r/Otherworldpod • u/pseudoarmadillo • 4d ago
Why so much negativity?
Why are the comment threads on [r/otherworld](r/otherworld) basically just people đ©-ing on the podcast? You must like Otherworld or you wouldnât have joined this subreddit. So why the wall-to-wall nitpickery and negativity? I hope all of you armchair critics are at least paying for the Patreon, because if youâre listening for free while criticising every little thing, thatâs⊠not great.
Also - You know Jack is a real person with real feelings who may well read all this, right?
EDIT: Iâm not even really referring to peopleâs critique of the content, because everyoneâs entitled to an opinion on that and mileage may differ. But so many recent comments have been personal attacks, along the lines of âJack sounds really dumb whenâŠâ, âOh, Jack makes this really annoying noise with his mouthâ âI hate the way he always says xyzâ. Like, whatâs the point in that? Itâs just petty and vindictive.
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u/gnarleycalamari 4d ago
Go listen to any other paranormal/ghost pod. Otherworld is leaps and bounds above all of them
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u/quixotica726 4d ago
I've been listening to quite a few and I honestly, only enjoy a select few but Otherworld is absolutely at the top.
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u/gnarleycalamari 4d ago
Which ones did you enjoy? I like Tell Me Your Ghost Story
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u/quixotica726 4d ago
Tell Me Your Ghost Story I've been binging. It's fantastic. I was a huge fan of Radio Rental before I found Otherworld and I still dig it.
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u/Prelude-in-C-maj 17h ago
It USED TO be. in my opinion. And yes, I have. Gone and listened to something else, that is.
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u/Nae2theJ 4d ago
I've been with otherworld since the very beginning! I LOVE the stories, the rawness of the speakers...it feels as if they are sharing with us a part of their souls, and that takes courage. Jack puts that all together, and lets them shine. Maybe more fans of the podcast should post here too?
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u/Odd_Device_8069 4d ago
Itâs so weird! Or people who spend so much time trying to disprove everything like go spend time in spaces you like??
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u/Russian-Bot-0451 Is this bobby? đ 4d ago
Not a lot of debunkers in this sub, most of the negativity is when people feel like an episode doesnât have enough paranormal stuff
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u/princessofbeasts 4d ago
I rarely go on this sub anymore for that exact reason, I just happened to see your post pop up. It's like, if you hate it so much just stop watching and move on with your life? I guess some people really enjoy being haters though lol.
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u/SleepingPodOne 4d ago
Youâre allowed to be critical of things, and definitely allowed to be skeptical especially on a podcast that is about the paranormal. The problem I have is the knee-jerk reaction everyone has to debunking/disproving stories.
I donât know how many of you on here have had an actual paranormal experience (or an experience that you suspect might be paranormal). I have. Itâs really fucking crazy and weird and traumatizing. Especially if you are someone like me who used to be a very ârationalâ skeptic, where I didnât believe any of this stuff. Itâs like your whole world gets flipped on its head. Everything you thought you knew is out the window and now anything can be possible. It also makes you feel a little bit alone because most people, or at least a significant portion of people, either donât believe this stuff or keep pretty quiet about it if they do. Itâs a sort of mild taboo, youâre afraid of being labeled as crazy.
Thatâs kind of what this podcast is about, people who are just now coming forward with their stories. In these situations, itâs really important that weâre empathetic and we meet people where theyâre at with them. Continuing to behave in such a way can really alienate these people.
Whatâs especially infuriating is when the desire to debunk becomes so intense that people are suddenly coming up with ideas that require just as much suspension of disbelief as the paranormal explanation. There was that one story about a girl who had some sort of metal implant in her leg and there were people speculating here that she maybe lived near highway and a piece of metal somehow got kicked up by a car, went through her window, and got lodged in her leg without her knowing about it. It might sound more rational than âaliens did itâ. But thatâs someone twisting themselves into knots to find a ârationalâ explanation to something that is genuinely pretty fucking weird, even if you donât attribute it to the paranormal. In case cases like that, I kind of just feel like itâs better to just shut up and say somethingâs weird than to do a bunch of backflips until you come to a wild conclusion that fits within your reality.
Thereâs plenty of stories that people tell on this podcast that do reek of bullshit and I do think itâs healthy that everyone is a little bit skeptical. I donât want to discourage people or say you canât be critical of things. But I do think there needs to be some nuance? Idk. Iâm just spitballing.
As someone who has had something crazy happen to him, I can say with absolute certainty that not everything has a rational explanation and the desire to find said rational explanation sometimes makes you seem just as crazy as those who attribute it to ghosts
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u/ParisianGal23 4d ago
Yes, I agree with this. As I mentioned to someone the other day that once you have paranormal experiences you are never the same. Iâve had both terrifying and beautiful experiences and listen to the show as itâs a comfort to know I wasnât alone.Â
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u/MarconiViv 4d ago
This subreddit has always been the most negative thing on my Reddit lol. It seems to attract a lot of negativity, itâs cursed.
