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The Persuader
My personal blog, started in 2006. No paid or guest posts, no link sales.
Posts tagged ‘publishing’
26.05.2022
I posted something on Instagram the other day, something I rarely do—so rarely that it’s now noteworthy. Surfing through, I happened across this:
My friend Nicky Wagner started FashioNZ and if she were still involved, I doubt they would make such a demonstrably false claim.
Let’s pick the low-hanging fruit here. FashioNZ is not the original. They started in 1998—they even admit it; Lucire started in 1997. I was hanging out with designers as the publisher of the fledging Lucire when I saw Nicky’s promo about her new site. It looked really good.
Secondly, FashioNZ wasn’t a magazine, not initially. It was a directory, and its content was driven by its clients. It’s why I can’t bring myself to italicize it!
Now, at least I’m honest enough to give some lip service to Fashionbrat (styled [email protected]t) out of Wellington Polytechnic. They only lasted one issue, so if your definition of magazine is that of a periodical, that it must come out or have new content at various times of the year, then they don’t qualify; Lucire was first. But if your definition includes something that lasted only one issue, then Fashionbrat got there before us all, in 1996. This would have faded into internet history if I didn’t keep bringing it up. Judge for yourself at the Internet Archive.
In the US there are so many people claiming to be the first but usually the record betrays them: we have one who may have got a promotional page up, but their content was not on the web initially (from memory it was on a BBS); we have another who claims they began in 1993, which may have been their incorporation date, but their own SEC filing revealed that particular site didn’t come into being till later.
I didn’t expect this to happen in New Zealand, where it’s very clear who got there first. Disappointing.
Tags: 1990s, 1997, 1998, 2022, Aotearoa, fashion magazine, history, Instagram, JY&A Media, Lucire, New Zealand, publishing
Posted in business, internet, media, New Zealand, publishing | No Comments »
08.05.2022
Last night’s hour-waster was chatting to Facebook Business Support. No, that’s unfair. I was actually assigned an incredibly good rep who took me seriously, and concluded that Facebook did indeed have a bug which means, of all the pages I can manage, the one for Lucire is alone in not allowing me, or any of its admins, to do anything. How coincidental, after losing Instagram and Twitter for periods during 2021.
Ironically, one editor can—of course someone who is supposed to have fewer privileges can do more. Such is Facebook.
A few things I learned. There’s a Meta Business Suite, which a whole bunch of pages got shoved into, whether you wanted it or not. My public page is there, for instance. It seems if you have Facebook and Instagram accounts for the same thing, you’re going to be in there.
Despite the two-factor authentication discussed in the previous post, I actually can get into the Business Suite, via another page I administer for a friend. From there I can get to Lucire’s tools.
I don’t need two-factor authentication for any of the other pages in there, including my own, and have full access.
Trisha, or Trish as she said I could call her, walked me through the steps, and asked me to get to the Suite page. Then she asked me to click ‘Create ad’, and I get this:
She asked me to check the account quality, and of course there are no issues:
She wrote: ‘Thanks for letting me know. It’s weird because I have checked all your assets here and it looks good. But, here’s what I suggest, Jack. We’ll need to report this to our Internal team so they can investigate. You might experience a bug or glitch.’
I theorized: ‘Just so you know, this page dates back to 2007 so maybe it is so old that Facebook’s servers can’t handle it?’
It wasn’t something she responded to, as she stayed on-subject, but it’s a theory worth entertaining, as it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve witnessed this.
So, for now, the one team member who can still go on Facebook for us posted this at my request:
I doubt they’ll ever fix it, and two years ago I did say I wouldn’t really bother if Facebook went buggy and prevented us from updating again. Clearly I am bothering, as I know we have readers who use Facebook. But I have very little faith this will ever be fixed, since I have seen other reported bugs (some covered on this blog) get ignored for years, and this isn’t a fleeting bug, from what I can make out.
The lesson, as I have probably hinted at more than once, is never rely on a Big Tech service. The sites are so unwieldy that they get to a point where no one knows how to fix them. If earlier experiences are any indication, such as what I experienced at Vox, we have arrived at the end of Facebook pages.
