Bark's Bites: Two Hundred Posts Later

Recently, our austere Managing Editor, Mark Stevenson, asked what TTAC means to you. This is an important question, for many reasons, the most important of which may be this: every automotive blog/website has an audience, but TTAC may be the only site where the audience has such an active role in “steering the ship,” as it were.

I’ve been here for nearly five of these fifteen years as a contributor, with over 200 posts to my (dis)credit, and for considerably longer as a reader. And while you can find my writing elsewhere on occasion, TTAC is, without question, my home. I was quite pleased to see that many of you said that “Bark” was one of the things you wanted more of ( well, not all of you), so I’ll do my best to live up to your high expectations.

Henry Ford once said that if he had asked people what they wanted, they would have wanted a faster horse. Well, we’re beating the holy hell out of this horse, trying to get it to giddyup. Here’s what I’ve learned about TTAC, myself, and the B&B in the process.

Honesty is the best thing we’ve got going for us.

Nearly everybody said that they wanted more reviews. Believe me when I tell you that writing reviews is my least favorite thing in the whole world to do, especially if the review is the result of a press event. Everybody’s reviews hit at exactly the same moment (as soon as the embargo lifts), and finding something unique to say about the car can be difficult. Every person gets exactly the same OEM-approved experience in the car, on carefully crafted drive routes.

That’s why I love Rental Reviews. I don’t get a press kit. I don’t get a branded hat and water bottle. There’s no drive route. No excuses about “pre-production” cars. I just pay my money and take my chances. I understand that some of you object to the fact that I don’t follow any sort of review format on Rental Reviews, but I like it that way.

And while it’s true that I’ve probably skewed slightly more negative than positive on reviews, I want to make sure that we remember that honesty goes both ways. I don’t mind reviews that fawn all over cars — if they deserve it. But if a car gets praise from me, you can guarantee that it’s good. It’s like the difference between your mom telling you that you’re great at football and your old-school, tough-as-nails coach congratulating you on making a great play.

So I’ll keep getting my hands on cars any way that I can, and I’ll keep telling you the truth about them — even if they’ve got a Ford badge.

Everybody says no politics, but…

I get it, I really do. You come here for a bit of an escape from the real world, and that includes not having to read about the latest political scandals. However, there’s an inescapable link between politics and the auto industry. The very nature of the current climate suggests that there’s a war coming against the right to drive (excellently articulated here by friend of TTAC, Alex Roy). There’s a big government/small government discussion to be had about the role of the new administration when it comes to Ford/GM/FCA.

What I find to be somewhat reprehensible is the shadow influence over automotive journalism as a whole. Go search some of your favorite autowriters on Twitter, and see how many of them are in full-on crisis meltdown mode over the election right now. I don’t have to tell you who they are — you’ll see for yourself. I’m honest about the fact that I’m a traditional Reagan Republican, and that influences my opinions occasionally. I want higher speed limits, more American-made cars (and yes, I know neither my FiST nor FoRS are Born in the USA), and a rollback of CAFE. These are discussions that we can and should be having, and I think we can do it without calling each other names. Don’t you?

To those of you who asked for more performance driving articles:

You’re in the minority, to say the least. Our trackday reports rarely perform well, and we don’t have the budget to cover professional motorsports to any degree. Contrary to recent accusations, I’m not terribly concerned about the number of clicks any of my posts get — I know when I’ve written something good and when I’ve written something that misses the mark. However, nothing I’ve ever written about performance driving or track events has ever done well. So I’ll make you a deal — I’ll write about performance driving tips and trackday experiences if you promise to read them. My experience probably more closely aligns with yours than some of the other hot shoe driver/writers out there. While I’m an above-average autocrosser and time-trialer, and I can set a fast lap in a car that I’m comfortable with, I’m still very much learning how to race, and it’s all been trial by fire. If that sort of thing interests you, let me know.

Come on, let’s hear it for the fiction.

If you’re relatively new to TTAC, you might not know that we used to run a series called “Sunday Stories.” I loved them. Jack wrote some brilliant things. Thomas Kreutzer penned a tale or two that still stick with me. And, of course, I thought some of mine were pretty good, too. If you wouldn’t mind kicking back and reading a story or two on Sundays rather than re-reading the Friday news items, let us know. (I’m fighting an uphill battle here, guys.)

Maybe I’m biased but…

Earlier this year, at the New York International Auto Show, one of the producers of a popular automotive television show told me that “TTAC has the best and most loyal readership anywhere.” I tend to agree. I know that not all of you love me, but I love all of you. Rest assured that every time I sit down to type out my thoughts on car buying, dealerships, or anything at all, I have you in mind. I’ve met a few of you in person, and I hope to meet many more, but there are literally hundreds of thousands of readers that I’ll never have the pleasure to meet. Doesn’t matter. I still owe you my best, because you’re honoring me with your choice to click on my name. We don’t have to agree on much of anything at all, and maybe it’s best that we don’t. After all, if you only read things that you agree with, how do you know when it’s time to change your opinion?

So to those of you who said you wanted more from me, thank you. For those of you who didn’t, I’ll be doing my best to win you over soon. Stick around, would you? We’ve got great things coming.