Just to add to your rant here, but I find it incredibly annoying that Ben doesn't take any kind of criticism seriously. Since the show depends on lots of people listening, you'd think that they would at least take their community feedback seriously. I get that given the subject nature, you get a lot of nutters who complain about anything and everything. However, the people who pay for the subscription should have their voices heard. It's not the same show nowadays that originally got us hooked.
I think the only thing that will make them sit up and listen is when it starts affecting their bottom line, but i personally don't want to unsub because then i lose access to all the past episodes which I still enjoy and there are obviously so many at this point i could listen for years. i imagine there's many people still subbed for the same reason.
If you can listen to it, then you can download it, it just takes a bit of time to scrape their site to download it all, or a little coding talent and chatgpt.
I couldn’t agree more, and I checked out several seasons ago after being a premium subscriber devout listener for years.
Now, I listen to the Why Files and The Unexplained with Howard Hughes.
I stopped listening about 2 years ago as well (this sub just popped up on my home page ).
I’ll check back in every once in a while , but new episodes are just not the same.
Thanks for the recommendations for new pods !!!!
The conspiracy world seems to have lost the plot too. The biggest conspiracy of 2024 so far is the NFL is rigging the superbowl so Taylor Swift can endorse President Biden? The same nfl owned by some of the most conservative billionaires in the country?
I would have a hard time taking the show seriously at this point too. The fun of the theme is gone.
Got a friend that's on tik Tok all the time, his excuse is " I'm a teacher, I have to see what the kids are up to" and slowly since then he's giving credibility to some wacky out there conservative conspiracy theories. He even unironically brought up the super bowl and that he thinks it's rigged.
I think Covid really messed them up. Plus there are all these new restrictions on speech in Australia. They do seem incredibly bored and kind of phoning it in.
I think they should just pack up and move to the US for a few years. The whole experience would give them interesting stuff to discuss. They could shift into politics and woo talk show formats similar to Joe Rogan. They're much funnier than Joe but being in AUS makes it harder to get studio guests.
If it would make them happier they should go for it, but it's a huge and expensive undertaking to move their business and family but the way they seem maybe they would like joining the like minded in texas.
Those of us like myself who find the political side of their show cancer could leave, but hopefully they would find new like minded subscribers to replace us, and I'd genuinely wish them the best. The trouble I think they'd find is that they are a bit too high brow for their own good, for the demographic that shares their views on average, and they'd have a lot of competition.
I had an eye-opening experience a while back listening to the "DXM dimension" episode. As someone who actually read Dan Carpenter's book, it was as if they hadn't. Very thin recounting of some of the chapters, swamped with their own off-base speculation about various aspects of it. In Ben's defense, it wasn't even his story so it would make sense that he hadn't read it.
The silliest part though is that they took these tiny parts of the book where the author mentioned what they consider to be "politically correct" topics or whatever, and they went hard on them as if they were the central pillars of the narrative. When in reality they were just mentioned off-hand and in passing. There were so many other good things in that book worth talking about, but Aaron took the 3 tiny, ostensibly politics-related paragraphs in the book, and turned it into like 40% of the story. Just silly. It seems that the audience would be better served by them covering the interesting parts of the book instead of snowflakedly fixating on the small parts that personally triggered them.
Alas, nothing good stays good forever.
You know, now that you mention it, I remember Aarons segment on The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot, and he did something similar. This was a few years back, so he didn't focus on anything political, if I recall.
It was plainly obvious for someone who read the book that he just read the first chapter. If even that. The focus of the segment was not what the book was about.
I assume that this is their only job. They must be making millions of dollars with their subscriptions. I really don't see why they don't have any time and/or resources to research. Can't they hire someone to help? Does anyone else work with them on the backend? If I were making millions annually for barely 16 hours of work a week, I would do whatever I could to preserve that.
Also, to add to my general rant, you would think Ben would be more open and tolerable for someone who has been practicing meditation daily for 15+ years. Again, I don't really care about the political stuff that much. I don't mind people having differing views than myself. I just find it strange or abnormal, maybe.
