2021 is quickly shaping up to the be the Year of the Censor. Already this year we’ve seen the best of our journalists driven out of high-profile positions and going independent.
From Glenn Greenwald being forced out at the company he helped found, The Intercept, to Matt Taibbi leaving Rolling Stone, the days of the independent voice in media is being driven underground.
Even with them gone to newcomer Substack, that hasn’t satisfied the gatekeepers of political correctness, who want them unable to even make a living.
If they can silence voices that large, then it has chilling implications for smaller voices.
For a creator like me there is real risk tying my livelihood to a platform like Patreon whose history with hosting controversial material is spotty to say the least.
Patreon has been walking this path for a couple of years now but with its recent spate of bans it is quickly morphing into a company without a future, a company with a permanently damaged brand.
And, for the record, I consider this a real shame.
What began as a platform for creators to bypass the publishing gatekeepers that guys like Taibbi and Greenwald fought the good fight against for years has, sadly, morphed into a platform more interested in sanitizing the creative drive of budding artists rather than nurturing it.
I say this as a person who saw Patreon as my best option when I went independent back in early 2017. Even then there were signs that “Cancel Culture” would reach deeper and deeper into alternative media.
What started with the de-platforming of ‘alt-right Nazis’ during the 2016 presidential campaign, quickly escalated into the war on disinformation from gadflies and performance artists like Milo Yiannopolous and Alex Jones.
Jones was targeted because of his coverage of the Sandy Hook tragedy. He was a test case to gauge the level of public pushback against removing a dissident voice from the public forum.
The story of Twitter alternative, Gab, whose only crime is strictly adhering to the First Amendment and the Supreme Court’s limits on it, is even worse than Jones’ story.
Patreon lost major revenue streams from people like Jordan Peterson and Dave Rubin over Patreon’s treatment of Carl “Sargon of Akkad” Benjamin. Rubin would go on to build a Patreon alternative, Locals, in response.
By the end of the Trump Administration Big Tech censorship kicked into high gear, further extending the argument about protecting public safety from ‘bad information’ into the public health narrative surrounding COVID-19.
And this is what got major investigative journalists like Whitney Webb, John Corbett, Venessa Beeley and others removed from Patreon recently, their coverage of COVID-19, the vaccines and political impulses behind them.
But that is the current line in the sand for the Big Tech firms. Cross it and get de-platformed. I’m not saying it’s right. It’s not. But that’s the state of play.
The lesson for all purveyors of any counter-narrative at this point is they must be aware of the ever-shifting line if they want to continue having a voice.
And this brings me to the crux of the problem. What do we do about it as consumers and producers? Patreon is supposed to be a middleman, I get that they only want to host certain kinds of content as is their right as a business.
Crowdfunding is a powerful tool. I saw it validated first-hand when the legendary rock band (and personal favorite) Marillion’s fans accidentally created it funding their 1997 tour of the U.S. and then the band itself by asking for the production costs of their 2001 album Anoraknophobia up front.
This was the first instance of a fanbase and a creator openly working together without the middleman taking all the profit. I jumped at the chance to back their next project, the incredible album Marbles, and every crowdfunded project thereafter to support their assault on the rapacious record industry.
Their goal was simple, use the funds to become their own recording and distribution company, freeing themselves from the wants of a label. It not only worked, but it was also the proof of concept that spawned an entire industry.
It turned the entire business model for artists on its head. Now an artist could keep most of the revenue their work generated versus the other way around. Now unit sales in the thousands or even hundreds, priced properly, could sustain an artist rather than needing to reach the millions the big distribution houses supposedly had access to.
The board game industry is going through a boom like never before because of Kickstarter. Boutique games with insane production values can make it to the market turning a labor of love into a shared reality.
When your art, however, is journalism or political commentary, in a world becoming increasingly polarized politically and when those in power are paranoid about losing control over the public narrative, unfortunately all bets are off.
Now, those people, like me, are faced with the very real threat of crossing the line and losing our lives.
Because stifling dissent is the last resort of a tyrant and a scoundrel. And there is pressure on companies like Patreon and banks to cancel those out of political favor.
