We’d just like to remind you that we’re making this up as we go. We’re going to go ahead and just run this as a once-a-week open thread where we update you and you give us feedback. What’s working or not, what you want to see more or less of. We may or may not be able to implement all requests. Remember: for now, this is a hobby, not a business.
We know the whole “images in comments” thing has been a bit wonky, and we’re working on that. Turns out allowing anyone on the internet to upload a file onto your server can pose a bit of a security threat. It’s a matter of getting the right security settings dialed in.
We’re working on the post formatting and image placement stuff, too. We’re running things pretty wide because mat makes for great picture-posting. Too wide for you netbook folk?
If this whole social networking thing is your thing, be sure to check us out on Facebook or Twitter. Feel free to make use of the little “submit to” buttons on the bottom of every post.
If you’ve been contacting us for submissions or tips, we’re getting them. There’s a backlog as we’re spending as much time on the site mechanics as actual content. Kinda like our cars, really…
So yeah, open thread. Let us know what’s up.
[Braff Ninja Edit HAI!]
Serious question for you friends of the Hooniverse… Does anyone out there have any experience with establishing a DBA and a trademark? If you have any info that can help us please email me at Jeff@Hooniverse.com [/Ninja Edit]
What's Up?
About
119 responses to “What's Up?”
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1024×768 laptop at home it looks fine. the page cuts off right at the right side google adsense so it works perfect!
dont change it!-
Same here, only thing I’d wish would be maybe a bit smaller Hooniverse logo because it gets cut too and it’s a shame as its beautiful.
Well…okay, maybe even more ideal from user standpoint would be design where all the interesting stuff (latest comments, photoroll, blogroll,links, archives) are on the left hand side of main story and boring stuff, like ads will be on the right hand side and will be cut as they are now on XGA screen. That would be of course (theoretically) bad for ad revenue and money is something this site needs, so let it be as it is.-
umm… your avatar is great.
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It’s definitely a widescreen-optimised layout (but what isn’t widescreen these days?), and it looks great on my 1440×900 laptop and 1280×1024 desktop alike. As far as the blogroll, tags, links, etc., they’re on the sides at the top, and I like that. Maybe that’s no good for 1024×768, but seriously, who does that anymore? 😛
But you know, if it fits okay on XGA, it’ll work for anybody. I like it.-
me and my rock solid ibm tablet pc do!
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Kudos to you for rocking out with the IBM love! I loves me my T-61 ThinkPad.
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x61 here!
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Our respective laptop and desktop resolutions are identical, SketchMarcler. Are you stalking me?
(note: the desktop is actually 1280x1024x2)
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Hooniverse user profiles would be cool. You know, so we could get a single page view of which posts we’ve commented on. Because you know, some of us have short-term memory issues. Ok, I have short-term memory issues.
Wait, what was the question?
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I like that. Allows people to see some pics maybe of projects, little background.
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I like it too, but I fear it’s still quite a ways away, unless I can figure something out through gravatar.com. It’s not that we don’t want it, it’s a limitation of the WordPress back-end. I’ve been looking into it for a day or so and haven’t got a solution yet, but it’s definitely on the list. Thanks for the suggestion! Glad to know that’s something you guys would like too!
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The whole 403 thing on zooming pictures and maybe add a button for video like you have for pics.
Otherwise, it is great.
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I will see if there is a plugin for videos in the comments.
*golf clap* excellent work thus far, the site isn’t even a month old and the progress is tremendous.
I would try to do something about the visual theme here..(maybe make that Hooniverse banner on top smaller for us discretely coming here from work).
Plus, maybe for now a ticker linking to other sites with interesting news ? I hate to check multiple websites for car news, and I really like what’s going on here so how could those two be merged!? how about a short reflection on various news articles from other car blogs?
(sorry if the post wasn’t organized, i’m just thinking aloud because i finally got that feeling of “blog belonging” back again 😉 )
Less talk, more Spock!
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mmmmm… Spock..
wait.. what ?! -
What about Kirk??
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Can you guys use that top image for the site’s banner?
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No way.. the emblem rules all right now (though maybe we can resize the emblem a bit)
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The format works for me, looks good on the HTPC and the phone.
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Also I’m liking the weekly open thread for miscellaneous BS
It looks great. That means next week you need to implement some new system that will break it for the next three weeks.
You mean that’s not normal? But, that other place does it! Facebook, too!
I have battered commenters syndrome, I think. Hold me!
