[ferrarifixer]

I'm a sceptical grumpy old bastard.

And once I know that all someone is interested in is building a rank and scoring points etc and generating a profile and all that intangible wankness, I form an irreperable opinion of them.


How about just building a great service or product.... anyone??? anyone??????

If it's good enough, it'll become what it should be.


Rant over, carry on.

[Paulstar]

How about just building a great service or product.... anyone??? anyone??????

A certain amount of profile is needed to achieve critical mass + get a site like this rolling

[ferrarifixer]

A certain amount of profile is needed to achieve critical mass + get a site like this rolling

is it?

I didn't find this place through google or anything. I simply noticed an intelligent poster on fchat, and took notice.

[mhh]

I simply noticed an intelligent poster on fchat, and took notice.

Not something you see everyday, that's for sure.   

[carmooch]

Moochman, people who've done the web thing before here are trying to give you useful advice - ignore away.

Ok I think you guys have interpreted this the wrong way.

The site is not live in the sense that it is complete and ready to go - think of it as an industry preview day. We got all the sign-ups we needed for the beta and now it is closed again.

I didn't come here to try and convince people to sign-up, I just asked you guys to check it out and tell me your thoughts - unfortunately everyone has become hung up on "home page doesn't work in IE" which is like walking into a ladies fashion store and commenting that the photo on the wall is crooked and ignoring all the great clothes on the rack. (This analogy has become very disturbing)

This was a soft launch, the real launch will come around motor show time.

What you see on the site is still only around 60% of my final vision for what I want the site to become so after giving my dev guy a short break we are getting straight back into it. The home page will also change considerably as a result so again it is not a priority for it to look pretty in IE just yet, especially when we haven't even been indexed by Google. Essentially this was our "content" launch to start building a reputation on Google, next time we will be launching as a proper social platform.

A certain amount of profile is needed to achieve critical mass + get a site like this rolling

Definitely. It will be a long road and a lot of hard work but it will all be worth it in the end. It's either that or I get a regular 9-5 and only imagine what could have been.

I'm a sceptical grumpy old bastard.

And once I know that all someone is interested in is building a rank and scoring points etc and generating a profile and all that intangible wankness, I form an irreperable opinion of them.

How about just building a great service or product.... anyone??? anyone??????

If it's good enough, it'll become what it should be.

Rant over, carry on.

Hopefully it will become a great service and I think you of all people will definitely appreciate its potential.

This site will have the unique benefit of getting real opinions from the people who own and have a passion for their car, so you get honest and helpful opinions.

Then imagine thousands of consumers all reviewing their cars, maintaining updates on reliability, fuel use, servicing costs etc. Suddenly all those stereotypes and guess work over running costs for particular brands gets thrown out the window and you have accurate vehicle usage information on a mass scale.

Now imagine as internet integration becomes mainstream in cars, that your car automatically updates your Carmooch profile with live fuel consumption data, logs trip information among other things and in the spirit of Web 2.0 is available freely to the public to really see how environmentally friendly a car is, how your usage compares with other owners and numerous other helpful comparisons.

Then when it comes time to sell your car you have a very detailed history of what your car did, when it was serviced, what trips you made, etc. all in one convenient online location.

[allanuber]

Gasp.

Ping Dean about what happened when he started a thread about what seemed to be a useful GPS tracking device for exotics. Shot. Down.

Cars automagically updating Carmooch? Step away from the crackpipe and take a breather with your dev. OMFG 3 whole months of coding ... he definitely needs a holiday, man, imagine anyone who has to work for a whole year! What if people had to lift things to work as well, or even fix things with their hands. Sh|t, they'd need holidays pretty much every week.
 
You'll get little support until you can actually impress the grumpy, yet bashfully successful guys like FF here. My last post on this subject, you're still pitching like you've got all the answers and don't appear to have taken a single, useful bit of feedback onboard.

While I'm there, you just keep dropping f*cking spam about your site here - you've got all the industry signups you need? SUPER - send Ash something nice.

[carmooch]

Gasp.

Ping Dean about what happened when he started a thread about what seemed to be a useful GPS tracking device for exotics. Shot. Down.

Ok so everything that can be done has and people should just stop having ideas?

Cars automagically updating Carmooch? Step away from the crackpipe and take a breather with your dev.

Cars are already compatible with the internet and automatically update online themselves. Read into the Nissan Carwings system for the Leaf electric vehicle. The new BMW 1 Series is already Twitter and Facebook compatible so you can read messages and post updates from the car itself. Internet capable vehicles is the way of the future and that is a fact.

OMFG 3 whole months of coding ... he definitely needs a holiday, man, imagine anyone who has to work for a whole year! What if people had to lift things to work as well, or even fix things with their hands. Sh|t, they'd need holidays pretty much every week.
 

My developer isn't taking a holiday, I am giving him a break to catch up on the mountain of work that piled up for him while he was working on my site. We all have day jobs as well to pay the bills. 

You'll get little support until you can actually impress the grumpy, yet bashfully successful guys like FF here. My last post on this subject, you're still pitching like you've got all the answers and don't appear to have taken a single, useful bit of feedback onboard.

The only bit of genuine feedback I've got so far is from Chris and that was immediately transferred to a ticket for the developer to get done, along with insight from Paul. I came here to ask for feedback because I know this place should be full of business-minded automotive enthusiasts but the only feedback I've gotten is a about compatibility issue with a notoriously difficult browser.

While I'm there, you just keep dropping f*cking spam about your site here - you've got all the industry signups you need? SUPER - send Ash something nice.

Maybe you shouldn't speak about things you don't know anything about? For starters all the sign-ups I got bar one was from my own Twitter account. Secondly, Ash has asked for me for advice and insight into my CarAdvice days and I happily responded with a detailed reply to help him in anyway way I could because I think this is a great site with lots of potential. On top of that two other forum members have approached me asking how to improve their own sites to which I eagerly helped, one of the results of which is Cel's new portfolio website. I have paid my dues.

[ferrarifixer]

the grumpy, yet bashfully successful guys like FF

I am ????

shit, I should get a better car.   

[carmooch]

So earlier this week we launched the open beta version of Carmooch.

It is now completely open to the public to use, the idea behind it is that car owners will sign up (takes 2 clicks with Facebook sign-up) and write a review for their own car, then post updates on fuel, servicing, expenses etc. (granted this will be more convenient when the iPhone app launches).

Professional profiles are also available for freelance journalists, bloggers and businesses to publish as many reviews as they like and interact with the community.

Car buyers can then wander through the site, reading and comparing car reviews from both professionals and owners, and our system will automatically suggest similar cars to assist in the research process.

It is all completely free to use and I hope will be welcomed by the general public.

Car brands also have their own profiles which they can use to manage reviews, post news, photos and interact with consumers. So far feedback has been good, already have interest from both of Australia's top-selling car brands.

Anyway as business-minded car lovers I'd appreciate your feedback or any advice you may have!

...and the link: http://www.carmooch.com