In this kind of environment is is nearly impossible to tell the difference between a company helping the censorship willingly or going along under threat of extinction themselves.
As a libertarian I believe strongly that companies, like people, have the right to deny someone being its customer. Freedom of association implies freedom from association.
But I also understand the reality that the playing field is tilted towards those that control access to not only the internet bandwidth but also the banking system. And when those people are also the same ones who control the government and the media there is no ‘safe space’ for anyone who speaks their mind openly.
It’s one thing for Apple to deny Parler or Gab an app on their app store. I don’t agree with it, but I get it. It’s quite another for a bank to deny them service because of the threat of retribution from government, which is what is happening here.
As a creator tied to Patreon today I want to continue validating not only my own business model but Patreon’s. As I thrive, they thrive.
I see them not just as a service provider but as a partner in my business. I want them to make decisions which support the rights of all creators to have a voice in the marketplace of ideas, including those they disagree with or even despise.
That’s what the first amendment is supposed to protect.
If those ideas are terrible then let them not flourish. And if the information is untrue let them bear the consequences of that as well in court.
I’ve been inundated with notices from current and potential Patrons that they won’t do business with Patreon because of their latest abrogation of the public trust. They want to support people they respect. They want fairness brought back to the playing field and let the best ideas win.
After four years of consistent attacks by the undeserved self-righteousness of the woke mob and the tyrants who support them, they want to exercise the only power they feel they have left in the Culture War.
And I fully respect that position. I canceled my subscription to Netflix for this reason.
But no solution today is a perfect one. There’s always some part of the business that is offensive to someone else. Locals, as Dave Rubin pointed out during the assault on Parler, uses Amazon Web Services for its data hosting.
It’s a vulnerability. If you hate Amazon for what they did to Parler, will you boycott Locals because of it?
The hallmark of the free market is that it coordinates the labor and time of millions of people, most of whom wouldn’t like each other if they ever met. Murray Rothbard is famous for saying to never let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
And Patreon, to this point, has been very good to me. And to my customers even though they are far from perfect.
Something many of you may not realize, with the freedom to publish comes the responsibility of management. Independent producers aren’t just journalists, cartoonists and writers, they are also marketers, accountants, managers and editors.
There’s a time cost associated with the choice to walk away from Patreon or any other censorious platform. That time cost is exactly what the tyrants want us to pay. They want us distracted with their harassment and not producing content which challenges them.
That’s why I felt this article needed to be written, to remind us all what our goals are and the true face of the battle we are fighting.
There’s a certain irony in continuing to use the very tools they think they are oppressing us with to point out their hypocrisy.
Most importantly, with the proliferation of competition and the rapid adoption of cryptocurrencies as a payment layer and the blockchain as a bulwark against censorship, the days of this kind of pressure are numbered anyway.
As always, the market will provide a solution.
Patreon, in my opinion, is committing brand suicide with its decisions today that they will not likely recover from. For now, I choose to take the high road and treat Patreon the way they have treated me. There is no profit for anyone in borrowing trouble that may never come.
Because that may be the biggest self-inflicted wound of all.
This piece is original for Daily Liberty News…and is reprinted with permission
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You make a well reasoned argument. Since there is nothing anyone can do but vote with their feet, Patreon is out for me personally. Near me there are 3 major pet food stores. I used to do most of my business with one. Last summer, they sent me an email that said they are supporting BLM. I have not shopped there since. If everyone “voted” like this, things might change. There is no other choice left.
Fair enough, but I disagree with the point about there ‘being no other choice.’ This is EXACTLY the choice they want you and me to make, versus ignoring them and continuing on. The BDS model of division is being exported onto the ‘right’ as much as it’s taken over the SJW left.
Moreover, who are you not supporting here. Dog food is easily cross-shopped, political commentary not so much.
So boycotting me over my using Patreon is not the same as shopping at a different store for the same product. You are harming ME far more than you are harming Patreon.
