Chris Harris

[ronin]

Ironic that with his posts Ronin has well and truly crossed the line in my view. Don't recall seeing respected members of this forum insulted in this way during my time here.

Trevor.

You are right, this guy has been hounding me long enough....... He certainly doesn't have my respect, that's earned.

For you fools that think this moronic type of driving is ok you more than likely have never seen a head on collision in the canyons first hand, I have.

[Simon350S]

I'm kinda hoping you are drunk Ronin and will be posting up an apology on here when you wake up in the morning.

I'm with Trevor, Ronin I normally have a click on your posts to see what you've been up to as it's often a little interesting with your regular car mods, always I know there is the chance the post may be a bit risqué, but this past few posts have gone beyond casual banter and are quite insulting.

[ronin]

Cancel my subscription, if what I've said about crossing the centerline and the BS I've gotten from Disadvantage over time is too much for you ladies then I say good night...

[TBD]

Everyone just cool down!!! Everyone just take a ride on the right side of the road (whichever that may be locally).

We all love Frank for his RS211 and value his opinions, which are more often right than wrong.

We may not always agree on his web language, but I think we're grown up enough to tolerate it. And Frank, don't get too personal until you can see the white in their non-virtual eyes.

[Bibs]

Locked. Ronin, you get a warning.

I'd rather not add TLF to your 'they banned me' virtual trophy cabinet but if you can't be civil to fellow members then I will.

[Bibs]

Unlocked.

 

Old Chris Harris has been quiet of late... 

 

https://twitter.com/harrismonkey/status/468797107147931648

 

I remain committed to web videos, they're what I love. But just giving away 20min of free content every week on YT is sadly not sustainable.

[ronin]

He gets paid, he just wants more...

[The Pits]

He's been busy insulting people on pistonheads!

 

He's a very angry little man, I really don't get all the adulation. I guess some people were just born to follow. He seems to have endeared himself to the anti-Clarkson protesters.

 

I imagine the deal was that PH was paying him extra to post his videos on their site so it will be interesting to see where it goes from here. Certainly he has gone very quiet at PH lately. Threads about him have been removed too.

 

I know the cars were laid on by their makers but I always wondered how he was able to pay for stuff like circuit hire. I'm sure he got a good deal but still, to have the whole of Anglesey to yourself isn't going to come cheap.

[Bentzion]

He's has quite a career of bouncing around and I always wondered if his jumping around was because of relationships or money...Or both!

 

I like him because he is fast...and can take cars to the limit.

[pete]

is going pay per view  £2.49 month or £24,99 a year.Will use PH to advertise the videos with a short 'teaser'

not sure enough people are going to pay when there is so much free stuff out there

[Bibs]

As he said, it costs thousands to put these together. The internet isn't free - someone, somewhere has to pay for it. 

[Bentzion]

Your right.  But the question remains if he can raise the level of the content to make people want to buy.  I like his persona on film but I would be hard pressed to pay for it unless he produces a sort of  video magazine that features more than just another guy drifting his car across the screen.  That would cost even more!

[ronin]

As he said, it costs thousands to put these together. The internet isn't free - someone, somewhere has to pay for it. 

They get the cars for free and have no insurance. It can't get much cheaper to do a video...

[Bibs]

The post on Ph says £9k. Thats not cheap when you're giving it away.

[Stirling_Villeneuve]

Pre production, location scouting, legal details, etc. this all takes time. Then there's transportation, at least one camera, lighting, post production editing, sound, etc. Everything adds up. Got to keep the lights on...

[NedaSay]

I think I'm going to give it a go... at 3.99 CAD for a month, it's not exactly expensive even if it's not free! I really hope the content will be more qualitative. And it's not just for Harris as I do hope that other /DRIVE shows will get better as a result of the few of us fronting up some money. 

Edited July 31, 2014 by NedaSay

[pete]

As he said, it costs thousands to put these together. The internet isn't free - someone, somewhere has to pay for it. 

no one doubts that but is there a need for it.Will people pay for it .you can almost buy a magazine for that sort of money a month and the content is considerably more than you will get with one of these videos.Unless he can get advertising revenue i can not see how he is going to generate enough money

[The Pits]

Harris is being economical with the truth as ever. The £9k one cost that because it was privately owned cars so they had to pay for circuit hire (amazed that it was that cheap actually), fuel and no doubt tyres and transportation of the cars. The rest is to pay for the cameraman and whatever Chris Harris charges. 'They' being Drive which included Youtube until recently. A regular drive video laid on by a manufacturer would cost nothing apart from the cost of flying Chris Harris about in the style he has become accustomed to...

 

I won't be subscribing because he has been very unpleasant to me personally, along with quite a few others at Pistonheads.

