Gecko
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Hi everyone,
I want to share an update with you: I purchased Lexus Enthusiast from Kevin and will own the business going forward.
This is an exciting moment for me and as an active member of the forums here, I wanted to share the news with you first.
I remember getting a call from @mikeavelli many years ago telling me about a friend who was going to start a Lexus blog for real Lexus fans, and asking if I wanted to be a founding member in the site. I didn't hesitate. I only recently wore out the black LFA t-shirt that was given to that group of members and remember it fondly. Before Lexus Enthusiast, I was very active on Club Lexus but after it was sold to Internet Brands, I felt like the community changed, and I ultimately wanted to start something new here with Mike and Kevin.
Some of you might know that I've been a part of the Lexus' community for most of my life, worked at local Lexus dealerships through college, and worked for Lexus corporate for a summer as well. We've had our ups and downs, but Lexus is and always has been near and dear to my heart, and I loved working with Lexus Enthusiast as a partner. From news updates and reviews, to HQ Confidential coverage and the podcast, I've enjoyed the opportunity to engage both with Lexus and you, the Lexus community. The tides change, life happens, and Kevin had less time for Lexus Enthusiast in recent years.
I thought about the community we have here in the forum and didn't want to see anything happen to it. We don't always agree, but I enjoy the discourse and banter that we have and think it's something unique. I also looked at the media landscape for Lexus enthusiasts and realized that Lexusenthusiast.com does serve a specific segment of the Lexus audience, and there's still not anything else like it. So I came up with a plan and approached Kevin about the purchase... and here we are.
You won't notice much change, honestly. Right now I'm working on rebuilding the news coverage on the front page of the website but forum life will remain what you've always known. For Lexus Enthusiast as a whole, I have ideas about new types of stories, different content experiences, and more ownership updates/profiles that you might hear about soon. One update you might have seen is that our Facebook account was removed about a year ago. Meta support has been a black hole and TL;DR: the old facebook is gone, so I started a new one. The unfortunate part of this is that most people get their news in their social media feeds, and what was previously the largest FB Lexus audience now has to be rebooted. It's a big loss for website traffic as well, so if anyone has ideas or would be willing to follow/share the new page, that would be great.
If you've got ideas for the website, forums, or content, I'd love to hear them. This is a moment to think about how things can be improved and make suggestions if you have them. I'm actively thinking through what Lexus Enthusiast 2.0 looks like so it's a great time to talk about evolution and improvements.
I want to specifically thank Kevin for making Lexus Enthusiast what it is today. This website has been a passion project and labor of love for Kevin, and none of it would exist without him. Lexus might not be as front-of-mind anymore, but come back and check in on us when you think about it.
To all of you, thanks for being such a great community over the years -- I look forward to working with all of you on making it even better. I'm happy to answer any questions if you have them, though I think most of you know me decently well.
Michael
I want to share an update with you: I purchased Lexus Enthusiast from Kevin and will own the business going forward.
This is an exciting moment for me and as an active member of the forums here, I wanted to share the news with you first.
I remember getting a call from @mikeavelli many years ago telling me about a friend who was going to start a Lexus blog for real Lexus fans, and asking if I wanted to be a founding member in the site. I didn't hesitate. I only recently wore out the black LFA t-shirt that was given to that group of members and remember it fondly. Before Lexus Enthusiast, I was very active on Club Lexus but after it was sold to Internet Brands, I felt like the community changed, and I ultimately wanted to start something new here with Mike and Kevin.
Some of you might know that I've been a part of the Lexus' community for most of my life, worked at local Lexus dealerships through college, and worked for Lexus corporate for a summer as well. We've had our ups and downs, but Lexus is and always has been near and dear to my heart, and I loved working with Lexus Enthusiast as a partner. From news updates and reviews, to HQ Confidential coverage and the podcast, I've enjoyed the opportunity to engage both with Lexus and you, the Lexus community. The tides change, life happens, and Kevin had less time for Lexus Enthusiast in recent years.
I thought about the community we have here in the forum and didn't want to see anything happen to it. We don't always agree, but I enjoy the discourse and banter that we have and think it's something unique. I also looked at the media landscape for Lexus enthusiasts and realized that Lexusenthusiast.com does serve a specific segment of the Lexus audience, and there's still not anything else like it. So I came up with a plan and approached Kevin about the purchase... and here we are.
You won't notice much change, honestly. Right now I'm working on rebuilding the news coverage on the front page of the website but forum life will remain what you've always known. For Lexus Enthusiast as a whole, I have ideas about new types of stories, different content experiences, and more ownership updates/profiles that you might hear about soon. One update you might have seen is that our Facebook account was removed about a year ago. Meta support has been a black hole and TL;DR: the old facebook is gone, so I started a new one. The unfortunate part of this is that most people get their news in their social media feeds, and what was previously the largest FB Lexus audience now has to be rebooted. It's a big loss for website traffic as well, so if anyone has ideas or would be willing to follow/share the new page, that would be great.
If you've got ideas for the website, forums, or content, I'd love to hear them. This is a moment to think about how things can be improved and make suggestions if you have them. I'm actively thinking through what Lexus Enthusiast 2.0 looks like so it's a great time to talk about evolution and improvements.
I want to specifically thank Kevin for making Lexus Enthusiast what it is today. This website has been a passion project and labor of love for Kevin, and none of it would exist without him. Lexus might not be as front-of-mind anymore, but come back and check in on us when you think about it.
To all of you, thanks for being such a great community over the years -- I look forward to working with all of you on making it even better. I'm happy to answer any questions if you have them, though I think most of you know me decently well.
Michael