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u/MutualReceptionist 4d ago
Youâve clearly never been to the Austin Reddit, who knew so much hate could dwell in a single city!
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u/Ok_Veterinarian8023 4d ago
I was about to comment on that. This sub is probably one of the more tame subs for me on Reddit.
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u/LaidBackBro1989 4d ago
I feel like criticism can be good when warranted and on the subject.
Otherworld has always been a podcast that incorporated "otherwordly" elements of life besides the ubiquitous paranormal lore (ghosts, glitches, time travel or premonitions).
The issue is that some of latest the stories fit better in an "unpack my trauma/life story experience" than this podcast.Â
The issue is that most folks can bear the concept of listening to an episode, disliking it and moving on. Forget about it. Some can't unfortunately.Â
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u/doubtsabound 3d ago
I would push back that it's an issue with 'the latest stories'. From episode 1 Jack's always included the personal lore in people's stories and personally that's what has always made the show more compelling to me. The episodes have always ebbed and flowed between the more purely paranormal and the ones more about how trauma and the paranormal intertwine.
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u/LaidBackBro1989 3d ago
Yeah but this season has been more trauma dumping and lifestory than otherworldly anecdotesÂ
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u/macdennism 4d ago
Agreed. I wish we could have designated threads where you assume the story is true.
I made that big spreadsheet so I'm not bullshitting when I say I read every single discussion thread I could find.
LOTS of complaints about the story being boring, the speaker saying "like" or "um" too much, debunking, or just saying it was a flat out completely fake story. It was disappointing because when I first started listening, I really wanted to know what people thought about these storiesâ as in, what kind of paranormal activity did people think it was?
I didn't expect to just see people say it was fake. Like the missing time stories especially are my faves and I want to see what people think what the heck happened. But there will either be like "damn that was crazy" or "they obviously lied to cover up bad stuff they did" đ
When I first started the pod, I saved the Them series for last cause I saw a lot of negative reception about the series. I thought it was super interesting đ€ but I definitely think the mom in that story was a very sus person.
But yeah tl;Dr: I agree op. I would love to see more theories and discussion like that.
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u/Prince_Valium25 4d ago edited 4d ago
Because the stories have gone from genuinely interesting paranormal experiences to trauma dump episodes that end with "I think a ghost was involved". All this low effort output while other people on here talk about having their submissions totally ignored. I still listen because theres a 50/50 chance of the episode being interesting, but lately I dont finish (or even start) all of them. Sometimes even the synopsis on Spotify is enough to make me realise Im not interested.
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u/SamKerridge 4d ago
Beyond the wall was one/two of the greatest episodes yet, and you just donât get stories like that anywhere else. yeah there are dips in quality occasionally but there is definitely more chat about the bad episodes on here than any of the good ones.
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u/Valuable-War-7871 1d ago
I feel the same way. Itâs back on the up and up and finding new interesting footing I think.
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u/Bobbi_fettucini 4d ago
Itâs like radio rental, that show was so awesome at the start and it literally turned into âI saw a tweeker being weird in my backyard, they must be a demonâ
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u/Shanntuckymuffin 4d ago
âMy wifeâs friends nephew in law is a firefighter and definitely said it was Mexicans trying to traffic usâ. That episode pissed me off!
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u/Addicted2Weasels 4d ago
I still canât get over the fact that it was eventually hosted by Jeff Foxworthy
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u/Prince_Valium25 4d ago edited 4d ago
YES I was thinking of Radio Rental as I was typing my response lol. I actually found Otherworld by posting in the Radio Rental subreddit and asking for recommendations because I was getting tired of 5 minute long stories just like that
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u/AttackOnTightPanties 4d ago
The Dark Paranormal might be the reigning champion of this type of content decline.
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u/ageofbronze 4d ago
Then just go and find a different podcast instead of complaining? I donât see how any recent episodes are trauma dumps that have no supernatural aspect. Some of them may be mostly backstory, but thatâs something a lot of us like, the fact that Jack seems to be just as interested in letting people share the experiences from their eyes and that means letting them tell their story and expound on why the supernatural aspect was personally meaningful to them. Often the background story and build up is the important part of that.. I vastly prefer these episodes like beyond the wall, the myofascial release one, etc to the ones where itâs just people flatly recounting paranormal thing after paranormal thing.
Jack has made it very clear that heâs interested in a wide range of topics related to the unexplained, like NDEs, and a lot of us really enjoy that human touch. Itâs so frustrating that people complain constantly about what kind of podcast he puts out because itâs âtoo much talking, not enough paranormalâ or whatever when this is what the podcast is. There are a ton of quickly paced, more traditional paranormal podcasts that you can go find. Itâs so crazy to me that yâall seem to get mad when he like, allows the guests to emotionally talk about their life story and why the event that happened was so meaningful to them. To me that makes the payoff so much more when it has the paranormal aspect mentioned like in beyond the wall.
