If you want to send @Patreon #patreon feedback about their new plan to take 2.9% + $0.35 from contributors AND 5% from creators, here is the form that they make it hard for you to find on their site: https://patreon.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
In the space of an email, @Patreon went from a company I'd endorse above all others to just another financial service I'll use at my convenience. I now recommend everyone recognize it as useful in certain situations, and use it only if it fits your personal needs. https://twitter.com/muppetK/status/939262466344747008
A lot of patrons seem to be withdrawing from Patreon entirely and giving the same amount or more to their favored creators through PayPal, while watching Drip closely for further developments.
Evil Hat made up a whole new tier for patrons which lets them pledge the same amount as before in actuality.
Many creators are screaming bloody murder and swearing to jump ship to any alternative service that shows up which doesn't obviously slaughter kittens.
Patreon's nixing bundling at the same time as increasing flat fees to patrons for each charge, and presenting it to the creators as a way to increase the money which goes to the creator when it actually doesn't for pledges at the lower (and thus more populous) end of the pledge spectrum... and when asked for clarification they said that they don't want casual creators anyway, they want to cater to big-name creators.
Nobody can figure out why they're dropping bundled charges anyway; if they'd just been increasing the flat fees it would've been a despicable but understandable cash grab, but by unbundling the charges they're not actually making any money off the change.
....Also their presentation of the whole thing is awful. Just a better PR job might've made the situation a good bit less apocalyptic for them and their creators.
I've seen some analysis about shareholder influences.
I don't understand it entirely, but it's something to do with being ridiculously overvalued even in the context of the app bubble and needing to do something to catch their actual value up to their speculative value.
Despite having minored in econ at one point I don't really follow that. How does pushing away small creators and pushing more money to banks bump their actual value? (Or is it the bump in the flat rate that's intended to increase value, and everything else's just collateral damage?)
@UrsulaV I'm working on a comparison list of a bunch of sites this weekend, pros and cons and requirements and logistics. I've seen itch.io, Libera Pay (I already discussed some things for consideration on that one), Paypal, Ko-Fi, Thrinacia, and Snowdrift Wiki's index of sites.
@UrsulaV This is where it'll be, as a simple PDF, and I'll keep updating/reuploading/etc. The last update date/time will be at the top as I update it. http://kittyspace.org/gettheshowon.pdf
@Shalvenay I have some gift vouchers that will expire with the new year, mom is making me feel guilty for having not spent them already, I need a new computer but I'm at the usual analisys paralisys step, which is further complicated by the availability of said vouchers.
Also, I've been suggested a laptop that's for sale on Amazon, but I don't have a credit card so I need to have someone else buy it for me. A computer savy coworker tells me he'd never spend more than 300€ on a laptop (mine would cost around 1000€). Then I get told non-laptop PCs don't cost much less.
@Shalvenay I could but I'm not in the mood. I think I'll go at the local computer shop seeing what they suggest me. If only I was sure about what kind of laptop I want to get...
I mean, I could ask hardware reccomendation but... "what do you want to use this laptop for?" "Oh, I have no idea. Something big enough to run whatever I will fancy using in the future, I guess."
Well, if you say you need a new computer there must either be things you want to do but your current computer can't do or you don't really need a new one ;)
@ACuriousMind My old laptop is dead. I just want a computer that I can use while dad is using this one. I use it maily for browsing and skype/telegram (I have no smartphone). It would be good if I could move it easily (to read RPG pdf material during the gaming session without having to print) but I don't want this portableness to cost me too much
Yeah, but who knows? Maybe next year some wonderful PC game I want to play will be too much for my cheap thing. Or the pdfs might load too slowly and scroll clunkily like on this PC.
You definitely don't wanna spend 1000€ on a computer if you're not intending to use it for gaming, video rendering or anything resource intensive like that
@ACuriousMind I currently have "Pillars of Eternity" on my wishlist. But I'm not dying if I can't play it
People keep telling me "you'll want at least an i5 if you don't do rendering". What if I wanted to install Poser again? I... I don't know. Somebody just tell me how much a reasonable budget is.
I'll do what I can with that budget an maybe in 2 or 3 years I will have a laptop again.
Well, "reasonable" is pretty difficult. I spent more than 1000€ on this PC a few years ago, but I'm a) an avid gamer and b) wanted something that would last a few years without becoming completely outclassed by newer stuff. It would have been just as "reasonable" to spend less and buy another one sooner, I guess.
@ACuriousMind What if the only thing I do with my computer everyday is start it up after I get back from work, open Notepad, type |, save the document, and then shut it down?