Patreon is a boon for many 3DX artists looking to get their work off the ground. It’s not an easy or cheap art to practice; and getting any support outside of a person’s job is very helpful. For some, using crowdfunding sources like Patreon are a great way to make a living out of this line of work. Moreover, the issue of piracy is a little more manageable.
However, our situation with Patreon has always been tenuous because of our line of work. Now, because of an unrelated incident, there’s a potential risk that various Patreons, if not many, could get culled. It’s uncertain whether it will happen, and it’s possible this is just minor nonsense. But it’s nevertheless something to worry about.
Getting Petty
The cause of this concern, almost surprisingly, has nothing to do with porn. Last month, Patreon banned a Canadian right-wing vlogger by the name of Lauren Southern due to an incident in the Mediterranean Sea. We’re not going to post any links on it, since it involves a very divisive political issue. Besides, what matters is what happened afterward.
Several figures on the right are very unhappy by the development. Some have ended up abandoning Patreon for choosing the “intolerance narrative” by booting Southern. This disregards the fact that Patreon can do whatever it wants, since it’s, you know, a private company in America. Others have supported Southern in different ways through donations.
However, for some right-wing media sites, the response is to do what everyone else does on Twitter and Tumblr when someone angers them in a stupid way: Get petty. One site in particular, GotNews – whose claim to fame is saying the President reads their site, which is a weird thing to sell your site on, no matter who that President is – is going after Patreon because it supports porn, a conservative dog whistle. Patreon CEO Jack Conte denies it, says it’s even in the rules, but they say otherwise. The porn in question they speak of happens to be live-action, which is important to note.
GotNews is small fry, judging by most metrics. We get more traffic than they do. Moreover, more prominent right-wing publications such as Breitbart and The Daily Caller aren’t blowing the same dog whistle. In theory, 3DX Patreons are safe because they’re art, and the dispute relates to live-action. In theory. Still, this isn’t the first time a minor article by a conservative spooked a culling of some kind.
Like a Book Burning, But With DATA
Back in 2013, one of the weirder fads that developed was the rise of dinosaur and mythical beast erotica on Amazon Kindle. Women getting boned by velociraptors, sasquatches, and various other legendary creatures were a thing for a while. It was also lucrative: Some writers were making thousands a month in sales. It showed that writing erotica and selling well was possible.
However, the trend died quickly due to an unrelated incident of its own. A conservative writer by the name of Jeremy Wilson wrote a series of hit pieces on the Kindle erotica marketplace for The Daily Dot, in which he noted there was a large number of rape and incest erotica being published on the site, along with a combination of the two on occasion. Granted, such stories aren’t cool to begin with on a business level, but we’re not one to judge other people’s fetishes.
After the article published, Amazon quickly deleted many of the stories what was likely a panic-driven decision. But it ultimately led to a larger culling of erotica that dragged non-incest and non-rape titles into the memory hole, including many of the popular dino and sasquatch erotica pieces. We witnessed a minor digital book burning. It became much more tenuous to publish erotica that wasn’t strictly vanilla for a couple years. Things have settled down now, as is evidenced by my rival Chuck Tingle’s rise to fame with his fabled and Hugo-nominated gay dino porn.
The pattern is similar: Right-wing writer/pub goes after some seedy element, bigger company uses blunt force to get rid of seedy element, taking out people who had nothing to do with it. It’s very possible it will happen with Patreon.
How to Stay Safe
Odds are, something may happen in the coming days and weeks. But even if it doesn’t, 3DX artists that use Patreon should take some steps to make sure they don’t get in trouble. Supro, who hosts his own Patreon, recommends a few:
1. Make sure all NSFW posts are Patron-only.
This is a common mistake to make, but Pateron artists forget NSFW posts can’t be seen by the general public. Moreover, the site doesn’t make an auto-distinction. While it may be annoying to some artists, it’s essential to make sure posts are set to patron-only. The mistake of making naughty posts public will get you into trouble very quickly.
2. Read all the rules and FAQs!
It almost goes without saying, but now’s a good time as any to review the Patreon rules and Terms of Service. Moreover, if you have some issues understanding them, it would be a good idea to read over the FAQs as well. If you have further problems, you can contact support. They’re friendly, you know!
3. Back up your Patreon work off-site.
In the event a culling does occur, odds are likely you won’t be able to recover any work. So it’s ideal to have a cloud storage unit available in case things go south and askew. Whether it’s Dropbox, Sync, or even Google Drive, just having your own backup online for both yourself and fans is in your best interest.
Facing An Uncertain Future
Of course, there’s a good chance that nothing will happen at all. But given the initial reaction over what was essentially a small article, it’s a sign that people feel really insecure about the future of funding 3DX. We’re already in difficult circumstances as it is, with Tumblr slowly tightening the noose around adult content and making it extremely difficult for artists to reach new audiences. Patreon works for now, but the situation has to change.
This may require new ideas in how to approach adult content. While crowdfunding through Patreon is a tenuous route, creating your own crowdfunding platform is even more difficult, given that banks don’t like adult content. Moreover, the number of social platforms from which to broadcast adult content grows slimmer by the day.
