You know, that's little brass coins that you can't spend nowhere, only at the company store

[sovay]

1. So the news from Patreon looks more garbage fire by the hour. Natalie Luhrs has further thoughts, Julie Dillon has further information, and the Outline has further statistics. I have informed my patrons of the upcoming changes and I have, unsurprisingly, already lost some. I am not upset with them. I am very upset with Patreon. "We have very clear, rigorous internal criteria for what we consider financially successful—there is a specific threshold that we've found to be 'life-changing' for our Creators." Well, I understand that it looked like nothing worth mentioning to the suits, but the money I made every month on Patreon was life-changing to me. It was income every month I could rely on. It was readership and community. I didn't know anyone who made a full-time living off it, but I knew many, many people for whom it was the mainstay of their artistic life. It was a central part of mine, insofar as film writing became an art. Did I do the things that might have farmed me a megafollowing? Of course not. I'm not sure I could have, even had I wanted to. But Patreon was a place my work could exist that helped. And apparently it was all a mistake. I was not the kind of artist they wanted to support after all. Not that top-tier, rags-to-riches, investor-rewarding success story. I am not pleased. I am not shutting down my Patreon, but if the company does not rapidly rethink its screw-the-little-people priorities, I am not sure what I'm going to do next. Write extra about films this month. Send out cat pictures. Try to write poetry. Very angrily grieve.

2. Courtesy of kore: Amazon's hunger games. Left as a comment on her post: "I am so angry that Boston—not to mention Somerville—has involved itself in this race to the bottom. I can't even use the usual contemptuous sexual metaphors to describe it because it's a dick-sucking competition only if the dick ejaculates hydrochloric acid and is also on fire."

3. Courtesy of spatch: the great state square-dancing conspiracy. Massachusetts is one of the states that appears to have fallen prey to the innocuous sound of American folk dance, despite the fact that modern square dancing is no such thing and has crazily, I mean Henry Ford was involved, racist roots. Personally, just to spite his memory, I would happily nominate just about any other form of dancing as a replacement state dance. Quadrille would be actually traditional to New England, but I suspect not multicultural enough to upset Henry "Jazz is a Jewish creation" Ford. Any suggestions?

4. In much better art news, please enjoy (and take recommendations from) Fiona Maeve Geist's "Transformative (Injectable) Lit," a photo-essay on books and transition.

5. And tomorrow evening, if we do not get wiped out by impending snowstorm, I will be reading at the Lovecraft Arts & Sciences Council in Providence. Come hear me!

Comments

[dewline]

1. Never have been sure what to make of things like Patreon, GoFundMe, Kickstarter, and all the rest of this. Especially as it would apply to my financial life here in Canada. So I've stayed away. I chalked it up to paranoia of the sort that presumes myself to be my own worst enemy, and still do.

That said, I'm sorry for the pains you're now coping with as a result of this Patreon mess in progress.

2. I agree with you. As much as I might like to see Ottawa-Gatineau get a new major player in the employment picture, I wish that our two city halls would Let Someone Else Win.

5. Good luck!

[sovay]

That said, I'm sorry for the pains you're now coping with as a result of this Patreon mess in progress.

I appreciate it.

A lot of crowdfunding upsets me because it seems to have evolved to take the place of a functional economy and social safety net, but I was glad to see Patreon for reasons detailed to pameladean below and it was actively useful to me once my financial life plunged into the toilet where to be perfectly honest it has remained ever since, but at least my Patreon income stayed stable. Until now. And I do not believe it is because I was a failure as a film reviewer and deserved to be culled: somebody moved the goalposts. I am not cool.

As much as I might like to see Ottawa-Gatineau get a new major player in the employment picture, I wish that our two city halls would Let Someone Else Win.

The only way to win is not to play . . .

Good luck!

Thank you!

[mme_hardy]

Any of the kinds of dirty dancing that are most prevalent at the time the law is proposed.

I watched that thread on square dancing actually agog. I know it was a cousin of contra dancing, but I had no idea it was created to keep the Youth Pure.

[moon_custafer]

My parents took up English Country Dance and, to an extent, contra dance, when they retired. I suppose this wasn’t really surprising given that as a child I heard one of them say, a propos the *very* mid-century-style square dance club in our town, that it would probably be quite fun if one didn’t have to wear the ridiculous 1950s Hollywood-Western costumes.

[mme_hardy]

I loved contra dancing so, so much. It was the '80s and in Vermont/New Hampshire, so somebody threw a Contra the Contras Contra to raise money for the legitimate Nicaraguan government.

