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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 (388 total)
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Nice! I agree with this, good idea exoticspotter!
Posted:  07/17/2012 13:36:47
 
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zonda said:
and will pics be deleted if a car is on the road that has come from a track to refule ???
Posted:  07/17/2012 10:00:55
 
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zonda said:
all these updates sound well good.
Posted:  07/17/2012 09:59:11
 
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QAZ said:
Nice! can't wait for the redesign of the site and support for full resolution pictures! :)
Posted:  07/17/2012 08:44:18
 
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eplusplus said:
About comment alerts. Any spot page is getting automatically deleted from your alert list if you visit that page (being logged in, of course). How it all supposed to work:

1) If you upload the spot OR if you post a comment on someone else's spot - this spot page could appear in your alert's list.

2) If someone posts a comment on this spot - this spot should come up on your alerts list.

3) Then you visit this spot's page (either via 'Comment Alerts' section of your account, or directly - doesn't matter) - it is getting removed from your alert list. Because there is no more need in it.


Right now there is a small issue with some spotters getting wrong number of alerts (1 instead of 0, for example) - we will be fixing it soon.
Posted:  07/16/2012 22:32:07
 
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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
 
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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
 
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DjShift said:
@VTswag, i think thats what the forumm is going to be for.
Posted:  07/16/2012 21:41:24
 
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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
 
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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
 
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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
 
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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
 
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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
 
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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
 
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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
 
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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
 
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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
 
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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
 
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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
 
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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
 
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