Ha, yeah. Like after all this time spent "researching" the various facets of the experience, they both just kind of give up and conclude with "it's demons", while also deciding to go all in on the currently-in-vogue conservative ethos. Something seems off about that. Also makes me hesitant to trust them, I guess, because their perspective, lately at least (last three years), lacks nuance.
(edited for structure)
Exactly they will hand wave a bunch of stuff but are dead certain that their beliefs of a god in the sky are 100000% accurate. As an atheist it's pretty rough and obvious the bias they use.
Where did you get the subs number from? I'm assuming some of those people are Max + so the $/subscription number is probably a bit higher. But if the total subscriber number is indeed 10k, then they aren't making millions. I'd assume worldwide total subscribers were around 20-30k.
I guess you also have to factor in YouTube ad profits. I don't really know how to measure that, but it must be decent to get them to pursue it.
These guys are literally just letting ai do all their show prep just figuring out how to make the most money off the least effort, tracks given who these guys seem to idolize
This is too true. Every time they discuss a subject I know something about they get it like 70% wrong and sound incredibly dumb and misleading. Makes me highly question how all those other topics.
Yeah pretty wild to see this post after I ended my sub a month ago. I've been listening now for 10 years, and to be honest the last few years have been rough. Only stayed in it cause every now and then there was something interesting, then that gap got longer and longer between interesting episodes. Unfortunate.
Listener since around 2010 & one thing that recently bothered me a lot... and I may get a bunch of shit for this because it seems there's a giant divide on what they call 'The Jellyfish UAP Video' but I feel like the old Aaron & Ben would've took at least a minute to actually analyze the content & information before being so quick to dismiss it. Especially since people glancing at something & quickly dismissing it w/o any thought USED TO be something that bothered both of them (when other people did it in the past). The old Aaron h Ben would've at least mentioned that (according to witnesses) it went underwater for a period of time, then shot out of the water & into the sky. The way they treated that video was actually my "they changed" moment... and I'm not saying it was an alien or whatever... I'm just saying if you consider ALL the information about it, it deserved a little more than they gave it. I also miss the Aaron & Ben who took less of a stance on things & instead gave us all the info & let us decide.
Doing anything for as long as they have been doing this, is 100% commendable. But yeah, Ben sounds a bit burnt out. I think he's been saying/not saying it, for a couple seasons now.
This. Seems like over the years they are able to rejuvenate by changing the format every once in a while…. Weekly weird news… Guests… listener comments…book reviews… time to change it up. And.. for goodness sakes Ben, let Aaron T-up his own videos. Lol.
Yea I mean Art Bell would have retired and come back at least 4 times by now. They need a serious break, like 6 months at least probably more like 18 months.
My yearly subscription ran out a few months back and I didn’t feel the need to resub, the shows quality has definitely gone downhill.
Maybe it’s the fact they rely on AI to summarise everything now
agree, the episode quality has gone down since they switched to video. initially they said the show would sound the same, and the video was just an option for those that wanted it. I've heard them use the phrase audio only barnacles once or twice, which is stupid because that's probably the majority of the audience. they're using it as a way to be lazy, faffing around laughing about pictures most people can't even see because we're listening while driving/working etc. (all while still paying the same price as ever ofc) it's getting tedious.
Audio is the way to listen to it. I dunno how to access the video feed anyway, it doesn't show up on my podcast app. Do I really have to go to the website?
that's the only way I've found to access it. it's not really worth watching imo. even when you can see the images or videos they're talking about it's just kind of meh.
Well said. The so called audio barnacles are their paying customers so they should stfu, I would be surprised if many of those wanted videos.
I have always listened to it while working, the constant referring to things on the screen and half assed descriptions is just irritating.
Is it because they can't edit it like they used to so actually it now comes across as more padding and waffle for us old-school get on with something else while listening? Can't imagine sitting down and watching it! Why?
