus.
But… if you’re gonna do more videos, Jack has to wear the gold foil wind-breaker and make it his thing.
Jack Baruth has to (mandatory) pose in faux-gold pimp windbreaker, with pomp cane in hand, in front of his MAGA HECHO EN MEXICO CHEVY SILVERADO, as the beginning frame for every one of his (increasingly worse) essays.
pomp cane
pomp cane
POMP
CANE
pompcane
Pimp and circumstance? ;-)
I find well written and argued articles gripping, while videos devoid of both, and therefore very boring. Very well done videos can be truly entertaining, but almost never ‘well written and argued’, so my feedback is don’t waste your time.
Also, what exactly makes GM Inside News “a sister publication”?
Under the VerticalScope umbrella of sites.
Got it thanks!
TTAC Death Watch 2017: The YouTube Monologues
Even KyleSAAB puts out jazzier reviews than that. You guys gotta step up your game. All that wit I read here needs to carry over.
How about “like” and “dislike” buttons?
And turn the place into AutoBlog? No thanks – one of the reasons I left there.
As often as I want to press “like” and “dislike” on ttac, I love the fact that it doesn’t have them. The comments are less of a popularity contest, when compared to other sites.
Like – yes, Dislike – absolutely no. The dumbest idea ever and well-proven to make metrics worthless. Look at Reddit for a great example.
But if would be very cool if TTAC implemented some Trust Metric thing, like sorting. The technology was out there for a while. Implementations exist, almost plug and play. That would make TTAC uniquely advanced among the sea of upvote/downvote idiocy.
You have a YouTube page?
I think TTAC needs to decide what it wants to be. It could be the best, most honest, most literate car site on the internet but it is, instead, failing to play to its greatest strengths as it constantly engages in misguided attempts to “add value” by adding new crapola.
A year or two ago, instead of repairing the log on screen and improving the messaging system, they introduced the TTAC Forum. Judging by the dates on the most recent posts, the only thing that forum adds to the site is the mostly unclicked link in the corner of our screens.
Now it’s time for a You Tube where TTAC’s videos will be an entry into an already overcrowded segment. It is, in my opinion, an effort that will be doomed to perpetual mediocrity. These videos will never get the money or the attention required to make them rise above the fray. Video production is an art and a skill, its damn tough to do and unless you possess substantial skills at the very beginning of the process, you are playing a game of catch up. If you must have video, I suggest that you contract that out or put your brand on someone else’s successful product. Baking from scratch is not playing to your strengths.
Look, I do corporate leadership for a living and, in my opinion, TTAC lacks a well defined mission. It is constantly going along to get along. For years, in an attempt to survive, it has been creating content without any real editorial direction. You are and flailing around in the water and, sooner or later, you will drown. It’s time to pick a direction and start consistently swimming towards it.
Agreed. Once GM went BK and then was saved, and is now doing well financially, there hasn’t been a new, clear mission.
Agreed. Trying to be “everyman’s” car site means that you’ll drop like cars versus CUV’s.
Tom, to me, you nailed it. Among the other points, saying that the site lacks editorial direction (or at least an editorial plan) is something that I have been thinking for a while. There is no clear focus. There is less and less of the things that made TTAC special in the past. It’s sad to see, because this site has so much potential to be the best.
t-tac? No. ttac? Yes.
I tend not to read all the individual articles for auto shows, so doing a roundup is nice. I like that.
Thankfully, youtube let’s me play videos at 1.5x speed, so the pace was easy to address.
Well…He tried. The video seemed forced and contrived. Admittedly I couldn’t pull it off but then again I’m not being paid to either.
Honestly it was just like one of a million other videos one can find on a small to medium volume car blogging site. I guess I expected more out of TTAC. No curse words, no real life insights, it made me cry.
Also the graphic in the lower left hand corner was washed out half the time. You couldn’t read “the truth about cars”.
I hope the dude isn’t butt hurt by these comments but sometimes the truth does hurt. At least my truth.
How about comment threads that are not dominated with comments from editorial staff?
Seconded.
How about ditching comments. It is an idiot wasteland
The sheer irony of this should be enough to maintain the comment board for 10 years.
Aaaand, just in time:
“Yesterday, Disqus CEO Matthew Prince announced his commitment to free speech. Today however Disqus announced that it was being purchased by Zeta Global, a large interactive services company.”
As they used to say on the Internet, LOL. ROFL even.