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C’mere big guy. It’ll be okay. Shhh, it’s all over.
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You won’t give me a star then take it away? You won’t ban me for talking to another blog?
I don’t understand. I don’t get how a car blog can be so…nice. You guys have something up your sleeve. Like forcing that nice Graverobber guy to weekend duty or something.-
No, we won’t do anything like that.
But it’s possible you might wake up one morning to find you’re spooning with Braff. Hope you don’t mind.-
Geez…! So whose c*ck does someone have to s*ck to have to spoon with Braff, anyway…? Elitist autoblogger snobs…!
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Tim’s…
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Uh…
…yeah, I can’t think of a response to that that I’d like to share in a public forum which may or may not be occasionally or frequently read by members of my family including my wife and father. -
See and I think the best part is WHEN my mom reads this stuff! The look on her face is priceless.
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Oh, come on guys, I was purposely going WAY over the top in proposing a very drastic sexual act in order to gain a comparatively insignificant one. It’s like calculating how many dollars to spend to win a nickel-dime toy prize. My ironic thrust was poorly executed. Apologies. No offense intended.
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oh no apologies needed…. it was hilarious, and I am happy to see your mug over here.
You would have to work HARD to offend me… -
Good to hear. I was afraid I’d put Papa-to-be_Science in a spot too far beyond his comfort zone… I hope you all know that I speak from a place of extreme fondness and would never want to jeopardize that friendship. I can, as you all know, push the limits of good taste for a laugh, but it is all meant in good fun.
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no worries Mr Mad Science was just at a loss for a come back is all. My dad reads the blog as well, otherwise I may have commented myself … Braff I will not spoon with you…
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That entire part of the thread made me guffaw.
Good to see you here, Charles! I can’t wait for your brand of humor to meander its way around these parts.
Oh, and “ironic thrust” in this context was also a subtle laughing point.
Happy place man, think of your happy place. That’s it take it easy…
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Damnit Nibbles!
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One more try…
If this doesn’t do it go here
http://cm1.theinsider.com/media/0/35/95/Victoria_Silvstedt_2.0.0.0×0.660×826.jpeg -
You guys…you’re all so…nice! I’d spoon Braff every night to make sure this doesn’t end.
Wait. His wife may not appreciate that. Or mine. But, if they were to spoon, too, … -
Ha!
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Generally, when two lovely ladies are going to be spooning, I request the use of one of these.
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I want a head cam just for my normal every day life!
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I’d like to point out that if I had that on my head and /was/ to spoon with another girl, all you’d see is her lovely head of hair or the entrance to my bathroom, depending on if I was spooner or spoonee.
/I’m basing this off my spooning with guys, calm down y’all. -
The idea is that it hopefully doesn’t stop with spooning.
Yeah, I’ll stop there.
Oh, what footage could I generate with a camera rig like that. Prophetically, Engineerd has aptly dubbed it a head cam…
Images are down today.
Working on it…but can’t fix from work.
Sorry.
NP. This isn’t your day job.
Neerd, you do not need a star because a real star IS a star.
How dare you talk about the almighty star makers like that. They clearly know what’s up, you no longer do or you’d still have a star, haha. I just never knew anything appearantly.
If that is (was?) Nimoy’s car, he’s more awesome than any Trekkie will ever know.
Oh, and keep up the good work on the site! I’m proud to be an occasional contributor.
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Looks like a C2 ‘Vette parked alongside. Ten bucks says it was Shatner’s.
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It definitely was! When I was a little kid I found a used copy of the Stephen Whitfield book “The Making of Star Trek” (Amazon Link) .. One of them told the story of how Shatner and Nimoy went out and bought new cars midway through the first season, probably when they figured the show wasn’t going to get cancelled. I remember distinctly that Shatner bought a then-new Corvette. There may have been an accident episode.
Not a bad book for a 12-year-old Star Trek fan. There were a bunch of original production memos reproduced in it. But I definitely remember the Shatner Corvette story. Wow. I’d forgotten it, too, until I saw the Spock photo up to.
Wait, what was the real question? /Retroactive Threadjack-
-top.
(“There may have been an accident episode” = “One of the other actors might have dinged it in the parking lot, I forget the story.”) Need an edit button! -
Dammit. This is in fact “blueplate”, professional lurker, from the usual Detroit-area bureau.
Apparently a little confused thanks to the afternoon scotch, too. Handle fixed. Now you probably know part of my email address. /wanders off -
Haha… I can fix all that if you want… and I DEFINITELY know your email address now… this is fun!