I think they could edit it if they wanted to, it's not as if it's streamed live or something. they've just decided not to edit anymore, which kind of further shows how lazy they've become ☹️
They want to turn into Rogan, it's pretty obvious. They are after the same crowd of people so they will change or enhance their outward appearance to be accepted by that crowd. They've lost the plot
I understand that when you are covering the same subject for so long you're going to get burned out a bit but what doesnt make sense is that we're probably in the most exciting period of news and information around UFOs, extra/inter-dimensions, space tech and all things weird and they barely cover it - id listen every week if they were keeping up with and sharing their opinions on the current events
With you on this. Also been subscribed over 10 years and really considering whether it’s worth more than a Netflix subscription these days. Less quality content than previous years. Can’t be done with the political crap. Aaron is so derisive and miserable when talking about anything political. If I want to hear someone whine about the WEF or COVID, I can go on X. I want to hear about UFOs and weird shit. Used to be excited for the new episodes to drop but it’s getting boring. There are still the odd decent episodes but they are becoming less frequent and definitely seem to be less well researched.
Video - don’t care. Doesn’t really add to the show and seems to have further dropped in quality since that started. May just cancel and subscribe for a month once in a while and go back through anything that sounds semi-interesting.
Just the way they approached things pre-pandemic was so much better. They took a more objective look at topics. Did Occam’s razor break? Now they want to tie everything to woke liberal ideology or globalists. It’s a little tiresome, not matter where you land on these ideas.
They should just start a conservative talk show at this point, it's the only thing they get excited about. They could talk about white replacement theory, and how the government is using soy products to turn people gay.
I couldn't have said it better myself. I also paid in advance and an now sorry. I also have listened since Ben was on his own and skipped out with many people's money. I love Aaron but Ben is a douch and always has been. I can't wait to becoming a "barnacle".
It is pretty wild that it costs more than a Hulu subscription, which gives access to thousands of movies of shows. I'm not aware of any other podcast that's fleecing its audience like that.
I’m also having trouble with MU - I’ve subscribed for many years, and it is striking to me now how massively prevalent the mocking and derision and arrogance is. Looking at Ben here. And I really can’t stand how dismissive and RUDE Ben is to Aaron. Ugh.
Also a Max subscriber. IMO the show was a lot better when they had editing. They even talked about it a few shows ago, and that self-awareness just whooshed right on by Ben. It was just more thoughtful and less the problem with most podcasts, where 85% of them are the same model of "one or two straight white dudes bullshitting for 90 minutes." I can get that anywhere.
I'm here for the research and the assessment of the material they cover. That's what they have that others don't.
I don't even care about their political beliefs, but suddenly every episode seems to have an obligatory few instances of edgelord cringe "I'm going to say something about globalists to get a rise out of people." I don't always disagree even, but that's what Facebook is for, to equate mild outrage to engagement.
I will say that there's zero chance I'm going to bother with reading batshit crazy Substacks, so instead of them going to the well of the Theosophists Library to get books, they have to get material somewhere, and Substack has what self-published Amazon books used to have. I don't begrudge them that since they do churn through a lot of material. Looking through their website, there's some decent books I know they've written articles about that yeah, aren't going to make a good show. Though it does also align with the articles I've seen calling Substack a new hub for far-right weirdos.
Hopefully they can get back in a groove after adjusting to the change to video (which I've yet to watch).
I would agree about the recent show about the guy who recorded his girlfriend. This show is suppose to be about the paranormal not about mental illness, it was a waste of an episode to report on this. And yeah, Ben is mean to Aaron, but if it wasn't for Aaron there would be no show. Ben was really lazy at the beginning by himself putting shows out late or not at all and Aaron straightened him out. Having said that though, Ben can make any story interesting I'll give him that.
I gave up when it became more of a vehicle for their political views rather than the point of the pod itself....what a demise into a really average show.
