Here is the letter I get on Monday to start off my week. Maybe I'm just easy to torque off. Maybe, I'm just overly upset at a bit of criticism. Or maybe I get really irritated at someone telling me what I oughta do with my site.
See, when I have asked, less than 5 or 6 people ever respond. Most people say, hey, it's all good, maybe a little less hating on police that shoot unarmed suspects.
But, in nearly 10 years of spending my spare time posting stuff I think is cool just to share it with like minded people, Charley is the first and only person to ask me to "dump all" and "knock off" posting a thing.
Here's what he wrote:
Dear Jesse,
You've done a really good job with your Just A Car Guy blog -- keep up the good work.
However, please dump all the airplane and military posts.
You could start another site, perhaps called Just A Plane Guy for it instead.
Really, I don't want to see it. (I'm deleting one sentence here)
Please go back to cars and cars ONLY.
Regards, Charley
So... that pushed my button.
But I don't want to fly off the handle without thinking about this whole thing. So, I replied sorta nicely....
Well, thanks for your input. You must be incredibly fed up to finally write to me, as I've never heard from you before.
My traffic has doubled during the past couple weeks while I've been posting all the WW2 stuff. Who'd figure what has you so fired up is making other people happy?
I'm sorry you're not getting a kick out of the cool nose art, but yeah, I can see why tanks just don't do a thing for most people.
I guess I grew up watching a lot of old black and white movies of WW2 with John Wayne, and Robert Mitchum, etc. and some of that admiration for the WW2 stuff still has a strong hold on what I appreciate. Then the Bob Hope and Jack Benny planes... well, I guess that I have a great deal of admiration for the USO tour people too, and Bob Hope especially for all his funny movies.
But you're done, huh? What about trains? 4x4s and rally race stuff? Motorcycles? I've done a whole lot on all sorts of things, and maybe you could be more specific on what you've liked the most and the least?
Jesse
Hi Jesse,
You're right, this is the first time that I've written to you. I rarely complain about things that I see online. It's just that after seemingly weeks of heavy emphasis on aircraft/military posts on "Just..." I returned from a week-long vacation unplugged from the internet only to see those posts continuing.
It all depends on what you feel is best for your blog. Having the traffic double shows that there is a strong interest in what you are posting. There are probably dozens of other non-car topics you could post that would do that, too, but then it wouldn't be a neat car site anymore.
Occasional non-car/ground motor vehicle posts are fine. If it were up to me, I'd like to see about the same "mix" of topics as you have done up until August. I really enjoy most of the ones you've done. Thank you for posting them. I also like the seemingly off-topic ones that have at least some car/motor vehicle connection (e.g. car engines in boats, "Buck Benny" plane art that shows his Maxwell, Waco biker shootout coverup, civil asset forfeiture corruption). They are informative and entertaining, too. Please keep it up.
As for nearly everything else, please consider putting them on a separate blog. I grew up (I'm 63) with similar interests as you but that doesn't mean that I want to read/see them on what I view as mostly a car blog.
I'm not "done." I'll still be an avid viewer. In addition, your blog archive and labels column are useful. I wish that others would do that.
Regards, Charley
(Everything that pissed me off in his letters are now in bold)
So I gave it some thought, and here's my take on it.
You weren't asked. You weren't invited. You don't pay for a subscription, you never had to register, and I never advertised to get you to look at my website. It's my hobby, my spare time activity. It has nothing to do with your preferences, expectations, nor will I change what I post to accommodate your likes.
What I'm doing I am not doing for you. You get to read along if you like, but as a bird can land on an alligator and get a nice view of the everglades for awhile, don't poke your beak where it ain't welcome. You've been along for the ride and I've never even heard of you, like some one watching my tv through the window.
Or I could respond like a boot camp drill sergeant, and since I've been through boot camp and 10 years of Navy which was mostly time on submarines... I've got some choice phrases I'd like to see curl your eyebrows. Or I can handle this like a man among men, and tell you to take a hike, jump in a lake and cool your heels.
Or I can point out that I'm the one cooking the meal, you are some uninvited petulant brat from the neighborhood and if you don't like what I put on the table, you can go pound sand and kick rocks.
Lemme explain something here, listen up Charley.
I am "just" a car guy. Not a college educated silver spoon Martha's Vineyard socialite with a cabin in Connecticutt, and a brownstone in Greenwich Village with businesses to run and meetings to attend before I flyout to race my 250 GTO at Lime Rock after making sure I post what you want to see. I'm nothing more than a car guy, and that is why I named my blog the way I did. It wasn't decided by committee, I came up with it in moments, and bingo, it stuck, because it describes me and how I figure what I do will be reflected online.
