The DT Manifesto

This week’s Coffee Brake is not just the typical musings and drivel that oozes from my fingertips onto the keyboard…no…today is very different. Today, it is time to lay out the DT Manifesto. Merriam-Webster defines man·i·fes·to  (noun ˌma-nə-ˈfes-(ˌ)tō) as

: a written statement that describes the policies, goals, and opinions of a person or group.

On character:

First and foremost, this is an entertainment website. This means we are here to provide entertainment. Occasionally it might lead to someone buying a car. We are not here to sell you cars. But — and most
importantly — if we do, it won’t be any kind of money-making ploy. One of the DT team might sell a personal car here as an exclusive, but it will be at a ridiculous discount as a perk to the leadership/commentariat, never an attempt to inflate our own wallets. Outside of trying to make you laugh, our serious goal is to add value to the gearhead hobby while facilitating transactions that are
win-win-win-win for buyer, seller, blogger, and reader alike.

On content:

Let’s face it; content is king. This site could be called the Daily Salmon Cannon and as long as we posted good salmon cannon related stuff each day, salmonheads would keep coming back… amiright? We pledge to earn your loyalty every single day by providing regular, relevant, timely, and awesome content. When we slip up, tell us as nicely as you can. When we get it right, you already tell us, and it is incredibly gratifying.

On tips:

Tips are the lifeblood of this website.  We get inundated with El Caminos, Rancheros, & Durangos on a hourly basis, and would love to publish every single one of them. However, when we post based on a tip,
we promise to always give a shout-out to the tipper and never use the power of the tips for personal gain. We will never use them as a giant sifter to discover well-priced cars for ourselves then flip them to our dedicated readers, or anyone else, for profit.  Not gonna happen. 

On fun:

We are going to make fun of things from time to time and these might include one or more of the following: French cars, cars made by Frenchmen, cars designed in France but assembled in Wisconsin, Porsche 914s, hipsters, hats, the San Diego Padres, you, your favorite car, cats (who likes cats anyway, dogs rule!) [Back off, mudflap, I love my cat. -KBZ], incurable diseases (Lyme disease is a giggle, but terminal abdominal cancer, that is a gut buster), Italy, soccer fans, front wheel drive, slushboxes, and skinny jeans. 
Deal with it.  This is a humor site; if you don’t have a sense of humor, please buy one in our online store here.

On community:

Nobody knows everything, and the writers and editors here at DT are only knowledgeable on the cars they have personally owned/driven/repaired/sold/maintained/destroyed. Therefore, when we post something that is outside the DT wheelhouse, the community steps up to the plate and helps out. We get something wrong, you let us know, it makes the site better. The comments on the postings are very often more interesting than the actual writing and that is great.  We promise to remember that and reward our readers/commenters appropriately with content, deals, and laughs.  You will see some regular commenters cross the line between contributor and staff — and this is a good thing.

On moderating:

I’m not a big fan of moderation…wait…that isn’t right…moderating… I’m not a big fan of moderating the comments.  It isn’t just the freedom of speech, yaddy yah we are all big boys approach that I prefer, it is also that I don’t want to spend my time approving, editing, or removing comments…I’ve got diesel powered DeLoreans to find. The only time a comment might get sucked into the black hole is if it falls into the DT’s simple ORBS rules.  Comments that contain the following: Obscenity (okay, a few s-bombs won’t get you banned, but just keep it PG-13..more specifically 1980s PG-13), Racism (keep that for the basketball court Mr. Sterling), Blasphemy (whoa, what is this some kind of Christian rock station –no, but just keep any religious diatribes to yourselves and don’t insult God, god, Yahweh, Buddha, Allah, Wicca, Voodoo, Mother Earth or Ayrton Senna— simple enough?) Spam (I know spam when I see it).

On transparency:

Like all web ventures, this particular site makes some money from various internet money sources. We promise to always disclose those items from which we make money, such as eBay affiliate listings. If you see an eBay link that starts with rover.ebay.com this means that somebody is going to get money if you click on that link and then buy something.  If you see an eBay link or an Amazon link there is a high likelihood that we will make a few bones if you buy something (not just the linked item, but anything) during that web session. Please buy our t-shirts and stickers (we make, like, a nickel), and tell your friends
about us. 

On helping:

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve had offers from total strangers on the web to help out with this site. How can you help? Spread the word. Tell your friends. Post on forums. Tell your mom. And comment. The more comments each post gets the more lurkers will come out of the woodwork and share their rich experiences with all of us.

On passion:

This site is a labor of love, a hobby, a passion, an odd way for human beings connected through electric wires spanning thousands to miles to enjoy camaraderie through cars. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoy writing it.

DT Editor-in-Chief & Co-Founder Vince Barbarie

Technical Editor & Co-Founder Chris Floren (CFlo)

Contributing Writer Hunsbloger

Logo Guru & Graphics Kaibeezy

Contributing Writer PhiLOL

Contributing Writer Gianni Burrows

Contributing Writer Andy Liss

On Privacy:

Our privacy policy is simple:

What personal info does DT collect about you, the customer?

Info you give us, automatic information, and info from other sources.

For what purposes does DT use your personal information?

To provide better products and services. Recommendations and personalization (typically from 3rd party apps) that improve your user experience can include personal info. For legal purposes to comply with the myriad of laws around the world. For advertising and to communication with you.

What about cookies and other identifiers?

To enable our systems to recognize your browser or device and to provide and improve your DT experience, we may use cookies that taste nasty, but your computer loves them.

Does DT share your personal information and/or data?
We try our best to NOT share your information, but some transactions involving third parties can happen with respect to advertising, affiliate links, and compliance with various laws.

What rights you have over your data?

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

How does DT protect your data?

DT uses state of the art ninjas with shuriken and katana sabers to fend off the nefarious hackers and crackers of the dark web. And sometimes we pay a guy named Fred to clean out the gutters, but mostly we follow industry best practices and update your systems to keep your data safe and secure.