Haymarket agrees sale of PistonHeads to CarGurus
Discussion
So said:
citizensm1th said:
So said:
Hub said:
Glassman said:
andy_s said:
PurpleMoonlight said:
Remove the 'quote all' function please.
Here here,
The answer is two.
I doubt much will change.
I’d like to see an upvote/downvote thing for people’s posts to allow us to acknowledge the truth of a post or to ‘+1’ something without having to add a reply to a thread.
I’d like to be able to turn the swear filter off. I understand some people need it on but i don’t understand why the grown-ups who work from home can’t say f
k it occasionally.
I’d like to retain the rights to posting free car adverts.
I’d like to see the moderators identified as such when they post and also an up-to-date list of all mods made available to all.
I’d like to see many more in-house moderation appointments and hopefully we can sack off the external lot and self-police ourselves with what we find acceptable.
I’d like to see youtube links delivered with the site description and a preview/title frame to click - like most 21st century sites do.
I’d be in favour of static avatars as I find them much more user friendly when trying to follow a particular persons comments in a thread.
Can we have an RIP forum. Then you can (hopefully) have just one thread for each of the recently departed, rather than finding six different threads across a range of forii when somebody plays their last drum solo?
Given our new overlords are not publishers but car guys with money, can we expect some fabulous monthly competitions with awesome motoring (cars!) related prizes?
I’d like to see an upvote/downvote thing for people’s posts to allow us to acknowledge the truth of a post or to ‘+1’ something without having to add a reply to a thread.
I’d like to be able to turn the swear filter off. I understand some people need it on but i don’t understand why the grown-ups who work from home can’t say f
k it occasionally.I’d like to retain the rights to posting free car adverts.
I’d like to see the moderators identified as such when they post and also an up-to-date list of all mods made available to all.
I’d like to see many more in-house moderation appointments and hopefully we can sack off the external lot and self-police ourselves with what we find acceptable.
I’d like to see youtube links delivered with the site description and a preview/title frame to click - like most 21st century sites do.
I’d be in favour of static avatars as I find them much more user friendly when trying to follow a particular persons comments in a thread.
Can we have an RIP forum. Then you can (hopefully) have just one thread for each of the recently departed, rather than finding six different threads across a range of forii when somebody plays their last drum solo?
Given our new overlords are not publishers but car guys with money, can we expect some fabulous monthly competitions with awesome motoring (cars!) related prizes?
Sentiment and nostalgia have no place in a commercial model where it's numbers (not speed) that ultimately matter.
Sure, the Morgan Car Company survived after Sir John Harvey-Jones predicted their imminent demise in the early 90s but they're hardly McLaren or Ferrari are they?
Supported by the newly created 'Haymarket Automotive Group' from mid-2017 with a management team of Gen X corporate types more at home at awards dinners and enjoying corporate freebies, the strategy for future of PH at the time seems to be unclear.
A quote from their marketing officer from that time:
"Leading the Marketing, Product and Insight teams for Haymarket's Automotive brands, transitioning them from being a digital publisher to an online service provider."
Would suggest the intent was to take the Haymarket brands toward a car buying, choosing model similar to Carwow perhaps?
However, the technical debt that came with PH and embedded core of outspoken members maybe had them running scared.
Brands like CarWow, Carthrottle set-up and run by Entrepreneurial Millennials for whom smartphones are another limb have seen remarkable growth vs brands born in traditional print media (Parkers/Autotrader) where management are perhaps not as plugged in to the importance and subtlety of usability. I can imagine the meetings now where they're asking why people use Instagram instead of Twitter.
Users are more tech able than ever before, they demand more from the services these brands offer.
With a popular, if clunky classifieds capability and a decent user volume presumably made PH an attractive proposition. It was obviously easier to simply offload and give the problem to someone else.
In my view a spectacular missed opportunity to transform PH for the better, for the future, with a commercial model that works whilst maintaining it's uniqueness, its core user base and forum capability everyone loves.
This would have been a gamble though; it would have needed big investment.
Let’s hope PH uniqueness is preserved and it gets the investment is so desperately needs and deserves.
Sure, the Morgan Car Company survived after Sir John Harvey-Jones predicted their imminent demise in the early 90s but they're hardly McLaren or Ferrari are they?
Supported by the newly created 'Haymarket Automotive Group' from mid-2017 with a management team of Gen X corporate types more at home at awards dinners and enjoying corporate freebies, the strategy for future of PH at the time seems to be unclear.
A quote from their marketing officer from that time:
"Leading the Marketing, Product and Insight teams for Haymarket's Automotive brands, transitioning them from being a digital publisher to an online service provider."
Would suggest the intent was to take the Haymarket brands toward a car buying, choosing model similar to Carwow perhaps?
However, the technical debt that came with PH and embedded core of outspoken members maybe had them running scared.
Brands like CarWow, Carthrottle set-up and run by Entrepreneurial Millennials for whom smartphones are another limb have seen remarkable growth vs brands born in traditional print media (Parkers/Autotrader) where management are perhaps not as plugged in to the importance and subtlety of usability. I can imagine the meetings now where they're asking why people use Instagram instead of Twitter.
