Important Announcement
Added 2018-06-29 07:11:40 +0000 UTCYesterday, my Patreon account was temporary suspended. It was a less than 24 hours suspension due to an amazing job of the support team on communicating back and forth to help resolving the problems.
There was a big change in Patreon's guidelines resulting in me having to go back to my first Patreon posts from October 2015 and set 90% of my image containing posts as patrons-only. It was not a pleasant thing to do, but it must be done.
Which I fully understand where's this coming from so please don't blame the support team and be civil to them in the comment. I can guess it's because Paypal strictly prohibiting adult content related payment, and the fact that Patreon has grown beyond just a little crowdfunding site. The Youtube's adspocalypse affected so many content creators and a lot of them shifted to Patreon so the site has become public to massive amount of people over the past year. It's completely understandable why they made these changes.
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The new guidelines are boiled down to two major changes affecting my Patreon campaign:
1 - I can no longer post suggestive nudity as public
Though this rule has been set since the beginning, it's been escalated way further in the recent months. Now, any implied nudity, full rear view nudity, visible nipples or genitalia cannot be posted publicly. They have to be posted as patrons-only.
The problem is by "implied nudity" it's been changed to a very strict turn. Nipple stickers, micro bikinis, hand grabbing boobs, squat poses, etc. are no longer valid. You must play it super safe now, and by "visible nipples or genitalia" they really mean it. Just a tip of pinkish area poking out is no good.
Which I'm ok with this change. I can just post very safe images publicly and post NSFW previews on separated patrons-only posts.
The thing is that I don't want to keep everything on my Patreon pages patrons-only. I honestly don not think it's a good practice. When anyone visiting your page and sees that every little things are behind support wall, it's not a very inviting community to look at.
2 - I can no longer post links to my Pixiv, Twitter, Tumblr, Hentai Foundry, etc. on my public posts
Now this, THIS hits me hard.
So I cannot post links to other online galleries (that contain nudity) on my overview page and posts, meaning that if you're a newcomer to my Patreon without knowing me in advance, you will have no clue who I am on other medias unless you could pinpoint my art style and go directly to my Pixiv, Twitter, Tumblr without me linking them, which is most unlikely.
I also can't post a safe image as public and redirect non-patrons to see the NSFW previews on Pixiv anymore. Yes, I can still do that on patrons-only post, but it defeats the purpose of teasing and potentially conversion of new patrons.
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In conclusion, I can guarantee there's gonna be a damage to my long term campaign. Not right away, but it will be. The rate of gaining new patrons will be reduced in the future for sure if this keeps up because it'd be harder to gain new patrons.
I have to rely 90% on other medias to advertise my Patreon now, and I don't want to do that. I don't want to rub my Patreon in the faces of people. It's gonna be annoying. I always attach my Patreon links in the most subtle ways I could think of, but if I continue doing just that, I think it's gonna have a negative effect on my growth.
Still, like I said, don't be angry on Patreon staffs for this. Things changed and they had to come up with some plan to prevent the chaos. This is the safest route for them. Imagine Paypal cutting off the payment method completely or serious SJW strikes on Patreon all at once. It could be a total disaster for all of us, and that's why I'd like to play by their rules. I'd make the same decision if I were their chairman or stuffs.
Sorry for such a long post, but it must be informed to you guys because there's gonna be some changes in my posting behavior, and it'd be weird to not explain anything!
Plus they really spent their effort on reactivating my Patreon. The back and forth emails were answered very quickly and they have gone through hundreds of my public posts to advice me what kind of action should be made post by post. It was a good chunk of time wasted on their job, meaning they really cared, and I'm totally pleased with that. Shout out to Fred from support team, and the support team as a whole as well.
Comments
You made a fair point and I hope that's how the directions of things would follow. To be honest, I think it's a little strange that they're prohibiting the linking to Pixiv since people are required to have a Pixiv account plus gone into their setting and turn on R-18 in order to view anything on my account, and the same goes to all R-18 artists on Pixiv, so without major google-ing how to get through those steps, it's impossible that non-nsfw viewers or even Paypal and Patreon staffs would be able to see the image I linked, but yeah may be Pixiv has become a hentaifoundry in their eyes or something, which is understandable, but still weird.
