Here’s What We Do With Your Money When You Become An Autopian Member (And Why Membership Is So Important)

I have a hard time paying for any website. Ever since I started surfing the World Wide Web, I’ve been consuming free content, and to get out of that “the web is free” mentality has been hard. But the reality is that the web of today is different than the web of yesterday, where  publications could run sustainably solely on ad revenue. Today, that’s not enough, the internet has become clogged with content, and for one reason or another, it’s also become a total cesspool of negativity.

So this is where we, The Autopian, find ourselves. We have to work much, much harder to compete with all the content creators in the world, and we have to work much, much harder to ensure that our community doesn’t devolve into an unmitigated shitstorm. It’s worth it.

We’ll continue to grind day in and day out because what we’ve built here — what YOU have helped build here — is special. Just look at all the folks who came out to a Walmart parking lot on a Wednesday night:

It’s not just the number of people who showed up, it’s the quality of the people. Autopian readers are some of the nicest, sharpest, most impressive people I’ve ever met. Anyone who was at the Walmart event (or the Lime Rock Park event shown below) could feel it; it’s a community of geeky, fun, non-judgmental people brought together by a love for cars. It’s not complicated; it’s a beautiful reprieve from whatever stresses are going on in everyone’s life, and it’s something that I truly believe makes this world a better place.

During COVID, I had a bit of an existential crisis. While the world was falling apart, people were dying from a then-mysterious new pandemic, and everything went into lockdown, I asked myself: Am I doing enough with my life? My dad was a career army officer; he can go to sleep every night feeling like he served his country. I had friends who were doctors and nurses; they can feel confident that they’re doing enough to serve others. But I was a car journalist pursuing something because I thought it was fun; was this just self serving?

These days, I no longer have those thoughts. With politics becoming more and more polarizing and divisive, and social media, work-from-home, online dating, Doordash and the like increasingly turning the virtual world into the real one, I’ve realized that there isn’t an infinite number of “connectors” in this world. There’s sports, music, food, books, video games, etc., but in that list of connectors, “cars” is among the very strongest. If I see someone with a cool car, I can confidently walk up to them, chat, and we almost become instant-friends. When I attend car shows, people from all socioeconomic classes and backgrounds gather and chat about cars, but they don’t stop there. Cars get the conversation started, but oftentimes the discussion continues on to more personal things —  jobs, families, views on certain current events, and on and on. That’s SO powerful. Getting people from different walks of life and with different political viewpoints talking with one another is a big deal, and it’s why The Autopian community means so much to me.

And it’s why I appeal to you all to help it continue on into the future. Our website is free because we believe car culture is for everyone, but Membership is a big deal to us, as it is a stabilizing force in the crashing waves that are ad rates and partnership opportunities.

The big thing I always wonder when I give money is: Is my contribution being used responsibly, so that’s worth addressing. The Autopian uses the revenue we bring in from ads, partnerships, and membership to pay salaries. And the way we’ve set up our salary structure is flatter than probably any publication there is; our founders/leaders are not becoming rich as our writers struggle to get by. No, leadership here is focused on building a sustainable and profitable company, and that doesn’t happen by paying yourself a bunch of money and making your writers sweat. We have a responsibility to our employees and to you, dear readers, to make sure this site lives on, so just know: When you become a member, first and foremost, you’re going to get great exclusive content and (in some cases) awesome swag and other member-benefits; beyond that, you’re funding the salaries of staffers and freelancers, as well as other operational expenses that come with running a car website whose goal is and always will be:

“To serve the car enthusiast community by creating content that informs and entertains, while celebrating the unifying quality of automobiles.”

Become a member HERE. We’d appreciate it immensely; if times are tight or you just don’t want to, that’s OK, too. The internet is vast, and of all websites out there’ you’ve decided to read this one; for that alone we are grateful.