Salad Days at TTAC
We had another big win at TTAC today, one that I'll be discussing on the site in the next week or so. This seemed like a good time to stop moping about various things and gloat a little bit.
In the 45 days since former E-I-C Bertel Schmitt was sent packing back to China, we've engineered a complete turnaround at TheTruthAboutCars. We brought all the banned commenters back --- and haven't had to re-ban anyone since. We asked all the old contributors back --- and have received some great pieces from them. We ditched all the shibari-bondage and anime porn and dildo pictures and all the other stuff that was floating around in the attic of Herr Schmitt's mind and replaced it with a commitment to be work-safe and family-friendly.
Traffic is up --- way up. Commenting is up. Reader participation is up. We're seeing more and more of our Best&Brightest sharing content on Facebook and Reddit and elsewhere. We're bringing readers more and more reviews, more of the content they want to read, and even a little fiction from time to time. Comments on a recent "how are we doing" post ran more than 10 to 1 in favor of the changes.
In other words, we're kicking ass. My vision for TTAC has been thoroughly and completely validated. More importantly, the high-quality contributions from Derek Kreindler and his team of writers have proven to be the backbone that underpins our traffic. It was widely speculated that when Herr Schmitt departed, the 20 or so industry-related posts he did every week would be missed. Didn't happen.
I'm the Editor-In-Chief pro tem. I can't delay the rest of my life to do this forever. I have racing and travel and parenting to handle. But when I'm succeeded by Derek Kreindler early next year, I will be able to say that I turned this ship right the fuck around. It would be unwelcome and uncool to say that on TTAC, but this is my site so I'm going to say it. Together with the work I've done in my day job to launch a completely new medical product that has taken a rather specialized medical segment by storm in 2013, I have to say that I'm thoroughly pleased with myself.
Doesn't mean there isn't a lot more work to be done, at TTAC and elsewhere. Doesn't mean I still don't feel depressed a lot of the time. Doesn't mean I won't continue to make mistakes and enemies in the most high-profile fashion possible. But for now, I'm going to sit in my pumpkin-orange Natuzzi recliner and smile.
And, as always, thanks for reading, even if it's only once in a while from work. I notice every visit I get here and I'm grateful for all of them.