AmeriNZ 140 – Perfect Day

Today I talk about our Civil Union and how our day went: It was a perfect day. I share various things from that day. Then, is my podcast too political? Survey says… Comments and more close out this episode. I may not be back again until next week.

Link for this episode:
My blog post about our Civil Union

Please leave a comment, ring my new US Comment Line on 206-666-5172, or send an email to arthur{at]amerinzpodcast.com.


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AmeriNZ 139 – Big Week

This is my last podcast as a (legally) single man! It’s a big week with the Inauguration, my birthday and our Civil Union. So today I talk about this week, and what some of those things mean to me. There are phone comments today, too—birthday presents, really, because my comment line phone number is now secured to the middle of February. Thanks!

Please leave a comment, ring my new US Comment Line on 206-666-5172, or send an email to arthur{at]amerinzpodcast.com.


Get AmeriNZ Podcast for free on iTunes

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First one-star review

The plague of one-star iTunes reviews has finally spread to me—I’m one of the big guys now!

For those of you who don’t know, many podcasters have been hit with intensely negative, usually mean-spirited and sometimes downright offensive reviews on iTunes USA. There are a lot of conspiracy theories flying around, suggesting an organised group is behind them, but the victims are varied enough that I personally doubt it. There are, however, plenty of sick people who get their jollies out of shitting on others, and sometimes they do it to “defend” or “support” podcasters they do like in the warped delusion that tearing others down builds up their favourites.

I really couldn’t care less about iTunes reviews in general: There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason as to how they affect where on the featured pages a podcast is listed. To me, it’s one of those things that are nice to have, but we all know they’re largely irrelevant.

The coward who left my one-star review has also attacked: Dubious Intent, The LK Today, Terminally Single, Pod Is My Co-Pilot, Mentalwarts Radio, The Power Gay, Manhandled in Montana, Alex and Dean – Gay Men Talking, Big Fatty Online, The Other O Show, They Don’t Know, The Way We See It, ArcherRadio, We’re Mean Because You’re Stupid, Gifilte Fag, Don’t Quit Your Day Job and The Direct Approach with British John. I list them all so you can go to iTunes USA and give them all 5-star reviews and symbolically give the finger to this asshole. Another strategy is to click on his user name and click “no” to the question “Was this review helpful?” for all his reviews. I’ve already done that, but I can’t leave reviews in the iTunes USA store.

By the way, the coward likes: John Stossel’s audio book (that figures), Good Morning America – Video (figures, it’s shallow), ABC World News – Audio (okay, that surprised me: Isn’t ABC and Charlie Gibson part of the “Liberal Conspiracy”?), The Onion Radio News, the movie “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” (I suppose someone had to like it), “Fight Club” (violent, of course) and a podcast called LGBT Heroes (because he thinks the host is hot).

So, this person is like an immature fourteen year old and seems full of himself. Reading his reviews is like watching paint dry or the grass grow. His self-indulgence comes across a bit too much—he actually thinks this is interesting? Give me a break. He’s just plain crazy.

That slamming is actually drawn from the one-star reviews he’s left. Here’s the thing: If someone hates these shows so much, why does he listen to them?! He moans endlessly about sound quality, but how much, exactly, did he pay for any of them? Nothing. Podcasters buy what they can afford, and the coward isn’t contributing a cent toward what podcasters produce in their spare time. If he doesn’t like the content or the sound quality, he should do what most people do: Unsubscribe. It’s like he has a personal vendetta because a given podcaster doesn’t fit his mental (perfect word…) image of what a great podcast is and should sound like.

What that coward apparently doesn’t realise is that neither subscription nor listening are mandatory. Doesn’t suit you? No worries—move on. But why trash people and their podcast just because you’re frustrated and bitter with life? Okay, so what if you’re a miserable failure—don’t take it out on others.

The review the coward left me actually starts out fine: “Good audio, but this show is way too political.” I’m glad he likes my audio (but, hilariously, he hates Daniel Brewer’s!! Maybe he needs a hearing aide?). The majority of my shows have not been political, but if he thinks it’s “way too political,” he’s entitled to his opinion. Then the kicker: “This moonbat of a host is just plain crazy.” The word “moonbat” is a derogatory term that wingnuts (a derrogatory term derived from “rightwing nuts”) use to describe anyone who’s a bit to the left of Attila the Hun. Calling me “just plain crazy”, however, is offensive and, typically, incredibly juvenile and immature.

I’m well aware that the coward probably hopes for reactions. I doubt, however, that he will ever see this (I’m guessing he has trouble reading). I call him a coward because, like all bullies, he does his damage from behind a veil of anonymity, like KKK robes. But I taunt him anyway because bullies can’t stand it when their victims stand up to them. It’d be great if I could get him to attack me here, force him out of the closet he’s hiding in—oops!—I’m sure he’s far too deeply in the closest for that.

