Love Kristen on the show — warm, compassionate and funny. And more Cody as guest, please :)

This is coming from someone who has listened to By the Book and How to be Fine for YEARS and has been a big Kristen fan. She is warm, loving and clearly a compassionate person. HOWEVER she is not a good advice giver in these podcast episodes she has guest hosted. She spends a noticeable amount of time after every letter overly sympathizing with the letter writer and nearly every character in the letter, going overboard in offering excessive apologies and well wishes and reiterating over and over how “they don’t deserve this situation” and that the feelings described in the letter are valid. While I understand the good intentions behind these statements, when they follow every letter, every situation and every person involved in the bad circumstance, they sound overly saccharine, lose their meaning and Kristen ends up sounding like a droning, insincere host who uses up time saying something we all know and inherently agree with. It’s not an intelligent way to spend her time nor our time as listeners. We are well aware no one deserves anything bad and how it’s terrible that any of us go through anything traumatic - she does not have to advertise this in such a maudlin way multiple times per episode. I wish she would do what Janee did by just diving into sound, non-patronizing advice and moving on to the next letter! Again, as a big fan of Kristen otherwise, I do think she’s obviously a good podcast host in general. However I do not think her strength lies in the world of giving concrete, usable advice. Slate, please move on to another temporary host while we desperately wait for Janee’s return!

This podcast used to be excellent, and my wife and I both thoroughly enjoyed Jenee’s hosting style, wit, and frankness. Unfortunately, Kristen (the new recurring guest host) offers trite advice and is overly apologetic. Her choice of letters also veers towards heavy content, which is a big contrast from the lighter more humorous take Jenee took. I have stopped listening to the podcast altogether and look forward to listening again when the original host returns and/or they get rid of Kristen.

Used to love this pod but Kristen’s advice is bad and often predictable.

I love this podcast but PLEASE stop saying, “unsolicited advice unprompted.” Unsolicited would imply it was also unprompted. It drives me nuts every time it’s said on the podcast.

Kristen counseled a person married to an alcoholic to be responsible for keeping their partner sober!! That simply is dangerous advice. Her advice is typically geared towards fixing other people.

I don’t agree with the advice for the woman hosting Christmas. This letter writer has the right to a peaceful Christmas with her own family and she does not deserve the chaos of four strange children in her home that no one knows or is related to. Her sister-in-law is dragging these children around when they probably just want to be where their own actual biological parents are. Her sister-in-law should stay home and host the children in her own home. Not drag them off to some strangers house where they will be completely uncomfortable, unknown and unwanted. It’s a mistake to say yes, when you actually want to say no. Children know when they aren’t wanted no matter how much you try to cover it. That said. I really do like the new hosts. But still don’t agree with the advice.

I’ve been following Kristen on By the Book for years. Can’t imagine a better Prudie.

Kristen is such a great guest Prudie!!!

Kristen Meinzer is the best Prudie yet! She has a wonderful rapport with the guests and exudes respect and kindness.

Kristen is an excellent host for DP. She’s smart and empathetic when tackling some tough issues and you can tell she takes her advice-giving serious. I’d love to see her become the permanent DP host!

More often than not, the hosts and guest hosts gang up on the letter writer!

I like this podcast but I need everyone to know that you absolutely SHOULD NOT remove the lid from your toilet and you should put the lid down before you flush every time. Otherwise you’re spraying fecal matter or urine all over your bathroom.

Really enjoyed this latest Nadira and Sam ep.

Kind, funny, clear advice

Ashley C. Ford is fantastic! I hope her guest-host role expands if that’s something she’s interested in doing

Ashley, as a guest host, is so much better at the basic job description of giving advice than Jenée, it’s nuts. Less judgmental, actually catches the details shared in the letter, WAY less holier than thou about her own choices and lifestyle, more empathetic. Jenée is sometimes very funny but mostly I find her mean. I love Ashley and would be thrilled if she became permanent Prudie.

Can’t stop listening— Jenee has great perspectives and guests!

There could be a little less idle chit-chat and more discussing questions but not bad over all.

This chick is out here stereotyping every conservative and trying to justify her hatred for them. How hasn’t she died here hair crazy colors yet.

Why is she so bad at her job? And so MEAN and snarky to the LW???? come on! go fine smth better to do, people!

OMG. Your advice was so a**-backwards I don’t even know where to start. If someone insults someone in their language or another that feeling is going to come across in the way they interact with them in other ways. I can guarantee that his daughter felt something. And guess what? His responsibility is to protect his daughter. And he did. His main responsibility is to provide his daughter a safe home environment where people who make fun of her are not allowed. And he did that. He should be praised. The wife also needs to understand that her husband needs to prioritize his daughter and she shouldn’t get involved.

