Fantastic podcast. Only critique I have is that there should have been more airhorns. There just weren’t enough airhorns. Just kidding, but seriously. The podcast was amazingly done, and I love the nuance, self-critiquing, and empathy in which Jamie approaches the experience is deeply gripping. Thank you for sharing your experience.

I’m trying to like this podcast, but the sound effects are really annoying and distracting, especially the quick 1-2 toots of the blow horn. Stop!!! 🙉🙉🙉

For the first ten minutes or so, this podcast, and it’s podcaster, are quite refreshing, entertaining and dare I say even hilarious. I enjoyed the lofi, dyi feel of the audio and editing of the content itself. The cheesy DJ horn, the abrupt cutting for comedies sake; both well done. But then… The podcast quickly begins to suffocate itself. The ironic use of the DJ horn must be used hundreds of times in the three or four hours that this podcast persists. Hey podcaster, get a second sound effect! The phrase “one trick pony” enters my mind over and over and over as this story VERY gradually progresses in a tedious and agonizing way. The aspects that begin as this podcast’s greatest strengths- very quickly become its own shackles. The entire story, which I hesitate to refer to as journalism- though, I suppose it technically is- is simply a woman talking into her phone for hours and hours on end… And then using some sort of audio editing application to cut it up and pepper in the airhorn sound effect. There are no on scene interviews or on scene sound recordings to pull you into and add authenticity to the world of the story she tells. more well told and more well produced, I could actually see this exist alongside “the supposedly fun thing I’ll never do again” by David Foster Wallace or Hunter S Thompson’s “fear and loathing in Las Vegas.” I think it’s very likely I would’ve had a far different and better experiencing reading this, then I did listening to it.

The concept of this podcast sounded somewhat interesting, and it lived up to that. I’m not a fan of Jamie’s humor though, like the endless air horns.

Jamie always has the best shows. I think it’s her honesty. It really gets to the heart of the experiences she shares, and frankly, I appreciate it.

Your vulgar language dilutes your message. Why fall prey to the fad of destroying the English language?

I enjoyed this podcast so much. I appreciated the comedy in the delivery but also was thrilled to hear that it was real journalism also with important topics. The self-awareness of the host made it refreshing. I laughed and learned a lot.

And maybe she stole that sound effect (the page turning one, there are so many) from Paul F. Tompkins improv podcast.

I listened to the first 15 minutes in which I heard a long monologue by a smug liberal who thinks everyone with a different opinion than her is racist. With annoying air horn sound effects. If the people in Mensa hated her, I can’t be surprised.

I really want to listen, but air horn fear made me stop

Mocking the Wise Guys sounded like fun. But the 1980s drive-time radio effects were grating. Had to bail.

I had the impression beforehand that Mensa was filled with awkward-but-harmless dorks. Turns out maybe that’s true, but it’s also full of hate-spewers. I guess this is a natural consequence of “You have passed an exclusive test, and due to your in-born ability, you are superior to other humans.” Not that much difference between the origins of racism and Mensa-ism, it turns out.

The sound effects drove me nuts. I had to stop listening.

Woman prejudges an organization; joins as a joke; seeks out the worst part of it and is SHOCKED that she’s treated poorly. I share this woman’s politics and even I think this is cringe.

This has got to be one of the most boring podcasts ever. I kept listening hoping that it would get better, but no. She's just unbelievably whinny and tedious to listen to.

This could have been a 20 minute podcast. It’s mostly a hyperbolic narrative. Here is the synopsis. The podcaster writes a non flattering piece about Mensa. A Facebook Mensa group calls her mean and a few fringe elements are threatening. The podcaster tries to gather more material to write on Mensa. There are a few minor awkward interactions between Mensa and the the podcaster when she attends a Mensa convention. The podcast goes nowhere. This story could have been written about any group of zealots or enthusiasts in the the US.

Absolutley illuminating. I also thought Mensa was for egg heads and such. But apparently just a bunch of yuck. Thank you for doing this podcast

This is an great series that’s informative and funny. The only bummer is the sound effects that make this a terrible choice to fall asleep to. *honk honk*

I feel like putting myself in a situation where it’s pretty obvious that everyone is against me would drive me to a constant panic attack. It’s pretty brave for the host to put herself in a situation with a huge number of this group and I really appreciate listening to someone taking the time and sacrificing their comfort to listen, experience, and debate with the far right, bigots, and just really, really confusing political and world views when those views are obviously not her own. It really does sound like a crazy fever dream but hey, that’s kind of been the climate for the past few years we’ve all been experiencing. Really enjoyed this podcast.

This is the dumbest podcast I have listened to so far. That’s time I wish I could get back. The only reason I gave one star is because I couldn’t give zero. What a waste of time.

It was perfect! I don’t think I’d have had the courage to brave a space that had been hostile and threatening but Jamie Loftus distilled the experience into a thoughtful and compassionate, yet still funny, podcast.

I did listen to this entire thing and enjoyed it and the cool truth is that Jamie won. This is the show we need that explored how labeling certain people as “gifted” based on racist goal posts encourages racists to be loudly racist.