Users are more tech able than ever before, they demand more from the services these brands offer.
With a popular, if clunky classifieds capability and a decent user volume presumably made PH an attractive proposition. It was obviously easier to simply offload and give the problem to someone else.
In my view a spectacular missed opportunity to transform PH for the better, for the future, with a commercial model that works whilst maintaining it's uniqueness, its core user base and forum capability everyone loves.
This would have been a gamble though; it would have needed big investment.
Let’s hope PH uniqueness is preserved and it gets the investment is so desperately needs and deserves.
Monkeylegend said:
We could always ask Petrol Ted kindly to resurrect Blatters, there will be enough traffic when PH closes down, and it will just seem like old times.
We can still bicker and fight, call each other names, troll, be asreholes, tell porkies about cars we don't actually own, big ourselves up, go the Elevenerife, say we earn £10m pa, have a garage full of exotic classics, are all Company Directors,are all legal experts, offer unbiased relationship advice, tell of our conquests on Match.com, preach to people who get caught speeding, tell of our driving god exploits, and even offer medical advice, who needs doctors, get banned, have multiple log ins, and learn the Welsh language.
Yep should be great
"We could always ask Petrol Ted kindly to resurrect Blatters, there will be enough traffic when PH closes down, and it will just seem like old times."We can still bicker and fight, call each other names, troll, be asreholes, tell porkies about cars we don't actually own, big ourselves up, go the Elevenerife, say we earn £10m pa, have a garage full of exotic classics, are all Company Directors,are all legal experts, offer unbiased relationship advice, tell of our conquests on Match.com, preach to people who get caught speeding, tell of our driving god exploits, and even offer medical advice, who needs doctors, get banned, have multiple log ins, and learn the Welsh language.
Yep should be great
WORD!
Once upon a time there was quite a good user focussed website in the industry that my business is in called outdoorsmagic. That site along with some others in the same family was bought by a bigger group, who in the interests of efficiency, streamlining (and advertising revenue) totally changed the look, feel and content of the site. As one of the first posters predicted in the case of PH, the first thing to suffer (and the best part about the original site) was the forums. By changing the interface, making it way harder to navigate & contribute - even though it looked slicker, it was actually not easy to use. The result was after a relatively short period the site died a death from the forum outwards. It still exists, but as a shadow of its former self. This scenario could very likely happen with PH. But on the bright side forum moderation will be a very quick and easy task.
So it's been bought by an organisation that is focussed on making money from it's customers (it's advertisers) to make sure it's customers (it's advertisers) can make more money from advertising to yours customers (it's advertisers) customers (site users)
Its a listed organisation so has a duty to it's sharehders above else which means profit is it's number 1 aim, nothing else.
Like they say, if you don't pay for a product, you are the product.
I would add one thing - the main car sales/buying site here in Australia, carsales.com.au, has an amazing app/site for searching for cars and puts PH and Autotrader to shame - some if their articles aren't too bad either.
Its a listed organisation so has a duty to it's sharehders above else which means profit is it's number 1 aim, nothing else.
Like they say, if you don't pay for a product, you are the product.
I would add one thing - the main car sales/buying site here in Australia, carsales.com.au, has an amazing app/site for searching for cars and puts PH and Autotrader to shame - some if their articles aren't too bad either.
I think CG will need a light touch.
There are a lot of people who love this place for it's uniqueness and it's relative freedoms, there are also a lot of very IT savvy members who could possibly start up some sort of alternative. I would have thought that should CG start messing around a little too much and somebody was offering something very similar to the original then a large proportion of the membership would jump ship pretty instantly.
Both Blatters and the other site (cfg?) have only failed to ignite because PH is still here.
CG will have to consider this carefully before they break into a run.
There are a lot of people who love this place for it's uniqueness and it's relative freedoms, there are also a lot of very IT savvy members who could possibly start up some sort of alternative. I would have thought that should CG start messing around a little too much and somebody was offering something very similar to the original then a large proportion of the membership would jump ship pretty instantly.
Both Blatters and the other site (cfg?) have only failed to ignite because PH is still here.
CG will have to consider this carefully before they break into a run.
Tyre Smoke said:
There's going to be many more adverts aren't there?
It's bad enough already. And what's worse, the new owners will probably offer/compulsory add a subscription service for the forums.
Advert blockers such as uBlock Origin will be the order of the day (although that's the case here anyway now).It's bad enough already. And what's worse, the new owners will probably offer/compulsory add a subscription service for the forums.
Anyone else see a parallel to when the top gear presenters left, another company 'bought' them and then tried to make it their own (and not copy the original due to legal issues...) ?
The new format divided opinion across the board.
End result:
Old show new presenters - Ok, but didn't have the same feel.
New show old presenters - lost the magic.
I don't think it will ever be the same, everyone has their own view on how something should be run and the views of a new owner will be different to the old.
What i would like to see is more voting on suggested changes, along with transparency as to why they're required.
We have the tech to run simple voting threads and could all be put up inside website feedback.
The new format divided opinion across the board.
End result:
Old show new presenters - Ok, but didn't have the same feel.
