Speaking of money I really meant to buy something from you. I really had no reason for the procrastination station forgive me. Otherwise, patreon has been a skeptical operation lately. I hear that not even those who do subscribe to patreon use the cycle night loophole to access content that was intended to be paywalled. It's seemed to have been a double edged sword regardless.

Amen to that, mittsies.
While I understand pay walling, I do not understand draconic and otherwise anti-consumer practices. Sure, it's fine to paywall, but to dangle it in front of the people who can't afford to pay? That's not ok!
In the end, I do think that patreon needs to support consumer friendly practices while preventing art theft. A strict review process needs to be made, and a sort of "artist's code" made to help guide the misguided towards consumer friendly advertising tactics and sale methods. While an artist won't be required to follow the code, those who do not follow it will receive LESS advertising from patreon for their page, as well as a sort of rating system that gives power to the consumer, as well as a refund option that can refund up to three months, IF the refund appeal is deemed a proper and fair reason. Ideally, you'd only need to refund one month of payment, but sometimes there are legitimate reasons to refund three months, however rare they may be.
The more power you give to the consumer, the more you're likely to see things change. I mean, look at steam. You can preorder something, and if you don't like it in the first two hours of game play, then you can get a full refund through steam, but steam still keeps their cut.
That is a LOT of power to the consumer.
As for the strict review process, the patreon community, as a whole, will create set in stone rules that CAN NOT be broken. If they are broken, the artist, or group thereof, will have their page suspended for further review, or permanently terminated. To prevent abuse, there would be a preliminary review period where the page would function normally, and if the moderator or admin deems it necessary, it can be suspended for a full review process which could include legally demanding the artist's financial history to ensure that the artist has followed the site's rules and guidelines.
If you're questioning how they could demand that financial history, once you sign a contract, you're bound by it. End of story.
Just so were clear, any evidence requested for the review process can not be used to create additional criminal charges beyond fraudulent and/or criminal practices involving the site.

But this is all just wistful thinking and hopefulness. We all know nothing here will ever be used, and even if it was, it would either be abused horribly, or just remain unenforced entirely.

again, it really doesn't affect me. i don't get bothered at porn i can't see, i just say "tough shit" and move on. what they earn in monetary value they sacrifice in publicity, as free innately draws more attention that paid.

i wonder how long before Patreon pulls NSFW support entirely.

I hope they do that as well as what calkhi said. As a person who lives in a war zone and earns only 25$ per month, I hate seeing these paywalls EVERYWHERE I go. It's not only about porn too, it's about turning art into an exclusive thing for wealthy people and caring only about money. This is just plain wrong.

I couldn't find any hacks to break Patreon, I have no idea which website and cycle night loophole folks mentioned here. The only thing I found somewhere is pledging and then unsubscribing before the money are pulled. I'm not sure about it though since Patreon seems to spend ridiculous effort on removing all compromising articles from search engines and I'm sure as hell not gonna risk losing 15$ just to see some porn from a money-clingy person.

I wonder if I can just use an empty Visa/MasterCard with no crediting option on it to pledge 15 dollars per month. I mean come on, they can't draw 15$ if that visa only has 3$, right? So I should probably get access and be listed as a Patron and yet all transactions will be void due to insufficient funds. Maybe I should try it... opinions, anyone? Can PM if you want =)

That trick will no longer be possible soon. It was how many people 'cheated' their way passed the paywall before.

i wonder how long before Patreon pulls NSFW support entirely.
probably never

Well then, buck Patreon and people who bitch about failing to force money from their audience. Patreon is simultaneously the best and the worst thing that happened to art lately, it all depends on how artists use it.

Personally I am not gonna pay a single penny to artists who lock exclusive content behind a paywall. I understand sharing WIPs, streams, early access and just generally asking for support in return for vote spots in polls or regular commission spots, but exclusive content will always be a big red "NO" in my books.

Ups, replied to the wrong comment. It was about removing the loophole that allowed free access, even though most artists has already accommodated and share links via PM's instead of posting them right away on the site. I tried that trick an hour ago only to find that most stuff is given through links after the first payment has been made. Clever, but it is still just forcing money out of people who might not have any cash at all.

probably not, but PayPal is not even close to the first payment processor to discriminate against erotica, sometimes in conjunction with the US government. Patreon may find they have no say in the matter.

Patreon's policies themselves are pretty vague. the archived page of their NSFW rules from 2014 set out specific disallowed things such as bodily fluids, or "material designed with the sole intention of eliciting sexual arousal" but since then that page has been trimmed to a single paragraph in the Patreon Guidelines that says 'Think of the policy as allowing “R Rated” movies... but not porn'

i know that supposedly the intent is to make sure that photography is being kept separate from artwork when under consideration of these guidelines, but the guidelines actually don't say anything about photography anymore, so i'm not optimistic about Patreon's NSFW future.

Well, considering I don't actually post anything -on- patreon, I think I'm fine.

Damn, this was very well written and thought out and so very very true.

Reblogged that on tumblr, because it mirrored my thoughts to the letter. And, well... as someone who likes looking at art, paywalls are just plain annoying. So out of principle I keep my own Patreon as a tip jar only.

Am I losing out on moneymaking potential? Sure. But I have only one patron right now, and I see any money coming out of that service as an extra as opposed to the basis of an entire business plan. Most of my income still derives from commissioned work, as I feel it should be for a craftsman. And if people think I deserve additional compensation for my work, let them do it out their own will as opposed to purchasing something they'd most likely find "leaked" by someone else, anyway.

Mittsies, you are the hero we need. Thank you for not only calling out the problem, but also ways to fix it.

I'm no hero. Just felt like expressing my thoughts.