Guys like Peterson and Rubin are trailblazers and independently wealthy enough to make the decisions they did. And when I’m ready to move off Patreon to a different model I will.
The best thing to do is ignore them. You’re free to do what you want with your money but withholding money from patreon is withholding money from me, a lot more. What do you value more? My voice or Patreon’s?
Since they take 5% of revenue, is your boycott worth the at most $0.60 per month? That’s what this comes down to, literal money you find in your couch.
But, honestly, I get you making that choice.
It’s all about hating the sin not the sinner isn’t it? If my sin of staying with Patreon is too great, fine, but understand who it is you are REALLY punishing.
Nonsense. Enjoy oblivion.
It’s easy to project your principles onto others when you don’t have skin in their game. More self-righteous twaddle from short-sighted libertarians who would rather be right than successful
>It’s a vulnerability. If you hate Amazon for what they did to Parler, will you boycott Locals because of it?
I call it for what it is: shit for brains platform #2. The enemy is ruthless, weakest links get hit first. I won’t be caught dead rewarding that kind of stupidity again. That’s the entire problem: we need way higher standards, _they_ keep them low – that’s my problem with your article. I kept my mouth shut to the public about computing and privacy since 2010 and they’ve weaponized everything I chose never to speak up against, most of it architecture having nothing to do with conspiracy and affecting literally everyone. When even the architecture isn’t sound, I’m not even going to look at policy anymore, fix it or douse it.
The bigger issue that people fail to understand is that it’s not just the social media platforms. It is the underlying technology companies that provide the infrastructure that the entire web 2.0 universe resides. They are also censoring via debanking.
People say “it’s their platform they are private companies build your own.” Good in theory. Capitalism to the rescue rather than more gubment laws right? Not so fast. Once you get down to building it, you will quickly find that the tech being used will be yanked from you once you present a threat. Then you innovate your own solution to address said obstacle. Then they come for your domain name. You find a solution. Then they go after your hosting. You find a solution. Then they go after your monetization. You find a solution. Then they go after your credit card processing. You find a solution. Then they go after your banking. Ask me how I know…
The farce of this entire attack on the natural rights of mankind is that the largest and most problematic censors of speech are ones that were seed funded by DARPA and used currently by intelligence agencies. So this is very much a 1st Amendment issue. However, that’s a case no law firm will take and no politician will even admit to.
The real solution to this “problem” is truly to develop an entirely different “system” with technology that “they” cannot control, is immutable, distributed and is peer to peer.
Agreed, Chris. And I’ve written extensively about this and what I want to see. It’s fucking wrong! And we need solutions quick. It’s why I love crypto and why I think the first real use case as a payment layer funding the real economy will be for those forced out of the old dollar-based system
They are creating their competition with this nonsense.
And when it’s there and we can really make it work (I’ve embraced alternative platforms for years) I’m all over it.
But, for now I see no upside in ditching a platform I haven’t had any issues with, especially since what they are ‘censoring’ at this point isn’t what I’m selling people.
Tom L.
Patreon was designed to become a mechanism of control from the getgo, just like youtube. Start out with wild west freedom until people are hooked to their plasma screens, and then slowly tighten the thumbscrews. Except with the start of the scamdemic is has not been so slowly. This company cannot care less whether it earns a profit or not, or if it self-destructs in the process of eliminating free speech. (BTW it’s James Corbett).
Coward!
reactionary!
You talking to me?
He’s projecting.
I applaud you, Tom, for persisting in your contractual relationship with *the platform*, calling it “partner” even though it’s been de-platforming other important independent voices.
Why? Because I see the squeeze now being applied in the domestic information space to be of a piece with the sanctions/blockade tourniquet that’s been applied geopolitically for a very long time. And, because I hear in this article of yours an echo of Putin’s method of handling the “Western partners” even while some of them were desperately trying to choke or starve the Russian Federation into submission.
We all witnessed how, by side-stepping direct confrontation and leaving open the potential for allegiances to shift and change, Putin’s team successfully leveraged a brutal sanctions regime to strengthen the RF’s position and, more importantly, buy time to build up defences for the next phase of the struggle. They did not indulge in self-defeating gestures like storming out of a space to ‘send a message’ to their tormenters; they just carried on and got their work done.
