'Flat out annoying' articles

[WarriusZero]

I'm sorry but I don't like the way GTPlanet seems to be slowly going at times.

There is a trend of articles with a silly click-bait title, using obvious stock photos, discussing subjects that interests very few of us gamers, using a plural 'we' as if most of us agree with the view of the author, trying to bump up the word count artificially with all sorts of convoluted expressions.... Not all articles are like that but more and more are ticking more and more of these boxes.

Please don't lose GTPlanet's style and originality (for example showcasing users' photomode art).

I understand that more articles generate more traffic and that car culture is OK (or even good) for this site but sometimes, enough is enough. Today's article is one of the best examples to date. Please carry on publishing honest articles that don't sound like the click-bait links we find peppered everywhere on the net in the "Sponsored by PleaseClickMeNowYouWontBelieveIt" sections.

This is not a personal attack on the author (please don't take it like that!) but a honest appeal from a passionate member, which you can feel free to ignore. Perhaps I'm one of a very few reacting like that. I sort of hope not.

Or maybe I'm just getting old...

 

[VBR]

I was actually coming here to start a congratulatory thread about how I liked the new direction the news section was heading in, & how great it is that more people are writing & contributing to make it all happen; but then I saw this thread. The news articles are all on topic, there are a lot of petrol heads here after all, & writing about that is not out of place imho (unlike the bizzare irrelevant trivia GT Sport is dishing out). Good job to all the writers, & keep up the good work I say!

 

[Jordan]

I am sorry that you don't like our expanded coverage, @WarriusZero. In this specific case, I disagree with you that the "flat out annoying" article is a problem: I found it to be quite interesting and informative, and I like the discussion that it sparked in the forums.

Looking at the bigger picture, we are well aware — thanks to the regular cadre of members who mock our writing team's work with accusations of "clickbait" — the expansion isn't popular with everyone, but the numbers tell a different story.

I have long suspected people who like racing games would also be interested in automotive news and "car culture" stories, as evidenced by the enduring popularity of such topics in our forums. So far, my theory has proven to be correct. According to traffic data, these types of automotive stories frequently out-perform the gaming news we publish.

You might not have noticed, but despite more unique titles than ever, the racing game genre has experienced declining sales for many years. As I recently mentioned in another thread, this has hit other sites in our space pretty hard, and they have shut down or sold off. To the best of my knowledge, GTPlanet is the only site in this space which has defied this trend. We are growing: traffic to our articles alone has increased more than 30% year-to-date. Our unique positioning and diversification has contributed to much of that growth, and since PCARS 2, Forza 7, and GT Sport have launched, it has grown even more. I think that's pretty exciting, and it would be naive — or even downright reckless — of us to avoid content that our audience has clearly shown interest in.

 

[WarriusZero]

I was being unclear, then. And I am not mocking.
Not all car culture or automotive articles are bad, by far, I actually really enjoy Andrew Evans' car reviews, for example. Among many other examples, like the article on the Cygnet or the one on the Vnuk case. I guess I forgot to say I like the diversity of subjects.

It's just that some articles are starting to copy a pattern seen elsewhere on the net, around the wording and presentation, and don't sound or feel like GTPlanet. It's not the quantity, I'm pointing at.

I should have kept quiet like I've been doing for a while now. And kept reading.

 

[Moglet]

I quite enjoy them myself.

You won't believe the reason why!

 

[Famine]

It's just that some articles are starting to copy a pattern seen elsewhere on the net, around the wording and presentation, and don't sound or feel like GTPlanet.

Sometimes we experiment with the car culture articles, to see what works and what doesn't. This includes the titles and, yes, there's a limited number of ways to present them so, yes, there will sometimes be a similarity between how other automotive media sites may cover a topic and how we have. It's not copying someone else's style, but maximising how our articles rank on search engines without going full Gawker. If it doesn't work, we'll think about it differently. If it does, great.

This particular article is one of my favourites so far, and I asked Joey to write it. It's sort of a mix between car news, car culture and consumer advice.

