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If you’d like to read this fascinating tale of a petty, long-term grudge and other spilled tea of the seedy automotive journalism underbelly, please consider becoming an Autopian member. Thank you!
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A dozen years without rent? #blessed!
I don’t understand holding a grudge that intensely for that long, but, if I was giving this guy the benefit of the doubt, I suspect working for an organization like an internationally known and respected periodical in 2014 meant having to frequently grin and bear it in the face of criticism you wanted to respond to because a response would be simultaneously seen as punching down, legitimizing the site and article (the “endorsement” of being worth responding to), and (not saying it’s the case here) potentially being trolled into a response as part of a cynical plan to get eyeballs on that other website.
That said, I really, really dislike the work of any reviewer who doesn’t seem realistic in their expectations for what they’re reviewing.
Glad you are so comfortable with yourself Torch, part of what makes your writing so fun is your near inability to take anything too seriously, it’s baffling some can’t see that, haha. Also I can’t believe I remember that article from when it first ran on the old site. Damn..
There was enough heat in some of those burns in the lighting site review to create a reflective shimmer. He deserved the heat though for that elitest snark directed towards a cheap car for being what it aimed to be. I seriously question his judgement though. After getting his ham toasted mercilessly for failing to respect frugality he decides to come back for seconds with nothing better than”my butt still hurts”? IDK. Seems like he wants it. Maybe don’t just to deprive him of his kink.
Just read the Torch piece on the old site. If this guy — and I’ve read his work — is this bitter over what Torch wrote, he truly must have a sad and terrible life. Torch’s piece was fine. No personal attacks. Valid professional criticism, yes, but done without meanness.
Based on the critic’s personal sense of grooming style, I’d say he has some challenges with aesthetics and general sense of quality vs. rubbish. Long hair and double chins on a guy went out of fashion … oh, right, never a pleasant combo. Torch, does he still look like a failed Steeley Dan drum tech?
I don’t have the energy or bandwidth to hold a grudge like that, but I have met folks like that and have always felt a bit of pity for them, as they all seemed to make their own lives miserable. Keep up the noble high ground, Jason!
What a petty little fucker.
I stand with Torch.
JPH came into print auto journalism at its peak and will retire after its demise. Sounds like the guy never adapted to the fact that any kind of media profile comes with being open to disagreement in the digital era.
Holding a 13 year grudge over being gently critiqued by a guy who made a sentient colostomy bag TV pilot takes some pretty thin skin.
Is that a grudge in your pocket or are you just a miserable asshole?
This was a stellar pre-bedtime read (as was a re-read of the referenced rebuttal piece on the old site).
That being said, I dunno man… Maybe he’s on the spectrum?
PSA: being on the spectrum and being an asshole are two different things. Also, it’s possible to be both.
I’ve never met Torch, nor really even interacted with him, but his writing gives serious Golden Retriever vibes. What kind of psychopath holds a grudge against a golden retriever??
I’ve always seen him as a Frenchy, but your point stands.
Coming back to this an hour later: dude held a grudge against a golden retriever for 12 years. That’s literally like three generations of golden retriever grudge!
That sounds like a “he knows you’re right and he got called out for a silly edgelord click-seeking review” -type FU.
I’ll take Torch’s absurdist yet elegant writing over that any day!
I met him once and had a fun conversation. He had surprisingly positive (if unusual) opinions about the organization I was working for at the time. That said, 100% you could take him.
I dunno, I think the constant division, bickering, and hatered we’ve all been subject to in the years since then has really started to just break people.
Am I going to be banned here if I confess, hypothetically, that I liked that cheap car review?
That publication also has a reputation of going all-in in takedowns. Their scathing commentary of a certain steakhouse “institution” is considered by many the magnum opus of restaurant reviews.
Please please sit next to him at breakfast.
Oh! oh! And sit down with some coffee and just nonchalantly say “This coffee is great! Not as expensive as a Starbucks, but just as good!”
And pretend dinner never happened. Try to introduce yourself as the friendly neighborhood autojourno.
Naw. Just bring your laptop and make it obvious you’re writing a post about him in real time.
I guess people don’t like to be told they are wrong? Even though they may be?
Honestly, I think it says a lot about someone who’s willing to admit they were wrong. It’s how we grow. It’s not weakness. I’m wrong all the time, so I’m pretty sure that makes me awesome. Which I’m also wrong about.
I’m here for the Pearl(ey)-clutching
That’s wild to be that upset about it. I will admit that I bear somewhat of a (very mild) grudge of sorts like that. Had a handful of my early YouTube videos co-opted by a content creator (and I was never credited) in the early 2010’s who went on to get millions of views with it and to this day people still sing his praises whenever it comes up. But I don’t think I’d even be abrasive to them if I met them IRL. You gotta be pretty bitter in general that something like that can overshadow 12+ years of, like, good stuff in your life!
“I made an auto journalist so mad from a simple rebuttal article from 12 years ago they walked out on a press dinner” is a great one for ‘two truths and a lie’
There’s a difference though. This other creator stole from you. This person received ad revenue and you did not. Until they make it right, you’re allowed to resent them. In JT’s case, the theft is merely pride.
I may as well say it – I’m still mad about something Torchinsky did to me in 2014 too.
Did the camel suffer permanent injury? Well, no, but she could have. Did it end up costing me only 11 Thai Baht? Sure, fine, but sometimes it’s more than just the money.
I spent a lot of time learning how to dance the Lindy Hop. And when Carmelo Anthony had to push my motorized tricycle out of the mud, I sure was embarassed.
But the worst thing is that the tuxedo Torchinsky lent me at the end of the night was Kelly green instead of the lime green he knew I needed.
He has my number. I’m still waiting for the call.
look, baby, be REASONABLE