 

More to the point the content is mostly dire considering they had youtube's backing. The Monaco super car was a shameless, toe curling low budget Top Gear rip off (without the wit). And he recent 'how to drift' video is just so patronising, I really don't get the fanatical following Harris has. Anti-Clarkson backlash is my best guess.

[Vanya]

This is odd - I'm new to this debacle and haven't heard of any mud-slinging on Pistonheads, but Harris always struck me as a humble fellow which made his videos quite digestible. Any links to the threads in question?

 

With the above in mind, I do have a certain sympathy with content providers asking for money. Many people, especially of the armchair economist variety, have gotten ideas that with the internet age, everything should be free and regularly discount the costs of providing content without having at hand the exact costs of a particular venture and, more often than not, discounting the fact that people need to get paid to survive.

 

There's a logical disconnect in society today whereby if you work a 9-5 day job (reality for the most of us) then you expect to get paid at the end of the month, whether due to convention or the fact you want to be fairly compensated for whoring a large part of your life out to a work provider.

 

However if you're generating digital/internet content, or are self-employed and a little "outside the box" - blogging, writing/recording music/producing youtube videos then suddenly "it should be free" because it's not a real job - it's a hobby and/or personal interest, it's not a physical good and therefor devoid of true value, because "they get paid through sponsorships" or "they make money touring" or "they have a day job" etc etc.

 

I'm not advocating paying for dire content - far from it, we vote with our wallets, but the fact is many of us have just accepted that with digital media, the wallet can stay tucked away because "it's the internet innit?"

 

Certainly corporations are abusing payment to no end, but things cost a bitchload of money when you start counting the receipts, and people need to get paid as well, so there are overheads beyond those required for content creation..

[Bibs]

Just as a little interjection, TLF has cost me personally hundreds of thousands in lost revenue for my business over the decade it's been going for. Seriously. 

 

I spent 60-70 hours a week on the site, not to mention days away up at Lotus or official or TLF events and countless calls to and from Lotus, dealers, independents, owners every day plus arranging cars for TV and mags etc, all for free. I've got 13,000 PMs in my inbox and have over 25,000 emails in my 'done' folder. We also have over £4kpa in hosting costs and I've got a couple of grands worth of camera equipment (not enough by a long shot) to record it for our news articles. I don't get a salary from TLF but we do cover costs from the advertising on here although it's a long, long way from break even.

 

The internet is free to those who consume, not those who produce.

[Kimbers]

I concur with that. I've known Bibs since 2005 and as well as being one of my best mates (he hates me, I love him) I have been a Mod for a long time and I work for a living and can manage to check the site periodically during the day. During this time I do a little here an there but nowhere near what he does (about 1% of it or less). He also has his own business which must suffer hugely from him spending half his day answering e-mails, messages and doing the stuff us mods miss.

 

And that's without the "actual" cost of running the site, Hosting fee's, show stands, travelling expenses etc etc.

 

But without that we would lose a valuable community, not only of car enthusiasts but like minded people and friends.

 

I would much rather pay for TLF than a lot of crap that's out there. And that's reminded me that I am paying £7 a month for an online game I haven't played for 3 months! DOH!

[The Pits]

I agree with Vanya that good content is worth something. For the same reason I am a Full Forum Member here, TLF is a total gold mine of information for anything to do with Lotus. Far, far more valuable than watching Chris Harris banging on about how great Porsches are. He has a legion of followers but I think he's a bit deluded thinking that his videos are worth any more than the free ones from the likes of Steve Sutcliffe, Jethro Bovingdon, Richard Meaden. And yes they can all do skids too.

 

Comparing his P1 video with theirs I'd have said his was the worst.

[molemot]

Just as a little interjection, TLF has cost me personally hundreds of thousands in lost revenue for my business over the decade it's been going for. Seriously. 

 

I spent 60-70 hours a week on the site, not to mention days away up at Lotus or official or TLF events and countless calls to and from Lotus, dealers, independents, owners every day plus arranging cars for TV and mags etc, all for free. I've got 13,000 PMs in my inbox and have over 25,000 emails in my 'done' folder. We also have over £4kpa in hosting costs and I've got a couple of grands worth of camera equipment (not enough by a long shot) to record it for our news articles. I don't get a salary from TLF but we do cover costs from the advertising on here although it's a long, long way from break even.

 

The internet is free to those who consume, not those who produce.

 

 

I'd throw a few bob into the begging bowl......(!)

[Bibs]

You already contribute mate and have for many years, thank you

[mdw]

As FFM costs about £10 less than the cost of a single  delivered ARB bush I think its too cheap when you consider the benefits gained. Forget the discounts, just the tips and how to's ( or NOT to's)  save its cost many times over every year.    When I consider my interaction with Club Lotus and TLF for the same cost   the forum is under priced.   As to the videos of someone hacking round a track in a car I don't want , well I pay my licence fee to get that via top gear.