Some solutions i put on the other threads:
(Some are for this specific thing, some are relevant because they’d help with some of the issues that have been tagged as reasons for this and the future changes.)
Give creators the OPTION to opt in/out on the feature. Many of us are happy to eat the fees, since you guys don’t want to and it’s really not our patron’s responsibility to eat a BUSINESS EXPENSE.
Be 100% Transparent with WHY
While this isn’t a straight up solution to why many of us disagree with the changes, it would greatly help some of us understand what the heck is going on and WHY it is claimed this is better for creators when many have done the math and many situations seem like it’s NOT, let alone it is a shot in the foot for us and our supporters. Some people have alluded to some really good thoughts on why this is possibly happening and why this is allowed to happen.
- Is aggregation of fees against some TOS of processing services? Is this why it’s being changed?
- Isn’t putting the fee on the buyers against some of these TOS’s as well?
- HOW are you guys getting away with this stuff when competitors have been shut down by the same payment processors because of these exact issues. What makes you guys exempt?
Pro-rate first month charges - Helps with Double billing
- A patron’s first month charge is pro-rated (Example: Cost of tier is then divided by days in the month probably straight up 30 for ease and then is charged that cost times how many days are left in the cycle. Example, 15 days left in the month: $10 pledge / 30 * 15 = $5)
- They get access to the blog and current month content, once charge has been completed. (I don’t see how this is much different than the imediate escrow payments that are already in place for what, $75+ pledges or what have you?
- This prevents skimming content and also prevents full cost double charging.
- They then get charged full pledge at the 1st of the month. So, full pledge gets access to all the rewards for that full paid month (especially custom stuff) while the pro-rate gives them access to the blog/content the creator has made available there.
Past Content Fee/Block people from seeing content before a successful pledge
- I am still confused as to WHY this is so hard to prevent people from seeing content they haven’t paid for in the first place. I realize programming can be a royal pain when you’ve got stuff already in place but really. How many years has this been asked for? (Pretty much all of Patreon’s existence.)
- This can be partnered with the pro-rate or on it’s own.
- Creators can choose if they want to do it or not.
- Creators can choose a cost to see all previously released content, as new pledges are typically only paying for the current months content, and will also help prevent previous content skimmers.
Fixing/Adding options to the Charge upfront feature
I made a big topic about this over HERE about how this feature does not currently help a good portion of artists and is a real pain in the butt for some of us. (Let alone that you cannot undo it.) Not quite on topic but related because it’s been talked about that the eventual aim is to help change fees and structure so that there is less of this skimming bs, yada yada. (It includes more pro-rate and other feature options as well.)
My reaction and concerns to the updated patreon blog post - Why changing from monthly to anniversary pledges is going to screw over lots of artists who use your service. (Another reason why I personally am happy to eat fees. Patreon made creating much simpler. These new changes will force me and others off the platform, especially those who rely on a monthly cycle to make CUSTOM CONTENT. Heck, you guys are a platform for creators, we CREATE, many of whom offer commissions and CUSTOM creations. Cmon.)
I can only hope that our concerns are actually being heard. There may be a lot of posts on the other threads but it’s all relevant and SHOULD be being read. The whole reason this forum exists was because you guys wanted interaction with your creators and to get feedback. USE IT. I am highly unimpressed and while i am probably one of the few who has yet to loose a patron (it’ll happen once payments process because many of my patrons is busy with, ya know, HOLIDAYS… 
Which i should be focusing on as well, but instead am trying to figure out where affording my living expenses are going to come from over the next few months. 