Tags: 2020s, 2022, bug, bugs, Facebook, Lucire, publishing, social media, social networking
Posted in internet, publishing, technology | No Comments »
19.04.2022
On March 19, 2022, Autocade had accumulated 27,647,011 page views. That was the last recorded total, and the new site went live the following day. That means over 10,000 views didn’t get added to that total, but as it’s the last I have (unless the Wayback Machine has one from the 20th ult.), then that’s what I’ll have to use as the new zero point.
The new stats’ set-up on the more modern Mediawikis does not update the numbers live; instead, that happens once a day. Some time overnight it ticked over to 351,079 on the new server.
27,647,011 +351,079 = 27,998,090
Even being very conservative, Autocade will have served its 28 millionth page view by now—though I may update this page tomorrow after I confirm it.
Sorry, for those who hated these statistical posts, the new server hasn’t seen the end of them! OCD is OCD!
March 2008: launch
April 2011: 1,000,000 (three years for first million)
March 2012: 2,000,000 (11 months for second million)
May 2013: 3,000,000 (14 months for third million)
January 2014: 4,000,000 (eight months for fourth million)
September 2014: 5,000,000 (eight months for fifth million)
May 2015: 6,000,000 (eight months for sixth million)
October 2015: 7,000,000 (five months for seventh million)
March 2016: 8,000,000 (five months for eighth million)
August 2016: 9,000,000 (five months for ninth million)
February 2017: 10,000,000 (six months for 10th million)
June 2017: 11,000,000 (four months for 11th million)
January 2018: 12,000,000 (seven months for 12th million)
May 2018: 13,000,000 (four months for 13th million)
September 2018: 14,000,000 (four months for 14th million)
February 2019: 15,000,000 (five months for 15th million)
June 2019: 16,000,000 (four months for 16th million)
October 2019: 17,000,000 (four months for 17th million)
December 2019: 18,000,000 (just under three months for 18th million)
April 2020: 19,000,000 (just over three months for 19th million)
July 2020: 20,000,000 (just over three-and-a-half months for 20th million)
October 2020: 21,000,000 (three months for 21st million)
January 2021: 22,000,000 (three months for 22nd million)
April 2021: 23,000,000 (three months for 23rd million)
June 2021: 24,000,000 (two months for 24th million)
August 2021: 25,000,000 (two months for 25th million)
October 2021: 26,000,000 (two months for 26th million)
January 2022: 27,000,000 (three months for 27th million)
April 2022: 28,000,000 (three months for 28th million)
Currently there are 4,551 models on there, with the latest Mercedes-Benz S-Klasse the newest entry.
PS.: And here we are, the following day. Autocade’s new stats’ page shows 361,627.
Tags: 2022, Autocade, JY&A Media, Mediawiki, publishing, server, technology
Posted in cars, interests, internet, media, publishing, technology | No Comments »
31.03.2022
What’s been quite fascinating with having the stats reset on Autocade is getting a fresh perspective on what its most popular pages are. When a website has been going for 14 years, and the stats have never been refreshed, it doesn’t give you the most up-to-date picture. You know historically what was most popular, but what about in the last year? Unless you really kept an eye on the rates of change, you wouldn’t know.
Here’s how things looked on the old site before the move (March 17). It’s a corner of the ‘Popular pages’ page:
It’s a pity I didn’t take more screenshots on subsequent days, but I had been watching the models linked from the home page occupy the top slots for the last week. That only seemed logical: both readers and search engine spiders were hitting them more. Here’s how things looked on March 23, with Autocade at its new home after a couple of days:
But here we are today, a week later:
You’re beginning to see the earlier highly trafficked pages reassert themselves.
For a long time, the Nissan Bluebird (910) page led the table, before being overtaken by the Toyota Corolla (E120). Now it seems the Renault Mégane II, Ford Fiesta Mk VII, Ford Taunus 80, and the Peugeot 206+ and 207 are leading the way. I see a few other top pages make their way up: Opel Astra J (which isn’t that old a page), and the Holden Commodore (VE), Chrysler–Simca 1307 range, and Ford Cortina Mk III (which are old pages, from the first years of Autocade).
I assume these pages have been somewhat grandfathered by the search engines. It’s a relief to know that the transition to the new box has been relatively seamless for the search engines not to notice.
Tags: 2022, Autocade, JY&A Media, publishing, server, technology
Posted in cars, internet, New Zealand, publishing, technology | No Comments »
28.03.2022
Now we are on the new server, here are March 2022’s images—aides-mémoires, photos of interest, and miscellaneous items. I append to this gallery through the month.