One option is to have a hub for artwork, though that is open to question, especially in the 3DX scene. Deviant-Art takes an anti-porn stance. Hentai-Foundry is notorious for taking a hostile stance toward 3D artwork, though artists are partly to blame for this. A new hub specifically for 3DX wouldn’t be a bad idea, though.
Another is to build a network of artists who can work together to build up 3DX as a whole, sharing costs and promotion. An artist cooperative of this nature could stand to benefit from helping each other out and promoting 3DX in different ways. It would take some time, money, and a willingness to work with others, but there’s definitely potential in that.
Still, something must be done soon. 3DX has potential to grow. But it can only do so if it doesn’t rely on companies that can pull the plug on them quickly.
Mano Moore
July 15, 2021Asshottes beauty Inspiration to get idea for training my self..thank you!!
Banner
October 20, 2017And so it begins… This article really was prophetic.
Jimmie Rustler
September 9, 2017As far as I’m aware, Hatreon has no guideline against porn. I don’t know what payment processor they use, though. It could be just as difficult to use them as Patreon if they use a similar processor
Nephanor
August 19, 2017Here’s the deal. The SJWs (Social Justice Warriors) will come after us eventually. Haven’t you noticed that they already are moving on us? They did a piece in Polygon I think it was trying to attack Studio FOW, but they are smart and keep their nose clean. They put pretty much everything off Patreon, so no matter what, Patreon can’t get them. They are taking money for MAKING porn, not for giving it to people. It’s a distinction, but it works. Look at all the SJWs who have gone after “too sexy” characters in video games? In advertising? In movies? In TV. The truth is, the religious right and the SJW left are just moral authoritarians, they just approach it a different way. The right talks about corrupting children as the reason to “protect” them, and the left talks about “protecting women”. It’s the same tactic, just with different faces and targets. They have even used some of the same arguments that were laughed at when the religious right used them, but since they are coming from a different side of the political spectrum, suddenly they are taken seriously. Example? Jack Thompson was laughed at mercilessly for saying video games cause violence. But Anita Sarkeesian is lauded as a hero for saying video games cause sexism. The argument is the same. And evidence shows they are both wrong. But the people backing Sarkeesian don’t tell you that. And she gets to go to the UN to talk about what a victim she is because people say she’s wrong online. The religious right isn’t a problem. They are discredited and mocked. The authoritarian SJW left, they hold all the cards and the power right now. They can get you fired at Google for saying there are population level differences between men and women, but you should treat people as individuals. They are controlling the media, they are controlling the education, and they are the ones in charge of a lot of these tech companies. They are the concern.
But not to worry. Other websites are stepping up to start bringing what we NEED back to the internet: Competition. Minds.com for example, kind of a hybrid of FaceBook and Twitter, has launched their own Patreon alternative, Wire. And unlike Facebook, they ALLOW porn on their site. They don’t want Wire to be used for porn, kinda like Patreon, but using the same things you outlined here, you can get around that. And other Patreon alternatives are starting up. Give it time, we will have more that are not about censoring ideas, and when we have that, they won’t censor us either. Supporting free speech platforms is what keeps us in business. Letting moral authoritarians in is what kills us.
andi guinness
August 30, 2017Except SJWs had nothing to do with this situation. It was clearly a bunch of right-wingers who are by no means associated to any of the people you mentioned. None of what you said here had any relevance to the subject matter other than your personal wankery.
Why is it that you dumbasses instantly word vomit about someone who had nothing to do with any of this? Get a fucking life, geez…
Catharsin
September 1, 2017He’s actually right, he just gets the problem with a wider angle than you, probably because you are too focused on the concrete things that directly matter to you from your point of you. So you may not get the big picture here but it’s actually (indirectly) related to what he talked about. Especially if we take your last article “The (Financial) Stigma of Making 3DX”. The morals of our current society has a direct impact on how porn art is accepted and remunerated.
andi guinness
September 9, 2017Except not really. He’s using this as an excuse to yelp about GamerGate and Anita Sarkeesian, both of which nobody cares about except their hardcore supporters and opponents.
Degenernate
August 9, 2017I think being the punching bag of the religious right AND the social justice left simultaneously means it’s only a matter of time before any hint of pornographic content will be banned from Patreon, Tumblr, and even DeviantArt. It might be impossible to get a bank loan or VC to fund creating the adult-focused competitors these sites deserve, but I feel like covering 6+ months of bandwidth costs and a proper advertising campaign would both cost more than getting the site standing. This could all be plausibly covered by an open-minded angel investor, particularly if you could demonstrate the basic functionality, and there’s clearly money to be made.
The biggest roadblock I see here is (again) the damned shadow-regulating payment processors. The better question isn’t ‘Can we trust Patreon?’, it’s more like ‘When is someone going to invent a reliable way to allow legal adults to pay legal tender for perfectly legal pornography?’ Cryptocurrencies fit the bill, but they still involve entirely unacceptable levels of friction.
As long as this link is uncertain, the rest of the chain doesn’t matter.
andi guinness
August 10, 2017“Social justice left”
Heh. Heh heh. Heh heh heh.
