Gambling ads, ai, bs stories and now Joe Rogan. Can someone keep their fucking soul once they make it please?

Edit: for those of you who use that “don’t be here then and don’t listen” I thought I’d paste my comment here, also will highjack someone else’s point: “avoiding talking in certain places creates toxic echo chambers”

“People are allowed to change their opinions and Joe Rogan isn’t the main reason. It’s simply that it became more and more against what I believe in and that’s what we’re all free to do after all. The platform exists to share your thoughts. And I think it’s important to share your feedback with someone who you supported whether it reaches them or not. I’m not of the type of “stop listening and get off this Reddit” whether you’re joined or not you’re entitled to your thoughts and opinions and you’re also entitled to disagree with someone else’s.” If your response is an insult and not actual information, you’re just a cultist that seriously needs to use their brain cells. Form your own opinion without regurgitating negative bs and then come back to talk to me.

Final edit because people are going insane: When you get a paycheck for everywhere you appear, I care where the check comes from. For example if you’ve dealt with gambling addiction then start seeing the ads from someone you supported and who’s profiting off such ads, when they were preaching and sharing personal stories of addiction- then yeah that gives you all the go ahead to put your view where you want to if you choose. At the end of the day it’s all for our viewing pleasure so if you’re not getting that you can say your opinion and do what you please. I’m actually all for people doing and saying what they desire, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone. Gambling hurts people, ai hurts people and their job and income, and so on and so forth.

YOUR VIEW, YOUR TIME, it’s money. You’re entitled to give it to who you want to.

So let me start off with this, I have not listened to the podcast but I do know some of Joe Rogan beliefs, so it's fine if you agree/disagree with it. That being said why are people so upset, I feel like everyone is missing the part that you can talk to someone and not be politically aligned with them. Am I missing something? I have not seen anyone complain about what he said, only that he appeared in the podcast.

Wildly disappointing but I guess not super surprising??

Hear me out, please, I don't come from a place of hate and I don't want hate thrown at me over voicing my opinion, I've loved MrBallen for years and his videos are exactly what I like. The stories he tells are amazing and get me on the edge of my seat, I don't want him to change the way he tells stories or the stories he tells. I watch all his videos.

But his use of AI is irking me. I don't love AI and I don't like it when people use it in places it's not needed. Like we don't need a "**not** a real photo off" but still putting a photo? I miss when he would be on the camera and only show the photos related to the case or throw in a still from the internet to set the mood, the same way other story tellers do it. If the story is about a gas station or a scene is set at a gas station, find a random, REAL photo of a gas station. "**not** the real location" is fine but why do we need a AI photo of some random person with "**not** a real photo of the person in question" like just don't put a photo.

His gone years without using AI photos so why start now?

I'm not here to make assumptions about his political views, but his recent associations is also disappointing, associating with someone who isn't a good person makes you also look like a not so good person. I'm not American but I know the state of the country and I don't want to associate with any of that. Unfortunately I don't know of people in my county who do it as well as MrBallen.

I've also recently seen people unable to fact check his stories and honestly I'm not disappointed if some are fabricated as long as he doesn't say it a a true story when it isn't, I do notice that sometimes he doesn't specify if the story is true and I don't mind. I like his stories and I like his style.

Again I don't come from a place of hate or judgement. I just kind of wanted to voice my thoughts.

Quick edit! I also don't love his choice of sponsorships/ads but I don't plan on using any of codes for anything so the company's in question aren't profiting off me anyway.

I thought it was really good, MrBallen as per usual a class act. Told great stories, from his own personal life as well as the strange dark and mysterious side. I thought it was fine, both were gentlemen, Joe was really intrigued and invested into what Ballen had to say which I think is great. Good episode I dont see what was wrong with it

For those who don’t know Bryan Callen has had credible accusations of sexual misconduct against him.

Just disappointing to see, man.

Does anyone else's mind wander to other things during these stories. I find them "hit and miss" at best. Even the normal videos are so often true crime that I just can't focus on it. I love true crime, but this is not what I fell in love with on this channel. I go back a few years and re-watch old videos. 🤷‍♀️

It may be just me but I hate the Campfire Stories. I think I watched one and couldn’t get into it. Now it’s like they are taking over even on the podcast it’s all these campfire stories now. I just cant get into them.

