manyeyedhydra
patreon
The Patreon Problem
🕑 Added 2018-12-31 16:58:13 +0000 UTCThank you to the people sending me comments over the past couple of days.
In case you were unaware, Patreon have been de-platforming creators on what appear to be ideological or political grounds. I object strongly to this for both ethical and practical reasons.
Ethically, I believe it wrong for a company to discriminate on political or ideological affiliation and hide this behind a gauze of vague "hate speech" rules. This has been happening far too regularly and companies that play these games deserve to go out of business.
Practically, it is hard for me, as a creator, to justify spending lots of time and energy building up a following on Patreon when my account can be yanked at any time on a whim by their Trust and Safety team. Patreon have as much as admitted they're making up the rules as they go along with respect to their ToS. This makes them a very unsafe and untrustworthy platform for creators, as we can be terminated at any moment for not adhering to rules that are subjectively enforced and can change at any time.
At this point I'm not sure what to do. The ethical thing would be to close everything down and refuse to countenance Patreon's BS. But this would also hurt me and the people who wish to support my writing (I've heard you, thanks for your comments and support).
I don't like Patreon and would like to move everything over to a more political neutral platform (ideally one that sees a "Trust and Safety Team" for the Orwellian nonsense it is) as soon as a reliable competitor emerges. Any suggestions here will be gratefully received.
I also need to work something out for the patrons who no longer feel they can keep an account up on Patreon in the light of Patreon's Orwellian nonsense. If you supported me during November and December I still owe you a boob monster girl short story and the next CYOA. I'll need some way of getting those to you when they're done. Suggestions again gratefully received.
And once again, I'm really sorry for wasting good writing time on this political shite. I know you're here for sexy succubus smut, not to hear me sperg out about free speech. Unfortunately, this is something I've always held a fairly absolutist position on, largely out of self-interest. I write horror. I write erotica. While we might not always be first in line, we're usually somewhere in the queue when it comes to banning people and stripping their income. That's why it's important to always take a stand against censorshit whenever it rears its ugly head.
Blegh. I just wanted to write sexy succubus smut.
Anyway, have a lovely New Year's Eve out there, ya filthy animals! Let's all hope for a better 2019.
-manyeyedhydra
Comments
Nightshade
I won't stop supporting you here until you find an alternative or until they yank you. I can't stand Patreon's bullshit but I think supporting your efforts after all the stories I've read and re-read over the years is important. If you find a better way or a better platform then let me know.
Harold V. Campbell
It's good to see you willing to stick by your guns, and stand by your opinions. It's always funny how people think you deserve the right to live like they want you to.
JustinAZ
I’m not cutting my support until a viable alternative exists and since Silicon Valley is waging holy war on all competitors that isn’t likely to happen anytime soon. When that does happen I’m moving over and any creators that don’t follow will lose my support. Not to get political but ultimately the attacks on free speech under the guise of “hate speech” have everything to do with the 2020 election and as an American I must apologize for that.
