About the Recent Community Issues

Hi everyone! I posted/reblogged/etc. on my other main platforms about this but then got busy and didn't get a chance to post here about it yet, but I wanted to take a minute to reassure and provide some links about the issues.

For those who haven't heard yet, from what I've gathered there's apparently a handful of permanent paywall creators who are doxxing, tracking, and sharing info between each other about their patrons who may possibly be re-posting their content. These are creators who provide their content only by dming patrons individual download links, and these packages are adjusted for each patron to insert tracking info so that if they are leaked to the public, it can be traced back to that specific patron. These people who leaked are then blocked by the creators involved, and apparently some are doxxed. 

Here are some related links to the situation:

• This post here has a bit more info, including the (at least they say) people confirmed or suspected to be involved.
• This post is about how to be safe on Patreon in general.
• Adeepindigo also goes over some ways to stay safe on the internet and in the community. As she listed, creators can see your Patreon alias/username, email, and linked Discord name. They cannot see your credit card, etc.
• This post goes over which types of creators are likely to track, which summarized is anybody who is a permanent paywaller and sends individual download links in private. This does not guarantee all permanent paywallers with individual links track, but that's the general behavior to look out for and avoid.
• This one goes over some of the tracking methods that are being used. From what I saw other creators discussing when this info came to light, and based on the above, it's not possible to insert an actual tracking program in the package, it's just altered packages that have changed values, altered textures, etc. in order to track who it came from, so there's no need to worry about a program to remove.

I wanted to assure you that I would never, or ever, share your information with others, or add tracking or anything similar to my mods/etc. 

While I would hope that people will respect creators and not re-upload, I would never do such a horrible thing over some pixels and I know many other free and early access creators wouldn't. Your support, even just following, means the world to me and I'm grateful to all of you, especially those who have been here since day one!

Thank you for reading, and please stay safe!

tl;dr:

Some permanent paywallers are apparently tracking patrons with individual download links and altered packages so that if they are re-uploaded, they can dox and block the patrons who did so. I and many other free/early access creators wouldn't do such a thing, and free/early access creators have no way to track content that's a public link or on the download post since it's the same package for everyone. Your support means the world to me and I'm grateful to all of you!