He doesn't know the English language? That's a little melodramatic, no? It appears that throughout your post history here you do just that, proofread and correct. You could send the author (Ryan) a PM and let him know. He wants to put out the best product possible and appreciates the help. Then again, you may just be the type that enjoys pointing out flaws.
Very interesting comments coming from the nervous establishment. What has been created here is a ground up movement. We're telling them what we want, instead of them telling us what they think we want, or what fad of the week they're financial supporters are pushing this month.
i usually dont post on these threads, but what the hell. as owner/operator/editor/photographer/etc. of hot rod publication on the news stands i may be able to contribute: number one, hot rod magazines arent going away. the internet and the print media both have their place. the publications that are having troubles are due to the way they run their business. sure the internet may help push it along, but ultimately the "big ones" have been advertise driven for many years. one of the big problems that most readers dont get to hear about very often are the distributors. these guys are from hell. they really have the print media by the balls. im not a magazine guy, just a car guy. i just wanted to see a magazine that was more geared toward my interests, and im the type of person that if i want something, and cant find it, i will just make it myself. hence rod & kulture. myself, and ex-girlfriend are the only 2 full time employees. we are a tiny spot in the automotive print industry, but we're doing just fine. when my pop and i first started the magazine 6 years ago, i told him "i want a magazine that readers want to buy, and advertisers never dictate the content". when we had our first meeting with the distributors, we told them our plan, and they literally laughed at us over the phone. they said it was impossible to stay in business just by the sell of the magazine. they said if you are lucky, you will make enough money to cover your print cost. everything else comes from the advertisers. the distributors make about 4 times what i make off every copy sold. then, there are more fees for taking the ones that didnt sell off of the shelf and destroying them. the post office doesnt show any love either. ha ha. i guess what i am getting at, is that there are a whole lot of aspects to the print industry that most of the readers dont know anything about. unfortunately its not just the advertisers dictating your content at this point. the distributors get paid wether your magazines sell or not. they get paid for every copy shipped to them. they are the devil. as far as janet, what i got out of it is that he has been a contributor/part of the hamb for 10 years and is pissed because he only hears about the shit people dont like. unfortunately, that is the nature of the beast. the last 2 threads regarding our magazine was a bunch-o-shit talking. its been a long time since i have seen a thread saying "hey, did ya see the cool shit in the new r&k?" i have 3 kids, and i neglect spending time with them often because im doing all i can to put together what i think will be the next best issue. then you get on your favorite hang out spot (forum of your choice) and you just hear a bunch of shit talking. it gets fucking irritating, but thats the way it goes. that is pretty much the way it has always been, and it aint gonna change. pop often askes me, "so what do people think of the new issue?", and my response is always, "they must like it, i havent heard anything" ha ha. why would street rodder even care what the hamb thinks? this isnt the street rodder market. i dont pay attention to what streetrod forum thinks about our publication. thats not our market. the one thing i have learned is you better get some tough ass skin, because you are not going to please everybody all the time period. no matter how good of product you turn out, someone is gonna complain. zombie ps: dont give may any shit about the lack of skill in my writing. i dont write for the mag.
Being into old bikes for 30 years I decided to build my first car five years ago. Not knowing any car folks I was on my own with this project. I began to find some local car guys for help but quickly found out that I could not depend on them or their advice. Luckily I found the Jalopy Journal and the HAMB. I built my car utilizing my skills and with the help from others. But one thing I can say for sure is that anytime I took the next step in my build I looked to the HAMB for information. Whether it was searching different topics or asking questions I could have never pulled off my build without this website. There is a wealth of knowledge here, and even some comedy at times. Thank you Ryan for operating this site for without you and all the others I probably would still be struggling with my car. Keep up the good work. And as for Janet, it is 2010 pal. I have no use for magazines with the 90% advertising that goes with them. I need information, not billet. Screw you Janet, and long live the HAMB!!!
Zombie, you are one of the good ones! Now, gimme a link and I will suscribe tonight instead of buying at the news stand!
