Bad news (Patreon)

Hey there! I got lots of bad news. 

Before we start, dear patrons, let's not be chairborne political experts, and let us discuss only the practical side of what I'm going to describe next.

So, as some of you know, I'm a Russian citizen. And due to recent world events plenty of technical problems arose for me, being on the other side of the wall from Patreon ecosystem, which is, let me remind you, under US jurisdiction. 

First of all, I could not receive your pledges currently. This is happening because Patreon payouts are handled either by Paypal or Payoneer, both of which are now unavailable to Russian citizens. Like, literally: Paypal refuses to accept transfers from Patreon. So all your pledges basically are hanging in the air. They are processed and stored by Patreon, but I cannot get them. 

Second, due to cross-sanctions, two-step authorisation in Eastern Europe is now working as shit, and I cannot login to my Patreon account simply because I cannot receive the authorisation code. I'm writing this post from the only device still logged in - my phone. And I have no idea how soon it will automatically un-login me. This means that I can lose access to my Patreon account basically any moment now.

So, what can I do to remedy those moments? 

I did set literally months of post on timer in 10$ tier, they are scheduled to start posting from June onwards. Not much, just some concepts for my next "Project G" story. Also, no, I can't place them earlier, cause Patreon is extremely laggy on my phone.

Also, I will try to keep Patreon updated for as long as I can access it. After all, I hope Patreon will add alternative payout methods, like direct bank transfers or payouts to Chinese systems, so those funds, that are stuck here, will one day be available to me. 

But in other terms I'm in very deep shit. My savings will allow me to last and support my family for a couple of months tops. And drawing art is my main scope of work.  So, I have no other options than to try other Patreon-like platforms, which are more open-minded in this hard world situation. 

I ignored Pixiv.fanbox and Ko-fi, cause they are also chained to PayPal, and chose Boosty.to. It is a portal, done by reliable Twitch add-on developer DonationAlerts. Boosty is almost like Patreon, in exception that it transfers money directly to bank accounts, bypassing questionable US financial institutions. So, I did set up a page there, the address is:

https://boosty.to/vanschalk

The tiers are basically the same, so will be the content.  So, if you can - try Boosty for me. It will mean really much for me. 

So, in case I will indeed lose access to Patreon - here's a couple of words. 

Stay safe and double-check any information. Don't believe politicians, they are liars everywhere. And don't die for some arms corporation or other bullshit. 

Love, VanSchalk

5 March 2022