11/21/08: CarDomain ride images are currently not loading for specific rides. We are currently investigating the problem, and we will update again when more information is available. Sorry for the inconvenience.

If you look around you might see some broken photos over the next few hours. Don’t worry, we’re just moving some files around. Everything should be synced up in the next few hours. Thanks for your patience!

Well, we’re back from SEMA, so it’s time to start playing with the site again. In case you’ve been asleep over the last few months—or have just been busy working on your car—here are some of CarDomain’s newest features:

• All new friends system
• CarDomain Monthly Update
• Private Messaging
• Favorite Rides

But we’re not stopping there. Tomorrow morning, we’ll be rolling out some more changes. You’ll notice a whole new look on the ride listings page, along with some other new notifications and tweaks. We’ll be pushing these updates live around 7AM PST, so don’t panic if you see a few funky things while the new and old items trade spaces.

Have you checked out the new friends section in your member lobby? This morning we rolled out an update and there is a whole new system for friends as well as a couple other small changes. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Also, free CarDomain Beanie to the first person that finds the other major change in today’s update!

I got my first one a few days ago and think it’s pretty cool (each member will get one per month). Have you received yours yet? What do you think?

Continue reading "Have You Received Your First E-mail Update?" »

Notice anything new in your garage?  How about around the site? First person to break down all the changes gets a CarDomain t-shirt and sticker.

Notice anything different today?  If not, go check out all your friend’s profile pages!  Also, free CarDomain stickers to the first person who can tell me what else is different on my profile page.

Around the office there has been a lot of talk about rating categories lately and I decided I might as well as the members what they think. 

If you need to brush up on the latest rating categories, just check out the Top Rides area.  The way I see it is that as of right now we have a few categories that are perfect but on the other hand we have some categories that users don’t quite get. 

As an example lets have a look at the Green Machine category. For those that don’t know this, the Green machine category is defined as the following: Rate the ride on its environmental impact.  Now if we look in this category, why is it that so many of the cars are green painted trucks or muscle cars?  What this says to me is that the category has the wrong name or that we need categories that better match the interest of our users. 

So you tell me, what categories are you interested in seeing?  Keep in mind that we can’t have a million so we plan sticking to the same amount, just adding and removing some here and there.

Yep, we just keep on rolling out the new user features at CarDomain—in fact, it’s never been a better time to be a member! Our new interactive "Favorite Rides" piggybacks on our improved "Friends" functionality. Now, Favorite Rides lets you keep track of your friend’s ride pages, complete with their thumbnail pic and some stats on them.

When you log into you Member Lobby, your Favorite Rides will appear as a list below your Garage (you can also get to both your "Friends List" and your "Favorite Rides" from the left nav bar in your member lobby). For now, everyone who’s your Friend has all their rides automatically listed in your Favorite Rides. They’re organized by most-recently-updated to help you keep track of who’s making changes. But wait! Click the link at the bottom of the list that says "View All Favorite Rides" and you go into an expanded view, where your faves are grouped by make! Hit the "More Detail" tab by any one of your favorites’ thumbnails and you’ll get a beautiful drop-down with more in-depth info and a bigger picture of their ride. Note that you can send them a message or even kick them off your favorites right from this expanded view. This is just another way for you guys to stay in touch and keep track of cool cars on the site. We hope you enjoy it!

Continue reading "CarDomain's New "Favorite Rides" Feature!" »

You guys have been clamoring for a PM feature, so our fabulous tech team rolled one out to help you keep in touch with all your CarDomain friends! The new feature replaces the Personal Guestbook and incorporates whatever messages you have in there, so it may look like you already have a heap of PM’s when you first sign in. Guestbooks for your ride page(s) will remain untouched. To start PM’ing, just hit up someone’s ride page or member profile and look for the "Send a Private Message" link. To check your own, log in to your member profile and select "Private Messages" from the menu on the left. When you receive a private message, you’ll be notified by email, so don’t forget to check your profile to make sure that the email you have registered with CarDomain is accurate and up-to-date. Happy messaging, and check out my extra-cool illustrated tutorial (with special effects by Ryan) below the jump!

Continue reading "CarDomain Gets Private Messaging!" »