In Other News, Might be Starting a Subscribestar or Sponsus Account (Patreon)

Hey there, Oxdarock here!

So, it's no secret that Patreon has slowly been cracking down on certain NSFW artists here and there, however, as of late, it seems to have hit a new high. Apparently, if you associate with Patreon, they have the right to monitor and request that you take down posts from other sites you have accounts on. An artist I follow by the name of Eigaka has been experiencing this for a while now, as have a couple of other artists I follow:

https://twitter.com/EigakaArt/status/1280211741054504960

Quite frankly, I find this appalling. It's one thing to police what shows up on your own site, but to do that for other sites is crossing the line. Even if the ToS allows it, it's not something that should be included in the first place. However, what spooked me in particular was this post found in the same thread:

https://twitter.com/msoltyspl/status/1280233404974366720

The short version: Patreon has the right to demand access to encrypted files, like the dropbox links I send out via direct messages. That crosses a new line, going even beyond policing what someone posts on other websites. So with that, I'll be looking into starting either a Subscribestar or Sponsus account by the end of the month as a back-up in case shit ever hits the fan over here.

Now, does this mean I'm going to stop using Patreon? No, not at all. I mean, I've never really drawn content like Eigaka or similar artists who've been hit by this (my art is surprisingly tame, albeit a bit weird). That said, it's not exactly beyond the scope of what I'd be willing to draw, believe it or not (I just haven't had a reason to do so) and just knowing that Patreon is willing to go to such extremes to police what their creators make public is enough to make me consider a back-up plan in case something happens later down the line (I actually have a similar precaution to Paypal with my online store). 

So yeah, expect me to make an announcement about SubscribeStar or Sponsus later this month. It will have the same content as my Patreon, so there's not really any need to pledge to either of these. So long as you follow them, that's honestly enough. However, just like I mentioned with my possible opening of a Pixiv account, I will still count any votes there in my Patron Pick Polls, as well as the overall total to the lifetime pledge. So if you want to pledge there as well for more of the same voting perks, more power to you I guess. 

Anyway, that's all for now!