I remember a moment during the Obama admin when many citizens of the Russian Federation had had about enough of Putin’s infuriating equanimity toward these Western “so-called partners.” He was asked: And why are we still selling the U.S. our rocket engines?!? To which he responded (paraphrasing): Because, unlike some other countries I could name, we strive not to shoot ourselves in the foot.
IMO, you are taking the correct (most effective and constructive) approach. There is no doubt in my mind that, if or when the time comes to make a move, you’ll be all saddled up and ready to ride. No need at all for you to shoot yourself in the foot.
~ Laninya
Laninya,
Thank you for this comment. This is exactly my point and your bringing Putin’s discretion into the discussion is a perfect example of, in effect, highlighting the hypocrisy and taking the constructive approach.
I’m all for people voting with their feet, but do so in such a way that maximizes you and your needs not letting them set the terms of the debate.
This is all rationalization for associating with a corporate state censor that has been exercising arbitrary power to destroy the livelihoods of people who do not parrot the positions of the dominant ideology. This column and this bizarre comment is an embarrassing capitulation that shows a lack of principle. You are not Putin selling rocket engines. Have personally lost respect for you. I will not support patreon and any self-respecting small “l” libertarian will do the same.
“They want us distracted with their harassment and not producing content which challenges them.”
Again, gross hypocrisy.
Besides, don’t you libertarians have a proviso?
If, in this case, Patreon is a private entity, they have the right to censor anyone they wish, correct?
Something about private property garbage?
Again, rhetorical question.
This is just more examples of “libertarian” flip-flopping and incoherent arguments.
Step 1. Introduce the internet.
Step 2. Make it fun, useful and convenient.
Step 3. Get people to willing divulge their entire lives, electronically.
Step 4. Allow people to express wide ranging ideas and opinions.
Step 5. Get people hooked.
Step 6. Now it’s times to begin the process of marginalizing, discrediting and eventually disappearing the “wrong” side. Publicly? Privately? No matter. They know what and how to attack. What words to use. Heck. They lie real good too.
Step 7. There. Don’t you feel better now that all the loons, kooks, conspiracy theorists, America lovers, freedom lovers, small government proponents, antivaxers, antimaskers and people that disagree with or question the MSM, are a distant memory. Yes. You do feel better.
Or “Year of the autist” or “year of the token”… Thinking also of token elections, the token president….. token free speech.
You are a coward,that lacks the backbone to do what your claimed values, dictate. You hurt youself by staying on Patreon. Patreon distributes all manner of porn under its paywall, in direct violation of its terms of use and its public proclaimations.
They also have an indemnity clause that requires you to pay for thier defense, should they get sued because of you. Even if they were prone to protect you, do you think some cancel culture apparatchik wont use that clause to cause you harm?
Your fellow travelors have been purged from that platform, but you stay, because it would be inconvenient, and scary, to make a change. Totally oblterating your credibility.
In fact, just the fact that you are still allowed on patreon makes me question your bona fides.
Dont support those that hate you, or traitors that use and support those that hate you. You are a traitor. To yourself, and your proclaimed values. Your actions indict you.
Your focus on patreon has blinded you to a whole universe of opportunity, because you are enslaved by your fears of inconvenience, and hardship.
No, I’m not a coward. I am a realist and I will move from Patreon when It is best for my business not when makes people who have never given me a dime of support their jollies.
The work isn’t free. My time isn’t free. There are other options out there and when the time is right I will explore them. It isn’t to say I’m not looking into them now (I am) but I’m not going to uproot my business lose likely 1/3 to 1/2 of my subscribers in the switch simply to make a statement that makes people with zero skin in my game happy.
It’s not about it being inconvenient or even scary. It’s about the fact that I am very unlikely to be purged from Patreon because my content doesn’t cross their line in the sand.
My fellow travelers (whom I have nothing but massive respect for) knew the risks they were taking publishing the content they were publishing through the platform they were using.