30 years I was rattle can spray painting a 71 Challenger and 72 Demon with gray primer, and bondo repairing the rusted out remains of a 72 Barracuda in the short days between heading to sea in Uncle Sams Yacht Club in a submarine out of Pearl Harbor, 20 years ago I was digging through junkyards for parts to fix up my 69 Super Bee. 15 years ago I was a cable guy then I repaired radars, 10 years ago I was changing oil and batteries and balancing tires at Sears. Now I'm a photographer at a dealership making sure all the cars get a gallery online with a description so you can shop from home.
During the past 10 years I've been posting what I find cool about the vehicle world on my site, and I don't do it for you. I'm not a kiss up looking to impress you and make friends, and increase stats and boost ratings and sell advertising.
I haven't ever advertised, and I don't sell t'shirts and stickers so you can tattoo your bumper. I post for me. I get a kick out of the stuff I put on my blog, and that's it. 10 years of adding content, and someday maybe it'll make for a door opener where I can get a job doing this for someone else, but that's a long way off. Until then, it's just me doing what I want to make me happy. If you piss off and go away, I'm not even going to notice, and I'm not going to care. You never donated to the cause, you never sent a thank you card, a gift card for a steak and beer, no tickets to the races, no invite to Goodwood, not a single comment in the posts.
You don't get to tell me to dump the military stuff, and knock off the WW2 focus. When you can't stand what I'm doing, go away. I dig it, I'm going to do more of it, and I don't care what you've had enough of. You ain't never had a kind word to say, and I sure ain't going to listen to you whine because I'm not meeting your expectations. I've only ever met a dozen guys because of this blog, and you aren't one of them.
And that idea of your to put stuff that isn't cars on another site? Yeah, I already do that. Here are the other 9 websites I make that you never noticed have been listed on the top right of Justacarguy:
http://contentandcomposition.tumblr.com/
http://designandstyleathome.tumblr.com/
http://uncles-advice.livejournal.com/
http://muchimproved.tumblr.com/
http://better-than-palgrave.blogspot.com/
http://isurvivedthehallhline.blogspot.com/
http://isurvivedthehallhline.tumblr.com/
http://isonlyskindeep.tumblr.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Nose-Art-WW2-aircraft-1111861348900582/
I guess you can be thankful you never had to put up with the interior decorating, poetry, coplayers, and photoshop lessons.
What I do for a hobby, in my spare time, isn't sticking to your preconceived notion of what it ought to be? Who the F**K did you think you were when you woke up this morning?
(Rob used the comment section to say: I feel the exact same way...I post about unusual, infamous, and famous accidents and disasters ... .... If someone tried to tell me what I shouldn't write about,
(1) I'm not sure I could be as nice about it as you were, and
(2) It'd be a guarantee of at least three or four or ten posts about that very subject in a row.)
See, when I have asked, less than 5 or 6 people ever respond. Most people say, hey, it's all good, maybe a little less hating on police that shoot unarmed suspects.
But, in nearly 10 years of spending my spare time posting stuff I think is cool just to share it with like minded people, Charley is the first and only person to ask me to "dump all" and "knock off" posting a thing.
Here's what he wrote:
Dear Jesse,
You've done a really good job with your Just A Car Guy blog -- keep up the good work.
However, please dump all the airplane and military posts.
You could start another site, perhaps called Just A Plane Guy for it instead.
Really, I don't want to see it. (I'm deleting one sentence here)
Please go back to cars and cars ONLY.
Regards, Charley
So... that pushed my button.
But I don't want to fly off the handle without thinking about this whole thing. So, I replied sorta nicely....
Well, thanks for your input. You must be incredibly fed up to finally write to me, as I've never heard from you before.
My traffic has doubled during the past couple weeks while I've been posting all the WW2 stuff. Who'd figure what has you so fired up is making other people happy?
I'm sorry you're not getting a kick out of the cool nose art, but yeah, I can see why tanks just don't do a thing for most people.
I guess I grew up watching a lot of old black and white movies of WW2 with John Wayne, and Robert Mitchum, etc. and some of that admiration for the WW2 stuff still has a strong hold on what I appreciate. Then the Bob Hope and Jack Benny planes... well, I guess that I have a great deal of admiration for the USO tour people too, and Bob Hope especially for all his funny movies.
But you're done, huh? What about trains? 4x4s and rally race stuff? Motorcycles? I've done a whole lot on all sorts of things, and maybe you could be more specific on what you've liked the most and the least?
Jesse
Hi Jesse,
You're right, this is the first time that I've written to you. I rarely complain about things that I see online. It's just that after seemingly weeks of heavy emphasis on aircraft/military posts on "Just..." I returned from a week-long vacation unplugged from the internet only to see those posts continuing.
It all depends on what you feel is best for your blog. Having the traffic double shows that there is a strong interest in what you are posting. There are probably dozens of other non-car topics you could post that would do that, too, but then it wouldn't be a neat car site anymore.
