Yeah, I'm thinking similarly. I mean, yes: I give to people whose work I enjoy ... to help them much as patrons in the 16th century helped promising artists of that era. But it's starting to feel like a black hole for money.

Is that, more-or-less, what you meant?

I support artists on Patreon but I am very careful, and so I agree with you.

I think that people who are using Patreon to make money need to give there patrons something for patronizing them.
The whole tip concept is not one of the aspects of what patronizing is.

I have no problem with giving someone money to help them, but if you are someone's "patron", then you are giving them money for them to create things using their skills that you and others can enjoy.
Unless they are considered a charity, and that always a good reason to give money!

A tip comes after the fact as an extra thank you. I am happy to do that too.
Giving money to someone for nothing is a gift not a tip.

Léonard de Vinci had patrons, and if he had asked for money and giving them nothing there would have been trouble.

Again I have no problem with giving someone money to help them, what I take exception to is calling a website PATREON and then having no concept of what a patron is.

If an artist make something good and wants to be paid for it, they have EVERY RIGHT TO DO SO.
The same if they want to give it away.
But there are people on that site that ask for something and give nothing.
And that's not a tip or a gift to help them, that something else completely.

So let support the arts, but be careful doing so.
Love to you all.

This is just really s*** business, right there. I have heard one story about an artist who set up shop there, then disappeared. What is going on on that site that just makes artist and patron so distrustful of one another?