It was a busy week here at Autopian HQ and I almost missed noting a huge milestone for us: 1,000,000 comments. That’s incredible. A huge thank you to all of the many commenters who have made this possible. If you’re commenter (or reader) who hasn’t yet become a member, I’m adding a special deal: $22 off any annual plan with the code “amilli” or by following this link. That’s right, you can get a cloth membership for under $3 a month.
The Autopian has been publishing for a little over four years, which means we’ve been averaging 250,000 comments a year, although that number is accelerating over time. We’ve also gained 18,750 (exactly, somehow) commenters.
Other car writers (many of whom are also in the comments) have asked us how it’s possible that we have so many commenters and, at the same time, have such high quality and hilarious contributions? The shortest and most obvious answer is that only the smartest, most attractive, and funniest people all want to comment here… which is true.
The slightly longer answer is that we’ve been lucky enough to attract a lot of compelling voices (writers and commenters) from various parts of the car-internet, and we work hard to make this a fun place to be. In an online community you can have 10 jerks or 10,000 happy people and we’ve tried to avoid the former by allowing people to speak their piece without ruining the peace. It doesn’t always work, and politics can sometimes make it harder, but it’s a generally self-policing group; if someone ever goes on tilt we usually get a heads up and can fix it quickly. Mercedes also gets a lot of credit for keeping this place free of jerks. [Ed Note: Shout out to Nick H. for being a great moderator on Discord!].
[Ed Note: The big thing is: We love cars. We’re not here to try to convince you to think our way, because many of you are smarter than we are. We want you here no matter your politics or creed or whatever — come here, love cars, be smart in the comments, be hilarious in the comments, and above all: be yourself. -DT].
Honestly, I often write a post and go back to the comments and realize that the wisdom of the crowds has created something just as good (and often better) than what I wrote. Not that that’s a high bar, but it’s always rewarding to go back into the comments and find a better joke, a deeper insight, or a weirder factoid than I produced.
Are you curious what the 1,000,000th comment was? We do get the occasional fly-by commenter who just leaves one joke and never comes back (although commenters don’t get approved on the strength of a short joke, usually). The comment was on this great post from new contributor Annie Keller about the abandoned Lexus Bose prototype she found, and the comment was from a member!
Introverts are welcome! This is the Internet, after all.
It’s fitting that the 1,000,000th comment comes from a member, as I think membership is another key reason why this community works. It’s rare that we have an issue with a paying member, partially because members are already invested in making this a place they want to be. Members are also often the first to let me know when there’s an issue.
That’s why I’m reaching out to commenters who haven’t become a member with one of our best membership deals ever (if not our best deal ever). For just $28 most places, you can get a year of membership! What is that, $0.08 a day? That’s an incredible deal. [Ed Note: I want to give ’em away, but Matt won’t let me. HE’S CRAZY! -DT].
A huge thank you to our members, our commenters, our contributors, and everyone who makes The Autopian one of the happiest corners of the web.
Top graphic image: Warner Bros./ New Line Cinema
Aw man, we’re expected to be funny AND smart? I thought I was only disappointing you on the former. At least you can’t tell that I’m also butt-ugly in real life.
I think two of the many reasons is that there are so many good comments is that some of the wildly off topic comment threads are really great and allowed to flourish.
The other cool thing is the Autopian way of dealing with people who might be trolls. Instead of taking the bait, treat them nicely and if they’re trolls they get frustrated and go away, or stop being trolls.
The Autopian reminds me of my favorite bar in Manhattan in the 80s and 90s. It was ostensibly a Mets bar, but the percentage of actual Mets fans who is probably no more than 15 or 20%. What made it actually great was the total absence of Yankees fans.
I would love to take you up on this (home finances have stabilised a bit finally) but it asks me to log in (i am logged in), and then when I enter my email address it says that there’s no account with that email address…
So it turns out that all that time I’ve spent commenting from work was actually some kind of productivity? Neat!
“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine”
The Autopian has been cathartic for me, and I greatly appreciate it! Which is why I will never bill you for my comments.
Who had the first comment and what was it?
If it was one of those sad sack FIRST commenters, I hope you tied them up, covered them in road salt, and dropped them off in Northern Michigan to rust out their undercarriage.
I tried, might be this?
Matt
Matt
4 years ago
Awesome. So excited to follow along.
