Recent blog posts :: Next

A Special Message from ExoticSpotter

Jul 13, 2012

ExoticSpotter.com has been neglected for a long time. Yet despite this, an awesome community has grown. We're proud to have passionate spotters like yourself who share a deep love of exotic cars, and it's time that we give you guys the site that you deserve.

Over the next few months, you will be seeing many improvements. We plan to release a new design that will display photos in larger sizes with better usability. We're also working on several new features, including improved profile pages, better social features, comment alerts, discussion forums, improved point system, this blog, and much more.

We're also in the process of implementing a new moderation system which will seperate "true" spottings from those that don't qualify. Many of you have questions as to what constitutes a true spotting, so here is our official stance:

 

True Spottings:
  • Photo must be taken on public roads, highways, or parking spots, and
  • Photographer must have no prior knowledge that the vehicle would be in that location.
Not True Spottings:
  • Photos from Car Shows (including parking lot of car shows)
  • Photos from Car Club Meetings
  • Photos from the start or end of a Car Rally (Gumball 3000)
  • Photos at or near an Exotic Car Dealership
  • Photos taken in private garage or shop
  • Photos of friend's or neighbor's cars
  • Photos from a photo shoot
  • Photos taken in known locations where exotics are always parked (certain hotels, in front of certain stores, etc)
NOTE: If a photo looks suspicious, you need to provide a detailed description of how you spotted the car. If you provide no details, the photo will not qualify as a true spotting.
The Following May Qualify as True Spottings:
  • Spotting an exotic car while it's taking part in a Rally, (if you didn't know about the Rally)
  • Spotting an exotic car on the streets near a car show (not directly outside the show)

 

Here's a simple way to look at it: Exotic spotting is like wild bird spotting. If you take a photo of a bird at the zoo, that is not a real spotting. (that's like taking a photo at a car show).

A true exotic spotting is one where you have no idea if an exotic car will be there. Photos of exotic cars parked in front of certain hotels don't count as real spottings, because there's a reasonable expectation that they will be there.

This being said, it doesn't mean we won't feature photos that are not true spottings. Any photo of an exotic car on public roads will qualify to be on the site, but true spottings will receive higher points and awards.

In order to implement this new moderation system, we will need volunteers to go through the archives and mark photos accordingly. These volunteers will also moderate new photos, to make sure only the best ones are "featured". We will be providing admin tools to make tasks easier.

If you're interested in volunteering as a moderator, please email us. We'd also like to hear your ideas for new features or changes you'd like to see to the site. Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far, we look forward to taking the site to the next level. Please leave your comments below.

Tags: Site Updates  
Comments (383 total)
Avatar
DjShift said:
Same here. I really want the improved profile pages, forums, and social features. And everything else.
Posted:  07/16/2012 21:58:40
 
Avatar
VTswag said:
Hopefully. I just wanna find out if there's a timeline for any of these features being usable. Now that all these ideas are being thrown around I wanna try them out!
Posted:  07/16/2012 21:51:53
 
Avatar
DjShift said:
@VTswag, i think thats what the forumm is going to be for.
Posted:  07/16/2012 21:41:24
 
Avatar
VTswag said:
Also, when will we get to make our own blog posts? I think it would be cool if we could start like regional threads, maybe talk about the cars we spot but can't get a picture of, so other local spotters could get a better idea of what cars are around. There's threads like that on L4P and it's pretty cool. That way, when we miss a photo op, we still can share with this community.
Posted:  07/16/2012 21:39:28
 
Avatar
VTswag said:
Right. We've caught some spotters lying before, and they've gotten away with it by just deleting the picture and pretending it never happened. We need to make sure that it's not that easy for them.
Posted:  07/16/2012 21:17:55
 
Avatar
andrewo said:
Good idea. It's really annoying when someone obviously posts a car show/dealership shot and they have BS descriptions and refuse to admit it.
Posted:  07/16/2012 20:44:01
 
Avatar
DjShift said:
Alright, good. Because i'm getting really annoyed with the people lying to keep their pictures on the site.
Posted:  07/16/2012 20:27:54
 
Avatar
gregg said:
DjShift - in regards to spottings near dealerships, there's going to be a bit of an honor system. If an unrelated exotic happens to go by, then that could count as a true spotting. But if we, or the moderators catch a spotter lying, there's going to be a huge penalty against them.
Posted:  07/16/2012 19:59:25
 
Avatar
gregg said:
We're looking into the commenting bug. That's a brand new feature we're testing, so probably just a small bug. We'll get it fixed soon.
Posted:  07/16/2012 19:56:46
 
Avatar
DjShift said:
Also my comments thing isnt working. There have been many comments i've done and people have replyed to me specifically and it hasnt showed up. Also mine has been stuck at one alert all day and there's nothing there.
Posted:  07/16/2012 19:46:35
 
Avatar
DjShift said:
I'm also confused with the at or near dealerships thing. At the dealership definately shouldnt be counted, but what if the car is obviously being test driven or taken out by the dealership owner?

