FastMachines Readers - Please Give Us Your Thoughts
Written by Josh Katinger · October 15, 2005
Hey race fans…I’ve got some questions for you…
But first let me apologize for not updating a few areas of the site last week. I was away on my honeymoon…and let me tell you it was thrilling to come back to a hacked message board. Thanks a lot Mr. “Nightwolf,” glad to have you aboard…NOT!
Sorry for the aside…
My questions for you the readers are:
- Who are you people?
- What do you want?
Let me expand on that…
Since starting this site in 2003, the crew and I have been diligently writing, posting, redesigning, patching and upgrading this site out of love for racing, writing, and conversation. I have a visitor tracking system (geeks like me would call it a “web analytics tool”) that tells me that there are about 22,000 people who show up at this site each month for one reason or another. However it’s only a small percentage of you that we actually “know.”
And while I’m on the subject, I want to give a ton of thanks to those of you out there that have been coming to the site for a long time now and talking racing with us. Marc, PeterG, Wholly, Jeff etc etc…you know who you are. The constant flow of insightful comments and conversation is really the only thing that keeps this part-time after-hours venture alive. It gives us quite a buzz to get reaction (good or bad) to the stuff we post. Thanks!
However…that’s only about 1% of everyone that my “analytics tool” tells me is coming to the site. So with this post and a similar post/poll on our message board I would like to officially solicit your comments on this site.
- What do you like about it?
- What do you hate about it?
- Why do you come here?
- Why do you come back?
- Is there any sort of feature or functionality that I can build into this site to better serve auto racing fans?
I’ve been planning some upgrades and changes to the site for about the last six months. As championships are clinched and the 2005 season draws to an end I’ve been trying to figure out where to go from here. What should be included in FastMachines.com version 3.0? I have so many ideas that I think I’ve struck “analysis paralysis” so I’m looking to you the readers for some suggestions. Here are some ideas of new functionality that I would like your thoughts on…
- We currently have great TV listings courtesy of RaceFanTv. Do you want more? Is there any way we can make it better? Would you like an in-depth and fully customizable TV listings tool that lets you choose only the series that you are interested in and create a customized TV listing based on only what you want to watch?
- How about a well groomed and managed directory of racing links? I want to build the ultimate online resource for racing fans where they can search for any series, driver, whatever and get a ton a links to quality sites on that topic. This takes a bit of money and a lot of time and effort. Should we do it? Does anyone else want this?
- The ability to personalize the site: right now we blog about NASCAR, F1, Champ Car, IRL, NHRA, and Sports Cars and have a list of links that we like on those topics. Maybe some people don’t like F1. Would the ability to remove the F1 tab from your view be cool? How about the ability to add your own personal favorite links to the site? Or integrate RSS feeds of your own liking? This would involve making people register for a login to the site so that it can remember their personal settings. Is this a good idea? Would any of you use it?
- A mobile version: would any of you want to read/view the site on a cell phone or other mobile device?
- Other forms of racing: do you want us to add a Rally area? Motorcycles? Airplanes? You tell me…we love it all; we just don’t have the time to cover it all.
- A product review section with nothing but reviews of racing related books, games, clothing, die-cast, etc?
Those are some of my ideas. Each of them represents a lot of work, so I don’t want to go jumping into any of them without asking you what you think first.
You can post your comments below or in the associated forum topic, or email them directly to me at josh@fastmachines.com. I look forward to your feedback.
Before I end what has become a lengthy posting, I just want to reiterate how much we appreciate all you folks who come to the site and converse with us. Sometimes you agree with us, sometimes you don’t, either way we love talking racing with you all.
Best,
Josh Katinger
Comments
11 Responses to “FastMachines Readers - Please Give Us Your Thoughts”
Got something to say?
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Welcome back Josh! Married hah? Hmmmm…. new bride… thoughts of “redecorating” Fast Machines.
Yea, that somehow makes sense. Can we expect gingham drapes to be hung along the side of our browser windows soon? :-)
As for the rest, let me think about it a while. I’ll post my ideas here. at the moment I’m between recovering from the “Can I have a Chase Mulligan” 500 in Charlotte and watching the Chinese GP.