I did listen to this entire thing and enjoyed it but the sad truth is that Katie won. The show we actually need is one that would explore how to address the problems with labeling certain children as “gifted,” standardized testing, selective admission, and private schooling.

This was my first Podcast.It set the bar so high.I have listened to this over and over the past couple years.It’s like an old friend telling the same story you both know but never get enough of.It would make a great movie!

Wow

This podcast was the first Jamie Loftus project I listened to and I’m now a huge fan of her work. This is a really insightful look into how social media harassment works, how people see themselves when they harass others, and the difference (or lack thereof) between people’s presence on social media & their personality in real life. One of my faves!

The air horn and other sound effect are ruining this otherwise interesting topic.This along with how fast the host speaks makes this impossible for me to continue.

Love it

I’m two years late but I was captivated. It’s so interesting to hear and also alarming. It made Mensa seem much more like a small version of the world we live in. Jamie is adorable and easy to root for. Jamie, just in case you ever wondered if it was all worth it I really enjoyed my listen and felt like I learned a lot of new stuff so thank you!

Love the pod and Jamie! I found Jamie from her podcast Ghost Church, which a friend shared with me, and I’m so happy I did. Thank you for deep diving into this weird little Mensa world. The podcast was interesting and funny, and I personally love your use of air horns. Thank you!

Interesting but needs a fact checker?? I had to stop listening once she incorrectly defined eugenics. I think Jamie knows what eugenics is and just mixed it up with phrenology but they really need a fact checker or an editor to catch these basic mistakes? If something as basic as that was wrong it made it hard to trust the rest of the research

I really enjoyed this podcast, I found it to be funny in places but mostly really enlightening about Mensa, sure, but also modern online life.

I really want to listen to this. Are there going to be sound effects all the way through? Why do first time podcasters do this? Have they never listen to a podcast? Do they not realize that most people listen to them through earbuds? And a lot of people have noise sensitivity, or PTSD, or eardrums?

Self absorbed and lavishing attention on the mundane details of her own millennial life. Lovingly, A millennial

With everything else I’ve heard from the many former members that had to leave a community because of the nutballs swinging their nutsacks (metaphorically). I’ve heard from a hundred former members that these experiences are unfortunately common and seem unlikely to change. Not really so smart after all but well infiltrated perhaps.

You can really tell which of these reviews were written by the Mensa mob…..

It’s an interesting premise, but the presenter has an unscientific approach to i.q. history and the application of i.q. tests. In a whole year of research she couldn’t get the details right.

I was on the fence until I heard the first of many rap air horns.

Jamie Loftus is amazing at what she does and I really look forward to what she does in the future!

Without a shadow of a doubt, Loftus is one of the greatest and most forward-thinking reporters in decades. We need to clone an army of her to deploy against the trolls of this world.

What an entertaining and interesting podcast! I learned so much about Mensa and laughed so much. Jaime is balanced and generous in her portrayal of the people she met in Mensa despite their aggressive and abusive behavior.

You should make more podcasts. Keep em coming please.

I really wanted to like this. I thought the subject matter would be interesting but I couldn’t get through more than 20 minutes without being confused and annoyed by the completely unnecessary sound effects. It was like a third grader got ahold of an internet “sound board” and went nuts. I just don’t get why they were included the way they were.

I expected to like this, or at the very least not dislike it enough to give it a 1 star review. As a left-leaning millennial who is not a Mensa member, listening to this made me cringe throughout. The whole project felt mean spirited and bad faith. Essentially, the host sets out to troll Mensa, and succeeds. Or summarized another way ‘Hip Millenial Woman wants to make fun of nerd club, so she goes on quest to justify her contempt.’ At one point someone criticizes her for focusing on a small, non-representative sample. She simultaneously acknowledges and responds to this critique by…having an actor read it in a silly voice? Yeah, that rhetorical move is used over and over again, and added to the unrepentant schoolyard bully aesthetic of the whole project. As I was listening I kept having this thought come up that this feels like a liberal version of project veritas. That’s a bit of an exaggeration but too close for comfort for me to get any enjoyment out of listening to it.

Well done Jamie! Great listen. I’m sorry about all the weirdos.

Obsessed

I really want to listen to this, but the air horn noises and jeopardy sounds etc are super jarring to me! Going to try to get through it, but wish podcasts would stop with the RadioLab treatment.

This was a very engaging podcast that I very much enjoyed. Don’t expect Pulitzer Prize level journalism, but a very fun and well-rounded reflection on a timely experience. Strongest points were her discussion of doxxing/cyber bullying versus “real life” interactions in a world where the internet is increasingly becoming “real life”. I would have loved a deeper exploration of the neurodiversity within Mensa, but perhaps that is a different podcast. Thank you!

Poorly structured that makes no sense and fragments of story.. sound affect .. skip ahead or behind to another story that only correlates in her ADHD mind. She really must of been angry .. .. no way she is actually a journalist with no concept of story telling or reporting in sequence of events ..

Perusing the reviews, you can clearly see the angry MENSA dorks who are still pressed.