Letter writers provide details to get the most of the advice they are asking for, and somehow the host and guests are terrible at retaining these details. This regularly rockets the advice off in a wildly wrong direction. With Orna as the guest they turn on the birthday letter writer about being materialistic/“wanting things” when she clearly mentions small parties, a breakfast and a hike, as a way of feeling thought-of and acknowledged for her birthday. This is so common with this show and it’s so annoying.

Stop it!!! Vocal fry must end!!!

Hearing Kiese Laymon solve problems? It does not get better.

Really poor analysis and advice. Not sure why anyone would want her take on things.

Too critical of letter writers. Too much smugness, too little compassion.

The advice always finds a way to blame the letter writer no matter how illogical

Telling a person that’s being stalked at work to “not bring it to HR because they may think you’re part of the drama” and then suggesting that they QUIT their job instead is a wild take. The host is literally advocating to accept abuse and potentially forgo your own stability in order to not rock the boat with someone that can’t behave themselves in the workplace. Horrible advice.

Love the great advice, always an interesting listen. Not psyched to hear political adverts from Big Oil.

Yikes on the anti-police rhetoric. Super judgmental viewpoints except on what is clearly important to her, and her very like-minded guests. Doesn’t seem able to think critically and if your opinion is different, you are wrong/ shamed. Very bizarre option for someone giving advice.

Normally I love this podcast but occasionally the quality of the guest’s sound is so off that it’s hard to hear and understand. Please, dear Prudence, don’t drop a show if the guest sounds like they are in a tin can.

The advice is always very one sided. I joined slate plus just for this podcast as I had heard it was great for advice. I have been very disappointed. I understand wanting to be PC but the advice Prudie gives is so one sided and she seems edited in her responses so that she won’t get canceled. Her condescending attitude and holier than thou approach to her letter writers has become increasingly unappealing. It would do her well to read some real books, educate herself a bit better, and try having a little empathy for people. Just because someone doesn’t have the same exact views as you doesn’t mean they’re a bad person. And that’s the way the show comes off.

I have unsolicited advice for bird lady. Ask him to go with you to carry equipment.

I love the show, and I have been looking forward to it every week for years!

She’s so good at giving advice! I always look forward to hearing her take.

If you’re looking for depth, this isn’t the podcast for you

I really wanted to like this podcast but I feel like the advice is very privileged and skewed. The host lacks empathy and is very judgmental of the letter writers and doesn’t provide practical advice.

Did this come up on my podcast list? Didn’t like this one- not clever, her advice is incredibly limited like she doesn’t have much life experience, or unique perspectives either. She jumps to weird conclusions and it’s not pleasant listening to her voice.

I just listened to two episodes - one about a girlfriend who wants her boyfriend to post photos of her on social media and a sister who has been asked to take down a wedding photo at her own house because it might offend her brother’s fiancé. In both cases - such unwise advice. And also - unkind to the people involved. This one is not for me.

If you don’t have kids and don’t want them this is not the podcast. Terrible advice about “changing your mind” and saying that you should change your whole life around other’s kids is very gross and tiring. Women are more than kids but they don’t get that and don’t give rational advice like “get a babysitter” or “tell your husband to actually be a parent.”

I wanted to love this, but I found that the advice was, unfortunately, quite bad.

Hello. Sometimes it feels like you are not looking at the case from all angles; it feels like you are blurting out the first idea that comes to your mind. When people write in, you gotta consider that they are going to take what you say to heart. There is an answer one gives when a question is sprung on them out of nowhere but in your case, u get so much time to consider all options, and consider the possibilities.

Prudence your valley girl/vocal fry is incredibly annoying. I recognize it’s also very contagious so if your friends speak with this affectation can be difficult to overcome. Please see a speech therapist before it impacts your professional life.

I could talk about each letter forever with my friends and family.

I have enjoyed listening to many of the episodes, and I do find it entertaining! However, I often feel like the host lacks compassion for the people writing in and almost shames them. Also, she often takes very large leaps as to what the letter writer’s problem actually is (when she needs more details to flesh it out). I would love to listen to future episodes where she tries to be more thoughtful.

I just started listening today. I love the discussion and advice about each situation. I also appreciate that I always get a few laughs from each episode.

Whether it’s the host who pronounces the “n” in “columnist” or the illiterate letter readers who are saying half of these words for the first time (again, incorrectly), I can’t handle how dumb everyone is. Also that the gist and all of her guests make everything about race and being black, even when that’s not the topic or a thing the letter writer has mentioned.

This podcast reminds me of a Reddit board. A great place to get in-depth answer to a question, but the advice will be super biased with a high chance of being wrong. So as long as someone listens to the advice as they would an open forum of non-experts on a subject, it’s well-produced and entertaining

Prudence gives great advice and the questions are always interesting.