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You’ll notice a Vette in the left side of this picture in the background.
Wouldn’t surprise me if it’s The Shat’s. -
Okay, If Dr. Spock really drove a ’63 Riviera, then Star Trek can’t be all bad.
I really like what’s been done here in such a short time. Lots of progress, minimal headaches. I will +1 on the user profiles, and the ability to have a list of comments, similar to [REDACTED] so we can see what we’ve posted, and maybe catch up on something we may have missed in another thread. I also think a member garage would be kind of cool, where we (well, not me) could post pics of our (well, not my) projects, drivers, hoon sessions, Boston Terriers, etc.
I will say, although the Clusterfuck crosswalk was interesting to learn about today, I’d like to see Hooniversity focus on cars we may not be super familiar with, rare options on common cars, or maybe interesting facts about cars that many of us may have never learned. Pats on the back for the Craigslist finds, LeMons related posts, and I love name that part, although I’ve not gotten a single damn one yet. Cars You Should Know is also pretty cool, and Braff is bringing some nice road tests to the table. Overall, this is coming alon swell, and I love it. There used to be another site out there that was similarly obsessed with the cult of cars, but they seem to have disappeared. Oh well, great job fellas, and the kinks are coming out nicely.
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“rare options on common cars”
YES. 5-speed turbo Caravan, anyone?-
thank you… i know now my next post.
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Oh, man, what’s with the Trek hate? I am so ordering all eleven movies on Blu-ray like yesterday.
And user profiles would be hella nice, but I don’t think WordPress supports them, the bastards.
No complaints so far. Keep cranking out the awesome, and I’ll try to put together a “pilot episode” for my proposed article series sometime this week. Send me an email if you want to discuss it before then.
Hooniverse… full speed ahead thanks to your help.
I like it. I’m going to go dig out some of my old coffee-table books about the more obscure cars, and see what I can come up with. Stay tuned!
Coming next week:
Nothing but Iso Grifo.
(Actually, I wouldn’t complain)
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Good choice… everybody loves a little Italian/American love child.
Could you guys stop producing interesting content and things I want to read? I keep ending up on Hooniverse in between classes instead of doing work.
But seriously, I remember way way back at that car blog that I stopped reading for another car blog that I have stopped checking so often, they had a feature every week called “Reader Ride of the Week.” I would love to see something like that start up again. Maybe it could draw the already close Hooniverse community a little bit closer?
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Alright, done; a weekly reader’s project car, let’s say. I’ve set up a filter in my email, anyone who would like to be featured, feel free to send me a message on my iMitch-at-Gmail account. I’d be only too happy to do a weekly series on them, but I do reserve the right to pick and choose vehicles based on what I think is appropriate, specifically with the content we’ve got featured that week. (As such, if you have a riced-out Pontiac Sunfire with a massive wing and mis-matched body kit, it could be quite a while before your car is featured. And you might not like what it’s featured with.)
Suggested information:
– When you bought the car, and a brief outline of the story surrounding the purchase.
– Original specifications: Engine, transmission, paint, body style, brakes, rear-end, etc etc.
– Modifications you’ve done
– Specific “spec” you’ve set the car up for: Sports car racing, canyon-carving, straight-line racing, stoplight drag, cruising, dragging your ass to school and back.
– Awards you’ve won.
– Brief story of a notable problem or disaster that has befallen you.
– Your significant other’s opinion of your vehicle.
– Why you keep it despite your significant other’s opinion of your vehicle.
And just include “Project Car” in the subject line so i can keep them all sorted out.-
They used to do this on the Vortex. They still might but I haven’t been there in a while. Anyway, I liked the feature. I just need to get something interesting in the stable to send to you.
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damnelantra™ super-spectacular-sorrow feature!
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This sounds like a good idea, except I don’t think that you would want to feature a base model, un-modified, South African built, Euro-spec Focus.
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My only complaint is there is not enough to keep me busy during my six hours of work when I am not actually working. MOAR articles! And girls on trampolines!
Keep up the good work, I am *almost* off that “other site” completely.
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We’re working on it. I think you’ll notice an improvement in that regard in the next few weeks. 😉 We do have a few changes in the pipeline.
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Excellent, I can’t wait! As I have said I have a lot of spare time on my hands at work. I would be more than happy to help out. Let me know what kind of stuff you like to see and I will get it/research it, whatever.
