"My Brutal Year" The Good, Bad and Ugly of Feedback

I recorded this video a few days ago:

I recorded this response to suggestions - more are below.

Thanks to everyone who responded!

Listener Responses

Stefan, I have been listening for about 4 years. I am broke but I won't go into that for privacy reasons. My advice is to run ads; there is nothing wrong with it. Personally, I like the call-in shows and I like your take on current events. I do wish you would do more hardcore philosophy though. You had said before that you focus on the politics because we couldn't discuss philosophy if we were all vaporized in nuclear war or something, I don't recall exactly how you said it. I understand what you meant even if my memory of it is vague but let's do some deep philosophy. Also, I do realize this video is unlisted but I assume that you will still get a notification that I commented.

I doubt you'll read this seeing as it'll probably be buried, but I really hope you do. Perhaps you and Izzy can write a children's book together that demonstrates your philosophical principles. I know that it's been a while since you wrote fiction, but I bet it would be a blast if you did it with your daughter.

Join forces with other freethinkers and jumpstart a new interactive video/social/non-censored/open-for-all platform. I remember when Facebook came out of nowhere and simply demolished previously untouchable Myspace. Not sure for other users, but I personally am pretty fed up with all the commercial stuff and propaganda being pushed down our throat, on both FB and YT. Also, level of censoring on FB is becoming a joke.

I understand making a new platform is a serious job, but I believe people are ready for a new next big thing.
Whatever you do, I wish you a lot of luck and success!

What about having shows with people who have opposing views to you and you debate them. Kinda like Jesse Peterson when people ring in outraged, but maybe more intellectual

I believe in the marketplace of ideas/capitalism. If something can't survive in the market then he should and will be replaced with something which can. This is capitalism working as it should. Also, all things run their natural course. Creators run out of new ideas, it's not a bad thing it's just a natural aspect of the creative process.

Sent you a donation, Stefan. You've helped my life a lot with your videos. I've had depression for 20+ years, which messed with my values and thoughts. The depression ultimately influenced my career choice, and now I'm locked into a path that makes me feel disgusted with myself on a daily basis. Your videos have helped me get my thoughts straight, so I'm less miserable than before, and less damaging to people around me.

Many of us are not as lucky as you, to be able to help people with their work. Many of us trudge through the dark valley of the real world, bottom-feeding on other weak people to survive. We lie, cheat, and manipulate, just because we need money. It gives me great relief to be able to help you continue your work, so some good can come from mine.

Just listened to this on podbean so here is my 2 cents: you cannot give up your booked gigs! You cannot admitt that the SJWs have defeated you and hide from the public. You need to make cheap documentary footage, just get your fans to compile it on their phones. That stuff is gold. Nothing makes money like drama nd conflict. Besides, if you aren't able to take their attacks and keep going maybe ypu are in the wrong business. It is only going to get worse, you know.

I have to be honest Stef.. I really haven't found the documentaries to be interesting. I'm sort of interested in the HK ones partly because I lived there briefly in the 90's. But I think your core listenership probably less so than you think. Or are you getting viewers from HK now?

I probably have backed off watching your content now for a couple of years. Only watching the odd few that catch my interest. But then again I am more selective about my viewing both content and habit wise these days. I also think it's probably a struggle to retain the enthusiasm of a 10 year listener too, whilst engaging with new listeners.

I do think you misunderstand why Dave Rubin wont connect with you. It's obvious to most of your audience why. Whilst you might have some crossover. He's a game show compared to yours.

Also, yourself and others in a similar situation of getting blacklisted on youtube need to collectively push and support one new platform. whatever that is, if all the cool people are there it will grow faster than a bunch of people randomly pushing their own ideas.

Stefan, I think the public speaking can work but you need to have security. Which means cost will be a bit higher, but its unavoidable. I was one of the people that was denied listening to you in Vancouver because of pantifa scumbags. Hope you consider the option of a better thought out speaking tour with security.

Can you do something about that awful Wikipedia entry of yours? I have made the experience that new people dismiss you quickly because of it…

Just become the equivalent of Tim Pool. Read news, give your spin on it. May not be very exciting but it's cheap and seems to be fairly popular.

Firstly I really appreciate what you are doing with Freedomain, the quality is exceptional. I watch the philosophy / politics videos as well as the call ins and it has helped me a lot.