Ryan, didn't you hint about a Jalopy Journal print magazine when you did an article for the Rodders Journal a couple issues ago? It's hard to say, the HAMB has evolved with the times and offers great content from it's contributers for free, something the magazines can't compete with. But, a good magazine is a good magazine in my mind. I can name several magazines that started up because of the popularity of this hobby that are no longer with us today. It's probably anybody's guess what the future holds for both really, much of the people that signed up 6-11 years ago, don't post now. Which doesn't mean they're not active, maybe just reading. I did skim over some of the post, mostly by people I recognized, but this format makes it hard to capture the essence of what are valid point(s) pertaining to this topic and thread from both sides. I hate scrolling, especially when there's no pictures (Hahahaha) In the end, you have to give credit to Ryan, it's made this community somewhat smaller and accessible to everyone across this globe, Thanks. Ken
All you do is point out grammatical errors. Why are you here? You like to follow the rules of the written language....But you can't even follow the rules of this forum. Where's your introduction?
Sounds like somebody's butt-hurt because "her" advertisers have figured out that the magazines are becoming largely irrelevant. And, wants to take that out on the owner of a lightly-moderated (unless you say "rat rod") forum. Well, Janet, bashing the H.A.M.B. and/or Atomic Industry just ain't going to get you anywhere; because Ryan isn't the problem. Having had the good fortune to be able to talk to the people who actually build engines, tune the engine management, do the chassis work, etc. that is featured in your big-name magazines, I was made aware that the big publications put a lot of pressure on these people to skew results in favor of big advertisers. Such as engine builders being told not to run certain brands of intake manifolds, etc. This is in 'shootout' type articles, where the idea is to show the "best" parts available. Put forward as presumably 'unbiased' journalism. I had long suspected this practice (since the 1990's, when I quit buying them), but not until I actually got to talk to the people who actually did the work that was shown in the magazines, did I realize the extent to which that goes on. You should APPRECIATE the fact that people here are allowed to speak their mind. It should be able to tell you more about what your potential customer base REALLY thinks than a hundred focus groups. Yeah, I'm sure everyone here really wants a forum with 'correct-speak' cops monitoring our posts. Jeez. If I've said anything libelous or slanderous, sue me. If not, feel free to go pound sand if you don't like what I've said. Hi, pastor Mike... I have a news flash for ya': God didn't create the world; Hot Rod, Street Rodder, and R&C did. Janet, your gall boggles the mind. You don't think ANYBODY here would notice that your magazines have been basically jumping on the traditional-hot-rods bandwagon that was pioneered by sites like this one? Good! That way, you can become increasingly irrelevant, and pander to a shrinking audience. Yeah, I really, really want to steal your biased, half-assed tech articles. That, and hear what YOU folks feel SHOULD BE popular (anybody remember HRM trying to pimp out the 'Street F/X' thing? Pathetic.). In a nut shell, Janet, I would ask you this. What is The Jalopy Journal to you? A way to copy the trend you see here (with publications like Hot Rod Deluxe, etc.), or a scapegoat for your editors to hold up when the boss wants to find why subscriptions (and advertising) are both down? To me, your California magazines have long since been irrelevant. And, I will continue to refuse to purchase them. That is a promise. - William J. Nielsen, Mountlake Terrace WA
Damn, someone said what I was trying to say, while I was trying to type it out. And said it better... -Bill
Janet, You don't like it don't look at it. This is called FREEDOM, One of the few places is this world that have it.
Well, maybe the magazines are figuring out that the HAMB is the real thing! To get real content for their magazines that customers/subscribers actually WANT to see, some are recognizing, very slowly, that they need to show the efforts of HAMBers and like-minded hotrodders, and not just those that didn't just write a checkbook to have someone else build their ride, using their advertisers' products! Right now, the only mag I subscribe to is Car Craft, because I still like reading it, even with the goofy fonts and words on pages colored nearly the same as the print! I was a magazine junky in the '70s and '80s, especially, and in the early '90s, too. CC, HR, AutoBuff, HMN, Classic Cars, several Mopar titles, and many more. Had three HUGE boxes of old mags going back from 1969 through 2002 that I'd lost in a tornado in '03 - all from when tech articles actually had good and useful info. After that, I kept with CC and HMN, and now, just CC. This forum has helped me in so many ways that I can't mention all of them! I've met close to forty Oklahoma HAMBers and maybe twice that of out-of-state HAMBers personally, and who knows how many at various events that many were gathered, but were not introduced. And for introducing me to JJ, I credit fellow Stovebolters at stovebolt.com for pointing me this way. I hung out for about three years without commenting before I ever registered two and a half years ago. And look at the widely varied projects!!! From the I-Scream van, to Roger's beautiful Cadillac, to the Mack car hauler in Ontario, and the unreal blue and white Kaiser, this shows that there is NO magazine on Earth that can (or will) allow the builder to display their talents, creativity, and imagination on four completely disparate vehicles, all in one amazing place like the HAMB. "Janet" and her bunch will never, ever grasp that salient fact. Unlike their rags, there IS something for every hotrodder, enthusiast, builder and owner right HERE! Lastly, thanks to Ryan. Where would this be without you? True enough, print media will endure, but only if it adapts. Evolution is like that. Don't evolve? You wither and die. When change becomes necessary, it has to be for the better, or else it's an exercise in futility.