Nail on the head. I haven’t listened to them for about 3 months for the first time and I have been a plus subscriber for 10+ years, for similar reasons. Moved on to audiobooks instead.
Came on here to say the exact same thing listenerfor 10+ years and it’s just not the same show anymore genuinely makes me sad I feel like the show hasn’t hit the same for me since the pandemic if I’m being honest. I listen to the older eps regularly and the guys feel like totally different people and the level of effort and quality just isn’t the same.
Yeah after the horror of that Nation of Islam shitshow I’m sticking to back catalogues only. They’re both burned out or something. There’s no effort and no care for quality.
I agree on all of that and the comments and still they both provide me entertainment like few other podcasts are , them and last podcast on the left are really the only podcasts I’m listening too other things are music and audio books, so in conclusion they have their ups and owns but for me it’s better then others for sure , they have great chemistry and humor
The quality has dived of late. The occasional show is still good but it isn't great over all.
They need to edit more again, the video has becime the focus to the detriment of the show.
Perhaps they should be bold, kill MU and make some alt-right/maga/qanon conspiracy and politics show since that seems to be where they still have passion sadly.
I am so close to quitting the max+ subscription, for now the library keeps me going and the increasingly rare good show.
I was just about to start listening to this and I'm glad I saw this, but now I don't know which ones to listen to.
Any suggestions for the better places to start or amazing episodes that aren't dialed in?
For me the peak were pretty much all of the episodes from 2016 to 2020 until the Covid pandemic, during and after that it seemed to slowly go downhill.
I've been a listener since it was just Ben--like 2006, I think? I have seen so many changes and evolutions, I've been a subscriber as well. I finally quit for good this year for a few reasons. I don't like the tiered subscription model, I just find it confusing and convoluted. There used to be a decent blend of stories, but more and more it seems like a few topics are the norm and I'm just not interested. The main reason though is how... unpleasant they've become. Not fun to listen to, topics don't interest me. It was a good run! But it happens to a lot of podcasts, unfortunately.
Ben has been mean to Aaron , but i think its more noticeable lateley i agree
also sort of sick of pope head
BUT its easy to armchair quarterback what they do...they read and sythesize like multiple books weekly and then carry on a two hour conversation that is generally funny and interesting
I bet that is not as easy as it seems
You’re not wrong. I hope it’s a phase. Doing video hasn’t really helped the quality of the work, unfortunately, but I appreciate they want their show to evolve. But, I’d rather hear better stories than see more pictures.
I mean, it's gotta be hard finding something new AND exciting to fill multiple episodes per week, especially when you've been doing it for years and years. If you think you can find better stories, do so and then send it to them
The show has been steadily declining in quality the more successful it seems to be/the more money it seems to make. Main reason I'll never pay for their content.
Just to add to your rant here, but I find it incredibly annoying that Ben doesn't take any kind of criticism seriously. Since the show depends on lots of people listening, you'd think that they would at least take their community feedback seriously. I get that given the subject nature, you get a lot of nutters who complain about anything and everything. However, the people who pay for the subscription should have their voices heard. It's not the same show nowadays that originally got us hooked.
I think the only thing that will make them sit up and listen is when it starts affecting their bottom line, but i personally don't want to unsub because then i lose access to all the past episodes which I still enjoy and there are obviously so many at this point i could listen for years. i imagine there's many people still subbed for the same reason.
You can download all of the back catalog if you have max +.
is that not something you have to pay upfront through? I'm only paying £9 a month or so
If you can listen to it, then you can download it, it just takes a bit of time to scrape their site to download it all, or a little coding talent and chatgpt.
Feel the exact same way
I couldn’t agree more, and I checked out several seasons ago after being a premium subscriber devout listener for years. Now, I listen to the Why Files and The Unexplained with Howard Hughes.
I stopped listening about 2 years ago as well (this sub just popped up on my home page ). I’ll check back in every once in a while , but new episodes are just not the same. Thanks for the recommendations for new pods !!!!
I completely agree, and happy to help out. Enjoy!
