WHAT WENT WRONG

Oh. A third-party midroll ad. I have such a visceral aversion to those. I hate that I even know the terms. So I'm afraid it means I have slink away from yet another podcast, announcing my departure in a futile murmur as I go. I'm really going to miss this one. I'm low-key grieving as I write. I've learned a lot from it, gone through a chunk of the back catalogue, and you've earned whatever fractional ad revenue my downloads have given so far. Which sounds incongruous in a one-star ad. I wish I was able to join the Patreon, wish I'd done it long ago, but my budget is limited, my action-to-procrastination ratio low, and anyway doing it now would only mean paying to get myself out of a situation and leaving it for everyone else to deal with. I understand that I've been part of the problem, for years treating podcasts as a free service when it obviously takes time and work to make. I understand that podcasters have to make money, I understand that a lot of that money comes from ads. And that dynamic ads are so abundant now because they're the only thing that really pays. On the other hand, I'm not sure they would have become that thing if they weren't so abundant that there were few other options left, for podcasters and listeners alike. If they're everywhere, it's because all of us have let them in. (By, among other things, treating podcasts as a free service …) In my own language, third party ads are grating. They're read by voices I haven't selected myself, and they're often read in the most insistent, upbeat voice that makes me anxious. In other countries, including the US, I've had people tell me that political ads are hard to filter out. The people pushing them are good at getting around the filters. And right now, that sounds scarier than ever. Another podcast I follow are dropping them altogether, for that reason (they used to have them before and after, not midroll, which is why I was able to follow them in the first place). So, yeah. That's quite many words for what I just called a futile murmur. I feel futile about it still. I'm one person, demonstrating like this will have little impact or momentum. And by all means, if you're reading the review because you're interested in the podcast, ignore the one star and try it out. Chris and Lizzie are great. They do a lot of research and make compelling tales from it. Even their high-tier supporter shout outs are funny, I listen through them every time. Or did. I can't make myself do it now, and this is my tearful goodbye.