Haus der Luege : Noli Evocare Quod Reprimere Non Potes

Two quick notes- I've been thinking about a bunch of things, not the least of which is what I can do to make productive use of my off hours. What's come out of this is that I've decided to spend a bit of that time hawking for thing that I think have value, and do some good for the communities that I'm involved in, identify with or at least grab my interest.

Since I generally listen to my iPod all day at work, I've been consuming podcasts like a fiend. In the interest of sharing the wealth a bit, I figured I write some reviews. The extended entry here is my attempt to put together some notes on what shows I intend to review in the near future, and to determine a format for the reviews.

On the Docket

At least to get started, I'm going to be tackling the podcasts that I listen to regularly. These have, in a sense, been vetted for overall quality and will lean heavily toward positive reviews. This is simply a product of the fact that I've continued to listen to them, and think that they deserve the feedback.

I'll link them here on the assumption that folks might want to check them out in advance.

In no particular order, they are:

• For Perverts
• Fetish Flame
• Kinky Sex Radio
• Rope Weekly
• Open Source Sex
• For Pagans
• Deos Shadow
• Thelema Coast to Coast
• Lance and Graal
• Music
• The Entropy League

The list above is not complete- I've got a number of other podcasts that I subscribe to, and am listening to, but for a range of reasons, won't be reviewing just yet. Makes a decent segue to section 2...

Review Format Thoughts

First, I think that it's reasonable to make sure that a podcast is going to be around for a bit before writing a review. I'm going to stick to casts that have a minimum of 5 episodes, and have updated regularly- be that monthly, weekly or whatever. The flip side is that I find it hard to imagine that anyone would want a review based entirely on one show, let alone their first show.

Second, I suppose that I need some criteria on which to base a review. There are several factors that I find that effect my enjoyment of a show, and while I'll have to think a bit more about how to weight them in the overall review, they are:

Production Quality: Does the show sound good overall or is it an experiment designed to test a listeners patience? I'm not an equipment nazi, but for cheap money you can get your hands on a decent mike, and there are a flood of tutorials geared specifically toward making a good quality podcast available online. A little homework goes a long way. So does making the best of what you have for equipment and production software.

Program Released on Schedule: Any sort of schedule is fine, even if it's a non-schedule, but be up-front about it, and try to stick to it. real life happens, and No-one is perfect. but if you advertise a daily podcast, and only get an episode out once a month, that's going to hurt your overall rating, and worse, it's going to lose you listeners pretty quickly.

Content: Regardless of whether I like what a podcaster has to say or not, If what you have to say doesn't fulfill the stated goals of the show, then that's going to hurt.

Presentation: How well is the show presented? Does it follow a format of some kind, and does it feel like the presentation of the program is in line with the purpose of the podcast? A music show that regularly broadcasts 45 minutes of talk about politics might consider recasting itself.

Ideology: Not relevant for all shows, but I thinks it's only fair to my potential that in cases of topically loaded shows, that I disclose my own biases, and beliefs. there are several shows that I listen to regularly mostly to get me pissed off and to have something to rant about. Incidentally, none of them are in the list above.

That pretty much covers the gameplan here. The first of the reviews will be up in the next day or so. I'm presently setting up the hat with little slips of paper to see who goes first.