“Dont support those that hate you, or traitors that use and support those that hate you. You are a traitor. To yourself, and your proclaimed values. Your actions indict you.”
And you obviously didn’t read the article in full. Where do I go to become pure and not a traitor in your eyes? What level of purity test do I have to pass to ‘restore my bona fides’ in your view.?
This is the path to the same madness that has gripped the left. Cancel Culture is now a big feature of the so-called dissident right and growing worse with every provocation.
I choose not to go to war with people who have done me no harm and I’m the bad guy?
I think it’s time you and people like you realize that’s not the path to winning. What is the path to winning is continuing to take the high road, point out the difficulties and bear the consequences both good and bad.
If Patreon cancels me at some point it will validate everything I’ve said on the subject and I will move to protect myself. But I won’t do so because you told me to.
You want me to inspire you to greater things? I choose to slay my opposition with kindness and the offer of continued mutually beneficial commerce.
That’s the libertarian way. The Objectivist way, towards which madness lies (which is why I’m NOT an Objectivist) is to go to war with everyone who is NOT HIM.
Tom is you are “REALLY LOOKING” for a Patreon alternative you would be using Vomvos. It has the creator monetization functionality of Patreon with video hosting of Youtube, news feed like Facebook, p2p encrypted video/voice chat of WhatsApp, group video chat of Zoom, integration with Discord and Facebook profile import that moves all your posts, images and video into your Vomvos user profile.
Users are in total control of what they choose to see or not to see. The content feed is 100% organic.
There is a lot more in the works too I would love to share with you. https://vomvos.com/become-a-creator
Thank you for this, Chris. Now tell me what’s your payment layer because that’s what this is REALLY all about in the end.
The platform doesn’t matter. What matters is interfacing with the dollar system which is where the attacks are really focused on…. denying us a living.
I can move to Subscribestar or Locals or whatever but if Stripe refuses them service then it doesn’t matter.
Until and unless there is a relatively secure means by which to GET PAID, because the business, like it or not, still runs on dollars, then switching platforms is just borrowing trouble and complicating things.
Again, I’m not absolving Patreon here, but from my perspective, as someone doing this for my living, not as a hobby, there are real issues here that most commenters are not considering in their knee jerk reaction to condemn me or Patreon for things outside of our control
When Patreon feels the roughly $300 they make from me a month is not worth their time, then they’ll change their ToS and boot me.
That’s what happened to Whitney and the others. I wish they’d chosen differently but they didn’t and here we are.
I love that there are new platforms opening up. I want the competition. I want good people to be rewarded and evil punished but sometimes those lines aren’t as neatly drawn as we’d like them to be.
So, you do your best and make decisions that serve both you and your customers best.
And live with the odd call of “traitor!” from people who have never given you a dime.
There’s a critical mass where a large chunk of users leave a site or service at once, like myspace, you’re standing on the scale for the sheep. These are actions you want to incentivize and my funds and willingness to use an “adversarial” service are prioritized by their and my desperation after ethics. I’ll funnel money through a low-key patreon, less to a guy grandstanding for their model from his personal dealings. If you’d said “I’ll keep this link hidden here guys, don’t say it too loud” I would’ve said a-ok mate game the game.
I’m not grandstanding. I’m running a business. And my business is to get people to sign up for my content and analysis. So, to make you happy I have to do this on the sligh so, what? You don’ t have to feel ashamed for supporting a Patreon?
Please, man, put yourself in my shoes for 20 seconds.
This isn’t a hobby. It’s my livelihood. There are other ways to get (most) of the content and the truly committed ask and receive. I’m happy to take your money however you want to give it to me but I won’t (because I’ve tried) serve multiple platforms.
send me an email and we’ll discuss it. The last time I wrote about this issue I put a direct link in the article for people to sign up another way and guess what?
15 inquiries, 1 sign up. Since writing both of these articles explaining why I’m staying with Patreon despite my misgivings, 50 new patrons.
