DealerRefresh Roadmap - taking requests

[Alex Snyder]

We have been making tons of changes to DealerRefresh. Some you see, many you don't. With the nitty-gritty stuff done, it is time to air the plans and seek your requests. I will keep a running list here.

Next up:

1. Remove banner ads from the main site code and turn them into widgets for easier placement
2. Create contextual ad placement via Claude API
3. Create an automated UTM system for ads
4. Rebuild the advertiser report and automate sending
5. Create a new Sponsor relationship management tool that handles ad placement and proposals
6. Replace Siropu ad plugin
7. Retire Notion sponsor dashboard
8. Catalog vendors mentioned in past and future threads for the reviews section
9. Build categorical pages of curated content as landing pages
10. Explore: Member profile summaries + awards?
11. Build Top 100 Members profile

Done:

• Updated DealerRefresh logo with crisper SVG in navigation
• New registration page to increase new member sign-ups
• Rebuild the search feature from the ground up
• Add a thread view count option to the new homepage activity widget that is cookie-based for members and guests to have access
• Add hover on member names to the new homepage activity widget
• Integrate AI Summaries with a weekly email
• Create an AI summary based on DealerRefresh's weekly activity for the forum homepage
• Created an AI summation routine to catalog vendors with DealerRefresh content to create review threads
• Reinstated username hovers
• Rebuilt admin permissions in the dumpster
• Redsigned the navigation and combined it with the account access bar
• Moved social icons to footer
• Rebuilt staging as an exact replica of production with multiple online and offline backups
• Removed Mandrill
• Removed ThreadLoom
• Removed Modern Statistics
• Built Daily Acivity widget to replace Modern Statistics
• Built Visitors Online Now widget
• Built internal Proposal site
• Built internal Proposal flow
• Built internal Proposal pipeline site
• Built internal Proposal view dashboard
• Built internal Proposal Automations
• Built internal stats dashboard
• Added API to Claude
• Built AI Summaries for humans
• Built AI Summaries for crawlers
• Built AI Summary widget to show on all threads
• Built AI summary ongoing automations
• Connected to new email notification and user settings email system
• Connected to new email subscription service and cleaned the email lists
• Updated admin navigation and added new tools to admin nav in forums

 

[joe.pistell]

Member's bios:

https://grok.com/share/bGVnYWN5LWNvcHk_0f77fd77-f084-4272-9ae7-1ca09e754105

 

[joe.pistell]

@craigh Summary
CraigH is a long-time Super Moderator and Staff member (joined May 2011) from Ontario, Canada. He has nearly 2,000 posts, a very high reaction score, and is one of the most active and helpful voices on DealerRefresh. His contributions show deep, practical expertise in the exact areas dealers care about most: digital tools, websites, leads, inventory visibility, and keeping the forum itself running smoothly.


Key strengths and skills that stand out from his recent and historical activity:

• Dealership website platforms & development — He’s a WordPress power user (“know it like the back of my hand”), regularly compares it to Dealer.com, Dealer Inspire, etc., and gives actionable advice on SEO, site performance, and custom work.
• Lead data & integrations — Expert on ADF (Auto-lead Data Format), STAR standards, XML feeds, and DMS exports (e.g., Reynolds). He shares code samples, email templates, and troubleshooting tips.
• Inventory & media optimization — Strong knowledge of vehicle photography tools (VinCamera, FlickFusion, SpinCar), image sizing/best practices, and how they feed into websites and advertising.
• Digital advertising & marketplace insights — Starts threads on AutoTrader.ca, CarGurus, Google Vehicle Listing Ads, and Canadian market trends.
• Technical troubleshooting & forum infrastructure — Recently helped with AI integration (Claude), bot/spam defense (Moltbook discussion), and backend improvements.
• Community leadership & moderation — Consistent helper, thread starter, and problem-solver who bridges technical details with real dealership results.

He’s the perfect example of a member whose value goes way beyond “just posting” — he actually moves the needle for dealers and keeps the community valuable.

 

[Alex Snyder]

Member's bios:

https://grok.com/share/bGVnYWN5LWNvcHk_0f77fd77-f084-4272-9ae7-1ca09e754105

I like this. What could be more powerful is taking all of their thread history and creating a "community engagement" profile. I'll have to look into the feasibility of that.

Grok gave some guidance on giving Craig an "award" and I like that too. There is some fun stuff to play with here.

