Monday, September 27, 2010

Are you migrating to Hooniverse?

Hooniverse: Grassroots, irreverent, esoteric.

Last week, I finally signed up on Hooniverse as a commenter.  And yesterday, I learned that my favorite car buff and inspiration for much of my blog, Murilee Martin of Jalopnik, is retiring.  So the question is, will you be spending more time on Hooniverse as a result?

I got hooked on Jalopnik a few years ago because of all the El Camino variants; Project Car Hell; Down On the Street; and posts about oddball 1960s-70s-80s iron, both foreign and domestic.  Now, aside from the weekends, Jalopnik is just a bit too slick and hip for my taste, though I still read it religiously.

So is Hooniverse the future (or the past)?

9 comments:

MattC said...

It is funny that you mentioned Hooniverse. I just started going there (daily habit) and find the site very enjoyable. I still like Jalopnik, but Hooniverse is slowed surpassing that(as well as some of the other linked sites).

Maxichamp said...

@MattC (and others): What other car sites do you regularly visit? I tried TTAC and Autoblog but they are not my cup of tea.

MattC said...

Bring a Trailer.com

carguydad.com

justacarguy.com

clunkbucket.com

some more polished (re: financed)
streetfire.net // thesmokingtire.com

longrooffan said...

Kashgar, my story is similar to yours. Found Jalop, then Hooniverse, founded by a bunch of guys fed up with Jalop, by the way. I am an infrequent author on Hooniverse and check in several times a day. Jalopnik, while still on my viewing list, I don't read every article as I used to.

I started to list the car sites I frequent but soon ran out of comment space. I set up this blog to rectify that situation.

http://longrooffan-autowebs.blogspot.com/2010/09/until-recently-i-was-for-28-months.html

And I hope MM appears in the Hooniverse as his schedule dictates.

Keep up the great work! Your blog is wonderful.

Maxichamp said...

@longroof: What caused the Hoons to abandon Jalop?

Alan said...

FOLLOW JALOPNIK ON FACEBOOK - MEGAN FOX IS HOT (no, she's emaciated and trashy) ad freakin' nauseum. They've been light on the journalism lately, resorting to posting pics with not-that-clever headlines, incredibly dull recall reports, banal "personality" features and just generally ignoring the dozens of fascinating user-submitted stories posted to #tips ever since it was implemented (why?) I'm still a daily reader, but the gems are fewer and further between all the time.

Great alternatives have already been suggested, but have you ever seen Eddin's Moto? I won't spoil it for you, just go and explore - it's car-nerd heaven and on the opposite end of the self-congratulatory, in-jokey, cloying pretentiousness spectrum from Jalopnik.

and your blog, of course my man, will always be a daily visit for me. I may not always comment, but I read and enjoy nearly all your posts and am always taking away new knowledge.

Maxichamp said...

@Alan: Wow, why don't you tell us what you really think about Jalopnik.

I must confess, though, that Jalopnik drove a lot of traffic to my site. And fortunately, a few of you decided to hang around and check it out.

Eddin's Moto is like 10 miles away from here. I've been meaning to check it out.

On another note, stay tuned this weekend for something really, really tasty.

Alan said...

Sorry, the heat (108 in San Diego today, and because it's never this hot and because I live on the bay I have no A/C...) got to me today. That and the slow death of what was once the greatest car site on the web.

Go check out Eddin's if you get a chance, I've chatted with the owner Jaan via email and he's a super-nice guy.

Edvin said...

Thanks for all these links. Now I just hope I had time to follow all these.