A Couple of Things Happened on the Way to Gen7... (Patreon)

I started to get questions from All-Access and higher tier members why they did not have access to the first release of this post which was written to Official Patron tier members. Well here is the same info written to All-Access and above tier members.

TLDR - On November 1st, upon release of Hero Me Gen7 (when the STLs are publicly published to Printables.com, Cults3D.com and Thingiverse.com), on the private Hero Me Discord server, I will be switching the Hero Me Gen7 and Magnet Edition specific channels to be only accessible to All-Access tier members and above.  Also on Nov. 1st the never before available Master STEP files for Gen7 and the Magnet Edition will be made available to members of the VIP Patron and Direct Support Patron tiers.

For Official Patron tier members, the Hero Me Gen6 support channels and the 12 other non-generation specific channels on the Discord server will remain available to the grandfathered 'Official Patron' tier members. After Nov. 1st. if current Official Patrons who want to get Gen7 and Magnet Edition support and other benefits, will need to upgrade to the All-Access Tier or higher. Read on for the whole story...

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Dear All-Access, VIP, and Direct Support Patrons,

A Couple of Things Happened on the Way to the Gen7 Release... (if you don't get the reference, stick around till the end).

When I set the MediaMan3D Patreon page up back in January, I knew I could provide a great product with documentation and support. What I didn’t know was if the community would be interested, and what would be a fair price to set, so I started low.

Since then, with all the support time and design work I have committed to the Hero Me project, and now the pre-release of Gen7 being a collaborative effort of several designers, I have had to rethink the Patreon tiers for the documentation, support, and other services.

So, I have 'unpublished' the Patreon $2 Documentation tier, and the $3 Official Patron tier. For everyone else who signed up at either $2/mo. or $3/mo. tiers in support of my work, nothing changes (unless they decide to cancel, or upgrade). It is just that no one else from now on can sign up for those two tiers at those prices.

Going forward the 'Official Patron' tier is gone, and in its place is a new Documentation only tier at $3/mo. (no support, no Hero Me Discord access, Docs only). The $5/mo. All-Access tier is the next level up. This is where I will provide support, STLs, 30-day pre-release access, Discord server access, and other benefits.

Also, when I setup the Discord server for the first time back at the beginning of the year, I did not really understand how Discord's permissions worked. I also didn't know that the Patreon Bot that connects my Patreon account to the Discord server would auto add patrons to the Discord server, even if I had not assigned a Discord role to the tier. There is a lot of reading between the lines that was expected from both Discord's and Patreon's documentation at the time (much better now).

Well, what does this mean to you? The private Hero Me Discord server was meant to be a benefit for $5/mo. All-Access tier patrons (and above). Because I had configured things incorrectly between Patreon and Discord and set the wrong permissions in the Discord server, everyone in the Official Patron tier could get access to the Discord server.

As these were my mistakes, and that they likely found benefit to this access, existing Official Patron tier members will have continued access to Gen6 channels, documentation, and the community of Hero Me users on the server. Until the end of October, they will continue to have access to the Hero Me Gen7 pre-release and the Magnet Edition STLs and info. 

Having said that, I also must be fair to my All-Access patrons. On November 1st, upon release of Hero Me Gen7 when the STLs are publicly published to Printables.com, Cults3D.com and Thingiverse.com, I will be switching the Hero Me Gen7 and Magnet Edition specific channels to be exclusive to All-Access tier members and above. Direct support for Gen6 and Gen7 will only be available to All-Accces tier members and above.

Future Gen7 & Magnet Edition updates and Pre-Release 30-day exclusives will also only be available to All-Access tier members and above. Also on Nov. 1st the never before available master STEP files for Gen7 and Magnet Editions will be made available to members of the VIP Patron and Direct Support Patron tiers.

The Hero Me Gen6 community channels and the 12 other non-generation specific channels will remain available to the remaining 'Official Patron' members as well as all higher tier members.

So, what am I asking of you? I would like for you to remain a patron at whichever tier makes sense for you. Those who want support for Gen7 and the Magnet Edition after Nov. 1st (along with future 30-day pre-releases and the other All-Access benefits) the All-Access tier is for you.

If you want to get the Master Gen7 and Magnet Edition STEP files, you can upgrade in November to the VIP Patron tier. As new Hero Me components are created and pre-releases occur in the future, they will only be available to current members of the tiers where they are offered.

I am very thankful for all the support, and I very much appreciate you being a patron. I also appreciate your reading this all the way through. If you should have any questions about these changes, please do reach out and message me directly.

For those of you who may be much younger than I, or don't know the reference at the beginning of this post, it is about a movie where things just don't go as planned and how the characters cope and deal with it all. I am speaking of the great comedy movie by Mel Brooks called: "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" (1966). I highly recommend watching it (along with all of Mel Brook’s other movies!).

With your support we are able to contribute back to the 3D printing community with solutions that improve the 3D printing experience.

Happy Printing,

Andy

MediaMan3D