Due to overwhelming (negative) reaction to the choices we made for Monday’s logo poll, we are starting from scratch but this time with professional graphics designers. Several have expressed a desire to offer their services, gratis, for which we are eternally grateful and we hope to provide the winner with something. I’m thinking a permanent, prominent link on TTAC to their portfolio or business site and the glory and recognition that goes with being “Designer to TheTruthAboutCars” or somesuch. I digress.

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I present to you the results of the little brouhaha that I started way back on 3 February. Despite assertions that I was “making a mountain out of a molehill,” I feel it is important. I like standardization because it makes life easier but I also recognize that on a site like this, with its mixture of news and opinion, standards may have to give way to flexible guidelines. Spike_in_Irvine commented, “There is always tension between saying what is right and saying what is commonly used,” and I agree. I personally like the use of “torques,” “ponies,” and Farago’s occasional many flourishes of French because it adds personality. But, I won’t let it get out of hand; and, I will ensure that a review or news item contains the proper terminology.

One hundred people answered the survey. Survey says . . .

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Google Analytics provides an interesting look as to how visitors reach a website. I’d like to give our B&B some examples of how others (those who do not subscribe to the RSS feed or those who’ve not bookmarked TTAC) come our way and you’ll find the reason near the end of this post.

Below is a selection of the most interesting “entrance keywords” in the hope of giving you an insight in to the psyche of the non-B&B. Consider this: TTAC receives orders of magnitude more visitors than we have registered users. And, of registered users, a relatively small percentage are active participants (guest writers and active commenters), a.k.a. the Best & Brightest.

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The Baltimore Sun reports on a car that exceeded 210mph on a track in Ohio.

What goes 0-60mph in 1 second, has 2,400 horsepower, and gets 10mpg on regular pump fuel? The world’s fastest-to-sixty, street-legal car: a Chevy Corvette Sting Ray.

The Truth About Cars presents news and opinion in an informal, conversational manner. As the site’s freshly anointed copy editor, preserving this style without being too anal retentive is a real challenge. I keep telling myself not to adhere to the rules of formal writing (Strunk & White be damned). This is a new age. The old styles aren’t always appropriate for Web 2.x (and beyond). This internal struggle informs my desire to write the official TTAC style guide. I’m trying to reconcile our contributors’ literary voices with necessary structure and, this is the important bit, community consensus. I want to give TTAC a distinctive, consistent voice in the autoblogosphere, during a time of uncertainty and change. I need your help.