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I think it might have been me. I’m a night owl who saw the initial post before any comments were made. Don’t remember what I wrote, probably something with a welcoming vibe (don’t do the FIRST thing). However, I delete most of my comments eventually to trim down my online profile and don’t see it when going to my earliest remaining comment. Looking at wayback machine, looks like the first page of comments on the “The Autopian is Live!” post weren’t archived until April 11, 2022, so I can say for sure (I’m not there and memories can be fickle).
Awesome! 1,679 + this comment= 1,680 from me. The Autopian is the best site ever! (and makes me happy)
Where can you see your comment count? Though in my case, I have had a couple of different accounts here.
This joint is so much better than the old site, which was so much better than TTAC, the first of these looney bins I started spending time at. Those people were just plain weird – it’s like a car site for people who hate cars.
And people who hate people and most everything else.
Definitely a strange bunch that just got stranger over time. Or maybe just more concentrated as so many left for other sites? I go back every now and again just for giggles, but I never stay.
What is ttac?
The Truth About Cars…it’s another automotive enthusiast site: the junkyard finds column by Murilee Martin (he’s been featured here too) is very interesting; vehicles found, photographed w/ old timey cameras, miles noted (there’s a list of the highest mileage vehicles) and some history behind the make/model and the specific vehicle if it has stickers, etc. I like most of the vehicles on there. The junkyard columns are also on a couple of other sites and are all organized from his own site:
https://www.murileemartin.com/JunkyardGalleryHome.html
From that page:
“”Every year, I do 52 Junkyard Finds for The Truth About Cars, 52 Junkyard Treasures for Autoweek, and 104 Junkyard Gems for Autoblog, and you’ll find links to all 1,800+ of those posts at the Junkyard Home of the Murilee Martin Lifestyle Brand”
I’m just commenting all of this since I’ve really enjoyed reading about all of his interesting/funny/crazy automotive endeavors. There are still a lot of interesting auto enthusiast articles/sites out there but am reading here most of the time since this is the best site ever!
Murilee Martin is the one redeeming feature of the place. He’s another Torch.
Yeah, I haven’t been there in years. It had become such a toxic cesspool in the worst sense. I enjoyed some of the writing but the never ending battles got tiresome.
What the hell about writing for TTAC was so psychicly damaging? Some just broke.
LOL – no doubt.
Well I like the general idea of cars.
Some specific things about cars , for example adjusting the ignition points or anything having to do with the distributor on a Jenson Healy or Lotus Esprit or Elite, I hate.
Cars, like many other things are best enjoyed in moderation. Can you imagine how miserable it would be if all cars were Lancia Stratos Zeros. Maybe two more would be nice but could you imaging how comically awful a traffic jam of them would be?
Moderation on all things
https://youtu.be/u_yqzuB7ur0
Are you thinking of New York traffic as default traffic, because that’s a different experience?
I like the sound of a passel of Stratoses, a litany of Lolas, fast traffic that looks slower than it’s capable of
I am all about moderation in every aspect of life. Even moderation itself.
I was referring to the Stratos Zero not the Stratos HF
I’d love to daily drive a stratus HF for even be in the position to afford to drive one day. No I was talking about the Stratos Zero, the one with the big doormat on the hood that you walk across to enter through the windshield that flips up.
I will admit that it has great visibility of curbs, but the mere rumor of traffic would probably make me break a sweat. Speaking of sweating. That big windshield, or is it the roof, looks like it does an excellent job of capturing the thermal energy.
Under where you comment and the comment count, click on the symbol of a person w/ a gear sprocket; then it will show previous comments…then it will show comment pages 1, 2, 3, etc. Under the 1 click on the 2 arrows symbol and it will jump to the oldest comment page and should show comment count
Thanks, never noticed that before. 2332 with this comment, on this account (not sure if this one has the most or my old burner account). Yeah, I spend waaaay too much time here.
1,000,000? It doesn’t feel crowded in here at all.
I’m such a babe in the woods I had no idea that comment volume was an meaningful business metric. But congrats, good people, and I’ll feel an eensy bit more righteous every time I hit “Post Comment” henceforth.
If the quality of the comments doesn’t matter, this does seem like quite the invitation to comment on every obnoxious thing that comes to mind to increase the metrics.
I really advise against that. Ask me how I know
OK.
Same.
It’s a form of engagement, implies we didn’t just accidentally click a jumpy link and actually paid attention.
