let's talk about these patreon changes

so, yesterday i received an email from patreon support regarding a new fee distribution system. patreon's intended goal is to make sure creators receive 95% of their pledges, currently it's around 80-88% for most.

shortly after that, my entire twitter TL blew up with people being outraged, trying to do the math and generally trying to figure out if this is a bad thing or not LOL

this is pretty shitty for supporters. especially since you guys haven't been notified of this change at the same time as we were, so naturally it blew up everywhere on social media and everyone is angry. (you're supposed to get an email about this today, apparently)

i'm also not sure if this is a good thing for creators, because while YAY less fees to pay, most likely it also means that a lot of patrons will drop out because they can't pay this extra fee, which i can totally understand.

so!! a heads up!! these changes will go into effect on december 18th, so if you wanna skedaddle before the fees hit you, now is your chance! i want you to know what you're getting yourself into if you decide to stay ;;;;

from what i've read this change will hit patrons in lower tiers harder than the higher tiers. for example, the fees are calculated the same for everyone. you'll pay an extra 2.9% + $0.35 to your pledge. if you pledge $10 per month, then the added fee would be $0.64. (please correct me if i'm wrong, math is not my strongest point) however, if you pledge $1, the fee would be at at least $0.35, never even mind the 2.9%. which is more than 33% of your intial pledge. (also european patrons already pay extra 20% VAT, right??)

to visualise, twitter user mczub made a handy lil app, where you can check how the pledges and fees and percentages work for patrons (left) & creators (right), comparing the old and the new system.

so, yea, that's where we're at right now. in their email patreon referred to their FAQ in case anyone has questions, and while i think that FAQ is pretty useless, i'll include a link nonetheless, just in case.

that's all i have for now u _u) i've read some responses from patreon to users who criticised this new feature but so far they still seem to think it's a smart idea to implement this without asking anyone about it first lol (despite their claims of having spent "months working with creators and patrons to work it out"). for now i'll just wait for another response from them, maybe they can provide another point of view that makes more sense to everyone, but i'm skeptical.