One of the most common reward types among all types of Creators is a “sneak peek” or behind-the-scenes look at whatever we’re working on next. For many Patrons this is a primary draw for pledging; however, we have found that a not insignificant number of Patrons prefer not to be spoiled at all. Here is some data from a Patron feedback survey we conducted recently:
As you can see, about 1/8 of respondents indicated that they would prefer not to see sneak peeks of our next release. Currently their only option is to avoid clicking on those Patreon posts that we have marked in the title as containing potential spoilers. We’re effectively unable to post “Image” type posts, as those spoilers would be clearly visible when browsing recent posts. And even then, sometimes pictures embedded in “Text” type posts can get caught showing in the thumbnail.
I can think of two solutions that might be fairly straightforward to implement:
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For “Image” type posts, have a “Mark as Spoiler” button in the posting options column. If it is selected, the headlining image is hidden unless the Patron clicks on the picture. (See the orange text in the mockup below)
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Create markdown Spoiler Tags for use in the post editor that would function like the double-bar ( “||” ) spoiler tags in Discord and other popular forum sites. This would be even more flexible than the solution above because it would let Creators mark not only images as spoilers, but also text, which could contain news, features, plot points, or other surprises that not all Patrons may want to see.
This feature would be helpful for just about any type of Creator across your platform, and I hope the data I’ve provided shows how welcome it would be by Creators and Patrons alike. Thanks for your consideration!
