It took a while: Autocade hits 4,000 models

08.01.2020/07.41

The Chinese-market Buick Enclave became Autocade’s 4,000th model today. It wasn’t planned: in fact, I had readied a photograph of the Hyundai Tiburon (RD), expecting that would be the 4,000th. But, as happens with this site, you spot something, and you want that clarified. I haven’t been methodical about Autocade, ever—it has always been about […]

Autocade gets to 18,000,000 in record time

25.12.2019/12.30

Above: Autocade’s latest entry, the first-generation Nissan Stagea. It’s Boxing Day here, but Christmas Day in a lot of places. And Autocade is about to hit 18,000,000 page views, in record time (under 7,000 to go at the time of writing, which it will comfortably hit within hours). Not a bad Christmas present in terms […]

Healthy jump in Autocade traffic for home-page entries

24.12.2019/09.30

Some interesting traffic patterns at Autocade. At the time of writing, two models have been added: the Audi A2 and the Daimler DE36. They’ve netted 5 and 2 views respectively, which is what you’d expect for new pages. The last significant updates, when models were added, took place on December 13. The last model […]

Breaking Hart’s

23.12.2019/08.44

Usually, all our publications use Hart’s Rules. It’s well understood, enough compositors know it, and it’s a credible enough style guide for us to point at and use as a defence. There are some departures, which so far few have complained to me about. 1. Citation style. The OUP publishes The British Year Book […]

New Land Rover Defender takes Autocade to 17 million page views

30.09.2019/00.37

Looking at the stats, I can predict that Autocade will comfortably serve its 17 millionth page view in the first week of October 2019. The growth in page numbers has slowed compared to the first few years, though it is continuing. At the time of writing, it’s at 3,884 model pages, with the new […]

Who is changing Facebook links to affiliate ones?

14.09.2019/11.40

I know someone else has come across this before, since there’s a page on it here. The very same thing has begun happening on Autocade, whenever the Facebook link is clicked. I’d love to blame Facebook, but I don’t believe it’s them. I’ve contacted Sovrn (formerly Viglinks) as the discussion board participants identify […]

Another milestone: 16 million page views for Autocade

02.06.2019/10.32

Looks like the viewing rate has picked up again for Autocade despite a relative lack of updates over the last six months (in no small part due to our move). Tomorrow it’ll exceed 16 million page views. Some of the last few entries have been about filling in gaps: the Renault Clio V is […]

A very humble 3,800th entry on Autocade

28.04.2019/12.00

We almost never plan which car winds up being the x hundredth model entered into Autocade, and here’s proof. The humble, boxy Mazda Demio (DY) was the 3,800th entry in Autocade. It makes a nice change from all the SUVs that have found their way on to the database in recent months, even if […]

Autocade turns 11 as the web turns 30

12.03.2019/13.12

The latest model to appear on Autocade today: the Mazda CX-30. It’s March, which means Autocade has had another birthday. Eleven years ago, I started a car encyclopædia using Mediawiki software, and it’s since grown to 3,600 model entries. The story has been told elsewhere on this blog. What I hadn’t realized till today was […]

Why paywalls are getting more prevalent; and The Guardian Weekly rethought

10.11.2018/09.58

Megan McArdle’s excellent op–ed in The Washington Post, ‘A farewell to free journalism’, has been bookmarked on my phone for months. It’s a very good summary of where things are for digital media, and how the advent of Google and Facebook along with the democratization of the internet have reduced online advertising income to a […]