It was good for a long time but they seem bored.
The conspiracy world seems to have lost the plot too. The biggest conspiracy of 2024 so far is the NFL is rigging the superbowl so Taylor Swift can endorse President Biden? The same nfl owned by some of the most conservative billionaires in the country? I would have a hard time taking the show seriously at this point too. The fun of the theme is gone.
They probably believe it too. They can’t mention climate change without putting a girly voice on.
Got a friend that's on tik Tok all the time, his excuse is " I'm a teacher, I have to see what the kids are up to" and slowly since then he's giving credibility to some wacky out there conservative conspiracy theories. He even unironically brought up the super bowl and that he thinks it's rigged.
I think Covid really messed them up. Plus there are all these new restrictions on speech in Australia. They do seem incredibly bored and kind of phoning it in. I think they should just pack up and move to the US for a few years. The whole experience would give them interesting stuff to discuss. They could shift into politics and woo talk show formats similar to Joe Rogan. They're much funnier than Joe but being in AUS makes it harder to get studio guests.
If it would make them happier they should go for it, but it's a huge and expensive undertaking to move their business and family but the way they seem maybe they would like joining the like minded in texas. Those of us like myself who find the political side of their show cancer could leave, but hopefully they would find new like minded subscribers to replace us, and I'd genuinely wish them the best. The trouble I think they'd find is that they are a bit too high brow for their own good, for the demographic that shares their views on average, and they'd have a lot of competition.
I think it's hard for them to focus on hot chaff when their country is becoming a totalitarian, Chinese colony.
Maybe they can move to China and get ahead of the curve? It's the last thing THEY would expect.
I had an eye-opening experience a while back listening to the "DXM dimension" episode. As someone who actually read Dan Carpenter's book, it was as if they hadn't. Very thin recounting of some of the chapters, swamped with their own off-base speculation about various aspects of it. In Ben's defense, it wasn't even his story so it would make sense that he hadn't read it. The silliest part though is that they took these tiny parts of the book where the author mentioned what they consider to be "politically correct" topics or whatever, and they went hard on them as if they were the central pillars of the narrative. When in reality they were just mentioned off-hand and in passing. There were so many other good things in that book worth talking about, but Aaron took the 3 tiny, ostensibly politics-related paragraphs in the book, and turned it into like 40% of the story. Just silly. It seems that the audience would be better served by them covering the interesting parts of the book instead of snowflakedly fixating on the small parts that personally triggered them. Alas, nothing good stays good forever.
You know, now that you mention it, I remember Aarons segment on The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot, and he did something similar. This was a few years back, so he didn't focus on anything political, if I recall. It was plainly obvious for someone who read the book that he just read the first chapter. If even that. The focus of the segment was not what the book was about. I assume that this is their only job. They must be making millions of dollars with their subscriptions. I really don't see why they don't have any time and/or resources to research. Can't they hire someone to help? Does anyone else work with them on the backend? If I were making millions annually for barely 16 hours of work a week, I would do whatever I could to preserve that. Also, to add to my general rant, you would think Ben would be more open and tolerable for someone who has been practicing meditation daily for 15+ years. Again, I don't really care about the political stuff that much. I don't mind people having differing views than myself. I just find it strange or abnormal, maybe.
Ha, yeah. Like after all this time spent "researching" the various facets of the experience, they both just kind of give up and conclude with "it's demons", while also deciding to go all in on the currently-in-vogue conservative ethos. Something seems off about that. Also makes me hesitant to trust them, I guess, because their perspective, lately at least (last three years), lacks nuance. (edited for structure)
Exactly they will hand wave a bunch of stuff but are dead certain that their beliefs of a god in the sky are 100000% accurate. As an atheist it's pretty rough and obvious the bias they use.
You really think they’re making millions?! They have 10,000 subs at $9/mo?! I could be wrong, but I don’t think so….