And I agree with blueplate below, “fringe” is the single best word you could have picked to discuss this site.-
And when I say “discuss” I really, really mean “describe”. Stupid Hoon Pale Ale…
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Oh, shit.
That… was a smiley, wasn’t it? Or, rather, a winky. Damn it, put your winky away…!
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Really liking the progress so far. The “fringe” tagline says it all for me, in the best possible way.
Let me be another vote for a Profile page when time permits.
“I am interested in your ideas and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.”
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I’m still waiting for my brochure in the mail. I keep checking, but nothing with Dearthair on the cover ever shows up.
I’ve got nothing as far as suggestions and very little in the complaints department that has not already been addressed or is in no way the fault of the Bloons (bloger/hoon mixed together)
I’m absolutely tickled this is here and I have a bad feeling about actually getting a job. Something tells me that if they check their world wide internet history, I’m fired. So throw up a Cadillac article every once in a while. It will look like I’m doing “work” of some kind.
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Oh and there is nothing wrong with more Spock, Star Trek, Hitchhikers Guide, roller coasters, booty… you know. Guy stuff.
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I will do my best to channel Douglas Adams… I am 1/2 a chapter away from finishing the final book of the trilogy.
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Would that be the 3rd book in the trilogy, or the 6th?
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The 5th…
(I guess the sixth, but people say Mostly Harmless is not a full book. Salmon of Doubt would have been the sixth…)
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Just don’t prove he exists if you do channel him. Could be trouble.
Has anyone read the new book by the new guy? I’m afraid to.
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“Bloon” Love it! Time to ditch the meme’s of old and create some new!
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Try to use it when you can today. lets see if we can get this rolling.
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So, would correct usage be when blogging about hooney activities online like “I’ve been blooning all day at work”, or is it more like people who hoon and blog? Like “that Prawo is such a bloon, he posts while doing burnouts”?
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Yo dawg, I heard you like to bloon, so I put a computer in your car so you can blog while you hoon!
Sorry, I had to. Besides, doesn’t Dearthair have a mount for his netbook in his car? Does that make him King Bloon? If someone were to bloon in the passenger seat while he is blooning from the driver seat would that be double bloon…or dubloon?
OK, I’m done. -
Uh, and we could award Duh-bloons to exceptional work?
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Google Chrome, and its ‘incognito browsing’ mode, is definitely your friend, even if your local IT goons have a Windows lockdown.
Some people call ‘incognito browsing’ mode, “porn mode”, like looking at cars during work hours is a bad thing.
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That sounds good, but the last place I worked wouldn’t allow an install of anything without admin permission.
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Portable apps are your friend. Portable Firefox requires no installs. Don’t know if Chrome has something similar. 🙂
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Guys, you are doing a great job and I have quickly noticed my browser being pointed here more and more. Keep up the good work and give us a shout if you need help. I’m sure we can pitch in.
Stop asking your readers what they want.
TELL your readers what they want.
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You mean like an upside-down comment system with a weird user hierarchy, less old quirky car content, more political flame-bait, lots of posts only tangentially related to cars that are just a desperate grasp at pageviews and an overall decline in the level of writing?
I’m not that kind of editor.-
So, what you are saying is that you will never change the site to a format that promotes commenter segregation, saying that it is done to avoid trollish comments…all the while posting articles and blurbs that intentionally bring trolls crawling from the wood splits? Rock-on!!!
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so uh… want to spoon?
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Awesome, awesome, awesome! That is all I can say about this place. I absolutely love coming to this place to check out the latest and greatest posts. I have the same obsessive “gotta check in like fifty friggin times a-day to see what’s up” attitude that I used to have when I used to visit that other…you know…that place…the one that…aww forget it, they are dead to me. ANYWAY, you guys are the shit…KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!! That being said, I love the idea of a featured “readers ride”, and the idea of a user profile with a “garage” would be wonderful because I am always up for seeing other people’s prides and joys. I know that it all takes time and effort, so I will be waiting ever so patiently for the added goodness, so take your time…do things at your speed, not ours because I, for one, would continue to visit even if the site stayed exactly like this forever.
I’m loving this so far. It’s great fun, much like someplace else used to be. Keep up the good work, I’ve got no complaints.