Personally, I think an online store selling merchandise would be good. T-shirts, hats, stickers etc, with the logo and web address on to get the message out. I'd happily buy some.

Write. Write another book. You stopped to raise Izzy. She’s older now. You’re a talented writer.

Well get a job like the rest of us.

I was one of the regular listeners and I had to stop watching eventually, like many others. You may not like what I am about to say, Stefan, but it's the truth. I had stop watching, because of you. In terms of your arguments and takes they were pretty unassailable, but it was your ego that let you down. I put up with it for a while because the content was good, but eventually it got in the way so much that I had to stop watching. You were always finding an opportunity to heap praise on yourself, to big yourself up. Aside from this you spoke with such an odious air of pompousness, and seemed to have a relentlessly ruthless opinion on the faults of others. You would also often break out in these extremely verbose and flowery monologues, with all the accompanying amateur dramatics, that were, quite honestly, insufferable to sit through. You came across as a narcissistic, clownishly pompous, and cold-hearted dick, to be frank.

'I have a masters in History don't you know, pleb', 'I'm an actor who went to acting school, charlatan.', 'Did I tell you guys about how fantastic of businessman I am? I worked in IT, simpleton'. How many times did you inject phrases like that into your videos, Stefan? Because I lost count.

As time went on your shows became more about exalting you and you alone, how clever you were, how fantastic your analogies were(as you often would tell us), how qualified you were, how unequivocally right you were, what a great and perfect specimen of an ubermensch you were. All this whilst maintaining a scathing and merciless position on people who fell short of your vision for humanity, that, ultimately made you look devoid of humanity.

People, I, don't want to be party to that sort of obnoxious self-regard, self-praise, ego-centricity, and stampeding narcissism, just to hear a few good thoughts here and there, Stefan, it speaks to a huge deficit in character and personal development. Who wants to seriously follow the ethical/moral advice of someone who has such faults in their character?… If you want to restore viewership, you don't need any shiny new gizmos or tactics, you simply need humility and mercy. That's it, a bit of of humility and mercy, Stefan. Two great virtues of the Christian faith that never fail to make a person more likable, and, as a result, more watchable.

Here are some of my ideas to help with views and your business. Your top viewed shows are the "Truths about" and the "Story of your enslavement"; so definitely keep making the former, and start making new videos in the same format you made the latter. Another idea is to make several accounts on Youtube, or permit others to repost your full videos on accounts if they post in a foreign language and translate the videos. With this hopefully you can get more views. Also, you know a lot of influential people, a lot of them come on you show and deal with the same blacklisting as you. You really need to encourage everyone to support each other, I don't see enough other popular youtubers sharing your stuff or vicaversa; even if you have different views share each others work as much as possible. Also in your videos encourage all viewers to share more often. Don't make it a catch phrase on the end of every video but just throw it in like you sometimes do. A final idea is to make events where you are not physically there but rather chat to the group thru video conference call. Have other live local speakers perform. Call them Freedomain events or something other than "meet Stefan", maybe they won't get attacked as much. Yes, I think many people go to meet you but, I think even more they go to socialise with other like minded individuals.I think this socializing aspect is more important than meeting you in person plus you can cut travel cost. I'm sure you have made lots of friends across the globe that would organize the logistics of the events in their local.

I hate to say it because it seems to me that you really love making them but the documentaries don't particularly appeal to me. I think you cover the same kind information in more inexpensive and concise ways through a basic presentation of the facts so they seem kind of redundant (I will make an exception for the upcoming Kong Kong one, though. I'm very excited to see exactly what's going on there. With that said, perhaps it would be good to extract what makes that one appeal more to me, and possibly other people, compared to the San Francisco one and then try to make more that are like that and see where it goes. I would suggest that the California one is treading old ground but what's going on in Hong Kong is very exciting and dynamic). Of course it would be objective and look at the numbers of views of people watching them compared to the other videos. But that's just my two cents.

I think the call in shows and the truth About series are generally your most best content. I think hearing people resolve their emotional problems with you is very useful to me because I can attempt to extract the process and apply it to my own situation and I suspect that this is the case for many people, but it's only a suspicion. I really hope you get through this stronger than you were before because I think you have can continue to make a positive effect on individuals and the world.