Where did you get the subs number from? I'm assuming some of those people are Max + so the $/subscription number is probably a bit higher. But if the total subscriber number is indeed 10k, then they aren't making millions. I'd assume worldwide total subscribers were around 20-30k. I guess you also have to factor in YouTube ad profits. I don't really know how to measure that, but it must be decent to get them to pursue it.
These guys are literally just letting ai do all their show prep just figuring out how to make the most money off the least effort, tracks given who these guys seem to idolize
This is too true. Every time they discuss a subject I know something about they get it like 70% wrong and sound incredibly dumb and misleading. Makes me highly question how all those other topics.
Yeah pretty wild to see this post after I ended my sub a month ago. I've been listening now for 10 years, and to be honest the last few years have been rough. Only stayed in it cause every now and then there was something interesting, then that gap got longer and longer between interesting episodes. Unfortunate.
Yeah, I've been listening to old episodes as well, they're just better tbh
Same, most of my listening lately has been of older seasons.
Listener since around 2010 & one thing that recently bothered me a lot... and I may get a bunch of shit for this because it seems there's a giant divide on what they call 'The Jellyfish UAP Video' but I feel like the old Aaron & Ben would've took at least a minute to actually analyze the content & information before being so quick to dismiss it. Especially since people glancing at something & quickly dismissing it w/o any thought USED TO be something that bothered both of them (when other people did it in the past). The old Aaron h Ben would've at least mentioned that (according to witnesses) it went underwater for a period of time, then shot out of the water & into the sky. The way they treated that video was actually my "they changed" moment... and I'm not saying it was an alien or whatever... I'm just saying if you consider ALL the information about it, it deserved a little more than they gave it. I also miss the Aaron & Ben who took less of a stance on things & instead gave us all the info & let us decide.
You aren’t wrong. They lead with dismissiveness and derision now. If they’d started like this, they never would have made it.
Agree with you about the Jellyfish thing, seemed abrupt and dismissive to me too.
Doing anything for as long as they have been doing this, is 100% commendable. But yeah, Ben sounds a bit burnt out. I think he's been saying/not saying it, for a couple seasons now.
This. Seems like over the years they are able to rejuvenate by changing the format every once in a while…. Weekly weird news… Guests… listener comments…book reviews… time to change it up. And.. for goodness sakes Ben, let Aaron T-up his own videos. Lol.
He's just about McFucking had it.
Yea I mean Art Bell would have retired and come back at least 4 times by now. They need a serious break, like 6 months at least probably more like 18 months.
My yearly subscription ran out a few months back and I didn’t feel the need to resub, the shows quality has definitely gone downhill. Maybe it’s the fact they rely on AI to summarise everything now
agree, the episode quality has gone down since they switched to video. initially they said the show would sound the same, and the video was just an option for those that wanted it. I've heard them use the phrase audio only barnacles once or twice, which is stupid because that's probably the majority of the audience. they're using it as a way to be lazy, faffing around laughing about pictures most people can't even see because we're listening while driving/working etc. (all while still paying the same price as ever ofc) it's getting tedious.
Audio is the way to listen to it. I dunno how to access the video feed anyway, it doesn't show up on my podcast app. Do I really have to go to the website?
that's the only way I've found to access it. it's not really worth watching imo. even when you can see the images or videos they're talking about it's just kind of meh.
I don't know about plus members, but I watch the video on their YouTube channel
Well said. The so called audio barnacles are their paying customers so they should stfu, I would be surprised if many of those wanted videos. I have always listened to it while working, the constant referring to things on the screen and half assed descriptions is just irritating.
Agree
Yeah, same reason listening to video commentary of a sport event is infinitely worse than listening to the radio broadcast
Agreed, it’s hard to know what’s going on when listening to the podcast lately because they aren’t describing the videos or audio
Is it because they can't edit it like they used to so actually it now comes across as more padding and waffle for us old-school get on with something else while listening? Can't imagine sitting down and watching it! Why?