[sovay]

It was the '80s and in Vermont/New Hampshire, so somebody threw a Contra the Contras Contra to raise money for the legitimate Nicaraguan government.

That's beautiful.

[mme_hardy]

It was.

[moon_custafer]

Oh, now someone over on the thread has brought up the Oneida Community:

“I have not been so excited about weird discoveries since finding out my silverware was made by a MILF supremacist sex cult”

and then someone else mentioned graham crackers which are, like, the opposite of the Oneida Community.

[sovay]

and then someone else mentioned graham crackers which are, like, the opposite of the Oneida Community.

Whoa, wait, tell me about graham crackers.

[moon_custafer]

I don’t know a lot of the details, but they were inspired by a 19th-c minister who was also rapidly anti-masturbation — as part of a vegetarian and unsliced diet they were supposed to dissuade one from having sexual urges: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvester_Graham

[sovay]

inspired by a 19th-c minister who was also rapidly anti-masturbation — as part of a vegetarian and unsliced diet they were supposed to dissuade one from having sexual urges

I hope s'mores would have given him fits.

[pameladean]

I hold out a slim hope that Drip will (a) get its act together and (b) actually be decent.

The people who run Patreon are garbage. They had a host of miracles and they threw it away.

P.

[sovay]

I hold out a slim hope that Drip will (a) get its act together and (b) actually be decent.

I know almost nothing about Drip. I've just started to hear about it now in the wake of this tire fire, but I have to say that as a name it does not fill me with confidence.

The people who run Patreon are garbage. They had a host of miracles and they threw it away.

They resorted to a very American business model: first is first and second is nobody. (Thank you, Mr. Brown.) I did not think that was what $1 and $5 pledges were about. I thought they were about making a space for art that wasn't a zero-sum game, the grace to create and appreciate instead of just subsist. Patreon as it was founded was a good platform for people who were getting by, not raking in millions. But apparently it was a casino all along, and we were supposed to win big or go home.

[pameladean]

I don't know anything much about Drip either, since it's currently invitation-only; there are just tantalizing hints that it's more like Patreon as it was than anything else. Aaand no, the name does not inspire confidence. But none of the other suggested platforms really works for me.

I thought they were about making a space for art that wasn't a zero-sum game, the grace to create and appreciate instead of just subsist. Patreon as it was founded was a good platform for people who were getting by, not raking in millions. But apparently it was a casino all along, and we were supposed to win big or go home.

Just so. That's part of what's so very upsetting and insulting. They seemed to be doing a good, unusual thing for artists, and it was all a scam.

P.

[sovay]

But none of the other suggested platforms really works for me.

What else are people suggesting? I have backed Kickstarters before, but cannot see myself running one for my writing—I associate them with dramatic, one-shot projects rather than steady work—and I never really paid attention to the other crowdfunded options before people started recommending Patreon in the spring of 2015. I am not comfortable with just putting out a PayPal button. (I don't even have a PayPal account.)

That's part of what's so very upsetting and insulting. They seemed to be doing a good, unusual thing for artists, and it was all a scam.

Rose Lemberg has likened it to the Republican tax bill, with which I find I cannot disagree.

[pameladean]

Honestly, though I have backed Kickstarters when I could, the thought of doing one myself makes me want to hide under the bed. And yes, they are for a single large goal. I mean, I guess one could run one for a year's worth of what used to be Patreon money, and then do the things, but you'd just have to do it again in a year. And if you don't make your goal, you don't get the lesser amount that people have pledged; it has all been for nothing.

Someone I know from Twitter is putting together a list of alternatives:

http://kittyspace.org/gettheshowon.pdf

I'm sure they are all fine for somebody, but they don't cut it for me.

I'm very much afraid that Rose is right on way too many levels.

P.

[sovay]

I'm sure they are all fine for somebody, but they don't cut it for me.

None of them look like options for me right now, either. One of the virtues of Patreon was how low-key and low-maintenance it could be: pledge money and a certain amount of art turns up in your mailbox every month, make a certain amount of art every month and take home money. None of these platforms appears to have that flexibility and open-endedness, except for maybe Ko-Fi, which has explicitly no subscription service and puts your financial information much closer to the public than I am comfortable with. I am really hoping gwynnega is right and some other company will fill the exact void left by Patreon when it ceased to behave reasonably, because I have less and less faith each day that it will ever behave reasonably again.