Fuya
2018-06-30 12:14:38 +0000 UTCHi Fuya, I’m sorry to hear that Patreon has further changed their rules and their effects on your Patreon. While I understand the annoyance and the severity of these new rules I think/hope they won’t affect your or other Patreons that much, as the majority of people visit your and other NSFW artists Patreon after being exposed to their work from other sources such as PIXIV. Additionally as all NSFW artists have to abide by those rules people will understand and get used to looking up artists work from other sources to get their first impressions. That’s why I don’t think there should be too much to worry about for now and as other have also stated just mentioning your PIXIV and the Patreon rules should suffice to direct future patrons to your work. Either way I still wish you all the best and that your patrons keep increasing and will continue to spread the word to potential future patrons.
Setsunai Seken
2018-06-30 12:01:33 +0000 UTCI'd love to and I considered it, but there are two big problems, the delay is huge and it'd be weird to arrange rewards on non Patreon sites according to the delay because it'd mean people who support me on non Patreon sites would get rewards that Patreon supporters pledged for half a year ago, which could redirect people to go support non Patreon sites if they want recent works instead. That, and the Japan's internet law of censorship. I believe I have to include mosaics on genitals within the rewards even if they're behind the scene delivery, so it'd contradict hard to my Patreon, meaning people supporting non Patreon sites would get censored rewards while Patreon supporters get uncensored rewards. It'd be such a confusing mess.
Fuya
2018-06-29 13:33:55 +0000 UTCAny thought for opening a branch like enty, fantia, pixiv fanbox, etc? Seems japanese artist have multiple of those now lol Anyway for you, I would give you a thumb up as a really good creator in Patreon (donmai with the delay xD), it's about the commitment. Still having distrust with some other past creators w
JF
2018-06-29 12:31:31 +0000 UTCI would still suggest people to see my previews on Pixiv, Twitter, Tumblr etc. but tbh I think suggesting them to google my name could lead to problem. Hopefully people are tricky enough lol
Fuya
2018-06-29 11:00:24 +0000 UTCYes, I figured that's what I'm going to do. I think that'd suffice their guidelines. It's still a bummer but I'd do what I can.
Fuya
2018-06-29 10:59:04 +0000 UTCThanks Brian!
Fuya
2018-06-29 10:57:51 +0000 UTCI should be. In fact, that's what I would do. Hope that doesn't contradict with their guidelines.
Fuya
2018-06-29 10:57:41 +0000 UTCYeah I heard lots of nsfw cretors on Patreon were hit with this issue widely. Hopefully they all get through.
Fuya
2018-06-29 10:57:00 +0000 UTCThanks Frank Leo! :) though I'd suggest don't push it if you're not sure if people would like my works or willing to support. I want my patrons to be completely volunteering.
Fuya
2018-06-29 10:55:36 +0000 UTCI think it's understandable, but also a hassle. I think we should be able to `write "google my name to find my artwork" in a public post, instead of a direct link? maybe that can work to direct new people to one's other social media.
Soupsup
2018-06-29 10:10:00 +0000 UTCI know you can't link to your other accounts, but are you allowed to mention them without a link, at least? Just saying something like "You can find many of my works on Twitter, Tumblr, Pixiv, etc." Then it would just be a quick search for someone to easily find your other accounts. I know it's not the best solution, but it could be something for now.
Krinklez
2018-06-29 08:25:47 +0000 UTCIts fine ill be here supporting you anyway:P
Brian Mendez
2018-06-29 08:05:11 +0000 UTCI understand keeping the nudity to Patron-Only posts, but that's harsh that you can't link to your other sites. Can you at least say you're in the other platforms, but without a direct link?
pengin senshi
2018-06-29 07:28:13 +0000 UTCYou're not the first creator that this happened to, but it sounds like they're hitting really hard on the adult/NSFW content, which is generally annoying at best. You might have to rely a bit more on other people's retweets etc. in order to get your content cycled around.
Densetsu Meru
2018-06-29 07:23:18 +0000 UTCI will try to tell people that you do nsfw artworks, and hope they'll join and support you.
Frank Leo
2018-06-29 07:16:26 +0000 UTC