This article was meant to be fair to both sides of the divide. I’ve written about this issue before. It’s not an all or nothing thing. Whatever you want to do is fine with me, but if you value what I do then you may have to hold your nose and give Patreon 5% of the money. That’s as cheap as it gets.
There are no blameless solutions.
I can’t get my salary paid over altcoins either, I put myself in your shoes before anything. You say “do what it takes $” then “I won’t serve multiple platforms”, guess what, I have 10 other causes I want to support that do exactly that and more for my own self-interest, as for causes, how’s sci-hub for value of information, ongoing legal cases (not sure how this survived so long https://www.gofundme.com/f/adamson-bbq-legal-defence-fund ). This is a perspective of your market from someone on the fence.
I understand what you mean from another perspective. I stood by my ISP even though they overcharge and monopolize against their rivals and piss off some users because the service was solid but they clearly stood for privacy rights so they were relatively honest compared to other players still somewhat to this day. I pay a premium for that connection and to support the landline economy. At one point I got a DMCA for torrenting but it was after they were legally forced by the industry lobby.
You could kind of mimic that with patreon, but the difference is I make an active attempt to give 0$ to any censor, and I slowly chip at providers toward that goal, relatively downward never upward. That forces them to fight for me if they want my business. No one I knew was censored by this ISP (unless they privately lobbied government against their stated public interest) and they allow liberal downstream providers, and there are huge concerns over information privacy and data retention with stuff leaking to police and rebuilt cases but all the agencies have it anyway and the alternative providers run on the same infrastructure or aren’t built yet. I’m supporting the most freedom-supporting infrastructure I can find. If people start getting censored by my ISP with encrypted connections I make plans to ditch as long as an alternative exists, and I’ve communicated my thoughts to them indirectly on this, positive feedback. I guess do what you feel is right for you. Whether he’s a plant or not Trump just condemned Coke. I guess we’ll find out if you survive the purge so prove me wrong and change Patreon’s mind, good luck, no hard feelings.
I couldn’t agree with you more Tom https://media.tenor.com/images/9305c2ee3fbb99571c10fa3362a16665/tenor.gif Thank you for insightful thought. Jimclarkjr867@gmail.com or http://www.wedevelopeurapp@gmail.com 🤔
Tom if you would like to discuss your concerns in greater detail and the solutions that we have developed thus far / have in the works to address your current concerns as well as ones that you have not even considered yet I would be more than happy to. Platform does matter, as does the underlying tech architecture, payment layer, hosting, domain, etc.
The tech we are developing is very disruptive. Let’s chat. We have secure, encrypted p2p voice/video chat on vomvos. I am pretty sure that you are going to like what we are working on.
Chris, I’d love to. I am busy right now, but send me an email tom dot luongo at outlook dot com and we’ll go further.
Tom: Not knowing how deals between content creators and Patreon are structured, I want to ask if it is an “all or none” choice for you regarding revenue. In other words, does Patreon have the exclusive right to process all donations to you, or are you free to set up alternate ways of accepting revenue from followers?
Each person that wants to counter recent trends has to make choices about his business relationships. How much inconvenience he will tolerate? How much higher a price is he willing to pay? What might he be willing to do without? The choice on how to to enable the continued existence of a given service by continuing to use it is a personal one for each of us.
My personal choices: 1) Try harder to find and patronize alternatives where they exist. 2) Be willing to pay more for those alternatives when necessary. 3) Where no alternatives exist, ask myself long and hard just how badly I really want what I am thinking of purchasing.
That all said, I do not propose to cut off my nose to spite my face. I have loosened the Google cord as much as possible (although I have found that it is almost impossible to cut that cord completely without rendering my phone almost non-functional). I essentially abandoned Amazon even though it often costs me a bit more to buy something elsewhere. Just the other day I saw a book wanted that could only be found on Amazon; I thought long and hard before deciding I really didn’t need it that bad, but the choice might have gone the other way.
My question for you is whether or not you have any other ways set up to accept contributions. I am not completely set against using Patreon (yet!), and indeed fund a couple of others that way. But again, I always look for alternatives.
Willem,
I understand all of these issues. Patreon has no exclusive hold on me at all. I own the copyright to the material and can do with it what I want.
