Hopefully I will still see you around. 💜
https://www.patreon.com/unspoiled
TRANSCRIPT:
Hey there my beautiful listeners. I’m giving you a heads up.
I’ve gotten some great feedback from listeners suggesting ways to handle the UNspoiled! Harry Potter feed and messages about what the show means to them. Some of you mentioned adding a short clip explaining our current stance on JK Rowling in front of every episode, but there’s no logistically feasible way to do that . On top of which, it doesn’t really address my complicated feelings about the most popular show I’ve ever done for UNspoiled!, the one that most readily shows up in Google searches, revolving around a property which I can no longer stand by today but which has me and RoShawn frozen in time speaking of JK and HP with glowing praise and affection.
However, I also don’t feel like deleting it is the right thing to do. Based on all the messages I got, I truly believe that the work that RoShawn and I put in still has value regardless of the property it’s attached to, and I also think the way our relationship with the property has evolved is important to acknowledge. Just pretending something didn’t happen isn’t a healthy or effective way to deal with controversies.
So what I’ve decided to do is set this entire feed to “Limited Access” on March 15th. At that time I will be sharing the private URL and RSS with Spoiled Brats on Patreon. With the URL it can be accessed online via Spreaker, and the private RSS link can be used on regular podcatchers to pull the feed like a regular podcast. I will delete all irrelevant episodes from the feed (such as John Wick coverage, promo eps for Accio Box, etc) and add the remaining HP Reread episodes that had previously only been available via individual posts on Patreon. This way it can be listened through from beginning to end without off-topic interruptions. I will also, of course, turn off the ads.
This way the feed can still exist for the people who find it important, but it won’t be the dominant public UNspoiled! title anymore. Patrons will still have access, and they’ll also have a more streamlined listening experience than through the Patreon feed, which definitely has its issues.
This wasn’t an easy decision to make, and I know it’s not a perfect solution. There are some who think taking it down is the only sound options, but I think that’s much easier to say when you’re not the creator who poured years of your life into something. This was one of the first shows I did after taking over Unspoiled! Post-divorce, and the time spent talking before and during recordings was a huge factor in me and RoShawn becoming such close friends that she ended up officiating my wedding. It means a lot to me. In that respect, I’m not going to apologize for having it behind a paywall. RoShawn and I both spent multiple hours every week for half a decade creating something great and growing as people, and frankly if anyone’s getting paid at all from HP content I think we deserve it.
Thank you all so much for listening and supporting us. If you want to keep listening after March 15th, head over to Patreon.com/unspoiled and become a patron at the Spoiled Brat level to get access to the private feed. If not, no hard feelings. I hope you enjoyed the show.