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Comment by simooooo | Hacker News Reader

Leo laporte is not a cool guy.

I've been listening to some of his podcasts but narrowed it down to only SN. On his other podcasts I get news that I have already picked up here (days earlier). I remember that the drop that did it for me was some guy on his M$ podcast 'commanding us' to be good slaves and shut up about the M$ excessive and intrusive telemetry because if M$ wants something we should just shut up and comply.

Leo also tends to invite people who cannot speak, they "erm" every two words, and I also remember a lady saying "like" like every other word, like you get my point, like go see a speech specialist, like you get me.

One more point on the "not cool", two years back he made a switch from having an opinion on things to just sucking up on everyone (good and/or bad). I think that ad slowed down so he changed his tune.

I like Security Now. And when Fr. Robert Ballecer is covering for Leo I simply love it. Leo is a little clueless on the hard issues, and Fr. Robert can milk more info out of Steve and go to more in depth discussions. Too bad he's leaving the network...

I agree! I really like the back and forth between Fr. Robert and Gibson, it feels a bit more dynamic than Gibson and Leo. Leo never seems to have read as much into the topic before the podcast (and perhaps so since he is in so many netcasts on the network).

According to one of the things Fr. Robert said on air, they're making a studio in the Vatican. Perhaps we'll still see some tech talk coming from him once it's done.

Exactly right. I stopped listening to SN, because Laporte being on auto-pilot for 90% of each episode does not make for an interesting conversation.

What I hate (and it happened in the most recent SN) is when Steve explains something then Leo asks a question about the thing Steve just talked about. At least try and pay attention.

There's a silver lining to his absentee hosting style. When I'm skipping past a commercial (hitting the +15 button), I know that I can keep hitting it until I don't hear his voice anymore. He's basically only there to read the ads.

Ever been on radio? you'd be surprised how often non professionals say um,er when you listen to your self after the fact

Care to elaborate? I never got too into his shows, but he never seemed particularly uncool to me.

Don't bother. his (simooo) opinion is no more valid than anyone else. Not coincidentally anyone can see Leo puts out original content for a very long time. From the beginning. No matter what I hope he always is able to keep doing it.

Not opinion. Facts

Biased but some context: totaldrama.net

That just looks like a website made by a hateful obsessive.

I think the site is run by an ex-employee. There is a lot of drama about nothing, however there are some cases were Leo is clearly not a "good" person especially when it comes to how he treats his employees.

I was a fan of Leo from back in the zdtv days but over the last year I've had enough of him and don't watch anything he does any more. Reasons include his constant use of "funny" indian and russian accents, constant on air sexual "jokes" to and about female guests (he once admitted on air that Kate Botello filed a complaint with HR about him back in the techtv days and Shannon Morse and Sarah Lane have both made a #metoo post which many believe to refer at least in part to Leo), and other things like his inability to be on time for his own shows (he has even been late for his radio show more than once), total lack of preparation for shows, spending tens of thousands on vacations while complaining about how expensive it is to pay his employees, and turning on former cohosts like Tom Merritt, Brian Brushwood, and Justin Young.

Wow, yeah, that's pretty uncool. Thanks for filling me in.

I don't mind the rest of it so much but I have to agree about the sexual joking around with his female cohosts. They are clearly uncomfortable, it's palpable. And he KEEPS DOING IT. I would give him a break once, maybe twice, but it is persistent in some cases to the point where it's borderline harrasment - and that's what we can hear on air. Who knows what happens when we are not listening.

It's a good reminder to those of us who assume otherwise that otherwise perfectly intelligent, rational and seemingly polite and reasonable people can be completely blind to this sort of thing.

The way he treats his female guests/co-hosts.

Accidentally streaming his private porn habits repeatedly.

Would you mind elaborating? As a long time viewer of Twit and several umbrella shows, I'd love to find out more.

Showing his ding dong on the video feed, revealing his porn habits, talking very unprofessionally to female colleagues

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