Firstly, I think you already on a winning formula & any changes would be just tweaks to an excellent existing format. What do I like about FM? I like its simplicity. It sounds snobbish but if you look at the forums on big sites like Crash.net or Planet F1 the requirement for a full time Moderator/ Referee to break up insult matches between protagonists makes me contribute to this sight only & ignore the others. I guess FM has that friendlier, civilised atmosphere because it’s a little newer & smaller, I’m sure that as the member base grows FM will continue this way because it seems to attract the serious race fans without the hate mail posters, so you must be doing something right. Regarding functionality, your suggestion of a directory of links sounds like an excellent idea. What do I hate? Only when George, Marc & Wholly forget to wear their tin foil hats when posting, I’ve never forgotten mine! ha ha
I ENJOY KEEPING TABS ON ALL THE RACING NEWS. YOU GUYS ALLOW ME TO VIEW THE LATEST ON NHRA,SOMETHING THAT YAHOO DOESN’T GIVE ME THE OPTION FOR. YOUR SITE ALSO HAS FASTER,MORE ACCURATE AND MORE VARIETY OF UPDATES AND CHOICES. GREAT SITE, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.
I keep you all on the top of my home page. I don’t know what you could possibly improve on an already top shelf site. Although, it would be nice to look at one site, your site, and get the latest & greatest but also a season schedule. Because I’m a “multi” series race fan, it would be cool to have the schedules for: Nascar, IRL and NHRA all together. Thanks for the great articles on Danica Patrick. Who may, just may, WIN the next Indy 500. Look out boys, there’s a new marshal in town! When I need to know whats going on in the race world, I look to you first, cause you post the hot stories right out of the gate. Get em Roy!
hello josh
really dont know where to begin but here it goes. used to love nascar but lately its getting to be really annoying to watch and listen to. first off the country bunkins for annoncers really makes my hears ach i would rather sit with a set of ear plugs in and not have listen to those two all the time and i think you know who im referring to. same old comments oh yea and that boogie boogie boogie or lets go racing has reached its end not with just me but almost everyone i talk to about nascar. also if nascar continues to count laps under caution at the end of a race i would think there fans would look at this as a poor way to finish an exciting sporting event. why not if there is 10 laps or less left in a race stop the field or stop the lap count lets have a race not a one lap sprint to the end the end of what, not competion. one last thing track cleanup how rediculous lap after lap for little or nothing on the track more laps run under caution get it done and get on with the race thats why they call it a race isnt it.
I wondered how long it would take for NASCAR to be bitten by
the Corporate GREED that is consuming America.
How big does NASCAR plan to get by trading in Americans?
What about the American Car Companies that built it in the first place?
I guess LOYALTY doesn’t mean much today. SAD
Just look at the Toyota Pace Cars for this years MEMORIAL DAY races.
What a cold slap in the face THAT was
THE OPEN WHEEL STUFF IS GREAT.. DROP THE NASCAR CRAP ENOUGH OF IT ON T.V. AND SO ON.. ROAD RACING IS GREAT AND F-1 THE BEST.. JUST FOUND THIS SITE SEEMS REAL GOOD .. THANKS
Great site. Better than
NHRA.com. A lot of good info here. Keep up the good work.
thanks
HEY THERE! I LOVE THIS SITE, IT IS GREAT. I AM READING ALL ARTICLES. FINALLY A GREAT SITE FOR RACING LOVERS. PLEASE ALWAYS INCLUDE F1, CHAMP AND INDY. THANKS AND KEEP ON GOING! SUE
I love your site, please keep up the good work. I would love to see some news on the Sprint Car world (dirt). There is some fantastic talent there and since moving to the east coast haven’t been able to keep up with it. I like the freedom of speech that your site allows and hope that never ends. I read your site daily and sometimes choose not to respond because someone else has already stated my position and done it better then I could have, so I just let it be. I do comment on items I feel strongly enough about.
I am very confused and having difficulty resolving how Toyota can compete in NASCAR with an engine that never was offered in a production car. Chevrolet, Ford and Chrysler are all useing modified versions of small block v-8’s that were available at times by the millions. Please show me one Camry that came with a V-8 or for that matter any OHV V-8 that was ever offered by Toyota in this country. If there were no rules to adhere to I am sure the Big three could come up with some really incredible powerplants. Remember when NASCAR was considered stock car racing derived from the moonshine era. Can you imagine anyone in their right mind trying to deliver moonshine in a Toyota. No one would have been able to enjoy an alchoholic beverage. The revenuers in the past would have loved for Toyota to be the moonshiners vehicle of cchoice. America would probably still be unable to enjoy Jack Daniels. If NASCAR is going to let foriegn manufacturers compete at least level the playing field and make them use a production engine base.I would love to see a competetive V-6 Camry or even a Camry with a Tundra V-8 motor but not some experimental motor that was not available in any car that Toyota has built. Any further information on what this engine is would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.