This is such a great place! I love everything I’ve seen so far. Even though you guys aren’t getting paid to do this, your passion for things automotive comes through in your articles. I don’t know a whole lot about cars, but I do know that I’m obsessed with them. New cars, old cars, fast, slow, luxurious or crappy, it doesn’t matter. I know just by coming here I’ll learn something I didn’t know the day before. Anyway, my suggestion would be something that was done before somewhere else but was discontinued for some reason. I think it should be called something like The Hoon Warehouse. A wish list of cars that are stored in our warehouse that reflects what this site is all about. I think the Buick Grand National should be the first car parked in our warehouse.
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I’m genuinely hoping you saw the Hooniversity article from last week on the Grand National, or that is the creepiest coincidence ever.
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No coincidence. I thought it was a great write up and as one of the first on Hooniverse, it should be the first to go in. Besides, its one of my favorites.
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I wouldn’t mind seeing some current production/industry type editorials on what’s going on out there. That’s what I typically was most involved in discussing “elsewhere”, it’s just all the good guys are gone from there to here.
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The reason this was created was to substitute crap that you could get everywhere else with was was formally ‘redacted’s content.
Love the site! Excited about where it could grow. Keep up the good work!
The logo is WAY oversized for any one with a 4:3 ratio screen.
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Ditto that! I’m at 1280×1024, but don’t like to run the browser full screen. Then again, I know what the logo looks like now, so I just kinda ignore it.
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I’ve been playing around with it a little, and it’s partly the fault of the stylesheet behind it. It doesn’t seem to want to let us resize it. Or maybe it’s just me doing something wrong. I’m thinking we do need to resize it down a bit though. It overwhelms my netbook screen too.
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I’ve found something to bitch about. Are any of the Bloons© on the East coast? Its 11:30 est and nothing new has been posted. Is this lack of content or because their busy at “work”?
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Well, the time stamp on your post looks to be PDT, so someone is out there on the left coast.
I’ve checked the site at least 50 times this morning, but there’s been so little (other than tossing out drivel comments like this), that I’ve been forced to do “work”. -
I personally was slammed at the office all AM and haven’t been able to post till about an hour ago.
/East Coast-er -
So far, we’re all over on the Left Coast. I’ve tried to schedule things to post at a reasonable time, but I keep forgetting just how far in the future you Easterners are. I’ll try and keep that in mind and post some stuff excessively early here so you have something to chew on until the normal people wake up.
Eventually, I’m thinking we’ll have some Easterners around so we don’t have this issue.
Here’s another thing What’s Up. Gravatar produces a much better quality thumbnail than other websites. And you can change avatars. It’s really good.
By the way, another good reason for Profile pages would be to have easy links to past comments. I’m not sure for now if I need to bookmark all the threads I like to go back and check up on new comments, or replies to my comments. (Actually, that’s a problem on most sites.)
I agree. I love the Cars You Should Know articles and the Rare cars. Even the old stuff that others know all about…because I never saw/heard them the first time around.
I know many others have mentioned this, but it would be great to have profiles. If only to keep track of everything you post so you can remember to go back to see if someone responded.
And the member garage would be great. It’s too bad it’s fall already – if I had known the Hooniverse was coming I would have taken pix of a co-worker’s AC Ace before he put it away for the winter.
This site is the A-number-1 reason for my declining productivity at work. You guys are doing an awesome job, and all I can say is keep it up! I’ve waited awhile to feed my interest in cars…I can wait out a few blog glitches. Content is great, and I’m learning a lot. And the hoons here (commetariat?) are awesome too.
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I think we’ve decided on “Hoonigans” as the term for the community members here, unless someone has come up with something else that I missed. Anyone?
I’m loving that we can completely start from scratch and begin our own all-new traditions over here. It’s a hellova lot of fun!
Glad to see another fan of Toyota pickups. Now CaffeineFuelled won’t feel all alone. Here’s hers…-
There was some thought about “Bloons” above. But, Prawo Jazdy & the Velocity Trumpets will have to give up his copyright claim. Time for a poll?
BTW, comment history would be awesome. Out!
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Nothing from me apart from the fact that I am loving this Hoontastic (<-is that even a word?) site! But I do wish for a better comment history link or something….so that you can go back to what you posted and reply to any other comments made.
p.s: The one new feature I do like at the [Jedacted] site is their new " You have X replies to your comments since you were last here" feature. It makes answering to any comments much easier.
But then again, screw fancy stuff (plus I like reading all the comments again anyways)! Who gives a crap about all that when you can be what you want, read what you want and don't have to worry too much about being PC in your comments.
Ignore this, just a test.
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