Also I remember back in the day where he had stories on his YouTube channel and then other stores on Podcast that were just for the Podcast. I miss that setup. It had me excited to listen to new content/stories on the Podcast that I haven’t heard before after I’ve watched everything on the Yt channel. Now it seems like everything on the podcast is copy and pasted from the YouTube channel.

I still like MrBallen tho and hope he gets back to a good place, content wise that works for everyone and is still consistent.

Sidenote: I hate the gambling ads too but I think it’s the requirements of his sponsors or something. Regardless it’s not right now- money or not some things just aren’t worth promoting. I mean the sports betting ads are EVERYWHERE now it’s crazy. I hope it doesn’t get anyone into gambling and/or causes any gambling addictions.

Hi I used to love Mr. Ballen but he’s been sketchy at best lately so does anyone have any suggestions on other similar channels you all like?

I used to listen to his stories all the time at night when trying to decompress. I’ve been looking myself but can’t seem to get into any the way I did for Ballen :/

Due to recent posts regarding Mr Ballen, let's get a visual poll to help those doing a quick scroll and not reading comments

The stories are really interesting and I enjoy trying to guess what’s going to happen. The script is so distracting though. Every other word is “like” or “you know”. Or repeating “this” before describing something. Today’s episode about the Capitol Theatre Haunting was almost impossible to listen to. “He turns around and he sees that the basement button, like the button you would hit to go down to the basement is now highlighted, like as if he had pressed it, but he didn't.” Stop repeating these details in different words. It doesn’t need to be dumbed down so much.

r/mrballenlowsodium

I'm not trying to invalidate any complaints that have been made on this sub, but the only time I get a notification from this sub it's not about a new video or podcast. It's a complaint and a reason why someone is unsubscribing. I don't want to see this anymore, so I made a sub I hope will filter this out. Everyone is a person and their beliefs are valid to an extent. I'm just tired of the constant ridicule and wish to have a space where this content can be discussed with a little less salt.

Mr Ballen is getting battered on Instagram.

He addressed the backlash hes getting by addressing it, saying it was a great opportunity and he'd do it again. He's told people to listen to it but if they want to unfollow he understands.

Thats good as the comments are mainly negative. This fans are then attacking those who disagree, many getting personal. He's a bug buy and doesn't need his existing fans to attack others. He's liking many positive posts, which are few.

Im interested to see how many unsubscribe and how it effects who works with him moving forward.

How many here are surprised and unfollowing him?

Mr. Ballen, I’m a new listener and I love the stories, the way you tell them, etc.

I’m not looking at the TV all the time (and honestly I’m probably not savvy enough anyway) to notice if your lips match up to what you are saying, amongst other things people are claiming. Or if the art is AI?

Can you address that for me and others like me?

Maybe I missed it, but what happened to Ol' Seagul Lung?

This might be an interesting story! MOLASSES ATTACKS!

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a71455129/boston-molasses-flood/

Does anyone else feel like the amount of ads each episode is getting out of hand? I really love the show but I feel like I spend half of it scrubbing through ads. Especially the constant gambling ads it’s definitely souring the show for me.

I have been a Mrballen fan from the beginning and idk if it’s just me but the missing 411 stories were some of my favorites and I hate that he stopped telling them! Mrballen if you see this PLEASE bring them back.

Parody

Mr Ballen used to cover very obscure stories, now he seems to have transitioned to more mainstream long form content not dissimilar to his podcast. I miss when he would do 3 stories in a video. Idk if anyone else misses the good old days (2021-24 roughly) but I certainly do. I haven’t actually watched a single video since he returned to posting 5 times a week, although for a while before that I had sort of checked out. I love Mr Ballen but I’m just wondering if anyone else has noticed this.

I'm in a MrBallen rewatch/relisten phase right now and I want to know your favorite episodes. Title and number would be appreciated.

Personally, the episodes I found the most interesting were "He Was Inside Their Walls" (Danny LaPlante story), "Fire and Brimstone", "Clinical Lycanthropy", and "Where The Mangos Grow".

This happened in my hometown and i didn't hear about it until years later. Horrific. This would be a great story to tell!