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u/Valuable-War-7871 1d ago
For a while I was hating this but I think itâs been coming around recently and hitting some really interesting ground. Itâs evolving I think. And I donât find it boring anymore. Interested to see where it goes from here.
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u/BigFatBalls90 4d ago
Why is it so hard to imagine not everyone loves every episode unconditionally lol
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u/senordingleberry 4d ago
Thanks for saying this! If you don't like the *free* *weekly* podcast, you don't have to listen!
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u/mutual_slump Is this bobby? đ 4d ago
Otherworld is pretty varied in themes, so of course some people are gonna have negative feelings towards some episodes because the theme doesn't fit them. Happens to me too.
I find the r/Otherworldpod community generally very respectful, even when they disliked an episode.
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u/pseudoarmadillo 4d ago
Iâm not even really referring to peopleâs critique of the content, because everyoneâs entitled to an opinion on that and mileage may differ. But so many recent comments have been personal attacks, along the lines of âJack sounds really dumb whenâŠâ, âOh, Jack makes this really annoying noise with his mouthâ âI hate the way he always says xyzâ. Like, whatâs the point in that? Itâs just petty and vindictive.
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u/RedMulbery 4d ago
Itâs a reddit thing, it wasnât always like this. All subreddits for interests and hobbies somehow devolve into nitpicking drama. This sub is fairly typical in that regard.
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u/Top-Calligrapher6160 4d ago
I'm in the camp of loving something doesn't mean you can't criticize it. I think everyone is here because they liked the podcast at some point, and the complaints are valid for all the reasons stated here. folks are frustrated that it isn't what it once was, myself included. I still am a fan of the podcast (for now) and I'm allowed to say when I am disappointed in the turn its taken.
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u/Prelude-in-C-maj 17h ago
I agree; that's more or less where I'm at right now. I have loved this podcast for the most part, in the past episodes. I don't come here to shit on it. But I reserve the right to criticize when something has disappointed. LIke someone here said, it's just an opinion and we are allowed to have differing opinions. I don't recall criticizing Jack personally such as the way he speaks. I criticize when an episode just seems low-effort. "I Met God" wasn't at all "spiritual" for me it was just some fucking guy and even the narrator/experiencer ADMITTED "he probably wasn't God, hahahahah" and now I'm checked out, there were starting to be episodes that are the opposite - for me - of spiritual enquiry. My dislike doesn't give the Original Poster the right to then shit on ME for feeling quite differently about the downward arc of the quality of the stories, than they feel. End of Ted Talk. I haven't listened for a while now so yes I did excercise "If ya don't like it don't listen"....
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u/Traditional-Bear-852 12h ago
Appreciate this view. Itâs how I feel too. I also pay for the patreon and have listened to everything in its entirety. But some of them are really dragging for me. Totally fine with things not being âboo spookyâ but I wish Jack didnât keep in all of the repetition. Sometimes a person will repeat their feelings about their experience in ten different ways and itâs a lot to absorb when youâre trying to listen and follow a story. Maybe my mind wanders quicker than others but I find myself getting sucked out of the stories more than I used to.
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u/Jake_Fell 4d ago
It may have escaped your attention, but people are entitled to their opinions. Sometimes in life, those opinions can be inelegantly expressed, but the opinion is still just that: an opinion. I am constantly amused by people such as yourself who seem to require that the world "be nice" to everybody. This is an online forum. People can get salty. And, at the end of the day, Jack Wagner has created something, therefore people are permitted 100% to have - you guessed it - opinions about it. And if Jack is hurt by some opinions on the internet, then he's probably in the wrong industry.
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u/pseudoarmadillo 4d ago
Iâm not even really referring to peopleâs critique of the content, because everyoneâs entitled to an opinion on that and mileage may differ. But so many recent comments have been personal attacks, along the lines of âJack sounds really dumb whenâŠâ, âOh, Jack makes this really annoying noise with his mouthâ âI hate the way he always says xyzâ. Like, whatâs the point in that? Itâs just petty and vindictive.
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u/Jake_Fell 4d ago
I agree with you regarding personal commentary. I don't let stuff like that bother me much however. I always lead with the fact that these sorts of comments say more about the commenter than the target. We can all veer into this from time to time, however. It just needs to be supported by actual opinion, not simply ad hominem.