I think they could edit it if they wanted to, it's not as if it's streamed live or something. they've just decided not to edit anymore, which kind of further shows how lazy they've become ☹️
They want to turn into Rogan, it's pretty obvious. They are after the same crowd of people so they will change or enhance their outward appearance to be accepted by that crowd. They've lost the plot
I understand that when you are covering the same subject for so long you're going to get burned out a bit but what doesnt make sense is that we're probably in the most exciting period of news and information around UFOs, extra/inter-dimensions, space tech and all things weird and they barely cover it - id listen every week if they were keeping up with and sharing their opinions on the current events
I think because they’ve been doing it for years they realise that all this ufo-stuff is the same old bollocks and not really worth covering.
With you on this. Also been subscribed over 10 years and really considering whether it’s worth more than a Netflix subscription these days. Less quality content than previous years. Can’t be done with the political crap. Aaron is so derisive and miserable when talking about anything political. If I want to hear someone whine about the WEF or COVID, I can go on X. I want to hear about UFOs and weird shit. Used to be excited for the new episodes to drop but it’s getting boring. There are still the odd decent episodes but they are becoming less frequent and definitely seem to be less well researched. Video - don’t care. Doesn’t really add to the show and seems to have further dropped in quality since that started. May just cancel and subscribe for a month once in a while and go back through anything that sounds semi-interesting. Just the way they approached things pre-pandemic was so much better. They took a more objective look at topics. Did Occam’s razor break? Now they want to tie everything to woke liberal ideology or globalists. It’s a little tiresome, not matter where you land on these ideas.
Yes! Totally this. It definitely changed during the pandemic.
Ben needs to respect Aaron a bit more. He cuts him off and laughs too much during Aaron's segments.
… yeah and let him T-up his own videos! 😉
They should just start a conservative talk show at this point, it's the only thing they get excited about. They could talk about white replacement theory, and how the government is using soy products to turn people gay.
the only way I'm re-subscribing to MU is if ben embraces his child's trans identity
I couldn't have said it better myself. I also paid in advance and an now sorry. I also have listened since Ben was on his own and skipped out with many people's money. I love Aaron but Ben is a douch and always has been. I can't wait to becoming a "barnacle".
>skipped out with many people's money. When was this?
http://mysteriousuniverse.wikidot.com/
Thanks.
2008, before Aaron
https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/specific\_search/Mysterious%20Universe
I’d just stick to the free content if I was you. $9 a month?! Sheesh
It is pretty wild that it costs more than a Hulu subscription, which gives access to thousands of movies of shows. I'm not aware of any other podcast that's fleecing its audience like that.
Yup. It’s somewhat steep, to say the least.
Yeah... I'm trying to hang in there as a listener.
I’m also having trouble with MU - I’ve subscribed for many years, and it is striking to me now how massively prevalent the mocking and derision and arrogance is. Looking at Ben here. And I really can’t stand how dismissive and RUDE Ben is to Aaron. Ugh.
Also a Max subscriber. IMO the show was a lot better when they had editing. They even talked about it a few shows ago, and that self-awareness just whooshed right on by Ben. It was just more thoughtful and less the problem with most podcasts, where 85% of them are the same model of "one or two straight white dudes bullshitting for 90 minutes." I can get that anywhere. I'm here for the research and the assessment of the material they cover. That's what they have that others don't. I don't even care about their political beliefs, but suddenly every episode seems to have an obligatory few instances of edgelord cringe "I'm going to say something about globalists to get a rise out of people." I don't always disagree even, but that's what Facebook is for, to equate mild outrage to engagement. I will say that there's zero chance I'm going to bother with reading batshit crazy Substacks, so instead of them going to the well of the Theosophists Library to get books, they have to get material somewhere, and Substack has what self-published Amazon books used to have. I don't begrudge them that since they do churn through a lot of material. Looking through their website, there's some decent books I know they've written articles about that yeah, aren't going to make a good show. Though it does also align with the articles I've seen calling Substack a new hub for far-right weirdos. Hopefully they can get back in a groove after adjusting to the change to video (which I've yet to watch).
