Housekeeping: Thanks For Stopping By, Google Searcher

So. Apparently, over this past weekend, a former colleague of mine decided to send out as many as 100,000 emails to people claiming that I was invading his safe space or something like that and asking for those people to "respond" to my "attack" by attacking me by any means necessary. As a consequence of those 100,000 emails, the number of people reaching this site from Google went from about 75-100 a day to, um, 94. Well. Maybe that's not an increase. I don't know. I never claimed to be a "doctor of math".

I've been writing about bikes and cars for print since 1991. I've always tried to do what's best for the readers, not for the bike or car makers. When I see somebody doing things that I think are intended to enrich them at the cost of the readers, whether it's faking up a Wikipedia page about their business or claiming to have objective data about car manufacturers while at the same time aggressively and privately lobbying those same manufacturers for free cars, expensive trips, and luxury accommodations, I'm going to say something.

Every time I call somebody out for advancing their private interest at the expense of their readers and/or contributors, I make enemies by doing so. Eventually, one of those enemies is going to successfully run me out of the car business, whether through gossip, influence peddling, or their own attempts at libel. The only way to stop that from happening would be to join their team, so to speak, and start looking at my readers and contributors as a resource to be exploited and sold rather than as people who have entrusted me with their time and attention. That's not going to happen. So go ahead --- attack me, attack this site, sue me, slander me, whatever. It doesn't change who and what you are.