blazerdude20 Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 The website leftlanenews is being shuttered and will no longer provide reviews and articles on all things automotive. It’s a sad day for me, because this was my go to site for reasonable reviews of new products and comparisons. It is is mentioned in the article that a couple other automotive sites are shuttering as well. Which makes me wonder, how much longer will we have a wide selection of online automotive news. Magazines have already, mostly, gone by wayside. https://leftlanenews.com/2019/07/29/lane-ends--merge-right/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noah Harbinger Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 I remember in the late 90s, it was predicted that microtransactions would save journalism from the scourge of the expectation that information on the Internet would be free. Forego obtrusive ads (this was the dawn of the pOp-up) and intrusive user tracking by charging some amount too small to refuse - say, a nickel, which is far more than ad-impression revenue - to read a full article, which would be aggregated by a clearinghouse to monthly payments from the customer, to the content creators. But no, they all want subscriptions. So journalism dies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvrsvt Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 7 hours ago, Noah Harbinger said: So journalism dies. IMO it has been dead for a long time-the shock/click bait headlines along with a complete lack of editing and whatnot has contributed to this. The revenue model they are using is broken and the only people getting rich is Google Adsense. so if you're a regular reader of Motor Authority or The Car Connection, well, I have some bad news for you. Guess they are going away too. Part of this is oversaturation of the market and the rise of things like Facebook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoonerLS Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 11 minutes ago, silvrsvt said: Guess they are going away too. Part of this is oversaturation of the market and the rise of things like Facebook. I think he meant that he'll be writing for them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 4 minutes ago, SoonerLS said: I think he meant that he'll be writing for them. Correct, the whole sentence gives context... Quote I (along with Drew) will be joining some of them over at Internet Brands, so if you're a regular reader of Motor Authority or The Car Connection, well, I have some bad news for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willwll313wll Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 I don't necessarily believe Automotive journalism is dying, it's just changing. Self-made men and women are on youtube making decent money and getting hundreds of thousands of views reviewing cars with their GoPro. I think the days of a handful of sources for your news, reviews, or any type of journalism is behind us. We have youtubers reviewing the new Aviator, and doing a great job at it, before Motortrend and all the major outlets publish anything. The internet continues to change our world and how we consume information. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mnm Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 11 minutes ago, Willwll313wll said: I don't necessarily believe Automotive journalism is dying, it's just changing. Self-made men and women are on youtube making decent money and getting hundreds of thousands of views reviewing cars with their GoPro. I think the days of a handful of sources for your news, reviews, or any type of journalism is behind us. We have youtubers reviewing the new Aviator, and doing a great job at it, before Motortrend and all the major outlets publish anything. The internet continues to change our world and how we consume information. So true! Currently the only auto “journalism” I view on a consistent basis is on YouTube. Specifically Doug Demuro, Hoovies Garage, and all the TFL channels. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willwll313wll Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 11 minutes ago, mnm said: So true! Currently the only auto “journalism” I view on a consistent basis is on YouTube. Specifically Doug Demuro, Hoovies Garage, and all the TFL channels. Yeah! I used to visit Car & Driver/Motortrend/Autoblog every single day! Now I am on youtube and blueovalnews ?. Journalism is far from dead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-dubz Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 Leftlanenews used to be one of my go to websites back in the days, but I haven’t visited them in years. A combination of Autoblog, motor1, and YouTube seem to have all the bases covered pretty well for me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twintornados Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 LLN was a "kinda, sorta" back up to my viewing/reading on Autoblog...since Autoblog got bought by AOL (who itself is owned by Verizon) it seems that Autoblog will continue for the foreseeable future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 (edited) 6 hours ago, Willwll313wll said: Yeah! I used to visit Car & Driver/Motortrend/Autoblog every single day! Now I am on youtube and blueovalnews ?. Journalism is far from dead. Maybe so but I think expecting direct payment from viewers is and i really feel for the guys that tried to keep the doors open with a free website. Edited July 30, 2019 by jpd80 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmc523 Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 Hm. The link in the original post doesn't go anywhere? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twintornados Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 14 hours ago, rmc523 said: Hm. The link in the original post doesn't go anywhere? Link goes to a blank page headered with Left Lane News and dated Dec 31, 1969?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 As I noted on Twitter, there is some weird stuff going on behind the scenes that even the ex-editorial staff don't know about. (I don't either mind you, just noting it) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvrsvt Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 51 minutes ago, Anthony said: As I noted on Twitter, there is some weird stuff going on behind the scenes that even the ex-editorial staff don't know about. (I don't either mind you, just noting it) The whole situation sounds like a big cluster f*** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blazerdude20 Posted July 31, 2019 Author Share Posted July 31, 2019 17 hours ago, rmc523 said: Hm. The link in the original post doesn't go anywhere? The original article has been removed from the website. Guessing the owners of the site didn’t like the dirty laundry being aired out. From all accounts of the staff, everyone was blindsided by the decision and not given any real answers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmc523 Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 I used to use leftlane as my main source of info. NOt sure why I stopped going, I go to Autoblog now. I think the images were always good at Autoblog, whereas leftlane's became confusing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCM1 Posted August 1, 2019 Share Posted August 1, 2019 Looks like the rumors of Left Lane's death were greatly exaggerated. Site has a statement on the front page saying, Notice: Left Lane News is under new management. We apologize for the disruption in publishing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoonerLS Posted August 1, 2019 Share Posted August 1, 2019 That was weird. After reading the most recent posts in this thread, I clicked on "Go To Topic Listing," and I got a mess of error code instead of the index. Momentarily made me wonder if BON had followed suit... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.