The fact you didn't engage with the community initially or ask for feedback speaks far more about your arrogance, incompetence and mendacity that the nature of the change itself. If I was using Patreon I would be looking for alternatives anyway...how long until the next "surprise"?
Rageposts are not cool here, regardless of how badly someone or their company messed up. If you keep posting like this, which we've asked you repeatedly not to do, we're going to ban you.
Any good faith view is possible to express thoughtfully if you want to, so if you want to comment on HN, please do it that way.
The issue is that there is no current alternative to Patreon’s ease of use for gathering funds from a large number of fans, and a Patreon competitor can’t be built overnight. (Kickstarter’s Drip is not public yet)
Of course, being a pseudo-monopoly allows you to test the limits of monetization.
I've definitely seen numerous people looking for alternatives and trying to reduce their dependence on a single platform, and they won't get all of that trust back.
That said, this could be an opportunity for them. Patreon should have some test audiences (from both types of Patreon users) for potential changes like this, to evaluate what they look like. Creating some kind of advisory council (and ensuring that it does not just include high-profile creators the way YouTube's equivalent does) would help address this.
That's pretty harsh. They made a mistake and then apologize. While they didn't "initially" they did "eventually" - don't they deserve some credit for that?
No. Allowing companies to continuously treat its customers poorly as they test out pricing structures to maximise profits is how gambling become common in computer games and makes up 50% of EAs profits. It shows their intent, to work out how to maximise their earnings and keep everyone grumbling but still using their service. Look for an exit if you are funded this way, this company is going to keep trying until it sticks.
I'm sure the deserve some credit, but that doesn't wipe away the fact that they behaved in a way that reeks of 'arrogance, incompetence and mendacity'. Bad decisions are bad, and walking them back doesn't undo the initial decision.
They made a mistake that indicated they had a faulty understanding of their entire value proposition. And they made a mistake that had a profound negative effect on their user base (there are almost certainly many creators who were forced to scramble to be able to make rent or pay their bills during the holidays). Sweeping that under the rug of "a mistake" is silly. They hurt people, and it didn't have to be that way. They could have announced their plans with a longer timeline (6 months or a year, perhaps) with the expectation that things might change depending on feedback. Instead they rode roughshod over their user base. For a service that is supposed to be about changing people's lives for the better they did not take those lives as seriously or treat them with the gentleness they deserved.
There is a funny kind of contradiction going on here.
On the one hand, men in the tech community have been told it's never OK to use/share/endorse images of attractive women with "lots of skin", in any work or tech-community context, because it objectifies women, makes them uncomfortable, and pushes them away from the tech industry.
On the other hand, men should respect how women present themselves, and welcome them into the tech community. Still, this doesn't save you if a moral busybody walks behind you when you're looking at this twitter profile - it's very conceivable that a guy could get in trouble or ostracized for "ogling scantily-clad women".
Hell, surely you remember the two guys at pycon 4 years ago, some woman behind them heard one tell a (rather tame) "dongle" joke to the other, generated outrage on twitter, got them fired, etc.
In this modern era where moral outrage is more in fashion than ever (in recent memory anyway), the only winning move is not to play.
I am a woman. I think she ought to tone it down a bit. I blogged about that.
Edit: ironically this comment was being ignored as long as I had the disclaimer in it that I am routinely accused of victim blaming for trying to empower women. I removed it because I also get constantly accused of making things about me. The second it was removed,
a personal attack in violation of the guidelines was posted as a reply and now my comment has been downvoted.
Here is the blogpost in question in case anyone wants to read it instead of knee-jerk assuming I am just some sexually uptight prude:
I think there is a concern in our society that both men and women tend to spend an inordinate amount of time judging and commenting on the appearance, tone, and other superficial characteristics of women. If we're to make effective progress as a society we need to be very careful about this.
My reading of awesomepantsm's comment is that it conveys the idea that it doesn't matter what any of us think about what someone is wearing, we should be concerned with the thoughts they are expressing.
I never saw your post in the original form, only in the shortest version and then with the most recent edit. I found your blog post on my own, and I see it's much more nuanced than your comment here (I suppose that's to be expected).