YOU NEED TO START OPENLY CALLING FOR OTHER POPULAR YOUTUBERS TO SIT DOWN WITH YOU AND EXPLAIN WHY IT IS THEY BELIEVE YOU'RE TOXIC. Agree to sit with anyone and just dispel the nonsense.

Appealing more to the self-interest of others is more reliable then depending on their generosity. You gotta self stuff and run ads. I have bought your books and donated in the past, long time listener, just taking a break from the insanity and news cycles.

Stef it's not You - I haven't had one of your vids show up in my feeds for several months.

Crazy Idea: Get Pewdiepie (who's already made 200M+ despite what google says) to join another platform. Take PJW, Mark Dice, Crowder, Jordan Peterson, Rubin, and everyone else. Non-Woke advertisers will flock there in droves to target our audience. Someone like you can get through to that Swedish kid. He's had a good soul. Call it the #WalkAwayFromYoutube movement

It's true, the wikipedia page is locked.

“Stefan Molyneux” has more cache than “Freedomain”. IMHO

Stefan, I say this from the heart. I rarely comment on videos, but this time is the exception. I truly feel your common sense philosophy is NEEDED to maintain sanity in today's world, especially considering the increasingly insane Communistic/Socialistic views that are currently being shoved down our throats here in the U.S.. However you can manage it, PLEASE press on and continue letting your voice be heard. You may reach that ONE person who will make a HUGE positive impact on the world as a whole. Blessings to you and yours.

A home-school curriculum. The children are all that matter.

Here's some feedback:

• The long form conversations with viewers is absolutely hands down the best content you produce. I love to listen to it while walking or running and its just incredibly stimulating and a lot of times personally relatable.
  However, i'd like to hear back from people you've had call and how their lives are doing as I feel that part of the story can also be quite important to help people come up with some solutions for their own problems.

I'd like to, for example, hear back from the girl that called about her crippling self-hatred (from the "How to kill self-hatred video").

How is she doing, what changes has she implemented on her life from the conversation you two had, has she relapsed perhaps?

I feel like this could lead to even more engaging content as we feel like we're part of the journey this person has taken.

• The documentaries are fantastic, but need not be so high production if that is hindering its margins. This is more my opinion as I dont mind seeing something more homemade so to speak, and I realize that to deliver the information in a way that most people can digest it requires that level of investment so on that subject im as stuck as you.
• Historical breakdowns on current events ("The truth about…") are one of the more reliable sources of facts I personally have when it comes to big complex issues that are not reduceable to one simple explanation (as you know, how every complex problem is, but that doesn't stop the media from attempting).

Perhaps some of them do overstay their welcome as I find myself not having the attention span to fully enjoy the longer ones (you can blame the subject for that though). One thing Steven Crowder does is basically upload cuts of his stream where he talks about specific themes. Like his "Crowder Closes" segment where he uploads his ending statements which usually go further beyond just the political and go to the human aspect (ex: how self doubt can be helpful, etc…). Not sure if any of this can apply or give you any ideas for future content but I just thought i'd write it down as a form of brainstorm fodder.

• I really liked the sort of vlog style videos walking in the forest while talking or ranting on specific topics. Not that I think you're scripted on normal videos, but something about that format just comes across as a more stimulating flow of thoughts in the moment. I find that you've had some great moments on those, not to mention its a nice change of pace from the blue background.

In sum, I think your viewers got your back regardless of the way you decide to further monetize your content so that you can provide more of it, gotta stay steadfast and sometimes not let anxiety and momentary panic take over (Im projecting here).

Time helps in acquiring new perspectives, so stay strong man.

Yaah the year when you betrayed your anarchist audience and went full statist.

Last thing to do is ALWAYS put your face on Thumbnails. You have a very famous face. You need to have a consistent theme across all thumbnails (a peg) and that Peg should be your face! You have extremely high quality videos. Your problem is that the entry to those videos is inconsistent. For example, while the quality of the thumbnails to your Truth About series are all excellent, they should've all had your FACE on them. Its about pegging. Persuasion. When they see your face, they know that whatever they'll clicking on is gonna be thorough. WIthout you face it might jsut be anyone making the video. People don't look at the name of the channel, they look at the face in the thumnail. Always put your face on every single thumbnail.

Just looked you up on Wiki. Total lies. From listening to you many many times, I believe I know you, and you are not the man they describe. Total lies.