Tags: 1960s, 1965, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2016, 2022, Abercrombie & Fitch, actress, advertisement, Aston Martin, Australia, BL, BMC, car, celebrity, Citroën, design, employment, fashion, film, Ford, France, humour, Instagram, James Bond, Lucire, Lucire KSA, magazine, marketing, Mini, music, Nissan, photography, PSA, publishing, Renault, sexism, South Africa, TV, Twitter, typography, UK, USA
Posted in cars, culture, design, France, gallery, humour, marketing, media, publishing, TV, typography, UK, USA | No Comments »
17.03.2022
At just past its 14th birthday, Autocade will return on a new server, with a new Mediawiki installation.
Because Mediawiki got rid of the stats with v. 1.25, sadly they weren’t imported into the new version that we’re running. We’re going to start the count from 0, though of course right before the changeover I’ll take note of where we got to.
For those sick of me commemorating every millionth page view, you might get your wish, because of the extra arithmetic that’s going to be involved.
I’d like to thank my friend for doing all this work anonymously behind the scenes. Unlike 2000, websites are far more complex things, and just customizing the look took me a few days. You can imagine how much more complex it was to import a PHP database and hooking up the site to Plesk.
What we have is an Autocade that looks familiar—like Lucire’s website redesign last year I tried to keep everything as close as possible—but there are minor tweaks that go with the newer software.
Certain pages did not make the transition, namely the ‘About’ and community portal, so these had to be added manually from the original. But as far as I can tell, all the cars are there, and that’s the reason that almost all of you visit. You can see how it all works very soon.
I imagine this blog will be next—and then I will likely get back to updating it at the usual pace. Though as my experience with social media demonstrates, it’s remarkably easy to break a habit!
Tags: 2022, Autocade, computing, JY&A Media, Mediawiki, publishing, redesign, technology
Posted in cars, design, internet, media, publishing, technology | No Comments »
15.01.2022
Autocade did get to 27,000,000 page views some time last week, earning its latest million in two-and-a-half months. It was a slower pace of growth than what I had observed through the latter part of 2021, probably because I hadn’t done too many updates to the site during Q4 (unsurprisingly, having had to deal with Instagram and Twitter deleting Lucire’s accounts, as well as a hacking attempt from the US, among other things). Only 20 models had been added since the last million milestone, taking the total to 4,544.
That was a record, having been reached in one day under two months; nothing quite as impressive this time out, which is only fair if there were fewer updates.
The latest model in the encyclopædia is the Toyota Chaser (X30), which isn’t the prettiest vehicle line, but I guess it is more interesting than yet another SUV! The image came courtesy of Carfolio, which generously gave me a treasure trove of Toyota materials.
March 2008: launch
April 2011: 1,000,000 (three years for first million)
March 2012: 2,000,000 (11 months for second million)
May 2013: 3,000,000 (14 months for third million)
January 2014: 4,000,000 (eight months for fourth million)
September 2014: 5,000,000 (eight months for fifth million)
May 2015: 6,000,000 (eight months for sixth million)
October 2015: 7,000,000 (five months for seventh million)
March 2016: 8,000,000 (five months for eighth million)
August 2016: 9,000,000 (five months for ninth million)
February 2017: 10,000,000 (six months for 10th million)
June 2017: 11,000,000 (four months for 11th million)
January 2018: 12,000,000 (seven months for 12th million)
May 2018: 13,000,000 (four months for 13th million)
September 2018: 14,000,000 (four months for 14th million)
February 2019: 15,000,000 (five months for 15th million)
June 2019: 16,000,000 (four months for 16th million)
October 2019: 17,000,000 (four months for 17th million)
December 2019: 18,000,000 (just under three months for 18th million)
April 2020: 19,000,000 (just over three months for 19th million)
July 2020: 20,000,000 (just over three-and-a-half months for 20th million)
October 2020: 21,000,000 (three months for 21st million)
January 2021: 22,000,000 (three months for 22nd million)
April 2021: 23,000,000 (three months for 23rd million)
June 2021: 24,000,000 (two months for 24th million)
August 2021: 25,000,000 (two months for 25th million)
October 2021: 26,000,000 (two months for 26th million)
January 2022: 27,000,000 (three months for 27th million)
Thank you again for your support and hopefully there’ll be more than 20 entries in time for the next million!