And @MigMach, i dont think people should be rating on the vehicle or opportunity, i think it should be the picture. I hate these dealer spots and carshow spots and there are quite a few overly blurry pictures but those should be what people rate against, otherwise it would be too opinion oriented.
Posted:  07/16/2012 19:44:27
 
Avatar
Stevenzr1 said:
These sound great! I do agree with the other users comments about the Hotel/Shop rule, could we have more clarity on the which hotels are acceptable and which are not? Other than that I am excited about the changes!
Posted:  07/16/2012 19:41:49
 
Avatar
gregg said:
There seems to be some confusion about the rule of no spotting in front of certain hotels, so let me clear it up: First of all, we will not be deleting ANY photos. If your photo doesn't qualify as a "true" spotting, it just means you won't get extra points for it. We will still display it on the site, and if the quality of the shot is good, it will still be part of the "featured" photos.

Also, we're just talking about only a few hotels in the world. Most hotel spottings will be accepted as a "true" spotting. We all know which hotels have exotic cars parked outside all the time, so it's not fair to count those as true spottings.
Posted:  07/16/2012 19:29:00
 
Avatar
VTswag said:
And what does "near" a dealership mean? I was once taking pictures at McLaren of Philadelphia and a Viper drove by. It was in no way a part of the dealership, but by the way the rule is written, it wouldn't count.
Posted:  07/16/2012 19:12:25
 
Avatar
MigMach said:
Sounds great in general. I have some comments though...

1) A clear definition of "exotic" is needed (I know that is not simple) because:
a) In general the term "exotic" is related with its surroundings, for instance, a
Porsche 911 could be exotic in Mali but certainly not in Beverly Hills.
b) Should cost be an issue with the definition? Number of vehicles produced?
Country of origin? Modified/unmodified? etc.
2) I would like to see three different ways to rate a picture, a) Rating of the car in the picture; b) Opportunity of the picture; c) Quality of the picture

Best regards and keep up the good work.

Miguel
Posted:  07/16/2012 19:07:23
 
Avatar
I only like a majority of the rules that don't count as true spots which would be:
Photos from Car Shows (including parking lot of car shows)
Photos from Car Club Meetings
Photos from the start or end of a Car Rally (Gumball 3000)
Photos at or near an Exotic Car Dealership
Photos taken in private garage or shop
Photos of friend's or neighbor's cars
Photos from a photo shoot.

However, I feel the hotel/shop rule is unfair, cause people like the spotters in Pennsylvania, live in a state that's extremely money challenged, so making the spots at the places where we know are good (Country Clubs, the KOP mall, the few casinos we have in the area) not true spotting locations will definitely cause a huge hurting to our spotting. But for people in Miami, Beverly Hills, London, Paris, etc. they are hardly affected as they can find cars around almost every corner where they live.
Posted:  07/16/2012 18:52:10
 
Avatar
I agree with all of the changes, except the hotel. Its still a random spot, unless the car is ALWAYS there.
Posted:  07/16/2012 18:49:20
 
Avatar
VTswag said:
And yes, the comment alerts aren't working for me either.
Posted:  07/16/2012 18:41:26
 
Avatar
VTswag said:
I think that rule can apply to Bijan's Veyron. It's ALWAYS outside that store and most people don't want to see it anymore. But if we go to Spanish Bay and it's loaded with exotics, we shouldn't be penalized, especially since Andrew's pictures from Spanish Bay last year are some of the most loved pictures on the site. But we've already seen plenty of similar pictures from the Dorchester this summer and frankly it's already annoying. I think that rule has to be subjective. I think a better idea would be no duplicate pictures. I've seen Bijan's Veyron from the same angle 50 times, that white Agera R 50 times, the Al-Thani Murcielago 50 times. Moderators should be able to keep repetitive spots off the site.
Posted:  07/16/2012 18:40:35
 
Avatar
andrewo said:
I think if it's on the street anywhere and it's not in a car show or rally it is okay. The hotel rule seems kind of weird though since those are still random street spots. I don't think the comment alert thing is working. I have gotten comments on pictures I uploaded this morning but the thing still hasn't alerted me.
Posted:  07/16/2012 18:01:27
 
To post a comment, please login first