Thank You For Your Patience

OK, so, it’s been one of those days. The site went a bit wobbly this morning, then crashed like a smart into a brick wall. Only many, many times. The bad news: we’re still not 100 percent on the technical side. The New Content Notification System—which spits out 11k “heads-up” emails when we have a new editorial or review—has been decommissioned until further notice. (I suggest RSS as a stop gap, and I’ll make sure I Twit regularly until normal service is restored.) And yes, there may be more service interruptions in the days ahead. I appreciate your patience and understanding during this time. The good news . . .

We’ve beefed-up our servers, adding one to the cluster. We’re getting ready for Chrysler’s C11 and the traffic spike which may follow. (GM CEO Rick Wagoner’s resignation created a 25 percent surge.) Even better, we have a whole new team tweaking TTAC for the future. Say hello to Ben, who will be tackling all our technical needs from now on.

[FYI: Ben drives a Volvo XC90 like the one above, only probably not quite so red and a 2009 model. Ben tells me he used to buy GM products because he wanted to support North American car makers. But, like hundreds of thousands of others, our new champion grew tired of getting the shaft from a manufacturer who created a substandard product and then refused to make him whole. Should we tell him his Volvo is a Ford?]

The reason for the kerfuffle: TTAC’s been sold to a new owner. I can’t tell you more than that just now, but here’s the bottom line: our new owners have promised that they will not interfere with TTAC’s editorial content.

Of course, if they did, I’d walk. So as long as you see my byline, you’ll know we are fully committed to honoring our promise to tell the truth about cars. No holds barred. All links fully functional. Moving towards a more robust, elegant and user-friendly website.

Again, thanks.