 

[joe.pistell]

Input: https://forum.dealerrefresh.com/members/dan-sayer.648/#recent-content

@Dan Sayer Summary
Dan Sayer is a long-time Staff member / "Boss" (joined December 2009) from Lincoln, Nebraska. He currently serves as Director of Sales Development/Marketing at Anderson Auto Group (a multi-state dealership group) and previously held the role of VP of Digital / eCommerce. With roughly 560+ posts and a very active presence, Dan is one of the forum’s most respected high-level contributors. He regularly brings real-world, executive-level dealership experience to discussions and has guest-hosted multiple RefreshFriday episodes.


Key strengths and skills that stand out from his activity:

• Third-Party Marketplaces & Classified Sites — Go-to expert on CarGurus, Cars.com, AutoTrader, and similar platforms. He frequently analyzes VDP views, SRP/VDP conversion rates, lead quality, ROI, and cost-per-lead performance. Known for data-driven, no-hype critiques that help dealers separate vendor marketing from actual results.
• CRM Evaluation & Lead Management — Strong, practical insight into CRMs (especially DriveCentric, which he has praised for its simple UX/UI and appeal to salespeople). Discusses lead categorization, attribution challenges, BDC operations, and comparisons with systems like VinSolutions, Tekion, and others. Recent threads highlight how certain CRMs are “running away from the pack.”
• Digital Strategy & Vendor Transparency — Emphasizes honest performance measurement, advertising budget allocation, inventory merchandising, and cutting through vendor hype (including AI/SEO claims). Helps dealers focus on what actually moves the needle at the store level.
• Compliance & Data Security — Shares actionable guidance on FTC Safeguards Rule compliance, call compliance/spam flagging, and customer data protection. Guest-hosted a RefreshFriday session on “Securing Customer Data – BETTER.”
  
  Community Leadership — Starts insightful threads, participates thoughtfully in high-value discussions, and bridges the gap between dealership operators and vendors. His posts are consistently practical and forward-looking.
  
  Grok's not too creative, I asked it for: "review the last two posts and create an artful "Expert Badge" collection. make them graphic labels, informly shaped, drop the icons "
  
  Oh well
  

 

[joe.pistell]

2023 Concept: "Tech needs car ppl more than car ppl needs tech" [link to post]

Uncle Joe's DealerRefresh Top100 Mock

Twenty years of threads. A million posts. Who are the best and brightest — the ones sharing the ideas everyone else came here to read? We classified every post to find out.
​

PRD: DealerRefresh Top100.

 

[joe.pistell]

Idea: For each post, add "# of times this post was viewed"

 

[Alex Snyder]

Built a system that looks for content about vendors and then distills it into a summation heavily based on community sentiment.

This could have been turned into a landing page, but I thought it made sense to keep them native to the forums as threads. Maybe one day we can do something different.

As you can see (and may be annoyed by it) these took over the daily activity feed. This is far from all of them. It started with the vendors who have the most content on the forums.

I’m going to try to stagger these over time so that the activity feed doesn’t get overrun again.

 

[joe.pistell]

Built a system that looks for content about vendors and then distills it into a summation heavily based on community sentiment.

This could have been turned into a landing page, but I thought it made sense to keep them native to the forums as threads. Maybe one day we can do something different.

GENIUS!

Coming soon, I can see dealer decision makers talking to their AI looking for a solution to a biz problem. Architect your landing page design to be AI native and you've created a content-rich powerhouse that is priceless to AI.

If it works, Design in CTAs that get turned on for Paying Vendors (LIKE ME!!!)

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Built a system that looks for content about vendors and then distills it into a summation heavily based on community sentiment.

This could have been turned into a landing page, but I thought it made sense to keep them native to the forums as threads. Maybe one day we can do something different.

As you can see (and may be annoyed by it) these took over the daily activity feed. This is far from all of them. It started with the vendors who have the most content on the forums.

I’m going to try to stagger these over time so that the activity feed doesn’t get overrun again.

Is there a way to EXCLUDE "community review" posts from displaying in the new Daily Activity Feed feature? When this was a xenforo add-on "Modern Statistics", there was the ability to exclude categories and forums from showing up and taking over the users view.

You are currently publishing Community Review posts under Deals & Reviews > Sales Operations. Why not publish them under their own Category > Forum (Community Review) and then omit Community Review forum from showing up in the daily activity feed?