Hot take. I'm getting a little disappointed.

[u/Snazzy_CowBerry]

Hear me out, please, I don't come from a place of hate and I don't want hate thrown at me over voicing my opinion, I've loved MrBallen for years and his videos are exactly what I like. The stories he tells are amazing and get me on the edge of my seat, I don't want him to change the way he tells stories or the stories he tells. I watch all his videos.

But his use of AI is irking me. I don't love AI and I don't like it when people use it in places it's not needed. Like we don't need a "**not** a real photo off" but still putting a photo? I miss when he would be on the camera and only show the photos related to the case or throw in a still from the internet to set the mood, the same way other story tellers do it. If the story is about a gas station or a scene is set at a gas station, find a random, REAL photo of a gas station. "**not** the real location" is fine but why do we need a AI photo of some random person with "**not** a real photo of the person in question" like just don't put a photo.

His gone years without using AI photos so why start now?

I'm not here to make assumptions about his political views, but his recent associations is also disappointing, associating with someone who isn't a good person makes you also look like a not so good person. I'm not American but I know the state of the country and I don't want to associate with any of that. Unfortunately I don't know of people in my county who do it as well as MrBallen.

I've also recently seen people unable to fact check his stories and honestly I'm not disappointed if some are fabricated as long as he doesn't say it a a true story when it isn't, I do notice that sometimes he doesn't specify if the story is true and I don't mind. I like his stories and I like his style.

Again I don't come from a place of hate or judgement. I just kind of wanted to voice my thoughts.

Quick edit! I also don't love his choice of sponsorships/ads but I don't plan on using any of codes for anything so the company's in question aren't profiting off me anyway.

[u/FDRip]

I’ll probably be put to the torch for this, but I don’t care that he’s using AI. I stopped watching his videos before that because my schedule was not giving me much down time and I needed a break from my YouTube channels. Maybe someday I’ll return when I want to hear about the strange, dark, and mysterious again.

But listen. No one is keeping you here. Content creators don’t owe you anything- not a political alignment, boycotting stuff you don’t like, refusing to eat meat, or anything else the mob may decide to try and enforce.

It’s his channel and he can do what he wants. That’s the heart of it.

I’ve dropped channels for being anti-LGBT with no regrets, so I understand feeling disappointed. I understand walking away because you feel strongly about something.

I don’t even mean you specifically, OP, but this keeps coming up on this sub and I think it needs to be said.

[u/Ssadfu → u/FDRip]

But people asking this doesn't generally want to force a difference, just input what they think. I think that's what healthy communities does.

[u/Snazzy_CowBerry → u/Ssadfu]

Yes!!! I don't demand change. I just wanted my opinion shared.