I do not and will not, given my workload, maintain multiple platforms. Been there, done that, burned out in no time and didn’t serve anyone well.
I’ll be happy to take crypto for a sub to the newsletter and the market reports. I do it for a handful of people already who had the gumption to email me and ask.
But, truthfully, here’s the gig. Patreon takes 5% of the revenue. It’s couch money.
Now, think about this carefully from Patreon’s perspective. I bring in X, they get 5% of X. In a politically charged environment where behind the scenes pressure is immense on companies willing or unwilling to go along with government edicts, do you think if you’re Patreon you have to a risk/reward analysis of hosting the content of certain creators.
Even if they wanted to host that material, aren’t they making the same choice I am in deciding against hosting certain people?
Again, not saying it’s right, just saying it’s a reality. We all want to be Randian Superheroes, uncompromisingly going through their days creating their art but the reality is far less black and white. I say this knowing both sides of the argument and agreeing with both of them.
Do what you will. As I said to another commenter, making my position on Patreon clear, given the caveats, has gotten me a lot more subs than keeping quiet about it.
So, if you want to contribute/sign up and do so through a means you can respect, email me, get some crypto and we’ll talk. Because your other option at this point is Paypal and they are honestly worse.
The question I have for you is what do you value more? My voice or Patreon’s? It’s a 19 to 1 split. I’m happy if you read the blog, happy if you share the content around. If you sign up all the better.
For me it’s about the tradeoff of quality produced versus time administering a site and the quality of my life. You decide if that’s worth $0.60 per month to you.
Tom–I understand completely and agree with what you wrote above. As I mentioned, I am no “Radian superhero” nor am I completely uncompromising; I just do what I can and work with what I have. I already support three other content creators via Patreon, and just thought the question was worth asking.
Thank you Willem, and I wanted to make sure we were on the same page. I know this is a thorny issue and I hate feeling compromised on this, but I’m trying to make the best of a dicey situation while also giving Patreon every opportunity to ‘succeed.’ It’s that whole hate the sin not the sinner thing.
After our discussion, I decided last Friday to go ahead and sign up with you as a paid contributor. Sadly, that started a big ring-around-the-rosy with Patreon.
First off, they wouldn’t accept my cc payment, which was only irritating. But their system went beyond that and decided it didn’t like something about the transaction (what?), and so they also announced that they were locking me out of my account for “suspicious activity”.
In addition to not being able to support your blog, but also locks my access to the subscriber posts of to two other bloggers I supported with annual subscriptions.
It took until this morning (Tuesday) before they finally let me back in. I tried again, and the same thing happened a second time. (What is it Einstein said about doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result?)
I know that none of this is your fault, nor is it likely you can do anything about it. But since these people work for you (and not me), it is something you ought to be aware of.
What’s the phrase I’m looking for? Oh yeah.
DIVIDE AND CONQUER! That’s it.
Tom, how do you see the ban btc momentum which seems to be gathering? Will you be writing an article?
I’m not so interested in this Patreon debate. If Patreon have shut down some notable people, then all the more reason for you to redouble your efforts and keep the volume up.
Thank you Marcus, that’s the spirit!
As for the ramping up of banning bitcoin, they have to be very careful in how they do this because if they go that route and fail to kill it it will be a fatal blow to their credibility.
For sure Tom, but an all-out assault is a clear and present danger, and we need some good analysis.
Makes complete sense to stick with Patreon until a viable alternative surfaces.
What does not make sense to me is wealthy backers like Rubin and Mercer going the greedy/lazy route and throwing copy cat apps onto AWS. Apps are commodities. The real battle is on the back end of the tech. Odysee, Parler, Locals, etc are all completely reliant upon AWS as well as the good intentions of central leadership. They are not built to last. If those wealthy backers threw a fraction of their investments at legit decentralized solutions like Peertube, etc., we’d be years ahead.
Thanks Boxfish.
It’s not that I’m unwilling to switch platforms, I simply don’t see the cost/benefit for me and my patrons today.