Back Online! - Status Update and Future Plans (Patreon)

Hello everyone! This lengthy post will provide much needed context to everything that has happened in the last week and the changes I will be making to my Patreon page moving forward. 

Please take the time to read the entirety of this post as it will likely contain important information for you and may affect your willingness to continue your subscription to my content page. 

I have broken the post into two sections to help add structure for ease of reading!

Patreon Page Suspension (7th - 14th Feb)

Now as many of you are surely aware at this point, my Patreon page was unavailable as it was under review for about a week. My page was suspended as I had accidentally violated one of Patreon's Community Guidelines by posting content that they deemed unacceptable under their terms.

I have since removed said content along with a few other posts out of fear that it may potentially come under Patreon scrutiny based on the reaction of Patreon's Trust and Safety Team and how they may choose to interpret my content in future.

During this review/suspension period, it was very difficult for me to effectively update patrons while trying my best to get the situation resolved as the page itself was not accessible/visible to active subscribers or the general public. 

In that time, I have received a number of messages asking what had happened to the page on my socials and doing what I could to accurately relay the situation through DMs.  However, that still left plenty of people completely clueless and uncertain which I do not want to repeat.

Plans for the Future of Patreon Content

The week of suspension has caused me significant stress and loss of sleep which made me think very seriously about the future of my content on this page. I now feel constantly uneasy and uncertain as to when my page might be suspended again and having to go through the slow process of getting it reinstated is something I do not want to ever repeat.

During this time, I've spoken to many fellow artists and friends asking for advice on how to better protect my content while being able to provide access to those with active pledges if, for whatever reason, my Patreon page becomes unavailable once more.

The common recommendation and solution that has been working great so far is by hosting content through Discord. I know that when I first made the partial shift to hosting content on discord, a number of you expressed that you did not want to use Discord as a means to access your content so I was willing to compromise by sending weekly DMs to all active patrons.

However after going through this situation, I am shifting the Patreon page to focus mainly as the funding platform and the space to announce when new content is added but the page will not contain the content itself. 

I will no longer be providing weekly Patreon DMs and all current and future content along with the content archives will only be accessible via the Patreon's linked Discord server. All active patrons will need to have a discord account to access their content.

I fully understand that many of you will be disappointed by this news and will discontinue your Patreon pledge which is unfortunate but understandable. I apologize in advance but going through this stressful situation has forced me to take this direction and is my best option in reliably continuing to do what I do.  

This allows me to effectively maintain both the content flow and communication to all of you regardless of the Patreon page while having the added benefit of keeping the content better protected from leaks.

Regardless of whether you choose to stay or not, I'd like to truly thank you for your continued patience and understanding in sticking with me this far while I resolved the situation. 

I will continue providing content for as long as I am able and I hope that you're here to continue to support me.