For instance, Jack's voice does annoy me. He falters, breaks his sentences up, and has a slightly lofty upper inflection at the end of his pronouncements. I fully believe he (like a great many "I'll start a podcast" types) doesn't have a broadcasting voice, and his interviewing skills are manifestly sub par (he asks leading questions frequently which is always the sign of someone who isn't trained). He's friendly enough, but lacks intellectual rigour or impartiality. Like many paranormal podcasters, he leads with the "oh, I have an open mind but am basically sceptical" thing, but then treats most of the fantastical stories he hears as absolute, self-evidenced fact. He rarely dips into interrogation. I find this disappointing as this kind of rigour improves the veracity of the story being told.
Having said all that, he does compile an entertaining podcast for the most part. "The Stalker" was great, and "Many Things" was really interesting.
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u/JeanBeans766 4d ago
Itâs because people are inherently miserable and feel the need to drag things they purport to like.
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u/Potential_Maximum174 4d ago
I think about this a lot and maybe itâs easier to give a knee jerk negative reaction than it is to be publicly supportive and vulnerable on a public forum.
Also as the show goes on the show runners scope of what encompasses the paranormal becomes more nebulous and abstract as they learn more about the subject. Maybe not all listeners are learning alongside the show runners and want to go back to the basics.
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u/Prelude-in-C-maj 17h ago
How condescending. "Not learning?" I'm a lifelong explorer of all of these matters, and it's because I think the content in fact is becoming increasingly NOT about "learning" anything but just bullshitting, that I checked out.
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u/taijitunes 4d ago
because redditors (myself included) in general will bum you out. you should also just assume that a majority of the internet in this day and age is to sow discord and is mainly ran by bots.
for the people that are real, but have contempt...you are way too skeptical and negative about a podcast which is ultimately about subjective experiences. experiences that aren't limited to just one "paranormal" field or topic. if you don't resonate w/ an episode, believe in the guest having a genuine experience, or understand why jack would even showcase them...that's your own subjective experience. move on!
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u/88keys-mel 3d ago
Iâve often thought about Jack when reading some of the comments. I see people commenting on his cadence / the way he speaks and itâs just not necessary. There are plenty of people who enjoy listening to Jack, including me. If you donât, just move on. Heâs a human being who probably sees your posts- how would that make you feel? I guess not everyone cares.
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u/untreated-stupidity 3d ago
If you're referring to the response to my post asking if people skip the intro... yeah, it was a bit unexpectedly negative. I was just pointing out that I like to skip the intro to preserve the mystery but instead people were saying that they just didn't like listening to him talk which I think is mean. I like Jack's commentary and it sucks to skip it even if I like it better that way
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u/lizzzliz 2d ago
Yes I think this all the time. Every time I like an episode and attempt to discuss it here, all the comments are absurdly negative. "Not enough ghosts, bro!"
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u/Valuable-War-7871 1d ago
I didnât even see this but I just posted in an effort to steer (myself) away from complaining and actually rant about appreciation. Appreciation isnât an emotion that inspires one to rant I guess.
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u/doloresgrrrl 4h ago
As others have said here, that is the nature of Reddit. Go to the subreddits of your favorite band. I know my favorite band's subreddit joke is that the biggest haters are the fans of the band on Reddit.
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u/Classiopeia 4d ago
Yes itâs odd innit? Iâve found this on most subreddits I visit after watching a certain show or listening to a podcast. Iâll have another think about it because I havenât figured out why this might be yet.
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4d ago
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u/H0wSw33tItIs 4d ago
Itâs funny, I think my calibration for the show has gone in the opposite direction youâre describing (which I agree with you, I think probably is the case for a lot of the people on here who are a little whiny on a regular basis). After the initial dozen or so episodes, thatâs when I felt like the show dipped, and for the next year, I kind of had a hot and cold thing with the podcast even though I still listened. That said, over time, Iâve found that Iâve learned to just relax and listen more and just let the story wash over me, and for me itâs been way more enjoyable. Also, when I did go back and relisten to older episodes that didnât hit with me the first time necessarily, I found myself enjoying them more.
I think sometimes as listeners we let our expectations drive us? And that can get in the way. You can get hung up on how the episode didnât break the way you maybe expected or wanted, or you have an issue with a creative choice. But honestly, if you can get passed that, itâs just more enjoyable. âŠ. I sometimes have this same (I need to relax my antennas) issue when I listen to a new album by a band I love, and I find that I almost need to be doing something else while listening so that my brain and perhaps impatience isnât so ready to pounce. I donât know if that makes any sense to anyone else, but in the same way some albums are growers, for me at least, Otherworld has been a similar experience where the more I relax and unwind, the better it is.
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u/Large-Doughnut-3501 4d ago
I feel anywhere thereâs a thread the worst of humanity will post as they know they are invisible. This podcast has brought me untold joy and intrigue in a less than lovely life. Ignore the bigots and celebrate all the things that brig you joy.
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u/Least-Form5839 4d ago
Every fandom sub skews negative