It's Official! Spies Reveal 2009 Holiday Card-Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
I can't stop listening to Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas!" LOL
makes me feel happy

Happy Holidays autospies and best wishes to everyone in your camp. keep up the great work. This site gives me something o do when I am bored at work which is almost everyday...lolol....I have been with you for 6 years now and climbing

awwww <teary eyed>

You guys went all out this year: a crappy iphone picture with some bland text overlaid.

Here's a few Christmas wishes:

- Actually organize your galleries. I have completely given up on ever looking at them because I have to scroll through 500 pictures I don't want to see to find the one I do. This was fine back in 2003 when you were a startup and HTML/javascript design was still pretty basic. Now it just looks cheap and lazy, or even worse, like you are trying to rack up page-views at the expense of my time.

- Hold your employees/contributors to a higher standard. Joe_Limon's articles on the mechanical workings of the automobile are a nice step in the right direction (and I don't think he is even a paid contributor). The drivel that 009 pollutes this website with is exactly what should be avoided. For the most part, all the contributors do here is repost the text from some other website's article and slap their own header/title on the piece. When a contributor can't even use real words to do so (remember 009's "refreshen") they should not be a contributor. It brings down the value of the entire site.

- Contract someone with some graphic design skills to do things like your "Holiday Card". Seriously, there are elementary school kids who have enough photoshop skills to do a better job and you wouldn't even have to pay them. Just throw a snickers and a slurpee their way and you would have all the free labor you want.

I have had Autospies as a favorite in my browser for years. I'm sure that I am not the only reader who is annoyed and ready to remove this site from that collection because of the lack of investment in what we the reader get to experience. I don't care how many times you get to go to Spain, France and Russia 001. What I care about is my experience when I visit your site, and right now it pretty much sucks.

I'm with you.

makkystyle...I'm with you on the 009 bullsh*t. If the he wants to go Bill O or Sean Clanity, do it somewhere else. The prejudice does nothing more than destroy the value of the articles posted here that PRIMARILY originate from other sites.

1. Thanks for the feedback, we're working on it.

2. We're a social network, not a blog so that's what voting and ranking are for. if it sucks, it gets de-boosted or few comments. The internet equalizes everything. We're NEVER going to stop people having the incentive to contribute. We will only encourage it more. We will never be elitist in our thought process here. What you may hate another might love. They report, YOU decide.

3. Card photo was not from iPhone...Most people liked it but you can't please everyone. Sorry you're the only Scrooge who complained. ;)

4. Sorry you feel that way...We're ALL about speed. SPEED kills.

001

And to Bmw8tter,

You need to check your stats...65% of the content here is or original content vs. 35% links to other sites articles.

Most people prefer to see everything in one place and be able to CHOOSE what they read. That's why Digg kills everybody.

And regarding 009 or anyone else with their opinions.

We WANT to be opinionated.

I hate most other sites mantra of "We'll never criticize or tell the REAL truth for fear the auto companies won't give us free trips or advertise".

And trust us, they WANT to control EVERYONE in this space...they always have and now the tables have turned and it KILLS them that the internet is now in control, not them.

If you don't like what we say, tell us or post a rebuttal article.

We're not like the other blogs that sit on the mountaintop dolling out what THEY think you should see.

ANYONE can write here because this is YOUR site and YOU guys make it great.

Cheers!

001

makkystyle

The articles on this site are as good as the contributors themselves. I commend the agents for running a site which allows you to post your own opinion. I realize I hold many opinions, and if this site and its posters conformed with all of my opinions I would quickly lose interest in it.

One thing I would recommend to the agents is some feedback after posting an article. Some easy way to see if it has been received/reviewed yet.

Also, It has already been complained numerous times that people have submitted articles only to have them posted at a later date by an agent. Perhaps the best way to solve this would be to have multiple tags to mention all the people who submitted the link.

Merry Christmas :)

And leave the political rants elsewhere please. Stick to car news!!!

And lastly, this is the season of good cheer, thankfulness, love and brotherhood!

Merry CHRISTmas and Happy Holidays! ;)

001

Thanks for the response 001. I'm glad you saw my "scrooge"-ness for what it was: some frustration with a site I actually like :)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all. Its been an eventfull year to say the least. Ive enjoyed the site not only to contribute but also to learn things about vehicles Ive never taken an interest in. Spies definately has a deversified group which makes it interesting. Always remember John 3:16 Thats what Christmas is about.

Amen bro!

He rules the world with TRUTH and GRACE!

001

Merry Christmas to all and also to our dearly departed : hyundaismoke, David969 and mitchell, wherever they prevail now.