Car manufacturers have, for a while, been reducing their options for spare wheels and personally I [expletive]ing hate it. Punctures happen, and when they happen you want to get the spare out, slap it on, put the old one in the boot and get on with your life. Space savers are common on sports cars, and atrocious, because they usually don't fit over front brakes - so if you get a front puncture you have to swap the space saver on for a rear wheel, and then the rear on the front - and because you're limited to 50mph (or 80km/h). So not only do you have the embarrassment of 'breaking down' in your sports car in the first place, you then have to dawdle along being passed by lorries, with a bright yellow disc of shame. And people don't realise the legalities of them - you must get it replaced immediately, which is a colossal pain in the arse if you're halfway through a 300-mile journey on a Sunday when no tyrefitters are open. And they knack up your suspension geometry. Don't even get me started on foam.

The reason usually given is weight/emissions. A full-size wheel/tyre weighs the best part of 50lb. That affects weight distribution on cars where every pound counts, and it's also weight to carry around that can cost 1-2g/km CO2. So they delete it so they can hit emissions targets (that aren't real, because they're based on unrealistic driving conditions). Really.

The fact that nearly a third of cars now sold cannot be relied upon in a relatively common emergency is infuriating.

 

[VBR]

I quite enjoy them myself.

You won't believe the reason why!

Please tell us.

 

[WarriusZero]

Sometimes we experiment with the car culture articles, to see what works and what doesn't. This includes the titles and, yes, there's a limited number of ways to present them so, yes, there will sometimes be a similarity between how other automotive media sites may cover a topic and how we have. It's not copying someone else's style, but maximising how our articles rank on search engines without going full Gawker. If it doesn't work, we'll think about it differently. If it does, great.

This particular article is one of my favourites so far, and I asked Joey to write it. It's sort of a mix between car news, car culture and consumer advice.

Car manufacturers have, for a while, been reducing their options for spare wheels and personally I [expletive]ing hate it. Punctures happen, and when they happen you want to get the spare out, slap it on, put the old one in the boot and get on with your life. Space savers are common on sports cars, and atrocious, because they usually don't fit over front brakes - so if you get a front puncture you have to swap the space saver on for a rear wheel, and then the rear on the front - and because you're limited to 50mph (or 80km/h). So not only do you have the embarrassment of 'breaking down' in your sports car in the first place, you then have to dawdle along being passed by lorries, with a bright yellow disc of shame. And people don't realise the legalities of them - you must get it replaced immediately, which is a colossal pain in the arse if you're halfway through a 300-mile journey on a Sunday when no tyrefitters are open. And they knack up your suspension geometry. Don't even get me started on foam.

The reason usually given is weight/emissions. A full-size wheel/tyre weighs the best part of 50lb. That affects weight distribution on cars where every pound counts, and it's also weight to carry around that can cost 1-2g/km CO2. So they delete it so they can hit emissions targets (that aren't real, because they're based on unrealistic driving conditions). Really.

The fact that nearly a third of cars now sold cannot be relied upon in a relatively common emergency is infuriating.

You're clearly passionate about that subject!
I actually read the article yesterday and it was much better than the title sounded like. 👍

 

[Famine]

You're clearly passionate about that subject!

I will neither confirm nor deny that I had a Honda Accord Type R which had a spacesaver that did not fit over the front caliper...

 

[WarriusZero]

My personal experience with punctures (I've had 2) is that you always end up buying 2 new tyres because the other one is more often than not going to have done too many miles to be used with the spare.

 

[daan]

I will neither confirm nor deny that I had a Honda Accord Type R which had a spacesaver that did not fit over the front caliper...

Is there not something about not using a spacesaver on a driven wheel either?

 

[Moglet]

Don't even get me started on foam.

We've had to use that foam filler crap twice before and it's never performed as it's supposed to. What's even more frustrating is lifting the boot floor to retrieve the foam canister only to find it mounted in a spare wheel well.

 

[TRGTspecialist]

I don't even understand how the 'Flat out annoying' article has a clickbait title. Half of it is a literal fact, entirely representative of what the article talks about, and the other half is a pun. Since when is a pun clickbait?