This plague has gone on long enough. Many of the podcasters I know are angry that fuckwads like this can pollute iTunes reviews with their filth, but no one knows what to do about it. I’ve had countless conversations with podcasters who have been victimised. Some have been deeply hurt by what can only be called viscious personal attacks. This has got to stop.

I have some suggestions:

First, we should mark these bullshit one-star reviews with “No” they’re not helpful, as I said above (writing 5-star reviews, as appropriate, couldn’t hurt, either). Don’t forget to mark ALL their other reviews as not helpful, even when they’re positive.

Finally, we should demand that iTunes not allow these egregious attack reviews and that it provide a better and faster mechanism for removing such reviews. If we can’t get iTunes to act more responsibly, then we need to begin work on an alternative delivery method that will let listeners bypass iTunes altogether.

As for me, I’ve said what I wanted to say. I can’t do anything about the coward’s review because, since I’m not registered with the iTunes USA store, I can’t report it as offensive. But I’ll add one last thing: The guy’s obviously stupid, too: He left the review in the wrong place. Clearly, he doesn’t listen to podcasts closely or read carefully where he’s leaving his poison, or he’d know he left it for my old feed, which soon will be going away. I hope he does, too. But at least his stupidity gave me a good laugh.

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AmeriNZ 138 – Politicast for Inauguration Week

Jason and I are back with our first political chat of the year. I tried to improve the sound a bit this episode, with mixed results (I think Jason sounds better and I sound worse, and the file size was much too big). At any rate, I’m working to improve things.

In addition to the upcoming inauguration and the departure of Bush (finally!!!), we also share some news about what we’re up to. I’ll keep working on the sound, and I think the next political chat will be better still. The next one will be in early February.

Link for this episode:

Jason’s blog

Please leave a comment, ring my new US Comment Line on 206-666-5172, or send an email to arthur{at]amerinzpodcast.com.


Get AmeriNZ Podcast for free on iTunes

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AmeriNZ 137 – Changes and Beginnings

My first episode for 2009! I give you a couple quick updates about the podcast—especially my new comment line (206-666-5172), since I lost the old one from non-use. I’m planning more interviews and other things about New Zealand. Anything you’d like to know about?

Then, it’s on to my main topic, some big and important news. If you’re a regular listener, you’ll definitely want to hear it.

Please leave a comment, ring my new US Comment Line on 206-666-5172, or send an email to arthur{at]amerinzpodcast.com.


Get AmeriNZ Podcast for free on iTunes

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New phone comment number

I’ve set up a new K7 phone number for phone comments: 206-666-5172.

These numbers have to be used at least once every 30 days or the number is forfeited. That’s what happened to me: I got a message from Tom the Ramble Redhead around Thanksgiving (thanks Tom!), and the 30 days were up around Christmas—a time I was a bit too busy to think about calling my number. I once had to call the number to keep it active, and that was actually 31 days after the previous call (whew!). No such luck this time. I’ve put it on my calendar to remind me to call it if no one else does.

I thought about just forgetting about it, as I said on New Year’s Day, but some people use it who never leave written comments and I didn’t want to cut off a way for people to participate. The only alternative to K7 that I could find was Skype, but that’s pretty expensive—especially compared to the free K7 service.

So, it’s all sorted for now.

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“Parade of Podcasts” updated

I changed my blogroll for podcasts (on the righthand side, below, called “Parade of Podcasts”). I used a service called “Blogrolling”, but that went offline, basically, October 24 and I haven’t been able to access it to add, delete or change anything since then.

So, I re-typed everything and did the HTML coding myself, which means there may be typos. The links are to those who link to me, or ones that don’t but I like them anyway. If you link to me, but I don’t have you listed, let me know! The omission isn’t on purpose. If you want me to link to you, let me know that, too; I’m always happy to trade links.

Later on, I’ll add a blogroll for blogs, but first things first.

Update 10/01/08: I’ve added blogs to the Blogroll on the lefthand side of this site, called “Bevy of Blogs”. As with podcasts, I have links to sites that link to me or that don’t but I like anyway.

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Out with the old, in with the new…

Happy New Year! We’re twelve hours into the New Year as I write, and 2009 is pretty good so far.

However, my US Listener Line is no more, gone from lack of use. I haven’t decided yet if I’ll replace it (your comments and suggestions about that are welcome). I’ll let you know what I decide here and in the Podcast which, by the way, will be returning soon.

Have a good, safe and prosperous 2009!

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