Split comments and chapter sections?

Agree with Stuart. If I really wanted to skip the comments your mention of when to skip to makes that possible. In practice, I find I do want to hear how my fellow Wolfe Votaries have reacted, freaked out, taken issue, raised objections, make obscure references, and generally carried on as true Cabalistic devotees. I just can't seem to pass that up !

Oneiromancer

Don’t you least sometimes mention when the comments section ends and the episode starts? That works!

Stuart E Hamm

I can't seem to register my vote but I am keen to seperate out the content from the comments. I find the comments section too long and sometimes have the time to listen, but what I am after is the episode itself.

Ha! To be fair, it's all the same content. Just how we, I guess, "chunk it up" for you. :) - Craig

gPodder may well do something to the file. All we do is upload an .mp3 to Podbean. Then podbean sends a link to all the various other podcast apps and sites which may well (and often do) change the file type, compress it, do all kinds of weird stuff to it. So unfortunately after we upload it (in a very vanilla mp3 file format), every other service then takes control of how it gets to you. We can control how it sounds when we upload, but that's it. - Craig

It is very weird to me how many people are voting against doubling the number of episodes?

Dunstan Thorn

gPodder collects the downloads and I move them to a USB stick every week or two to listen in the Honda. Normally whatever I was listening to resumes playing where I left off when I start the engine. On the early episodes, however, it would start playing from the same location (time) each trip. I have no clue as to what is/was different about those other than pure length.

That's actually something David Stockhoff might correctly say. ~ James

Do you listen on YouTube or a podcast app?

I like having it in one file because the ideas can get tangled and I fear separating things would break some spontaneous insights. That said, I am worried that large files may cause my vehicle (Honda) to forget where it left off. ( Some of the early episodes would keep restarting at the same point instead of advancing. I haven't noticed this lately, however.)

Yes, that would help with navigation and could even be done retroactively with the previous episodes so as not to change the format. I know you guys are busy so I don't want to create a lot more work for you. What I wrote above was more for a "perfect world" scenario, but it may just be a desire to squeeze more episodes out of you.

Andrew A

So if we put time stamps in the notes so you could just skip to that really quickly, would that be a good option?

I will listen either way, but since the comments rarely pertain to the chapter being discussed and often reference something from episodes ago anyway, they can be a distraction if I just want to hear the chapter analysis. I just listened to "The Hut in the Jungle" with Marc Aramini and I don't believe the chapter discussion even began until 45 minutes in. I'd rather the comments and other extra-analysis stuff be saved up and done periodically in separate episodes, and maybe they could even be grouped into chapters/topics/themes/etc. to make it more organized. It is a bit of a commitment to listen to 1-2 hour episodes for each chapter, especially if doing so as part of a read-through. It's not a huge deal right now since your BotNS review isn't finished anyway, but cutting out the comments/reviews would help make future read/listen-alongs a little more manageable from a time standpoint.

Andrew A

I think I'll be taking this option myself.

I would say keep them together. Joining them provides a sense of the "taking turns" element of a conversation that is appealing. -- However, I will be happy to listen regardless of format.

At first we didn't want to do that because we thought it might encourage more people not to listen to the comments. And that "meta" conversational aspect is super important to us. But we may concede...

Then, thanks for the $$ anyway, I guess?? heh heh

Timestamps are easy. Problem with those that do chapter links is that they're specific to individual podcast apps. We can't control how those would work when we send it out into the world, just on Podbean (if it even offers that option). But... I'll look into it. ;)

I don't have any experience in making podcasts, but I do enjoy when there are labeled chapters or at least a timestamp link I can click on to skip the opening banter (of other podcasts). How hard is it to make chapters? Just two chapters?

Fr. Anthony

Smartalecks will receive the Full Boot, per Master Gurloes.

What about the option “Don’t care, I don’t listen to the podcast?”

Thomas

I think putting a time stamp in the details of when the chapter review begins would work. I like the comments the first time through (and sometimes the second and third), but when I want to jump to the chapter review, a time stamp would be perfect

There is another option, which is leave them together but give a time code for when the comment discussion is over with. The silliness of other wacky theories is part of the fun. Of the three, yours is the most "meta" of the podcasts.