As of July 4th 2018, the Internet as we know it might be dead for good.
The European Parliament is passing a new Copyright Directive. Article 13 #CensorshipMachine will impose widespread censorship of all the content we share online. Art, fanfiction, parodies, remixes, mashups, memes, etc.. Anything that you do not hold the rights over will be taken down.
Article 13 would force all online platforms to police and prevent the uploading of copyrighted content, or make people seek the correct licenses to post that content. Internet platforms hosting large amounts of user-uploaded content must monitor user behaviour and filter their contributions to identify and prevent copyright infringement.
Such filters will be mandatory for platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Tumblr, Reddit and Instagram, but also much smaller websites.
Last Tuesday (19th June 2018) a group of more than 70 people who have played important roles in building the internet and developing it (Tim Berners-Lee, Vincent Cerf,
Jimmy Wales, Mitchell Baker…) into what it is today addressed an open letter to the members of the European Parliament:
“As creators ourselves, we share the concern that there should be a fair distribution of revenues from the online use of copyright works, that benefits creators, publishers, and platforms alike.
But Article 13 is not the right way to achieve this. By requiring Internet platforms to perform automatic filtering all of the content that their users upload, Article 13 takes an unprecedented step towards the transformation of the Internet from an open platform for sharing and innovation, into a tool for the automated surveillance and control of its users. […] The damage that this may do to the free and open Internet as we know it is hard to predict, but in our opinions could be substantial.”
This is a head’s up regarding Patreon’s new payment scheme. Although they bill it as a benefit to the creators, Patreon is unfortunately not being 100% honest about why they’re setting up this plan. The real news, and the important thing here, is that from now on, any and all transactions on Patreon will accrue a minimum $0.35 surcharge. If you follow ten different creators and pledge $1 to each, Patreon will apply a surcharge of $3.50, one for each creator. If you follow one creator who has a pay-per-post plan and he posts ten videos, Patreon will apply a $3.50 surcharge - that’s $0.35 per post.
Obviously, your credit agencies have not been charging me or anyone $0.35 per creator you support nor per video posted to page. You pay Patreon once, and Patreon pays the creators once. That’s one transaction fee spent paying me, and one transaction fee spent receiving payments from you every month. The surcharge is a surcharge that goes directly to Patreon. I’m afraid it’s sugar-coating to try to call it anything else.
This puts me in a bit of a bind. With this new billing scheme, the best thing for patrons is for me to switch over to a monthly billing pattern, but since my income isn’t exactly 100% stable I’m nervous that if I switch my current plan, I might wind up losing enough income to derail me. So for now, I’ll stick to the current pay-per-post plan and keep a wary eye over things.
The best way to avoid getting hit with these sequential surcharges is to adjust your payments. The way that will keep you closest to where you were before the change is to set a cap on the number of videos you support, but then change your support to be a higher value for a fewer number of videos. This way, you would only receive the surcharge once or twice, you’ll still be offering a similar level of patronage, and the total fees won’t be too substantial compared to your actual donation.
However, DO BE AWARE that with the way Patreon is applying the surcharge, it may exceed your budget. If you support ten videos or creators at $1 each and you mean not to spend more than $10, you will need to set a cap or abandon some creators, such that you avoid the surcharges that will send you over your budget. You’ll want to reduce support to only 7 videos from 10, or to 7 creators instead of 10. Unfortunately this does reduce the amount that the creators will receive so that you can provide Patreon with a greater portion of your money, but if you drop me or support fewer videos from me then I understand - I appreciate you having been here to support me in the first place, and I respect your financial needs. We’re all just trying to make it in the world!
All that said, there is a sliver of good news. In some select cases, Patreon’s change will mean creators earn more money. They’re offsetting the costs on to the patrons, but if you’re donating larger quantities, then the $0.35 surcharge could be less than the transaction fees the creator was originally paying. Patreon is, naturally, also happy with large sum donations because they collect 5% on everything, so there’s really no losing for them with their new fee plan.
Whatever any of you decide to do, I fully understand and hold nothing against you. Unfortunately, Patreon’s decision is out of our hands, and since they’re nearly a monopoly in this market, like all monopolies before them, I knew the honeymoon would have to end some day. We can hope, but this may not be the end of rent-seeking schemes, and we may see more questionable choices from Patreon down the line. Such is the nature of the beast. But, come what may, this has been another good year of making stuff, I’ve learned a lot, made some great strides, and wish you all the best!
Here’s to the following year, and whether you stay or go, to everyone’s good health and happiness!
This is important bit of info! Since Patreon decided to use the paypal adpocalypse to scalp people harder than ever now that they’re flocking over there.
Man, this really sucks especially since I never let anyone give more than like $5. Shoot. (I do got a Patreon, I just never tell anyone, ha.)
For people wondering about what happen, my old tumblr was deleted because of the loli drawigns i did for my Patreons.
Wich means, all of the old drawings, and ask comics where also lost with it!
But fear not my friends, with your help, we may be able to get the old viewers back! So please, share a drawing from either of the main blog, or the ask one… and let people know i am still arround here, just in a new adress!
Let us remind, that not long time ago this tumblr was deleted… but now, we are back on our feet!
Now I see the word “Poot” being thrown around a lot and I don’t know if it applies here to this pon. But I’d like if it were true.
@nauthleroy Here is your blood bacon. Now let my people go.
Basic ponka to get back into the swing of things. Tried something new with the eyes. So I’ve been really busy with work and military stuff and I really didn’t have time to practice. But then I got lucky and fractured my right foot just a little bit .
