I enjoyed John and Leo butting heads. I agree that it was great. It's a bummer they haven't done that for a long time.

It was great until Leo went off the deep end and lost 99% of his audience.

Both of them kind of lost the thread. I really enjoyed the show but they became increasingly polarized and unmoving in their opinions.

When Leo cut off Dvroak and CJal I turned out. You really do need that sort of personality for people to bounce off otherwise its less entertaining.

Is CJal here supposed to be JCal by chance? I feel like that was close to 15 years ago, but I'm in the same boat. I used to listen to almost every show Twit put out, which was quite a bit.

I didn't stick around that long to see what became of it.

I see different people saying different things about Leo and John. What happened?

I think their butting heads eventually got on both of their nerves. John would derail the show just to get under Leo’s skin. And Leo became increasingly ridged with the show structure. The show was losing popularity and I think some guests said they didn’t like John because he was cranky and his politics, but the real issue was probably that the studio was no longer as convenient for people to get to.

At the same time they both became increasingly politically polarized. John C Davorak became a full right wing conspiracy theorist. Leo increasingly embraced the left wing ideology of the moment.

It came to a head with that story about the kid making a clock and getting in trouble. Leo was all in on one side that it was about racism and such, with John suggesting he fell for a media lie.

I think John turned out to be right in the end. They did seem to patch things up with John appearing on a episode years later I think "a christmas miracle" was the title, but that was the last time he was on as far as I know.

I used to listen to so many TwiT podcasts 10+ years ago. But then slowly lost interest and I don't remember why.

But they used to be awesome. FLOSS weekly, Security Now, MacBreak Weekly, etc.

But a few years ago, I found out there were some scandals at TwiT, etc, but the network still seems to be going on though.

The last place I listened to Leo was that security podcast I think Leo hosting with Steve Gibson. And it just seemed devoid of any useful information whatsoever. Then one day I decided if I don't learn something I can use at work during my entire drive to work, I'm just not listening again. And that was that.

What were the scandals? I still listen to TWIT and MBW, but they are so long and too preachy sometimes. If you get past that and some other things (constant AI talk), they are still good shows.

Deep end how?

It’s no tech all lecture about evil nobody wants to listen to that shit.

IMHO they both went a bit too far. Used to love Twit (with JCD), used to love NoAgenda (when they were still relatively politically neutral), I guess it mirrors a bit what happened to their country.

RIP BuzzKill.

And Leo will say nothing but nice things about him and express nothing but regret when he talks about this on the next episode.

I am not sure John would have done the same.

Why take this to a place of insults and divisive antagonizing?

It’s ok I am sure John would appreciate the discussion. They both are treasures.

As a counter to the many comments I saw implying that Leo is mostly to blame for their disagreements and "banned" John. Those "insults and divisive antagonizing" came first, and which I notice you did not object to, curiously.

I liked them both too. And I listened to No Agenda for a while, and my opinion is based on years of hearing and reading them both.

I promise you John would have been sad. Their differences are similar to why half the country dislikes the political views of the other half of our country. They both were tech nerds at heart and they both are treasures even with Leo’s TDS.

The only "TDS" is Trump devotion/defense syndrome.

Maga all seem pretty derganged to me.

Same...well I'll always remember it as ZDTV. Maybe it was my youth, but I remember how exciting tech was then - cool new websites, gadgets, services, etc.

I haven't followed him much since, and seeing his recent pictures made me realize how much time has passed since those days.

Rest in peace, sir.

I watched ZDTV, later renamed Tech TV, on my big ugly satellite dish.

Dvorak's show was called Silicon Spin. John had a panel of guests, sort of like the original Meet the Press with Lawrence E. Spivak.

I also listened to a weekly public radio show named Real Computing. John would interview entrepreneurs about their new tech products. I think about 3 interviews per show. The station which carried Real Computing in Albuquerque was KANW, 89.1 FM.

I never heard of No Agenda until this Hacker News piece, and it seems to me Silicon Spin and Real Computing were probably much more worth my time, so I didn't miss much in my ignorance of No Agenda.

I miss the older shows, and I would have appreciated more similar appearances by John since, but those days are gone. RIP.