Occasional non-car/ground motor vehicle posts are fine. If it were up to me, I'd like to see about the same "mix" of topics as you have done up until August. I really enjoy most of the ones you've done. Thank you for posting them. I also like the seemingly off-topic ones that have at least some car/motor vehicle connection (e.g. car engines in boats, "Buck Benny" plane art that shows his Maxwell, Waco biker shootout coverup, civil asset forfeiture corruption). They are informative and entertaining, too. Please keep it up.
As for nearly everything else, please consider putting them on a separate blog. I grew up (I'm 63) with similar interests as you but that doesn't mean that I want to read/see them on what I view as mostly a car blog.
I'm not "done." I'll still be an avid viewer. In addition, your blog archive and labels column are useful. I wish that others would do that.
Regards, Charley
(Everything that pissed me off in his letters are now in bold)
So I gave it some thought, and here's my take on it.
You weren't asked. You weren't invited. You don't pay for a subscription, you never had to register, and I never advertised to get you to look at my website. It's my hobby, my spare time activity. It has nothing to do with your preferences, expectations, nor will I change what I post to accommodate your likes.
What I'm doing I am not doing for you. You get to read along if you like, but as a bird can land on an alligator and get a nice view of the everglades for awhile, don't poke your beak where it ain't welcome. You've been along for the ride and I've never even heard of you, like some one watching my tv through the window.
Or I could respond like a boot camp drill sergeant, and since I've been through boot camp and 10 years of Navy which was mostly time on submarines... I've got some choice phrases I'd like to see curl your eyebrows. Or I can handle this like a man among men, and tell you to take a hike, jump in a lake and cool your heels.
Or I can point out that I'm the one cooking the meal, you are some uninvited petulant brat from the neighborhood and if you don't like what I put on the table, you can go pound sand and kick rocks.
Lemme explain something here, listen up Charley.
I am "just" a car guy. Not a college educated silver spoon Martha's Vineyard socialite with a cabin in Connecticutt, and a brownstone in Greenwich Village with businesses to run and meetings to attend before I flyout to race my 250 GTO at Lime Rock after making sure I post what you want to see. I'm nothing more than a car guy, and that is why I named my blog the way I did. It wasn't decided by committee, I came up with it in moments, and bingo, it stuck, because it describes me and how I figure what I do will be reflected online.
30 years I was rattle can spray painting a 71 Challenger and 72 Demon with gray primer, and bondo repairing the rusted out remains of a 72 Barracuda in the short days between heading to sea in Uncle Sams Yacht Club in a submarine out of Pearl Harbor, 20 years ago I was digging through junkyards for parts to fix up my 69 Super Bee. 15 years ago I was a cable guy then I repaired radars, 10 years ago I was changing oil and batteries and balancing tires at Sears. Now I'm a photographer at a dealership making sure all the cars get a gallery online with a description so you can shop from home.
During the past 10 years I've been posting what I find cool about the vehicle world on my site, and I don't do it for you. I'm not a kiss up looking to impress you and make friends, and increase stats and boost ratings and sell advertising.
I haven't ever advertised, and I don't sell t'shirts and stickers so you can tattoo your bumper. I post for me. I get a kick out of the stuff I put on my blog, and that's it. 10 years of adding content, and someday maybe it'll make for a door opener where I can get a job doing this for someone else, but that's a long way off. Until then, it's just me doing what I want to make me happy. If you piss off and go away, I'm not even going to notice, and I'm not going to care. You never donated to the cause, you never sent a thank you card, a gift card for a steak and beer, no tickets to the races, no invite to Goodwood, not a single comment in the posts.
You don't get to tell me to dump the military stuff, and knock off the WW2 focus. When you can't stand what I'm doing, go away. I dig it, I'm going to do more of it, and I don't care what you've had enough of. You ain't never had a kind word to say, and I sure ain't going to listen to you whine because I'm not meeting your expectations. I've only ever met a dozen guys because of this blog, and you aren't one of them.
And that idea of your to put stuff that isn't cars on another site? Yeah, I already do that. Here are the other 9 websites I make that you never noticed have been listed on the top right of Justacarguy:
http://contentandcomposition.tumblr.com/
http://designandstyleathome.tumblr.com/
http://uncles-advice.livejournal.com/
http://muchimproved.tumblr.com/
http://better-than-palgrave.blogspot.com/
http://isurvivedthehallhline.blogspot.com/
http://isurvivedthehallhline.tumblr.com/
http://isonlyskindeep.tumblr.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Nose-Art-WW2-aircraft-1111861348900582/
I guess you can be thankful you never had to put up with the interior decorating, poetry, coplayers, and photoshop lessons.
What I do for a hobby, in my spare time, isn't sticking to your preconceived notion of what it ought to be? Who the F**K did you think you were when you woke up this morning?
(Rob used the comment section to say: I feel the exact same way...I post about unusual, infamous, and famous accidents and disasters ... .... If someone tried to tell me what I shouldn't write about,
(1) I'm not sure I could be as nice about it as you were, and
(2) It'd be a guarantee of at least three or four or ten posts about that very subject in a row.)
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