As per your question, “When is someone going to invent a reliable way to allow legal adults to pay legal tender for perfectly legal pornography,” the answer is “likely never.” The purveyors of capital (i.e. banks) have a vested interest in catering to the richest and most powerful, who tend to have or pander to conservative social views (i.e. hate porn, either for religious or social justice reasons (yes, social justice is conservatism, just ask the Jesuits)). Moreover, because of “questionable” legitimacy of porn, there is a greater incidence rate of fraud in the industry. It’s enough that the Justice Department considers it “high-risk” and thus requiring a greater level of transactional scrutiny that cost banks money.
miro
August 9, 2017I’m stating the obvious by saying become a publishing artist at https://affect3dstore.com . Even if you have a Patreon you don’t want to put all your eggs in one basked and that way you can happily have two (or more) compatible income streams. They work well with each other since some like subscriptions and others like paying for only what they want. Several artists who make a living from our store alone and we’re not going to dump 3DX even if the pope himself asked for it 😛
I do hope Patreon doesn’t drop 3DX because I think it works well for a lot of artists and helps 3DX’s acceptance in general when a mainstream site allows it.
Puppetmaster
August 9, 2017This very much reminds me of Google/Apple/Steam/Facebook/etc. as well. What they write in their rules is “we reserve the right to delete any app for any reason at any time with or without notice”
Please let that sink in… Any time, any reason… And they don´t even need to give you a reason! “We just deleted your lifetime work. Deal with it”
It happened to a couple of friends and myself that Google or Apple came up with a stupid reason (if they answer at all) and just delete your work! And it´s gone forever! And I am not talking about anything even close to erotic. It can be that some asshole is buying fake reviews somewhere and tells those guys “make reviews for that app/game”.
As soon as Google or Apple realise there are automated/fake reviews (they have algorythms for that), they delete the account of that app/game. Jippie! Someone does not like you and they just kick you out of business with that trick! Or you have someone at Google/Apple that does not like you and they just delete your stuff. An angry ex for example…
It´s not possible to create ANY sustainable business with those companies. You can work your ass off, get loans etc. to finance your work and then they just pull the plug. Of course this is against the law in the EU for example. But try dragging them to court… Not only is it expensive, it will take years if you can win at all. And then you can only force them to pay you expenses but you can´t force them to re-activate your account.
Anyway you are fucked…
jack pinder
August 8, 2017Censorship, what’s right and what is wrong, who plays God. Spooky stuff. Loving the growth of 3DX, the potential unlimited creativity. Our self imposed laws as a society confuse me. Are we breaking a rule by viewing, owning or supporting this 3DX porn medium? Dino’s and pretty girls or boys? Is that fairy an adult.? It is all so grey till some well meaning individual decides this offends them and publicly voices their opinion. If done loudly our politicians do have to pay attention and may have to placate the masses. Reminds me of lynch mob justice. Got to stay on the right side of the rope.
andi guinness
August 9, 2017It’s important to remember: To the right wing, especially the far right, ANY porn is bad, no questions asked. Both the religious and nationalist right take the stance (for different reasons) that porn is evil because non-procreative sex is evil, and anything that promotes or demonstrates non-procreative sex is evil just as well. They’re also the same types of people who spend a lot of time targeting childless individuals because the purpose of individuals after a certain age is to either breed or be celibate. The fact that porn exists is already offensive to them, and nothing placate them.
As I said, this is basically a dog whistle. Whether it functions properly remains to be seen.
Elayn Wilde
August 19, 2017It’s so hilarious and ironic that they deny evolution while their dogma reinforces it 😛
Hibbli3D
August 8, 2017two more little things that worked really fine for me:
1. keep it completely SFW, even the patreon posts. send links/files just through the message system
2. dont set any links from patreon site to your website(s) and maybe even rename it
Dianaranda
August 8, 2017This is exactly why i am heavily against any censorship at all, it is nonsense to censor things, remove them, just because someone got “offended”
Supro
August 8, 2017Censorship is a tricky thing since it’s not cut and dry like people think. I can’t say that I 100% believe there should be no censorship because that would open up a can of worms. But do I think certain aspects should be relaxed? Yes (especially Japan and their unnecessary pixely crotch).
Dianaranda
August 8, 2017The thing is if you start to censor at all, then it slowly starts to creep into more and more things. Censorship tends to expand over time, and just leaving things un-censored, is just a beter solution, and this puts the impetous on the viewer, to either view something, or not to view something.
Instead of with censoring, someone else determining for you and me, what we are allowed to view, or consume, and who has the right to determine for an adult especially what to consume or not to consume?
In my view no-one has the right on this planet to restrict what i am allowed to view/consume.
andi guinness
August 9, 2017Such a viewpoint is solipsistic at best, extremely dangerous at worst. It’s the sort of thinking that could be used to defend viewing, for example, underage porn. You have to ask yourself: Is that a hill you really want to die on?
miro
August 10, 2017some things may need to be censored like actually violent/ underage porn… but not regular porn or 3DX
no group has the right to force/ project their hate on others