Tags: 2022, Autocade, Carfolio, JY&A Media, publishing, Toyota
Posted in cars, internet, New Zealand, publishing | No Comments »
03.12.2021
Pixabay
Twitter, after having done sweet F. A. about Lucire’s locked account, and failing to provide any response since the last lot of evidence was sent to them on the 4th ult., wrote this to me today:
After reviewing the reported account, it appears that this issue may have been resolved. Please reply to this email if you still need assistance, or to let us know if the situation has changed in any way.
You just have to wonder if they hire morons at that level, or do they hire regular people and train them down?
Dear Twitter Support:
This most certainly has not been resolved. Quite the opposite.
Your company still refuses to examine the evidence, despite our sending it numerous times.
We have heard nothing from you at all over the actions you say you will take. In fact, your latest response of pretending all is well is the only thing we have heard from Twitter since the 4th [ult.]
It has been referred to your internal support team by your UK head of planning, David Wilding (whom I know) to no avail.
I’m not sure that you could call it resolved as a quick check of the handle shows it ‘doesn’t exist’.
We ask again that @Lucire be unlocked as we have done nothing wrong, and we hold a USPTO trade mark registration for all online publishing usage. (Your own link in your autoresponse to locked accounts results in a 404.)
We have to come to your department as the “proper channels” for locked accounts claim that I cannot be confirmed as the owner of Lucire, and a USPTO certificate is apparently not the sort of evidence they will entertain.
Attached is a letter to your executives Winston Foo and John Pegg outlining the whole matter to date. It would be fair to label your responses farcical … I have also attached the same items of evidence that have been sent earlier. They more than satisfy your requirements.
I should note that Instagram took a week to resolve an accidental deactivation caused by its AI, not a month and a half. This entire matter can sensibly be resolved in minutes, not months.
We put the ball back in your court.
Sincerely,
Jack Yan
The saga continues.
Tags: 2021, customer service, incompetence, intellectual property, Lucire, publishing, social media, Twitter
Posted in business, internet, technology, USA | No Comments »
28.11.2021
Digital art by David MacGregor
I hope the media will say more because David MacGregor had packed so much into his 50-something years on this planet. Here is my tribute on Lucire. Not everyone can claim to have discovered Rachel Hunter, created the Family Health Diary TV commercial format (and others), founded the first online men’s lifestyle magazine in New Zealand (Emale, or to give it its official form, eMALE), conceived and co-founded Idealog, and won a heap of advertising, marketing, and magazine publishing awards in the process. A brilliant man who never stopped creating.
Tags: 2021, advertising, Aotearoa, Auckland, friends, friendship, marketing, New Zealand, publishing, Tāmaki Makaurau, TV
Posted in business, internet, leadership, marketing, media, New Zealand, publishing, technology, TV | No Comments »
06.11.2021
Here are November 2021’s images—aides-mémoires, photos of interest, and miscellaneous items. I append to this gallery through the month.
Notes
Nice to see BoConcept advertise on Lucire’s website (they were an early print advertiser).
Triumph 1300, Hillman Avenger Super and Range Rover advertisements via the Car Factoids on Twitter.
More on the Ford Sierra at Autocade.
Mindfood advertisement on the Lucire website: it might not be worth a lot but I’m still happy to take some money off my colleagues.
Aston Martin Rapide, photographed by me.
Audi R8 Typ 42, more at Autocade.
More on the 1968–70 Dodge Charger at Autocade.
Mercedes-Benz 280SL pagoda and Fart via George Cochrane on Twitter.
Renault 15 via the Car Factoids on Twitter.
Tags: 1960s, 1970, 1970s, 1980s, 1982, 1983, 2000s, 2001, 2009, 2019, 2021, advertisement, advertising, aeroplane, Aotearoa, Aston Martin, Audi, BL, BoConcept, car, China, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Ford, GM, humour, JY&A Media, Lucire, magazine, Mercedes-Benz, modelling, NASA, New Zealand, publishing, Range Rover, Renault, retro, SAS, Sports Illustrated, Sweden, Triumph, Twitter, UK, USA, Volkswagen, Wellington, Whanganui-a-Tara
Posted in cars, China, gallery, humour, internet, media, New Zealand, publishing, UK, USA | No Comments »
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