[pameladean]

Sadly, I agree with you on all points. If I don't lose too many supporters I might end up just sticking with Patreon and feeling vaguely grimy all the time. Your eloquent description of the good Patreon in its original form did you is very similar to my experience. It's not enough money to live on, but it provides breathing space, it provided funds specifically for the making of fiction; and it also made me accountable. That's why, even though the fees I used to pay before they put them on the donors made me wince every month, I thought Patreon was worth it.

P.

[cyphomandra]

I’m sorry about Patreon. I was planning to add you to the people I sponsor in the new year; I’ll hold out hope for a better and more ethical alternative (also, i will hope that my credit card account is sorted out by then; I discovered rather a lot of fraudulent iTunes charges on Monday and although Apple have been very helpful in sorting these out my bank seems to have lost the new card they promised to send me).

I also hope the impending snowstorm is not too doomful!

[sovay]

I was planning to add you to the people I sponsor in the new year; I’ll hold out hope for a better and more ethical alternative

Thank you. I appreciate the thought.

(also, i will hope that my credit card account is sorted out by then; I discovered rather a lot of fraudulent iTunes charges on Monday and although Apple have been very helpful in sorting these out my bank seems to have lost the new card they promised to send me).

Yikes! I hope that can be resolved swiftly. People buying music with your money that you can't even enjoy seems particularly unkind.

I also hope the impending snowstorm is not too doomful!

Thank you! We'll find out tomorrow!

[gwynnega]

I'm so disgusted by Patreon's attitude. I hope that if the backlash doesn't make them rethink their new policy, another company steps in to cater to the many creators who apparently aren't Patreon's priority.

[sovay]

I hope that if the backlash doesn't make them rethink their new policy, another company steps in to cater to the many creators who apparently aren't Patreon's priority.

I really hope so. I mean, readymade market. People are going to want something else to do with their money. I just hate that they have to.

[muccamukk]

I'm really sorry to hear about Patreon. I'm not supporting very many people there, but if I were, especially factoring in the dollar, this'd be a hit. I hope another platform works out.

[sovay]

I'm not supporting very many people there, but if I were, especially factoring in the dollar, this'd be a hit. I hope another platform works out.

Thank you. I'm trying to figure out what my other options even are.

(On top of all of their other callous oversights, Patreon does not seem to have factored exchange rates into their fee outsourcing or their assessment of "financially successful" at all.)

[skygiants]

I was about to be bummed that the cross-step waltz, which is blissfully easy and satisfying to dance to creepy slow waltz-time music AND can incorporate tango and blues variations to give Henry Ford agita, would not be eligible for State Boston Dance since as far as I knew it was invented in California in 1994. But look! Antecedents in the Cross Walk Boston! A CONTENDER.

[sovay]

But look! Antecedents in the Cross Walk Boston! A CONTENDER.

A strong contender! Sweet.

[mme_hardy]

I have to say Cross Walk Boston is giving me traffic flashbacks. Help.

[sovay]

I have to say Cross Walk Boston is giving me traffic flashbacks. Help.

The way people drive in this town, that probably just makes it more appropriate . . .

[landofnowhere]

Once upon a many a year ago, my (more dextrous than me) friends celebrated the first snow of the winter by going out and waltzing in the Harvard Square crosswalk for the duration of the walk light. (See here, Group Waltz.mov + the jpg files beginning with "waltz")

Alas, I suspect they were not in fact doing the Cross Walk Boston.

[sovay]

Alas, I suspect they were not in fact doing the Cross Walk Boston.

That's still wonderful.

[thisbluespirit]

5. Good luck!

1. That sucks. (I was going to write more, but what more is there to say?) It seemed to be a really good thing for a lot of people.

[sovay]

Good luck!

We got canceled! Rescheduled for January, on the theory of less inopportune snow. I'll take luck on that.

That sucks. (I was going to write more, but what more is there to say?) It seemed to be a really good thing for a lot of people.

Thanks. It does, and it was, and I appreciate it.

[choco_frosh]

Square dancing: Well, yeah, it should really be contra, in this part of the world. WTF?

On the other hand, I should perhaps note that I think everyone I know in the Boston square dance scene - of which there are shockingly many - is queer.

[sovay]

On the other hand, I should perhaps note that I think everyone I know in the Boston square dance scene - of which there are shockingly many - is queer.

I don't assume that everyone who does modern square dancing is Henry Ford. (That would be horrifying.) I just don't feel, especially with that history, that it needs to be the official state dance.

[dhampyresa]

Patreon done fucked up :/ Sorry you have to deal with that.

[sovay]

Sorry you have to deal with that.

Thank you. I'm trying to figure out alternatives and in the meantime give my patrons a lot to read before the lights go out for totally preventable good.