A Quick Note to All Patrons (Patreon)

Hey All,

I hope this brief note finds you well!

I wanted to say two (not-so)-quick things:

1.) I read everything you guys and gals write here on Patreon (and I respond to pretty much all of it), and occasionally, I see a post from someone asking a specific Patreon-related question, curious where X or Y perks are, or whatever else.

I'm happy to answer those inquiries as I see them, but if you want a quicker answer, please feel free to reach out directly via Patreon's messaging system, as there's a good chance I'll see your question (or comment) quicker, and will be able to get back to you with an answer in a more rapid fashion.

I keep meticulous records (naturally), so I can usually answer a question about when a postcard was sent, or a signed Tweet, or whatever else pretty rapidly.

The most common answer to questions is: All perks $25/month and up are latent a month! (As in, if you became a Producer in July, your name will begin appearing in videos in August, and so on.) But I'm here for you, and I typically turn around answers pretty quickly, so again, feel free to reach out at your leisure, regardless of your level of support. (I honestly don't even check a person's support level when I field a message, unless it's directly related to the inquiry.)

2.) I never expected to find anywhere near the success I've so far found on Patreon. That said, I'd love to be able to retain as much of my audience as possible, even if many people were here in the beginning simply to show their support, and not so much for the love of the content itself. Many of you -- thousands, in fact -- have stuck around as I've developed this show, and I'm so thankful. But as others come and go, I'd like to at least throw this into the wild:

Many of you may not know this, but in the Creator backend, there are these things called Exit Surveys. Whenever you leave a Patreon, you have the option to tell the creator why using pre-written responses, or by writing something up yourself. I reached out to my awesome Patreon connection this past week, because I felt like it wasn't a useful tool. It's one-way, and doesn't allow me to interact with people's questions, comments, or concerns therein. I just get to see what folks have to say, and then they're shot into the void. (It's all anonymous, by the way.)

Retaining your support here on Patreon is ultimately essential to whether CLS has a long life or a short one. I can't control the market for what I do. Maybe it'll exist for a long time, or maybe it won't. That's for all of you to decide, and I totally and completely respect that. All I can do is leave it all out on the field and do my absolute best to make good content.

So, if you leave one day, that's cool! I appreciate your support, however and whenever you did or do give it. You helped make this dream of mine a reality, and you will have my gratitude forever. But if you have a specific question, concern, or something else that you want to address, and that's why you're leaving, please do feel free to reach out to me. Even if I'm not able to retain you as a supporter, I'd love to be able to field what you have to say and at least absorb that feedback. And who knows? Maybe your question is easily answerable, or your concern was a mere oversight on my part or yours. Maybe all parties can remain happy and fulfilled with the content, the delivery of perks, and all the rest. Either way, reading without being able to actionably respond or make something better sucks on my end, and while I know I can't control all of that, hopefully I can make a minor change.

It's hard running a fan-supported endeavor like this (especially for someone as engaged as I insist on being), because a good and decent creator has something extra in the mix: A real desire for his or her supporters to be truly happy and fulfilled with the content, the perks, the interactions, and the ecosystem as a whole. So, please, while you are obviously welcome to come and go as you see fit -- it's your money, your life, and your choice -- I'd love to play a more active role in helping alleviate any issues or quandaries that might have people headed toward the door.

At the end of the day, I promise to keep working hard on the content, on behalf of all of you who have shown so much belief in me, CLS, and this initiative to turn something negative into a positive. How easy it could have been to make CLS an anti-"SJW" hatefest. But CLS is anything but, and perhaps that's what I'm most proud of. Hopefully we can all stick together to keep the learning going!

Anyway, thank you for everything. Keep the feedback coming, keep on (hopefully) enjoying the content, and be good! New episode tomorrow. -Colin