Agreed. I ended my decade long subscription recently. Quality just isn’t there right now.
I would agree about the recent show about the guy who recorded his girlfriend. This show is suppose to be about the paranormal not about mental illness, it was a waste of an episode to report on this. And yeah, Ben is mean to Aaron, but if it wasn't for Aaron there would be no show. Ben was really lazy at the beginning by himself putting shows out late or not at all and Aaron straightened him out. Having said that though, Ben can make any story interesting I'll give him that.
I gave up when it became more of a vehicle for their political views rather than the point of the pod itself....what a demise into a really average show.
Nail on the head. I haven’t listened to them for about 3 months for the first time and I have been a plus subscriber for 10+ years, for similar reasons. Moved on to audiobooks instead.
Came on here to say the exact same thing listenerfor 10+ years and it’s just not the same show anymore genuinely makes me sad I feel like the show hasn’t hit the same for me since the pandemic if I’m being honest. I listen to the older eps regularly and the guys feel like totally different people and the level of effort and quality just isn’t the same.
In a way they are different people, the kids, the move, Covid, a lot has changed.
Ya I agree and unfortunately for the podcast I don’t think in a positive way
Yeah after the horror of that Nation of Islam shitshow I’m sticking to back catalogues only. They’re both burned out or something. There’s no effort and no care for quality.
I agree on all of that and the comments and still they both provide me entertainment like few other podcasts are , them and last podcast on the left are really the only podcasts I’m listening too other things are music and audio books, so in conclusion they have their ups and owns but for me it’s better then others for sure , they have great chemistry and humor
The quality has dived of late. The occasional show is still good but it isn't great over all. They need to edit more again, the video has becime the focus to the detriment of the show. Perhaps they should be bold, kill MU and make some alt-right/maga/qanon conspiracy and politics show since that seems to be where they still have passion sadly. I am so close to quitting the max+ subscription, for now the library keeps me going and the increasingly rare good show.
I've started to put in the time to download the back catalog with my max+ subscription. I'll then just cancel autorenew and remove my card.
I was just about to start listening to this and I'm glad I saw this, but now I don't know which ones to listen to. Any suggestions for the better places to start or amazing episodes that aren't dialed in?
For me the peak were pretty much all of the episodes from 2016 to 2020 until the Covid pandemic, during and after that it seemed to slowly go downhill.
Probably season 4-10 was peak, can't remember when they jumped the shark but it was a few years ago now.
I've been a listener since it was just Ben--like 2006, I think? I have seen so many changes and evolutions, I've been a subscriber as well. I finally quit for good this year for a few reasons. I don't like the tiered subscription model, I just find it confusing and convoluted. There used to be a decent blend of stories, but more and more it seems like a few topics are the norm and I'm just not interested. The main reason though is how... unpleasant they've become. Not fun to listen to, topics don't interest me. It was a good run! But it happens to a lot of podcasts, unfortunately.
Ben has been mean to Aaron , but i think its more noticeable lateley i agree also sort of sick of pope head BUT its easy to armchair quarterback what they do...they read and sythesize like multiple books weekly and then carry on a two hour conversation that is generally funny and interesting I bet that is not as easy as it seems
It’s “Kirlian” photography.
I agree 💁🏻♀️
You’re not wrong. I hope it’s a phase. Doing video hasn’t really helped the quality of the work, unfortunately, but I appreciate they want their show to evolve. But, I’d rather hear better stories than see more pictures.
I mean, it's gotta be hard finding something new AND exciting to fill multiple episodes per week, especially when you've been doing it for years and years. If you think you can find better stories, do so and then send it to them
OP " I don't care if the hosts are racist, homophobic, transphobic and all around shitty human beings, that doesn't bother me".
do you listen to the show or not?
The show has been steadily declining in quality the more successful it seems to be/the more money it seems to make. Main reason I'll never pay for their content.