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Ep 622: Bespoke Squeegee (Q&A with Ben & Adam) (maximumfun.org)
submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by [B] to c/greatestgen@startrek.website
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When we’ve reached the end of an era and only three packages remain, their contribution to the show’s well-documented problems makes it clear it’s time to turn off auto-renew. But after a bunch of FoD questions elicit some new ideas for the show, it seems we’re ready for 10 more years of indigestion and loose stool. Which type of museum would Ben and Adam open? What do wormhole aliens not care about at all? Who does Starfleet need to get into a uniform? It’s the episode that paints a Godfather-like scene.

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[–] 4 points 4 months ago (1 child)

It is a little disappointing to me that they’ll be leaving MaxFun. I’ll have to decide if I want to continue to support the network or greatest gen going forward.

I hope the new non-MaxFun ads won’t be too bad …

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  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Just read the newsletter. More ads incoming, talk of "industry standard."

    I'm sure there are reasons why they want to go this route that I don't understand. My personal fear right now is that we will be witnessing a version of podcast enshitification.

    I don't know why but I find the abruptness of the announcement rubs me the wrong way too. A show that prides itself on producing everything well in advance gave virtually no indication that this was coming. So next week we go back to Farpoint. Next week rolls around and we get this.

    The timing is bad. Money will be tight thanks to peace loving, senile president Dukat's recent well thought out military excursions and impeccably humane diplomatic messaging. You don't want to give subscribers a reason to stop their subscriptions in a time when every penny needs to be pinched. You will lose subscribers because they will forget to make the change. You will lose subscribers because now you are forcing them to reevaluate their decision. You may lose more if your new asking price is higher than before. I fail to see how they could not lose subscribers here.

    Tbh I always disliked the marketing messages of MaxFun, never really liked any other of their shows, so I don't mind seeing the back of them. They had a touch of the Pluribus, I paraphrase: "come to our events even if you are a bit weird, we will love you, guaranteed!" I stopped listening to their guilt tripping, which I call their pledge drive messages, after year 2 or so. Couldn't fast forward fast enough through this like it's the Enterprise intro. Ask for support, no problem; I listened to every episode till the very end. But there is a manipulative line you can cross for me and they do in those drive weeks. So will we be hearing less of that? Or more of it all the time? A surprise two-week break is maybe giving me too much time to ruminate on that.

    Fucking hell, I had a lot of thoughts about this, didn't I. Sorry it got so long and thanks for reading through my parasocial therapy sesh.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    I was honestly surprised by how much of a reaction I had to this news! Now that a couple of days have passed I think I figured out what inked me so much about this change.

    I actually am a big fan of MaxFun. The Adventure Zone got me into D&D and I dig the whole worker-owned network where artists own their shows thing. I also liked that the network was a place where shows like TGG could find their audience!

    I don’t listen to any other MaxFun shows (who has the time!) so I’ll probably stop sending money to a project I liked, because I have reached my limit of subscriptions and patrons and I want to continue to listen to and support that silly stat trek podcast.

    Anyway, I wonder how they’re actually handle the technical side of things. A different podcast I support recently moved back to Patreon after using Supercast for a while. I hope they’ll find some setup that works for them.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    I think the surprise two-week break is not just a courtesy to MF and their pledge drive. I think it's also to finish going through all the old episodes, cut out the MF jingles and misleading references to their network, ads sold through them, and jumbotron sales pitches, etc. And to set markers around the interstitials so whichever platform they will use can insert new ads.

    I'll be very surprised if they don't end up on Patreon like everybody else. What I also find puzzling is this support gap. If I wanted to migrate my subscribers, I would want to offer them the new way right away. Now folks like you will cancel their MF support and just twiddle their thumbs and the longer the wait the more doubt some might feel and the harder it will be to get them to re-sub.

    The longer I thought about it, the more I think it might be the network squeezing its creators that kicked this off. Changes in percentages of fees that stay with MF, unwillingness to raise jumbotron fees or slots, lackluster ad sales, a change of management - tick what might feel appropriate. They started the fire and we see Uxbridge Shimoda reacting to it. That would explain the weird communication and drawn out transition we get.

    I went on a tear late last year and started relistening to TGG from ep1. I'm down to All Good Things now and had planned to continue with DS9. I've put that on hold for the time being. I'm afraid I'll be invested in finishing it and being driven mad if I get five AI-generated-and-read ads five times an ep.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    I was thinking about just downloading all the eps for safekeeping … if I don’t get to it I’ll just hope that there’s a reasonably priced access tier that’s add free (or has only dynamic current/changing host reads, I don’t mind them toooo much).

    PS: I found something to support on MaxFun: RePhrasing, an Archer rewatch podcast hosted by Amber Nash (Pam’s VA).

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago

    I was thinking about just downloading all the eps for safekeeping …

    That's so funny; I had the exact same thought. I ultimately decided against it. If I download them all, I'd want to cut out the ads and that's a shitload of work.

    You can already pay for a so-called AI thingy that can detect and cut out ads. With like a 90 percent success rate. I suppose in about 5 years we'll have a price war of support tiers vs. ad removal models.

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