Wednesday, 30 June 2021

Joint Session Bonus Show | Ethylene-oxide, RAW, & The Great Conjunction

Technical feed updates and a new mobile-first strategy aim to streamline how subscribers access the community-driven bonus hours and listener voicemails.

By The Higherside Chats Free Show | 7m listen | 3 chapters
Joint Session Bonus Show | Ethylene-oxide, RAW, & The Great Conjunction cover

About this episode

The Higher Side Chats transitions its monthly Joint Session into a dedicated mobile-friendly format to better serve Plus members and forum contributors. Host Greg Carlwood addresses the technical restructuring of the RSS feed to resolve audio player malfunctions on the official website. This shift ensures that the community-driven bonus hour remains accessible to subscribers while maintaining a streamlined experience for free listeners.

The new feed architecture introduces a placeholder segment for non-subscribers to replace non-functional archive links and broken web players. This administrative update follows the evolution of the program from its original Zoom-based call-in roots to a standard podcast distribution model. Specific changes affect how the RSS feed displays bonus content, ensuring that mobile listeners can sync their accounts without the metadata errors previously reported by the THC community. The restructuring also serves as a promotional gateway for the additional hour of content typically reserved for the Plus membership tier.

A custom musical introduction signals the start of the listener-focused segment featuring voicemails and forum theories. This community portion highlights trip reports and research contributions from the THC audience. The transition marks a shift from technical logistics to the candid, unfiltered dialogue that defines the monthly Joint Session experience.


CHAPTER 01 / 3 Discussion

The Higher Side Chats Joint Session Bonus Show Overview

The Higher Side Chats host introduces the Joint Session, a monthly bonus show dedicated to Plus members. This segment features candid discussions, responses to THC forum comments, and listener voicemails. Originally launched as a Zoom-based call-in format, the program transitioned into a standard podcast feed to accommodate mobile listeners.

the higher side chats· joint session· plus members· thc forum· community feedback

00:01 Hello, Hireside Chatter! Serenity now. How the hell are ya? You know I hate to do this sort of thing but what i call the monthly joint session bonus show for plus members is a fun little extra where I can talk a little bit more candidly to the inner circle. I can read and respond to questions and comments left in the THC forum. Forum access being a lifetime bonus for plus people by the way even if you cancel your membership And I can play the audio messages people leave for me at TheHigherSideChats.com slash voicemail Always open if you have a cool story or weird experience, or want to sing us a song which oddly has happened a couple of times already

00:43 I also get to talk about THC news and updates that don't really fit on the end of a random interview. I get to talk about the feedback i've gotten for the latest round of shows, which is usually interesting and sometimes pretty surprising based on people's reactions to the guests and topics of the month Sometimes things you wouldn't want just floating around out there if you were in my shoes especially when reading the harsh negative stuff And I also sometimes get to bring up parts of a guest's work that we didn't get into in the actual interview. Or stuff that was maybe sent to me afterwards, that relates to something in a particular episode So it really is just an all-around community driven hour or so of behind-the-scenes stuff

01:26 It's called the Joint Session not only because it is a coming together of me and the THC audience, but it's also actually a triple entendre. And that's sort of what I built the brand on around here and all that We actually started doing the joint sessions as a Zoom room, open line sort of call-in thing. But it wasn't in the RSS feed at all! So many Plus members were like hey man I listen to the show on a podcast app on my phone... ...I don't want to have to go to the website just to get this other thing is there way you can just put it in the feed with the rest of the stuff? so I changed the format for that reason and a couple others and made into another podcast

CHAPTER 02 / 3 Discussion

RSS Feed Restructuring and Free Listener Experience

Technical challenges regarding archive organization and feed alignment led to a restructuring of how bonus content appears for free listeners. To resolve issues with non-functional audio players on the website, a placeholder segment now occupies the Joint Session slot in the free RSS feed. This placeholder serves as a reminder of the additional hour of content available to subscribers while offering a promotional trial.

rss feed· podcast archive· plus membership· user experience· coupon code

02:06 But after doing a few of them this way, it's become pretty obvious that it throws things off for me on the back end. It disorganizes my archive and throws off the alignment of everything because for so many years I release something and there is a version that goes on each of the podcast feeds That works very well when I'm looking at them side by side for stats or whatever even just my own organization. I want everything clean and easy But putting a monthly show in one feed that doesn't go into the other has thrown some things off for me and I get irked. I don't want to be irked, and it would only get worse as more and more months go by Not only that but the way the site is structured for these types of dual posts It leaves free listeners who visit the site with an audio player box That doesn't play anything! I don't like that either And it's proven difficult to remove

02:59 So now I have this placeholder that you're listening to now. It's not actually a joint session episode, but it goes in place of them on the free RSS feed But it comes with an offer for a free week of plus if you use the coupon code JOINT so it's not exactly nothing! It's another solution I've had mixed feelings about but I gamed out everything else and this seems like the long-term solution that will work out best Five episodes Joint Session Another five episodes Joint Session And free listeners who click on any one of these will then know that they're just to be skipped once you've heard it. But it's also a reminder that you're leaving a lot on the table. Free listeners don't see the bonus content page, and I structure the interviews in a way that is not super noticeable if there isn't extra hour

03:44 I don't tease you with that kind of, and we'll get your answer to that question right after the break sort of stuff that you hear on other shows. So i'm thinking some of this is out-of-sight out-of-mind and it might be easy to forget that as much as you like The First Hour The Second Hour is at least that but usually more because we've already laid the conversational base for whatever the guest is about this week So I guess just know that this would be a joint session show if you were a plus member. I love what i do, but can I really do it forever? Honestly... If you were me wouldn't you feel a little uneasy about the way things are going lately and being a public figure in this kind of space? Look! I made my bed and I'll lay in it but I'd be stupid not to try to insulate myself a bit and take the opportunity to try to turn more people on to the full show while my platform is still fully operational

CHAPTER 03 / 3 Discussion

Joint Session Musical Intro and Listener Contribution Theme

A musical introduction marks the official start of the Joint Session, highlighting the show's reliance on listener-submitted content. The lyrics reference the various types of contributions featured, including forum posts, voicemails, trip reports, and theories. This transition signals the shift from the host's administrative update to the community-driven portion of the broadcast.

joint session· listener voicemails· trip reports· theme song· community content

06:21 Welcome to the monthly joint session on THC. Yes! Where Greg will find some foreign posts and stuff that he can read And there's that voicemail too. On here to write something this show depends on you More lead message Theories, queries, trip reports Weird thoughts and bad reviews I bought this song out of order Straight stuff Insides you've got scabs that you fall down in the joint cessure. Strange stuff, you see? Insides you've got scabs that you fall down in the joint cessure