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Hey, everyone.

The experiment will go up tomorrow, I have been under deadline and then, all of the sudden, Heath proposed and I am engaged. This...took some time. It's a wonderful shock and the world is different today than it was yesterday. My life has been so full of upheaval these last few years. I cling to the light, and the future of our lives together.

And then, there is the news you will all be aware of. Patreon has changed its fee structure to put the burden of service charges on you rather than on me. I don't know a single creator who is in favor of this, and we certainly weren't consulted. I would much rather continue paying the fees to use this service myself. I think everyone would. It was so utterly unnecessary.

We've already lost a number of patrons and, look...I get it. This is horrible and it feels so wrong. We all hope Patreon will hear us and reverse this decision. If you can't stay, I understand.

I hope you can, and I hope they do, and I hope we can all weather this. I, like so many others, completely rely on Patreon to get by. After my divorce, I was left in a bad financial situation I am still trying to clean up. Without you guys, I honestly don't know what I would have done, except lose my house. Thank you so much. There really aren't enough thank yous.

I did crowdfunding before Patreon. Fairyland and The Omikuji Project were more work on the back end than I think most people can imagine these days. I don't want to go back to handling all that myself. It's more than most people who started out with these services in hand can imagine. But if Patreon continues these policies, I am sure other services will arise to fill the hole they've voluntarily made for no good reason I can see. This place thrives on goodwill, and this choice is the opposite of that. It is inserting a company into a relationship we have built, and making that company paramount. I don't like it. I have heard many people warn against creators speaking out against this change, but I've never much listened to warnings like that.

Whatever happens, what we have here is not about them, it's about us. Patreon is just the way we connect. It's a good service, but even good services make mistakes. I will be waiting to see how everything turns out, and focus on creating good content for you. I hope you can wait, too, though I understand if you can't. If we all have to pick up and go elsewhere, well, we've done it before. But many of us desperately hope this situation will right itself, because Patreon stands between us and a very uncertain future. 

The Lab will be here, wherever here is. We will keep making glorious strangeness. This month, I will make something wonderful I can post for the lower levels of support, to show my thanks for sticking with me through this craziness, since those levels are the most affected. I will try to trust that better angels will win out. I will try not to think of that uncertain future. 

In the meantime, I would ask you to write Patreon directly and tell them what you think. It's the only way to change this. If enough pressure is applied, perhaps they will listen. 

This timeline sucks. You guys make my entire world possible. Thank you for giving me hope of a sustainable life, hope of supporting my family. Nothing I post could ever pay a fraction of that back. 

Patreon, get it together.

Comments

Jim Lloyd

Congratulations! I was one of those who followed your recent advice and upped my pledge a month or two back (plus I'm one of those that gets charged an extra 19 percent VAT anyway) so the impact for me is small. I am a bit dismayed at Patreon's completely clueless rollout. And sad to see them kill off the small-dollar donation. And generally waiting for the next shoe to drop, since this seems more an act of desperation than anything thought through. But I love your writing, and plan to stick with whatever helps you write it as long as I can -- so, yeah. Still here!

Hallie

Congrats on the engagement, and thanks for commenting about this whole mess. I'll be sticking with my patrons at least a month or two to see how this shakes out, but please do let us all know if Drip or some other service will treat you better than Patreon is doing. :/