If there was no HAMB, and no Internet, would that make the magazines better ? Or would they continue to follow the same outdated formula ? People figured out SRM was mostly ads before the 'net came along. Magazines played an important role in many of our lives, at one time. When we look at some of the old mags, we remember how good they were. And when we compare them to many recent efforts, we feel betrayed.
I'm sorry, Janet, but wasn't it hotrodders that created this world for you? There were hot rods before there were magazines about them. However, there is one thing in particular about Janet's letter and the corresponding posts on this site that concerns me. We all have our niches, and as I'm sure most people here, like me, thing street rods, rat rods, tuner cars, rice rockets and many other automotive facets are complete lame, at the end of the day we're all on the same side, and I hope this doesn't escalate any animosity that may prevent us all from sticking together to fight government regulation, public opinion, and the other battles threatening our hobby.
Since the world is changing faster every day, why would anyone think an 80's business model (SRM) would work equally well today ? Shouldn't a business evolve based on the world around it ? Or make an effort to change their part of the world ? Maybe re-invent it's self ? Easier to do the same thing, over and over.
I read it and re-read it (the email from Janet) and my reply to this post kept taking a lot of different roads in my head. I was going to do a point by point rebuttal but there isn't anything I would write that most of us weren't already thinking after reading that. So..... The video was cool. I liked it a lot. It is a lot of what the HAMB is about to me, but more than anything this website opened my eyes to the fact that I, yes I, could buy an old car and with no prior 'old car' experience, could work on it and drive it and enjoy it without it being a perfect magazine car. I'd like it to be worthy of magazine coverage someday but I have a lot more work and learning to do before that will be possible. BUT, I love having it and getting it's 57 year old road grime under my nails and on my clothes. That is what it is all about. For me, I would never have thought that I could do this without the influence of the JJ and HAMB. One last note, it is not easy when things change and you are no longer the TOP DOG. If someone at the mags had thought of this idea that Ryan came up with, they wouldn't be bitching about it so loud. Also, Ryan, I cant believe that she called you simple! She's got some real big ones! HAHA Scott
my 5 cents worth-i don't see janets comments as a totally aimed at the magazine angle. i read it that they are over all the haters-i read a build thread to see a car(hopefully tradition styled)getting built and to see how people do things to learn,not to read 2 guys calling each other @##%$#$! due to their differing opions on the build especially when neither of them are the ones doing the build. i hate getting older,not because i'm ageing,just that the older you get the more self righteous opinionated people you come across. as for the cheque book rodders that some bash,my arguement is this- for a lot of people on here their ideal job would be to be employed building the cars we see on here-who pays to get these built allowing the talented builders who are employed doing this?the cheque book rodders.who takes their crappy old nailhead out to put a crate motor in making a crap old motor available.shit who needs cheque book rodders eh? for me i just want to see cool cars getting built-maybe someone should start a magazine that just covers builds-no opinions-bloody great.