Hey Stefan the way I found you many years ago was from your Story of your Enslavement video - and that's a style of video you don't make very often but I think that is the type that brings in more new listeners. If you format your information in bite-sized chunks like that I think you will reach more people because attention spans are low these days. When you had other talk shows on here (Warski, Ralph Retort etc) - there were multiple channels that cut out the interesting bits and just posted those and they gained many subs. Make videos on society's hypocrisy that's what you've always spotted best isn't it.

You got to about 800,000 subs showing your big head (and prob 150,000 from not). That's a real achievement! Had you zoomed out a bit it would have made you more visually appealing. There's nothing wrong with your content but your Visual Framing of shots should include your torso or even have you moving around walking in the woods. You are weak on visual appeal (not you because you're handsome, but your screen framing). LIFT IT UP A NOTCH. Reduce the number of videos so you can do this.

Improving visual side of things could increase subs.

People love seeing smart people like you "just talking" as you go about a morning walk.

You can do it Stef. But read below for my other suggestions. You probably just need to look at a combo of what I've suggested.

And remember, if nothing changes, nothings changes. So change in ways YOUR AUDIENCE NOTICES and do that CHANGE consistently (like do a months worth of walking/talking videos) and then see how they go - give it a try mate.

You'll always be remembered.

Cześć Stefan,

Why not following your own realisation you came to when making documentary about Poland…. that you do not want to do it alone anymore.

I was hoping you’d follow this idea… but you’re the same 1-man-army again…

Maybe you could combine your software experience and help out Jordan Peterson in his launch of the new social platform?

Rememner what individualists did in Atlas Shrugged – they banded together to shape a new reality!

Good luck!

Dear Stefan,

After seeing your video about the last few years of silicon valley trying to destroy what you're doing, I started a recurring subscription to you.

I credit you for helping me become a proper man, husband, and father over the last 5 years. I've gained so much self knowledge from your call in shows. I credit my confidence to you in recently landing a more senior engineering in the software world without selling out my values. I've become assertive when i need to be, tender when I need to be, and I've learned how to enjoy fatherhood rather than feel burdened by it. My wife and I have a 7 year old son and now a 10 month old daughter. We never would have had my daughter had I not been a listener of your shows. We are going to have more, too! I am forever in your debt!

I thought for days about ideas that you could try to expand your audience. I'm sure a few of these are repeats, and I have no idea if you'll even read this far, but I know how it feels to want ideas and if you're anything like me you want the bad ideas, good ideas, weird ideas, and boring ideas because you'll pick everything apart and something that seems perfect will pop in your head. All of my market validation is merely anecdotal, but if you are interested, here they are:

1. A "Dear Abbey" type column where you solicit life questions, and answer them in short essay form. This is something where you spend a few minutes delivering a small piece of wisdom out each time. These types of things are incredibly shareable, I see all generations sharing these things from Z to Boomer. Call it Dear Stefan?
2. Your Hong Kong documentary trailer is amazing, this shouldn't just be a YouTube drop, at least not immediately. Charge for it, I paid 10 bucks for Hoaxed and had friends over to watch it, friends who had never heard of Mike Cernovich. These types of things are so cool to share with your friends, even a-political ones, but if it's on YouTube, it doesn't feel like an exclusive party. I'm not sure why that's the case, just an observation.
3. Exchange money for short private conversations with you. There were/are definitely times I would think "I would love to get Stefan's perspective on __" but it's not something that would really be entertaining for others to listen to, and not something that would require a deep backstory on my family to understand. I remember Dr. Peterson at some point having this as a Patreon reward or something. I hate to say, almost like a 900 number, but it would be incredibly valuable to some people whereas the 900 numbers were not.
4. Sunday sermons. I'm not a Christian, you're not a Christian. But, I think you would agree that there is great wisdom in the Bible. If you did a weekly, Sunday sermon from the Bible live streamed, I could see a following. It's a weird idea, but you have preachers in mega churches thriving in donations, and none of them can match your knowledge, wisdom, or eloquence. Not to mention, they're selling snake oil, and you're selling philosophy. No fainting women, but a real honest lesson from the Bible each week would be a breath of fresh air in my opinion.

Thank you for what you do. I appreciate you. If there's every anything I can do to help, just say the word.