Your blog post seems to indicate that you wouldn't dress like that. Fair enough, the rationale you describe is illuminating. But how does that extend to a normative expectation on the behavior of another? That's what I think is problematic.
I wouldn't dress that way because I am 52 and I don't look like that. If you've got it, flaunt it. If I looked like that, I might be doing exactly the same thing.
But the main point of my post is this: years of trying to get meaty engagement on HN has taught me that men will tend to see me through the lens of sex first and foremost. It has proven to be counterproductive to either expect men to never think of me that way, or to actively encourage that focus or cooperate with other people framing me as primarily or solely a sex object.
It was written in hopes of helping women think about how to effectively navigate a man's world. It has nothing to do with suggesting a normative anything.
I am saying that a woman's sexuality is hers to do with as she pleases. In my experience, that is an extremely radical position. Lots of men would like women to be more free to say yes to them. That doesn't mean they like it when someone like me says "They are free to use it any damn way they so choose, your agenda to fuck them be damned."
As stated in the blog post, if I were her, I would tone down the internet stuff to be less in your face blatantly sexual in terms of framing of photos while continuing to dress exactly the same way.
It is a position of "I can dress any damn way I want for my own pleasure, no I am not your whore."
It is her body. Some pictures currently frame it as a toy for any internet stranger. I would stop doing that one thing. That's it.
I am not telling her what to do. My blog post makes it as clear as I know how that I am using her as an example to elucidate a thought process.
My initial comment here was really more to express sympathy for people saying "I am male and it is inherently problematic for me to look at her work or share her work because of the images of her that are associated with it." I think that is a completely valid concern and it is one of the reasons I work at trying to make sure I do my best to present myself in a fashion that doesn't raise such questions.
I am sure I don't always get it right, but I try to be mindful of the fact that if I want to be taken seriously and do business with men, it is easier for them to talk to me, make introductions and share my work if they don't have to explain that, no, I am not a hooker, not their illicit lover, and they aren't interested in my writing for its salacious nature. Men in positions of power often need to meet a test of no appearance of impropriety. Some men simply are not going to open doors for me if they have any reason to feel that it will lead to talk. That is the reality I am dealing with. Getting on a soap box about how it shouldn't matter how I look does not strike me as an effective approach to the problem in question.
People are often talking about abstract ideals when they talk about sexism. I am usually speaking of a pragmatic approach that has some hope of actually working in the real word. I am not holding my breath waiting for some ideal world to arrive. I need to eat in the here and now.
You have a history of posting unsubstantive comments here. Could you please not do it again? We ban accounts that clearly have no intention of following the guidelines.
I didn't downvote but the page is perfectly SFW. There's skin on display but no more than in, say, a one-piece swimsuit ad (on average- there's four or five pictures).
There's no inappropriate body parts on display. I'd feel safe to show this to my boss, though my boss's mother would probably disaprove.
I agree these may be uncomfortable for some. But they're definitely SFW.
I'm ok with some things being uncomfortable. We got past the idea that women can wear trousers to work. We can get past this as well. Some progress can be uncomfortable.
Poor analogy. A calendar is obviously your choice of decoration that your colleagues will see every day. The calendar's content is on you.
Visiting a Twitter page for a few seconds in your browser and the background happens to show the woman in a bikini, is absolutely not the same as your choice of calendar. There is no nudity anyway, it's 100% legal and we see similar images in the street, shop windows, billboards, TV, everywhere.
> The Xerox Alto, widely recognized as the first modern personal computer
It it wasn't available for personal use, this is a delusional claim. Maybe the first prototype of a personal computer. But that's all it was - a (impressive) technical prototype.
Good heavens, I'm a bit astounded by this dismissal. I think it's fair to say that you can simply consider yourself not covered by “widely recognized” rather than drop supercilious nit-picks here and we'd all be better for it.
Yup came here to find this. Can open Drive, but not individual documents. Which is a real pain as there is something in one I need right now. And I have offline installed but no dice...
(Australia)
Edit: I was using it fine at around 7:20AM (AEST) but it was down when I got to work at 8AM.
