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"Swindled" on Miss Cleo and Sylvia Browne

grunion

Penultimate Amazing
grunion
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
Messages
10,931
I've been really enjoying this podcast for the past couple of months and went back into the archives to find this episode that may be of interest to long time denizens of this forum and its prior incarnation. The podcaster generally does a great job at deep dives to swindles both big and small. His treatment of Sylvia's frauds is quite good and both Randi and Robert Lancaster get a mention.

https://swindledpodcast.com/podcasts/season-2/22-the-psychic/
 
Thanks for the podcast recommendation!

I’m burning through the archives. Love the presentation style and the subject matter. Subscribed.
 
So many episodes really have gotten to me. Among them
Bhopal
Kids for Cash
Nestle
Ryan White and Bayer AG
Bud Dwyer
Tony Kiritsis
Karen Silkwood
 
I checked out the "Swindled" site.

It. is. HORRIBLE.

I can't emphasize this enough. It is one of the worst designed web sites I've come across in a long time.

NO, we won't give you an easy to peruse list of podcasts we've produced. We're going to force you tap or click on a limited collection of mystery meat icons so you can see what's behind them. For crying out loud ... that's what an HTML <table> is for!

The "Episodes" page is no better. It gives a limited list of episodes and only their titles: no indication what the episode is about. Do I want to see more episodes? Click "More" and wait for their idiot animation to complete ... to give me all of SIXTEEN additional items.

Clicking on the hamburger icon causes the entire page to disappear into a sea of red with four little items on it.

When I used their contact page to let them know my opinion of their site, I got "There was an error trying to send your message. Please try again later."

I don't know if the podcast is any good. But their web site is a steaming pile of bovine feces put together by some idiot wanking "designer" who has no freaking clue about usability or user friendliness. Based on that I'm prepared to write off the podcast itself as well.
 
Blue Mountain said:
I checked out the "Swindled" site.

It. is. HORRIBLE.

I can't emphasize this enough. It is one of the worst designed web sites I've come across in a long time.

NO, we won't give you an easy to peruse list of podcasts we've produced. We're going to force you tap or click on a limited collection of mystery meat icons so you can see what's behind them. For crying out loud ... that's what an HTML <table> is for!

The "Episodes" page is no better. It gives a limited list of episodes and only their titles: no indication what the episode is about. Do I want to see more episodes? Click "More" and wait for their idiot animation to complete ... to give me all of SIXTEEN additional items.

Clicking on the hamburger icon causes the entire page to disappear into a sea of red with four little items on it.

When I used their contact page to let them know my opinion of their site, I got "There was an error trying to send your message. Please try again later."

I don't know if the podcast is any good. But their web site is a steaming pile of bovine feces put together by some idiot wanking "designer" who has no freaking clue about usability or user friendliness. Based on that I'm prepared to write off the podcast itself as well.
Click to expand...

I checked. You are correct. A true triumph of Form Over Function and terrible form at that. Try the KISS PrincipleWP folks.
 
I have never been to the Swindled website, or that of any podcast I follow. It is as irrelevant to their podcast as their Instagram or MySpace page might be. Different medium.
 
grunion said:
I have never been to the Swindled website, or that of any podcast I follow. It is as irrelevant to their podcast as their Instagram or MySpace page might be. Different medium.
Click to expand...

While there are cautions about judging a book by its cover, their web site was my second point of contact for them (your link lauding their content was the first.) It left a terrible first impression. I'm left with the question, "If their website is so clueless and user-hostile, what's the podcast like?"

I'll download an episode to see if it's better than the web site. To their credit, they have that option for each episode.
 
Blue Mountain said:
While there are cautions about judging a book by its cover, their web site was my second point of contact for them (your link lauding their content was the first.) It left a terrible first impression. I'm left with the question, "If their website is so clueless and user-hostile, what's the podcast like?"

I'll download an episode to see if it's better than the web site. To their credit, they have that option for each episode.
Click to expand...

There are many podcast aggregators and broadcast apps that make it easy to find podcasts and episodes, read reviews/descriptions, download, and subscribe. I used to use iTunes until it got insanely complex to do something simple (talk about form over function, sheesh.) Nowadays I mostly use Spotify.
 
Blue Mountain said:
While there are cautions about judging a book by its cover, their web site was my second point of contact for them (your link lauding their content was the first.) It left a terrible first impression. I'm left with the question, "If their website is so clueless and user-hostile, what's the podcast like?"

I'll download an episode to see if it's better than the web site. To their credit, they have that option for each episode.
Click to expand...

I didn't particularly enjoy his podcasts as a listening experience, either. His delivery is soft and monotone. The writing is dry and straightforward. If you are already interested in the subject matter, it's fine. Informative and useful, I guess.

ETA I think "pedestrian" is more the word I was looking for than "straightforward." Nothing wrong with being straightforward.
 
Last edited:
A Sylvia look alike swindled me.

I had a sad day once because I lost a fortune in the stock market. I was on a bridge thinking. This Sylvia look alike walked up to me and said she had magic powers. She was very unattractive but I was desperate. She said if I went back to her place and did what she asked she would make me whole again through magic.

I did everything she asked. When it was over I asked when I could expect to become whole. She said, "Aren't you a little old to believe in magic." :boggled:
 
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