My suggestion on a business venture would be to broadcast your philosophic discussions on Twitch under the category Just Chatting. Twitch, as far as I know, doesn't derank any broadcaster for any reason, Twitch just shows channels with most viewers to least viewers. Twitch would allow your philosophy to thrive. Viewers can subscribe directly through the website and you can pick from your subscribers to bring them on to your show, sort of like a radio host. You can then take clips from your show or even the full sessions and post them on Youtube so you can keep your Youtube presence. You can also advertise on Youtube that you will be going live, and for the viewers to tune in, you can setup a schedule so people know when you'll be live. Eventually your stream will become large enough where you won't have to mainly rely on Youtube anymore.

Stephan, I recently signed up for a recurring subscription after having heard one of your recent pleas for support. I was particularly struck by your expose on the destruction of America's mental health care system.

As a Christian I deeply disagree with many of your positions. Yet I would rather help out one of Dante's philosophers destined for Limbo, but who seek the truth in earnest in a fight for justice and peace, than see such a one relegated to impotence. I pray my token of support finds its way to good use.

Stefan,

I listened to your ‘brutal year’ podcast earlier today and wanted to send a quick note. I have been listening to your show for 3 or 4 months now and have intended to donate many times, but today was the first time I actually followed through. I’m sorry it took me so long. I wanted to tell you that I love your show and am grateful for the work you do - I feel like I have learned so much. Your twitter feed is the best on the platform and I also really enjoy the long form call in shows. By far, yours is my favorite podcast. In your message today you asked for feedback on your content and what we (I) might like to see from in the future. A few thoughts:

• My favorite content are your podcasts. I listen in the car, at the gym and at home if I’m outside doing chores like mowing the lawn. My favorite shows are those with commentary on world events or social issues (fertility, lipstick wars etc.). In addition to those I would be interested to hear interviews with subject matter experts or debates with individuals who have contrary views to your own. I realize I am asking for more of the same, but podcasts are what I enjoy most.
• I am excited to watch your documentaries, however it is less convenient for me to watch videos with my schedule/lifestyle. FYI I will be 40 years old this year. I am married with three children aged 12, 10 and 7. I am Canadian born and raised, have a degree in mechanical engineering from Queen’s University and live in a rural area, north of Toronto. I own and operate a small executive recruitment business that provides a comfortable lifestyle for me and my family. We homeschool our children and they are thriving.
• I have been listening to your material for several months and have intended to donate, however it was not until today that I made my first donation. I don’t think I recognized the urgency of the situation but your message today resonated with me. I wonder how many other listeners out there inclined to donate but are not following through.
Other thoughts:
• I mostly listen to your shows through the Apple podcast app. It’s functionality seems to work best with my iPhone. I have tried to listen through your website, which has much better search capability, however its doesn’t work as well as the app. For example, if I have to turn off the podcast before it is finished it doesn’t seem to remember where I left off when I return… I have to skip forward manually to the part of the podcast where I was. Perhaps the functionality is there, I’m just not using it right.
• I would love to know which podcasts are your most popular – which ones have been listened to the most. I find this helpful if I am caught up on your current material and am selecting a older podcast to listen to (a huge selection). If I can sort for popularity (most listened to) then review summaries it can be helpful in quickly finding something interesting. Just a thought.
• Is there an option to donate in Canadian dollars? I only saw option to donate in USD – which is fine as I have a USD credit card - however other Canadians may find it helpful to have a CDN dollar option. Credit card currency conversion rates are a mystery and can be brutal.

I hope this helps. I have signed up for a monthly donation and will encourage my friends who listen to do the same. I will also continue to share your work. Thanks for everything you do, Stefan.

Ron Paul was running back on 2008. When I heard him speak, it was eye opening, I remember the exact moment I heard playing from our family computer as my Father streamed a video of the debates. It seriously resonated with me. Long story short, I ventured into what then was called the Daily Paul forums. Someone posted one your videos on there. Its been over 10 years since I first heard of you and quite the ride.

If this was easy everyone would be doing it. No quitting. Read Lone Survivor. No quitting Stefan, I heard the frantic desperation in your voice of the walls closing in. No Fucking Quitting. What is at stake is almost unmeasurable. Freedom. My goal is to have children who are happy and intelligent such as your daughter. What you do matters. Also have a happy marriage which is hard to find. Unfortunately the struggle is all too real. I am 27, beginning my career and no serious relationship to be had. Ive prayed and I feel I'm severely behind most people. But I wont settle for a bad woman. What you do and say matters because it has affected my life. No giving up. Keep going. If you need me get a hold of me. What I can say is limited but I'll help best I can.

