An update regarding NSFW policy updates! (Patreon)

Hey everyone~ I've gotten a couple questions about it so I wanted to address it and hopefully relax anyone's nerves who have gotten stressed about this.

If you haven't heard about it, Patreon recently updated their policies to be more specific about the types of content they allow. A lot of people are going around posting that Patreon is banning NSFW and NSFW creators, and kind of freaking a lot of people out.

My impression of these updates is that Patreon is more focused on photo and video content than illustrated content, mainly because those are the areas where the most fraudulent charges occur during funding (either people stealing card info to pay for it, or people falsely reporting it as stolen so it doesn't look like they're paying for porn). I also suspect the focus on fringe fetish content is for the same reason, and because it's the most likely to get them into legal trouble. The updates are still vague enough that they could go either way, but I believe that at the time, most NSFW creators of illustrated and animated content are not in danger.

If I do ever end up on Patreon's hit list, though, I don't believe it would be difficult for me to continue without the things that they're restricting. Most of the works I post here are SFW, and the works that are NSFW and could qualify as pornography can be edited here and then released unedited elsewhere, which should meet their requirements. So please don't be nervous for me, and please don't stress about having any of your favorite comics shut down. (Although if you are nervous about losing old NSFW comics and art, it might not be a bad idea to go back and save those pages for yourself, just in case I can't get them up somewhere else right away).

If you are unhappy about the situation, there are two things I might suggest you do. 

First of all, email Patreon and let them know that you're unhappy about it. Patreon appears to be making these decisions to appease Paypal and credit card processors by cutting down on fraud, but the fact is, many NSFW creators have little to no problems with fraud, so including them in these sweeping bans without judging on a case by case basis just comes across as moral policing, which has no place in their messaging about supporting art and artists. Again, it SEEMS like Patreon understands this, but it can't hurt to politely reemphasize. 

The second thing is to make sure to keep your pledge info updated. Patreon is able to distinguish fraud from regular declined payments, but it couldn't hurt to make sure those declines show up less as well on your favorite creators. It's also just nice for creators and makes us all stress out a lot less. Also, if you'd ever considered falsely reporting fraud to get your money back from a creator you have some disagreement with, please don't. You're not just harming the creator, you could be harming many other creators as well, as it continues to escalate the problem. Delete a pledge if you need to delete a pledge, just don't let it hang and expire when your card stops working.

I hope this puts some minds at ease over this issue. It's unfortunate that Patreon isn't as inclusive and welcoming of all kinds of content as it first appeared to be, and isn't that always the case with companies as they grow larger and more corporate. Hopefully if Patreon does eventually shut down all NSFW creators, there will be an alternative by then that's not just a porn site, and has space for creators who try to make thoughtful work that also includes adult content. That's what I'm continuously striving to be.

Tl;dr version:

-I'm not changing anything (yet)

-Patreon only appears to be suspending very extreme examples of the content they are restricting, and hasn't mass banned NSFW creators entirely

-If I DO disappear at some point, don't stress, I'll be back

-Maybe go save your favorite NSFW artworks and comics from my archive just in case lol

-All the things I've committed to make, I'm still going to make

-I'm not too worried yet, so please don't be too worried either :)