I still remember the druggist yelling at me “kid, this ain’t a library, buy it or get out!” Kudos to Borders and Barnes & Noble for their open invitation to browse. I got my first hot rodding “fixes” in junior high school in the early ‘60s thru magazines, thru lots of titles, including HR and R&C mentioned in “Janet’s” letter. My family had one old car, completely off-limits to me, we had no garage or tools anyways, so magazines provided me with a vicarious hot rod experience. Thanks as well to Henry Gregor Felsen’s paperback books. I still read magazines, and like most here on the H.A.M.B. I lamented their drift towards advertiser determined content when it happened to many titles long ago. As others have stated above, many magazines (but not all, I firmly believe) exist not as content vehicles, but as advertising vehicles. In some regard, “Janet” is right, free expression on the web has killed his golden goose. Live by the advertisement, die by the advertisement. I can’t speak for everyone, but I certainly have had my share of bad days, it comes with the program. Whomever “Janet” is, he must have penned his missive on one of those. I think post #434 by Zombie bears reading by all and is key to understanding Janet’s bad day. The reality of print is that to be successful it must be distributed as widely as possible. That distribution is out of the content producers control, and therein lies the “devil” that Zombie refers to. The “holy trinity” of titles mentioned by “Janet“ are all currently owned by a distribution company. In a nutshell, (pun intended) from what I learned a couple years ago, Source Interlink was(is) primarily a distribution company, one of the major players in the business. Someone(s) at SI decided to get into the publishing end of it for whatever reasons, so they bought Primedia, formerly McMullen, formerly Petersen, etc. and paid way too much (1.1 Billion for Primedia Enthusiast Group-PEG). Worst of all, they went way into debt to do it, just as reality was catching up with Wall Street’s voodoo hedge fund witch doctors. Perfect financial storm. SI had other concurrent issues, not the least of which was having magazines they contracted to distribute being “lost” in warehouses and never hitting the stands. 2009 stock prices at .08 a share didn’t help anything. SI has been struggling for its life financially. Newton’s third law of physics is that @#$% rolls downhill, I think that the other day it rolled downhill right into “Janets” office. I affirm my right to make to a statement, even if it is determined by others to be "careless and reckless". Thank you H.A.M.B. for the venue. Perhaps “Janet” may have done the same the other day.
On a cold November night in 1997, in the dawning of the Internets, I discovered the Jalopy Journal by chance. Traditional Hot Rods, real Customs and 1/4 Mile heroes. I loved the early Ford stuff and always have. But, to tune in and learn from the likes of Ryan, Germ, Axle, Dr. J, Aaron, TSR and eventually The Rodder's Journal, Freiberger, Kev, Rocky, Rik from Europe, Jap Chris, Brandy, our beloved Denise-Topless cruising buddy, C9, Vaphead, damn, there are so many! But over all, it is a collective of great minds corralled by a great director. Thank you, one Ryan Cochran for having the drive to create a collective of the best ever in traditional rods and kustoms ever assembled in one place.
Janet and company are trying to operate a virtual monopoly, with an outdated business model, instead of changing with the times. Not our fault, they got in over their heads, in an industry they don't completely understand.
After seeing the Legion Special in SRM and the build here on the HAMB.....I see the HAMB as the place where all my friends go to see and work on their cars.It's where ideas are discussed, looks are determined cool or ugly,and ultimutly all of us builders are judged by our peers (our REAL judges). When one of "us" as "made it" to be on a cover or in a corperate mag, it really seems to be "WOW, they did it ok, without any Who Ever Rod Shop help. But it seems that all us home builder's goal is to be in a mag. Will there ever be an "on line" place that will have the same "presteage"(sp) as TRJ, HR, SRP, pick your least hated mag. I think we are the ugly stepchild (read that as make no money) that BIG Magazine wishes would go away, or at least stop making cool hot rods that their customers want. IMHO we need the mags to critique us differently then our peers and the mags need our vision and likes to be relevent. Unlike before the net, when the mags had the power to direct trends to their benefit, HAMBer's are leading a new "Builder's Era". Thank you Hambers. Thank you Ryan.
This is the line that I have issues with. Hot Rod magazine started w/ 1st issue in January 1948 Rod & Custom started w/ 1st issue in May 1953 These are significant magazines that most of us embrace & honor their place in history. They earned it. Street Rodder- the 1st issue was May of 1972 & as the title says- originally embraced the street rod market. 1972? Tell me again what world they created?
sounds like another gold chain, 32 fiberglass, store bought wana be called hot rodder talking out his ass again to me!! I think the he-she janet should go buy another flamming river steering column and shove it up his ass!!! right along with latest issue of steet rodder magazine!!! I've spent the last two years tracking down the right parts that our forefathers of hot rodding used, to finish up my 32 truck. sure I could have ordered all the shit on line and be done but wheres the fun in that!!! thanks Ryan for all your support and an awsome web site!!! hey janet if you dont like what goes down here... go hang out on walmarts board... and while your at it order up another one of those swell hot rod shirts!!!
The Jalopy Journal