 

[SlipZtrEm]

I don't even understand how the 'Flat out annoying' article has a clickbait title. Half of it is a literal fact, entirely representative of what the article talks about, and the other half is a pun. Since when is a pun clickbait?

We're witnessing the accelerated evolution of a word's meaning. Sort of like how "literally" means anything but for some people now, some folks use the term "clickbait" when what they mean is "I don't like this".

 

[IfAndOr]

We're witnessing the accelerated evolution of a word's meaning.

Shouldn't it literally be touchbait these days? I rarely do any clicking.

 

[SlipZtrEm]

Shouldn't it literally be touchbait these days? I rarely do any clicking.

Well thanks for coining a term that makes me feel dirty just by saying it out loud.

 

[IfAndOr]

Well thanks for coining a term that makes me feel dirty just by saying it out loud.

Hmm now you mention it. Perhaps I won't copyright it after all.

 

[kikie]

Reaction and summary of this thread:

• Clicbait >>> No.
• Interesting articles >>> Yes but not all of them.
• GTP in general >>> Makes GTplanet to stand out on the internet. It's not only a forum but also a start to future car journalisme (probably). With GTP, you have both. Forum and articles that has interesting news. It's the combination of the two that makes GTP stands out from other game and car related websites. You can clearly see that @Jordan and his writers mean business.
• If someone think the articles are clickbaits, don't click on the links and everything is fine for everybody.
• These articles could become a future job for some of the writers.

But and there is a buuuuut ...... GTPNewsWire should come forward and revealy him/itself. 💡

I quite enjoy them myself.

You won't believe the reason why!

If you say A, you have to say B.

Car manufacturers have, for a while, been reducing their options for spare wheels and personally I [expletive]ing hate it. Punctures happen, and when they happen you want to get the spare out, slap it on, put the old one in the boot and get on with your life. Space savers are common on sports cars, and atrocious, because they usually don't fit over front brakes - so if you get a front puncture you have to swap the space saver on for a rear wheel, and then the rear on the front - and because you're limited to 50mph (or 80km/h). So not only do you have the embarrassment of 'breaking down' in your sports car in the first place, you then have to dawdle along being passed by lorries, with a bright yellow disc of shame. And people don't realise the legalities of them - you must get it replaced immediately, which is a colossal pain in the arse if you're halfway through a 300-mile journey on a Sunday when no tyrefitters are open. And they knack up your suspension geometry. Don't even get me started on foam.

Sounds like a personal experience with a lot of frustration.



BTW, it is not easy to write a decent article.

EDIT: if the articles are a clickbait, than all the threads are clickbaits as well.

 

[Lizard]

Ok.. Lets start with one thing.

And honorary doctorate does not give someone the title of Dr. There was a news story recently with someone misusing it. Can't find it though.
You have likely annoyed most of the academic community recently.

 

[Jordan]

I’m well aware of the customs associated with honorary doctorate degrees. The recent article’s title is a tongue-in-cheek reference to his recent honorary degree.

I was curious how long it would take someone to complain about it; you win.

 

[photonrider]

I’m well aware of the customs associated with honorary doctorate degrees. The recent article’s title is a tongue-in-cheek reference to his recent honorary degree.

I was curious how long it would take someone to complain about it; you win.

Sorry, Boss, he doesn't :


Practical use
A typical example of university regulations is, "Honorary graduates may use the approved post-nominal letters. It is not customary, however, for recipients of an honorary doctorate to adopt the prefix 'Dr.'"[15] In some universities, it is however a matter of personal preference for an honorary doctor to use the formal title of "Doctor", regardless of the background circumstances for the award. Written communications where an honorary doctorate has been awarded may include the letters "h.c." after the award to indicate that status.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honorary_degree

I know many holders of doctorates IRL - almost all of them prefer not to be be lumped in with General Practitioners and prefer to profess modesty, whatever academic qualifications earned them the Merc.

 

[Lizard]

I’m well aware of the customs associated with honorary doctorate degrees. The recent article’s title is a tongue-in-cheek reference to his recent honorary degree.

I was curious how long it would take someone to complain about it; you win.

Yay... what do I win?

 

[Obelisk]

Yay... what do I win?

A free Whamming.