New show old presenters - lost the magic.
I don't think it will ever be the same, everyone has their own view on how something should be run and the views of a new owner will be different to the old.
What i would like to see is more voting on suggested changes, along with transparency as to why they're required.
We have the tech to run simple voting threads and could all be put up inside website feedback.
KEEP IT AS IT IS FORUM WISE (apart from the search function - please do what you like with that! 
)
A previous poster mentioned Snapchat, Instagram etc. Thats not what PH needs - i'm all for technology etc but PH is big enough as it is without diversifying it even more. Understand it has its place and that is why it has been successful.
)A previous poster mentioned Snapchat, Instagram etc. Thats not what PH needs - i'm all for technology etc but PH is big enough as it is without diversifying it even more. Understand it has its place and that is why it has been successful.
A return to some decent original articles (ie not regurgitated from somewhere else) would definitely be an improvement - once upon a time you could spend half a lunchtime on pistonheads reading the various articles . These days it's a click on, nothing on it - off to Jalopnik for the half hour instead.
James
James
jjones said:
louiebaby said:
The clean, simple, uncluttered format of the forums is absolutely excellent. No signatures with sparkly bits, etc is excellent.
Agreed. Avatars and signatures are just ste that is not required.I like the fact the screen is discreet white, no big graphics or other crap on the screen. If it became a 'loud' looking website, I wouldn't visit it anywhere near as much.
Starts to make sense now - really out of date looking forum and an increase in advertising . It's the quickest way to increase your EBITDA and get a better price from buyers.
I'm not going to moan like some do - I find it strange how people are indignant about using a forum, for free. It's been very helpful, and I've never paid for an advert so I've done very well and am happy with the experience.
CarWow has shown how to do social media. 1.4 subs on YouTube and millions of views every week. PH looks rather backwards in comparison. There's your opportunity CarGurus - and if CarWow can show up AutoTrader, here's your chance!
I'm not going to moan like some do - I find it strange how people are indignant about using a forum, for free. It's been very helpful, and I've never paid for an advert so I've done very well and am happy with the experience.
CarWow has shown how to do social media. 1.4 subs on YouTube and millions of views every week. PH looks rather backwards in comparison. There's your opportunity CarGurus - and if CarWow can show up AutoTrader, here's your chance!
woollyjoe said:
Assuming Cargurus will read this, I'm happy to share my thoughts:
1. The PistonHeads brand. It's not kept up with audiences (the market). I appreciate many like things the way they are, but the category is screaming for better quality and differentiated experiences across social media. PH does not appear to understand the opportunity with Instagram or YouTube, never mind Snapchat. I'm sure many will Mock, but the point is about new audiences wanting to joining the PH community from around the world. It also looks terrible.
It just won't work and I'll tell you why. It's pretty clear from reading the post content that the bulk of the forum users are around 40 years old, a large number in their 30s and 50s, less in their 20s and 60s and virtually non-existent in their teens and 70s, comparatively. People in their 40s generally don't do social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, "apps" and certainly not Snapchat, because they grew up in an era when every site had an active user forum and Facebook et al didn't exist. People in this age group like forums, they are at home with the relative simplicity and chronological layout of the content.1. The PistonHeads brand. It's not kept up with audiences (the market). I appreciate many like things the way they are, but the category is screaming for better quality and differentiated experiences across social media. PH does not appear to understand the opportunity with Instagram or YouTube, never mind Snapchat. I'm sure many will Mock, but the point is about new audiences wanting to joining the PH community from around the world. It also looks terrible.
Compare this to Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and they're completely alien to them in terms of layout and usage. Unless you're active all the time you miss half of the posts because of the way they're designed to only show you content that the poster's mate has upvoted 300 times with his numerous sockpuppet accounts. If a post doesn't get any 'likes' or upvotes then an algorithm makes sure you never see it (eg. Reddit). Some would argue that's a good thing but I reckon the majority of regular posters here would prefer things in a simple chronological order as they are now, hence why these forums are so incredibly popular and busy. Social media-style layouts are not liked by this age demographic and it's probably the reason why Drive Tribe died a death within weeks solely because of the layout as they misjudged the age demographic of their potential audience.
This creates a huge problem when the site owners are only 'in it' to make money because old forum formats don't generate money. It's all about the apps and social media in order to appeal to the widest possible audience to generate the most income, but if you change the site layout you alienate and ultimately lose half a million site users, but if you retain the existing forum layout you can't make any money from it because everyone is using ad blockers and all your shareholders start jumping up and down and get all shouty.
Rather than being glad to see the back of Haymarket you really should be thanking them (!) for keeping the forum lights on, even with their niggling problems. They could have pulled the plug on them at any time but they didn't. I very much doubt that CarGurus are going to afford us with the same 'luxury'. They've made their plans and intentions clear and these forums do not feature nor fit in with any of those plans once you cut away the PR spin.
dgmx5 said:
NicoG said:
Will I still get free classified adverts on account of joining so long ago...
Perhaps long term lurkers like me should look to monetise our accounts by selling them to dealers who can then list for free rather than at the new competitive rates.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff