Patrons, Give Me Your Feedback!

Maybe an option to have a debate about politics, creator topic pick of course, with three or four of the Patreons once a month. Though, someone would have to volunteer to make sure said supporters were actually informed on the topic(s) so that it didn't turn into a shit show. Maybe pay said person a stipend for housing at CLS. Peace!

Anthony Wright

I’ve got three main points of feedback: 1. I am immensely happy to see you moving away from the scripted, teleprompter style. I find your delivery way, WAY more engaging when you’re speaking conversationally. 2. The (non-teleprompter) historical episodes have been your best. I walk away from these episodes feeling smarter. In my opinion, this is where CLS really differentiates itself as a channel. Videos that comment on the latest in identity politics are a dime-a-dozen on YouTube. Everyone and their grandma has an opinion on Kathy Griffin holding up Trump’s head; on the other hand, not everybody has something interesting to say about, for example, Project Horizon. I hope you can continue to embrace what makes your content unique. 3. I know you believe content is more important than technical quality, and I agree, but I routinely see teenagers cranking out YouTube videos with top-notch audio and video. With the amount of money I know you’re making, I can’t help but feel it would be a worthy and reasonable investment to pay an expert a couple grand to come over for a day and show you how best to set up your camera and microphone. That said, I’m a fan of the channel and I hope you find continued success!

Hey Colin, only thing I could see changing at this point is the postings of the News Bursts. For those of us not in the Pacific time zone having your phone, tablet, etc go off with alerts between 11:00 PM and 1:00 AM can be a bit startling. I love these bursts, but would love if you could set a regular time for them to come out (maybe something between 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM Pacific). I'm sure people here would be more than willing to wait the next day for your thoughts rather than having them come so late. Thanks!

John Wescott

Hey Colin, love the content so far. You already said you are not going to do games content but i think if enough people comment about it it might happen. I would definitely throw in more money if you did. Just making my voice heard. Thanks Joe

Joe Nace

I really love your series, is there any way you could have a recap of news in the past week and your feelings on them? There's already two posts a week. Not sure if this is possible to work in =/. I do think guest shows would be cool but I understand you're in a whole new ballgame and the connections are yet to come. Keep up the great work

Ryan Harvey

Totally fair feedback. I actually think I got lost in my original thought and ended up just posting something I thought would be cool instead of addressing the question. #newbaby #wouldkillforsleep A Patron focused idea would be to put in place a enter to win concept. I know Kinda Funny does the free game give-a-ways for the audience that shows certain levels of support. How you might tie that concept to your content would be to: Have a special correspondent or debate slot open for some videos that a selected patron could participate in. Given your audience that might draw A) more/lasting engagement B) new Patrons that are interesting in a chance to contribute to this type of content Even posting a patron's good question at the end of a show and addressing it for all patrons would be a cool thing for most I would think. Validation is always appreciated.

Brian Fuller

I promise tilting the camera down (fixing the head room) won't effect the focus (the distance between the lens and your head won't change). As for the exposure, look at the lens, if the iris is set to f2.2 try dropping it to f3.0 the white balance is a harder fix (menu entry required).

Geek Aloud

I miss the zaniness, and I try to put it into the videos when I can. I feel like I'm going to eventually be able to flex those muscles elsewhere. CLS is what it is; it can be better, but it's not going to fundamentally change, either.

Colin Moriarty

I wish I had time to do something like that, but I simply don't. As I've explained to a few other people, for me to fit in a new, real piece of content under the CLS banner, something else would have to go. And I feel like most people (and perhaps even you) are satisfied with the two videos a week. What I'm looking for here is to do something new just for Patrons, and I think I've gotten a gist or two about what you guys and gals want by going through your feedback here, on Facebook, and on Reddit.

Colin Moriarty

I love the idea, but as you may have already noticed, a couple of weeks ago I announced a vacation schedule that carves out some time for me this year. I wanted to announce it well ahead of time so that folks knew it was coming. My first full week off is in about a month. Second week off is in October. And then I'm taking the last two weeks of the year off. Don't worry! I'm a workaholic, but I know how it goes, and I'm trying to do my best to take care of myself.

Colin Moriarty

CLS exists in podcast form at the 5+/month level already (or you can rip your own audio). I have no plans to do a podcast under the CLS banner, but I have something else in the works that may intrigue you, if and when it happens.

Colin Moriarty

I'm glad I turned you onto Rubin and Rogan. Good people, both. The one-on-one with my dad is still going to happen. We're just 3,000 miles apart. I'm going to see if I can get him out here in the coming months to do it with me, so stay tuned.

Colin Moriarty

Dude, your lucky the camera is focused. =) The reason the camera is the way it is, is because I finally got it focused in that exact position. I won't even let Erin move it. I don't have the technical know-how to do much more, though I often read tutorials to try to get my head around all of it. Rubin x Moriarty is in the works, but it won't be on CLS. Stay tuned.

Colin Moriarty

I know people want gaming, but it's simply not congruent with CLS as a product. That, and I barely play games anymore anyway. No time.

Colin Moriarty

Hahaha. I'll be on the Island this summer, but it's to get my shit out of my dad's house before he moves to the Hamptons.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you for your feedback, and for your kindness.

Colin Moriarty

I love the idea of opening up topic ideas to people, and then making a poll to let people vote on the topic. I think that's something I will open up starting next month, but I still need to play with the idea a bit.

Colin Moriarty

That's interesting feedback. Not something I can control, but maybe Patreon would like to hear that feedback. I'll pass it along.

Colin Moriarty

Gonna write one today! Stand by.

Colin Moriarty

CLS isn't an interview show. But I have some interviews I'd like to do.

Colin Moriarty

The average video length is roughly 22 minutes and 30 seconds, 22 episodes in. So, I think I'm already in that sweet spot...

Colin Moriarty

I'm working on a side-project that's not CLS related that may be what you're looking for. Stay tuned.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you. I'm very glad to hear that.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you!

Colin Moriarty

Thank you!

Colin Moriarty

Thank you! I love you too.

Colin Moriarty

Not sure that will ever be a part of CLS, but I am working on a side project that may scratch this itch...

Colin Moriarty

$2 tier that gets the newsbursts and the Q&A. Get more people hooked on the secret good stuff. Also the wife likes all the stories of the behind-the-scenes personal tidbits, the adventures of Colin and Erin and Lola, etc... The irreverent stuff, is what's missing. Colin & Nick Live, the pre-news, all balls, off-topic garbage truck on fire, that's the Colin I miss. It doesn't need to be live. You don't need anyone else to bounce off. There's just this je ne sais quoi, that you were very very good at.

Jeremy Meyer

I'm not sure how you would pull this off given your current workload, but I would be willing to raise my support level to see you expand your approach to the news. I personally really enjoy how Vice news has structured their content on HBO Go. They release a short daily video or series of short news stories, then have one longer weekly recap that sometimes expands on stories from earlier in the week as things unfold, and then they have Special Reports that are more long form that focus on really interesting but complex topics. You may be able to do this by continuing your written comments on the news and then having a weekly video recap and have your social commentary as the version of Vice's Special Reports. I enjoy your thoughts on current goings-on and just think it would be great to see your thoughts pulled through as many of the topics we read/discuss have downstream implications that get lost in the traditional news cycle.

Brian Fuller

Sorry, I'm not on Reddit, nor really here a lot. I'm on Twitter mostly, but I wanted to make a suggestion. I hope it helps. A friend who had a podcast introduced me to the idea of a "Sabbath Week." It's not faith-based at its core, but basically, the idea is to go full tilt for six weeks, then take a week off on week seven to rest, recharge, and kind of think about what you'd want to do the next period of time. My biggest worry for CLS is for you. The pace that you're going is not sustainable and you're going to burn out or hit a writer's block eventually. I think you need to eventually make R&R a regimented part of CLS, over and above any actual vacation you take. So, here's my idea: you work on 2 1/6 videos a week, that extra 1/6 being one video that would be during the Sabbath Week. I'd suggest a longer form historical video, one like Andrew Jackson where you can give the historical context, but that you'd also just riff on with anecdotal context. Maybe 45-60 minutes, something that interests you and you don't have to dig a lot to dig deep into the subject. On Sunday, you upload it, then just stop for a week. I think that you don't give yourself enough credit in the social commentary videos. It seems that you give yourself more credibility for the historical ones, but I think you have just as much credibility for the commentary ones. For context, last year, I would repeatedly listen to your thoughts on the presidential campaigns. Heck, I re-watched the day after the election Colin & Greg just a couple weeks ago. I think you're one of the most reasonable people I know of in any form of media in the political realm and I think you should flex those muscles more instead of constraining yourself to how you think CLS should look. OK, I think that's it. I've got two boys, a 14-yr old and 12-yr old. You are now required viewing in our household because of your videos. I wouldn't mind if you curbed the swearing (:)), but what you talk about and the way you talk about them are just fascinating. I'm in for the long haul.

I don't have time to watch videos on YouTube. Most of the content I consume is in podcast form, so it would be ideal if you started posting to iTunes. A conversational series would be cool too.

I have loved the content so far! I would like to thanks you for introducing me to the Rubin report and Joe Rogan's podcast, it has Kinda changed the internet content I now view (for the better). I would love to see you do 1 on 1's even if it was a once a month special. When you was at KF you had mentioned a 1 on 1 with your dad regarding his stories from 9/11 I would love you to do this . Also I would love to see where you and Jordan Peterson would go with a 1 on 1. Anyway whatever you plan to do in the future I will check it out. As you have shown with CLS follow your gut feeling and do what your passionate in, that will always find an audience.

I second this. it's very rare and difficult for me to fit watching youtube videos into my schedule, and even though I'm a patron, I've only watched two of them. It's much more likely to fit something in on my commute or at the gym. Patrons are always likely to be contributors of other things as well, so that time all quickly adds up and it gets hard to keep up unless there's other ways to consume it, which audio podcasts achieve so well. Even then, on top of that I feel the Audio version is too high a tier; while $5 doesn't seem like much, as someone who contributes to 10+ Patreon creators it all quickly adds up. As others have mentioned, I also miss your thoughts on gaming but totally understand why you mightn't go back there. Anyway, just know I put these thoughts forward because I love your content. Keep up the great work!

Can you please take a minute before you record to get the headroom correct (it's almost always to much), do a white balance & set the exposure? The gun control was very over exposed. I seriously love your content and I'm not trying to troll you here. Not that that is a patron tier... I'd pay extra to have a monthly CLS / Rubin Report crossover episode.

Geek Aloud

I'm not gonna lie - as much as I love the history and politics, I still miss your commentary on games and gaming. I know you view that as an era in your life that has passed and you've moved on, but I still miss it. Since you are asking for opinions, I’ll toss something out there – do something similar to your book club (here’s what I’m reading) with games (here’s what I’m playing). I’m not talking about in-depth reviews or anything, just more a “I played/heard about/saw this recently, here’s my quick thoughts” type of thing. Hell, add it board games and stuff too if you want. If you feel it doesn’t really fit with the tenor of CLS, maybe make it a patron exclusive or something. As a big history buff, I really do enjoy CLS, even more than I enjoyed your stuff when you were in the video game scene at IGN and KF. I’ll financially support CLS either way. But as you were one of the few people in the gaming industry I generally agreed and identified with, I still occasionally think things to myself like “boy, I wonder what Colin thinks of that new Uncharted expansion” or “What does Colin think about that Wolfenstein game?” Based on what I’ve seen on the facebook group, I’m certainly not alone in still wondering what your take is on gaming stuff. So maybe that's something you might consider down the line, if it can be done without watering down the CLS brand.

Billski

Hard to give useful feedback when I like the content as is. So I'll say what I always wanted meet and mother fucking greet lmao come home go to rag time I'll drive from jersey to the island again for you anytime man. Keep killing it as always -Dan

Dan Cadogan

My belief is that we are donating simply to help you to make the awesome videos that you do. I wouldn't want extra content for my extra donation. I just pay what I can afford to throw your way. The last thing I would want is for the superfluous tier rewards to take time away from researching, writing, performing and editing. I understand that this is already an option on Patreon, but it is a perspective I'd like you to hear anyway. Thanks for your work!

Daniel Ryan

I'd love a podcast RSS feed of the content (if one already exists please point me to it). I know you have the audio only version (which is appreciated) but I have to visit another site, download it manually and then play it on a media player not meant for podcasts. As someone who mainly listens to podcasts while driving, and doesn't watch a lot of youtube videos, this would allow me to consume your content more easily. I also think a monthly 'Ask Colin Anything' segment would be cool. Maybe something at a $5/$10 tier could ask questions but the videos would be available to all. Keep making great content.

Ray Briggs

I think you could offer a donation/entry to a raffle sort of things. So you'd offer a certain incentive every once in a while that people of a certain donation level would be ENTERED to win. Like, personally, I'd love to have a chance to submit a topic or set of ideas to talk with you about, so you could say something like "hey this month I am taking your submissions to win a Conversation With Colin, so make a donation at the $50 level along with topics you have in mind for a chance to win!" I would TOTALLY be submitting every week until I win lol. I would also enjoy this kind of thing because I'd be awesome to hear the voices and ideas of my fellow CLS fans. Thanks man, love what you do!

I would love to be able to prepay a year instead of monthly, I know that's not CLS but a patreon deal but when I get extra cash I like to give it to my creators but I like the perks too:)

Everything is great my favorite content is the news burst so the more the better.

I'd like to see some interviews with others on the topics. I'd be OK if you posted a video topic once a week, if you followed up on a prior topic as your second video. I know you have been working with others down in La La Land (im looking at you Dave) and my favorite videos you've ever done are the interviews, because I think you're damn good at them. I'd hate for that talent to go to waste.

Ryan Berry

Hey Colin! My only feedback would be to make most episodes around the 20-25 minute mark... personally I find them more engaging than the 45 minutes ones. Keep up the great work!

Rolando Vargas

Hi colin, really enjoying the content. My only suggestion is not one that will be feasible in the near future but i would love a weekly podcast on politics and current events

Oh also, a live show once a month would be really cool! People could put their comments in and you can respond immediately and have a discussion right then and there. - H

Jose Oliver

Echo a lot of the comments directly above. Long time listener/viewer and I'm very happy and entertained with the channel as things stand.

The only feedback I have is keep up the great work. Your videos are entertaining and informative and I always enjoy and some of your ideas and thoughts have made me re-think the way I feel about issues and I like that. I do note that you usually have a guitar to the left of you in your videos. You should play something on video sometime

I love what you are doing and fine with most of it. However, I would appreciate some kind of CLS website & especially a shop. Where we can purchase things like a t-shirt, digital download or a signed print of the day without a woman tweet. I understand it is available within a higher tier, but I think it would be awesome to sell it on its own. Just my thoughts. - Heather

Jose Oliver

I've been a fan since beyond and throughout till this venture, this new one is the happiest I've ever seen you in, keep up the great work!

I'm fine with everything how it is, and fine if you want to change it up. I'm basically here for 3 reasons. #1 I'm a die hard fan from the beyond days. #2 to help get some history lessons and a conservative message out to the masses. #3 to stick it to the left a little bit. Love you Colin!

I was thinking in the vein of your posts about Andrew Jackson for example. P.s. Thanks for the excellent work.

I've seen it suggested before so I wont drone on, but I would be interested in a weekly historical figure video. Something like a crazy story about them, nothing like their life story, more like a tease to go check them out, would be cool. In that way, the video wouldn't have to be longer than 5-8 minutes.

Every episode is already available as a podcast via Patreon's RSS feed at the $5+/month level!

Colin Moriarty

Don't know how you would incorporate it into CLS, but I think one of your greatest strengths is when you interact in level headed conversations and debates with other people. Always been great to watch, be it gaming or politics. Just another idea think about.

I'd love for the videos to be available in audio format which could either be downloaded via Patreon or apple podcasts. I want portable Colin-

I'm planning a video (perhaps even Thursday's) that will be about an individual. Stand by. =)

Colin Moriarty

I would really enjoy a video here and there on famous/important people in history, just as a side thing from your normal videos. Like one dedicated to Nikola Tesla etc. nothing big and fancy but just a suggestion. Other than that really enjoying the content and you are my go to for keeping engaged with current events.

Eric S

Hmm... there's something here, but I need to marinate. Because I already do a monthly Q&A where I answer like 70 questions, about anything.

Colin Moriarty

Thanks for the feedback, Dan, and thank you for your support. But as I said from the jump, I won't be doing gaming.

Colin Moriarty

Did you find the lighting better in today's video? I toned it down from Episode 21 (which was at the same level as Episode 20, but with no backlighting, which made it look brighter.)

Colin Moriarty

Hi Colin. I just wrote up a big post that got eaten by Reddit so here's the short version. I'm happy with what you're doing and plan to be a patron for as long as I can do that you can continue to make vids. I enjoy them quite a bit. My only idea would be a tier that includes a vid or Q&A of some sort that is video game related as I know many of us still respect your opinion on those things. I understand if that isn't in the cards due to your limited time. Anyways take care. Dan

Dan Phillips

Really like the format and the content so far. Lots of variety and as always I appreciate the level headed opinions you present. Whether or not I agree with them every time, I always enjoy the conversation and delivery. Something nit picky and unrelated, the lighting seems a tad harsh lately? Might just be my OCD from working on my dads production sets growing up but other than that, love it. Thanks!

Chris Johnson

I think you should have a weekly episode responding to viewer feedback. Maybe have an "Ask Colin ANYTHING" type of segment. You can focus the first half on current events and/or history then transition into a general Q&A. I've been following you for years and have been dying to pick your brain about many things.

James Pies

This seems to be common feedback early on since I posted; I love the idea, and will see what I can do with it!

Colin Moriarty

I am having a meeting Wednesday night about merch, so stand by. =)

Colin Moriarty

Just thinking of random ideas, but what if there was a poll for patrons to vote on video upload orders or if you presented a list of topics you're interested in and then did a poll here to decided what topic to do first? Small idea but would help CLS feel more like a public thing (not that it doesn't already).

Nicholas Swanson

Not directly related to Patreon. But I would love a CLS pint glass to pour my beer while watching CLS videos. It's also a way to support your great work.