There’s a huge specialty car site, very focused.
All sorts of metrics live.
Wild how many people are active at once sometimes.
If you draw any attention at all, it can be overwhelming for a bit, like being picked up by a wave.
You can get sort of breathless just trying to acknowledge everyone saying hello!
Very rapid fire sort of commenting.
Nice folks.
Oh come on I can’t be more than three jerks, four *tops*. Ten is just mean.
I am super super sad that I’ll be missing the meetup; I have to go to a funeral. Sitting around, being dressed up and uncomfortable, bleh.
I signed up when ya’ll announced this site. Much love to wonderful contributors and community that have only gotten better and multiplied with time.
I upgraded to vinyl. Though your new European ad provider is serving busty MILFs that are only 1,2 miles away which hasn’t been terrible.
Hahahah, what, really?
Yup! I chuckled that the ads were obviously European with the comma instead of a decimal point for the distance.
Definitely going to need to upgrade to vinyl if you’re going to use that advertiser’s services. Much easier cleanup on vinyl.
But do any countries use commas as a decimal and measure with miles?
But hey, if it’s really km I guess those milfs are even closer than you thought 😉
It’s pretty tame, but I know you guys are sensitive about that stuff so wanted to give you a heads up. It usually says a woman’s name and then has a distance and says to click here.
https://imgur.com/a/kroDnxh
Can you do a cross reference to see how many are about rust? I’m going with 12%
Shower spaghetti FTW!
It’s gotta be more than that, right? Like, at least 14%
Probably higher if you add the term ‘Jeep’ to the search
This is the best place on the internet.
I’m Commander Shepard and this is my favorite place on the Internet.
*cracks knuckles* alright, challenge accepted.
Oh don’t be part of the problem.
Be the WHOLE problem!
I believe in you!
You haven’t met me apparently then.
You effers, you finally got me!
Turns out I’m cheap.
Incidentally, I never realized Lorne Michaels only started doing that pinky thing when he was quitting smoking in the 1980s and started chewing on his fingernails instead, always thought it was just a weird tick he always had.
I’m just stunned the 40 year old PC in Torch’s basement has been able to host all these comments so far! What’s the over/under on failure, 1.5M, 2M comments even?(/s of course)
The monkeys are working overtime to keep the servers running. I still picture this website being ran by monkeys working like old school phone operators.
Packard Bell made some good gear back in the day.
And some not so good. I seem to recall the rule was “friends don’t let friends buy Packard Bell”.
My comment was very much tongue-in-cheek.
Oh, makes sense! My sarcasm sensor must not have gotten enough caffeine today.
You can resolve that with Vodka
So did Kaypro, they were built like Zenith TVs, pretty sure you could chuck one off the top of an office building and it would somehow still work
Everything but the letter K, it was always the K
I assume he has to write to salami nightly to keep up.
You can’t soppressata the truth!
Lost in a million comments, no one will ever see this 🙁
I see you boo. You are seen and people love and care for you.
I’ve seen things you Autopians wouldn’t believe.
Jeeps on fire off the shoulder of the road.
I watched high beams glitter in the dark in the rear view mirror.
All those comments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
Time to subscribe.
I just watched that a few days ago!
That from Road Runner?
Close.
I didn’t realize the old cartoons had dialogue.
Do Tracy’s Dream of Rusted Jeeps?
“The Jeep that burns twice as bright burns half as long”
May this site prove to be the eternal flaming rustbucket that even shower spaghetti cannot extinguish.
COTY
I made an awesome comment based on this a while ago! Can’t find it for the life of me… something about C-Maxs I recall…
The problem with introspection is that it has no end…
No comment.
Ditto
Congrats! I’ve kept coming because the articles are interesting, the writers are good, and the commentariat are friendly. I especially enjoy Mercedes’s deep dives and Jason’s oddball cars. The car rescues from SWG are actually pretty uplifting to me.
You’ve done a great job of keeping the atmosphere here positive and as a result this is the one non-news site that I visit every day. Keep up the great work.
It is an overall positive, supporting community. Doesn’t get bogged down in the same types of articles daily or weekly. Come for the variety.
“Nice job kid, don’t get cocky”
Jason?
Ah. Also that. And you let me in as well, occasionally to your detriment, but I appreciate it 🙂
*inserts gif of “you gotta pump those up, those are rookie numbers in this racket”*
1,000,001