Editorial by Pete Vack

Every few years, the publisher likes to say a few words, usually upon noting the passing of yet another year of VeloceToday. This month we begin our seventh consecutive year of weekly publication.

Survivor
If nothing else, as a website, VeloceToday.com is a survivor. In an age of supersonic speed technologies, when six months is forever, surviving six years is almost unheard of. VeloceToday has withstood the dotcom boom and crash (do we even remember this?), the horrors of 9/11, a major move, retirement, three computer crashes, a direct hit of a major hurricane, and hundreds of smaller, less memorable events which could have put VeloceToday out of business.

State of the Business
Did we say business? Even though VeloceToday finally established itself as a viable tax paying entity in 2007, using the word business is a bit far fetched. We exist primarily because our writers do not insist on being paid for their efforts, despite the fact that most are professionals who contribute regularly to a wide variety of traditional automotive magazines. For this we can all be thankful, since unlike our pulp cousins, we do not charge our readers for our content.

Exclusive features are published weekly.

One of the truly great things about the Internet is that for the most part, information is still free, and we are glad to support that philosophy. Although our subscriber list rivals that of many small but expensive magazines, advertisers are still slow in coming over to the Internet, despite what you may have heard about newspapers losing ad dollars to the Internet. Our ad revenue only provides enough profit to pay business taxes to the IRS. Contributions are growing (and we can’t thank those who have contributed enough!) but far below what would be achieved by a small paid subscription service.

What is VeloceToday?
VeloceToday is not a newsletter, or a full color, high quality magazine. It was conceived more than six years ago to provide relatively short, illustrated, well written articles on subjects of interest to Italian car enthusiasts around the world. We have remained focused those principles and will continue adhere to those guidelines, expanding our focus of attention to interesting French cars as we move forward. Call us, if you must, a fine Internet automotive periodical.

We have archived every F1 event since 2002.

As stated above, VeloceToday is the product of gracious writers from all over the world, focusing on Italy. Our editorial policy is much like any other magazine; we seek or assign feature stories from reputable writers, and we also accept well written, researched and accurate stories from those who have never before had anything published.

"The vast majority of our articles are written exclusively for VeloceToday."

We are not generally interested in PR releases or ‘professionally prepared’ articles intended for use of the wider press although there are and will be exceptions, they are rare. The vast majority of the articles which appear in VeloceToday are written exclusively for VeloceToday.

In addition to our regular feature stories, VeloceToday's team of Erik Nielsen and Karen Wagoner have filed exclusive reports of every single Grand Prix since 2002, a significant achievement.

Another regular part of VeloceToday are the book reviews. We believe that if a book deserves to be reviewed, it deserves a full, in depth review so that the reader has enough information

Book reviews--honest and thorough.

to decide whether or not to purchase the book. Books are essential documents, and good books are works of wonder and labors of love.

What we are not
Aside from reporting on the F1 scene, VeloceToday does not generally report on recent new car events or new cars themselves.
Aside from a few event ads, VeloceToday does not publish a calendar of any type of event.
Aside from an occasional ad for a car, VeloceToday does not generally have classified advertising on the site, though we will continue to have an open attitude about classifieds; on one hand it seems a natural, on the other it is not cost effective.
In all of these cases, there are hundreds of other sites which provide these services in a more efficient manner.

"Vetting is to check for accuracy, and also implies that the source is responsible, knowledge, and has a reputation to maintain."

Through the years, we have resisted the temptation to utilize the latest voice and video technologies to enhance VeloceToday. While this might sound like a fantastic idea, (and it is), the programs, skills, copyright issues and bandwidth necessary to feature quality sound and video are significant obstacles. Yes, we could provide a few video clips with sound, in fact we did so in early 2002 in the Lancia Dagrada article. But such clips remain in the novelty category.

Historical surveys are often featured in VeloceToday.

We have also resisted blogs. We love input from our readers, and publish many of the emails sent to us from around the world. But a blog requires (our) time and effort to maintain and often does not result in any better input than do letters to the editor.

A source you can trust
VeloceToday is constantly striving to improving the quality of content we produce. Fortunately the phrase “you get what you pay for” does not apply to VeloceToday, for we constantly get articles with excellent text and images from contributors, many of whom have been with us for over five years. They are edited, the images improved as necessary in photoshop, proofread and finally “vetted“.

"The issue of profit or loss has not yet diluted our purpose or product."

“Vetting” is to check for accuracy, and also implies that the source is responsible, knowledge, and has a reputation to maintain. Every story has a byline--our readers know who is doing the writing and can address the writer specifically. (If no byline is attached, the article is by a member of our staff.) We at VeloceToday--the editor, the staff, our many contributors---are all very conscious of our charges in this most important area. For if our readers loose faith in the words we publish, we may as well close up shop, as VeloceToday will be no different than the thousands of other websites which continually put out misleading or incorrect information. That does not mean we don’t make mistakes--everyone does from time to time. What it does mean is that accuracy is job one at VeloceToday.

Archives
In our offices at VeloceToday, we have a collection of pulp magazines which date back to the late 1940s. These are most often used to verify the accuracy of articles submitted to VT. The collection includes Road & Track, SportsCars Illustrated, Sports Car Graphic, Motor Sports, Thoroughbred and Classics, Classic and SportsCar, Cavallino, Forza, and most recently the complete collection of Italy’s authoritative QuattroRuote among others. This does not include the hundreds of book we’ve accumulated.

One of the reasons to create an online magazine was to rid future generations of having to store this amazing amount of constantly degrading paper.

The Easy Index lists the VeloceToday stories about each make.

To date, the archives of VeloceToday consist of well over 700 individual articles on a wide variety of subjects and cars, each one instantly retrievable. Lacking an expensive and labor intensive find program, we have set up handy indexes for those looking for information on a particular marque. These can be found below last week’s articles on the homepage, or on the left column of each article page. We will continue to make these indexes available for all Italian and French cars. Conversely, one can surf through the categories at the top of each page to find articles of interest.

Future Growth
VeloceToday is still primarily concerned about increasing the amount of content as well as maintaining the quality of the content. In the past two years, content per issue (week) has roughly doubled. At the same time our hits, page views and unique visits have also doubled.

To be sure, growth will continue, and it may not be all for the good. We at VeloceToday truly enjoy our labors; there is no corporation behind us cutting corners, costs and quality; there is only us, and you, the reader. The issue of profit or loss has not yet diluted our purpose or product.

This publisher thinks that we are still in what will be called the golden era of the Internet--where good content, text, images and information can still be produced and distributed for virtually no money. It can’t last. In the meantime, enjoy.