If any of you are using Patreon, READ THIS!

[Hyperstrike]

While this post is not political, it's politics-adjacent.
You've been warned.

If you're using Patreon to collect money, you may want to start looking for an alternative.
Why?  Patreon may not be around much longer or the fee structure will become untenable.
 

Spoiler

A comic by the name of Owen Benjamin was kicked off Patreon a while back.  Why is irrelevant to this notice.
However, he was able to talk something in excess of 100 of his Patreon subscribers into filing a lawsuit against Patreon for tortuous interference in a business arrangement.

Now, Patreon's terms of service at the time said that you could NOT "class action" such suits.  That they needed to be adjudicated individually, via arbitration.
Basically it's a standard way of a company protecting itself from huge payouts.

Unfortunately, under California law, the fees for arbitration are paid by the larger entity.  They're also paid UP FRONT.
And arbitration can cost up to something like $10,000.  EACH.

Patreon tried to change their TOS.  But many of these people deleted or never logged back into their accounts.  So they never agreed to the new TOS.
Patreon then tried to sue these claimants.  And they were just denied in California's court system.  So they're now on the hook for X number of arbitration sessions, times (potentially $10,000).  The numbers get big REAL fast.

ADDITIONALLY, some of the changes to their TOS are ILLEGAL UNDER CALIFORNIA LAW.  Opening them up to even MORE suits.

Okay, so Owen Benjamin's fans are a GIANT slap to the face of Patreon.
But they're now, also, PRECEDENT SETTERS.

Another person with a MUCH larger following, Sargon of Akkad (Carl Benjamin, no relation) has notified his fanbase about this precedent.  He, too, was booted off Patreon a while back.  Taking his subscribers with him.  And promptly had his new patronage service attacked by getting their payment providers yanked.

Anyhow, this person's former Patreon subscriber-base.is ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE larger than Owen Benjamin's.  So Patreon could be looking at, literally THOUSANDS of lawsuits going to to Arbitration.  The fees for which might not BANKRUPT Patreon, but would probably FATALLY disrupt their cash flow.

And if these arbitrations go in the claimant's favor (and at this point it's likely they ARE), it's the end of Patreon.

And there are people who've been kicked off Patreon with similar large followings.

So, if you're using Patreon now, start looking to diversify.  And pull any money you have on the platform off as soon as humanly possible.

Because if you think the company won't just fold up and abscond with any money left on the system...

Warning!  Adult language in both videos.

https://www.pscp.tv/w/1dRKZZqXQyQKB?t=28s
 

 

 

[MunkiLord]

Good. Forced arbitration clauses are abused to discourage people from holding companies liable. They are bullshit and I look forward to more mass arbitration filings. If that means companies like Patreon go out of business, so be it. They don't get to force people into situations stacked in their favor then cry when people take them up on it. AT&T recently cried about this, oh well.

 

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200406/08301344244/corporations-not-happy-innovators-have-hacked-crappy-us-binding-arbitration-system.shtml

 

edit: I'd like to add I know nothing of the individual banned and whether or not these lawsuits have any merit, I'm only commenting on forced arbitration bullshit companies try and pull. It's a system that needs to go away.

Edited July 31, 2020 by MunkiLord

[Apparition]

A couple of technology vloggers that I follow and monetarily support have been slowly phasing themselves off of Patreon over the past few months and moving to Locals.

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5 hours ago, Apparition said:

A couple of technology vloggers that I follow and monetarily support have been slowly phasing themselves off of Patreon over the past few months and moving to Locals.

Smart move.  And Dave Rubin's a level-headed guy that I'd trust with my money.