1. Make a syllabus/plan for secular home schooling or unschooling. It could be divided into a small, a medium and a large package. Small is just e-books, audiobooks and links to presentations and the other packages have more material and even Skype meetings. Maybe you can start with the first year of primary school and then go on to cover year 1-6 or even 1-9.
2. Start a mentoring or coaching program where you schedule a series of individual conversations with a small number of people who want your guidance.
3. Do consultant services where you look a the policies in a company/organization and look for clarity and contradictions.
4. Have paid group discussions with you as a moderator. You could have schedule with topics and people pay to book a seat in the debate.
5. Package your previous material into bundles with specific focus on customer segments in certain situations. This could be 15 episodes bundled up into one audiofile for couples who want to become parents for 3 $. 10 specific episodes for single women about to hit the wall of 30 for 2 $. 10 episodes for lost men in their mid 30s who don't know what they want out of life for 2 $.
6. You could give Skype lectures/talk to companies with some Q&A afterwards. Maybe the antifa craziness will be less if you are not actually there.
7. Make a rhetoric or debate technique course.
8. Make a board game with question cards or discussions (my wife's suggestion)
9. Have paid private call in "shows" for people who want advice but don't want to be on the radio (also my wife's suggestion)

Some ideas I've had over the years are:

• create a forum in which everyone can participate
• possibly an online government. it wouldn't have constitutional authority, but would server to:
• get people together, talking, thinking, debating
• highlight how corpo-gov fails to abide by the wishes of The People
• could also highlight who is responsible for the disconnect
• could include online debate (maybe more like a respectful fireside chat, speaking the way you do to people), w/ contemporary hot topics, w/ reps from both sides of a particular topic, call in questions, chatroom questions, answered online by the debate participants
• a national online vote following the debate (to see what Americans would do)
• a comparison between what Americans want and what the corpo-gov has done, is doing, does in future, and a list of liable corpo-gov actors with their contact info (highlight who is at fault)
• Another idea is boycotts. Point out which corps are backing all the America-destroying policies like hoard immigration, communism, censorship, and help us all to boycott these corps. Hit them in their bottom-lines.

1. SHORT CLIPS are the future. Pollinating YouTube and Instagram with short video clips is the way to go. Comedians are doing it and it is changing their careers. Andrew Shulz changed the game entirely. Comedy Central and Netflix denied him an hour special so he financed one on his own, chopped it up, released it in 10 minute clips and went viral. He found that strangers would give him 10 min instead of an hour but they would watch 10 min clips for hours on end. You have so much content you can just release clips of your old stuff.
2. SEX SELLS. I wish it wasn't true but it is. A hot co host or guest goes a long way. It's just the way it is. If you can sprinkle in some more interviews with the likes of Lauren Southern, Kathy Zhu, Britanny Pettibone, Lauren Chen, Faith Goldy, etc. more people will watch. Some successful video podcasts with attractive female co-hosts are Tiger Belly and How Neal Feel. It also brings the women audience in.
3. SELF HELP: This is big right now and the first person I think of is Aubrey Marcus. Helping people out which you already do but marketed as such.
4. HUMOR: Shows like Hoteps Been Told You make fun of politics and have a good laugh. The subjects are so serious and dramatic that it can be a bummer but the more you can ridicule, the better.
5. INTERVIEWS: Charts and diagrams don't have quite the same impact as you talking to another person. In person if possible. If you have to fly to a big guest for a sit down, I think it's worth it.
6. VIDEO QUESTIONS: Theo Von has a couple podcasts, This Past Weekend and King And The Sting where callers send in their video questions rather than letters or voicemails. A human face has a way bigger impact.

You know, this is not a bad time to get on Ben Shapiro Sunday Special and resolve your “differences”. After what he said about you, it would do both your shows some good. I loved seeing you on that man show podcast also, very funny! Thanks for the California documentary, it works with my vanity even if it’s showing the dark underbelly of Cali.

I JUST saw on YouTube the docos… Binge watched the California series last night and today and loved it.