TL;DR – You can support me directly through Paypal with the button on the side bar there ↗
I feel I need to explain what is perhaps the most paranoid post I’ve ever made on any platform. See, if I owned a platform where people discussed things, and I made a change that would force people to think about their support of that platform (never a good idea) and cause a potential migration away from that platform, I would flag discussions on that platform and truncate their effectiveness. I wouldn’t full-on delete them, I’d want the people making the discussions to think they were having the desired effect, but I perhaps wouldn’t use wider distribution channels like email to spread the word until it’s been reviewed by staff. You know, plausible deniability. “We had a hiccup in the email server, but it’s fixed now.”
In Patreon’s case, I’d flag anything with the words “Patreon” “change” “support” “free” “new” “direct” “paypal” and however many others I could think of. So here I am at 7 in the morning with this thought in my head trying to word a post on Patreon that won’t flag the sensors. Assuming they’re not just on lockdown mode and sending out nothing that isn’t reviewed. Like I said, paranoid.
I understand what Patreon is doing and why’re their doing it. I don’t agree with the choice they made, but I’m sure they felt like they had no other option. Somebody was going to get screwed. Or more like they were tired of being screwed and decided it was someone else’s turn. It was either going to be the content creators who give their platform value, or the legion of supports who pay the bills. Screw the content creators, and they stop generating the content that brings in the supporters. Screw the supporters and some of them may leave, but the big ticket supporters will stick around, and new supporters are coming in all the time as long as the content is being generated. Short term loss, long term gain. It just makes sense.
I don’t play that.
You asked, so I finally got off my butt and made a Support button here on the blog. You can now support me directly through PayPal. Shouldering this myself is going to be quite challenging with the book keeping and I’m still working on a way to insure that you get the same exclusive content. But I’m doing this because I’d rather take the load, then unload on you for supporting me. I may just have to hand-write emails with the exclusive content for a while until I can work out something more savvy. (I’m open to suggestions.) Paypal is a little less flexible on support options. You only have the options I provide. So if you, for instance, want something between graduate and Alumni, you have to let me know.
Here’s a breakdown of the rewards levels:
- 3D Print Scholar $1 per month – As a scholar you’ll receive Adblock Amnesty. You’ll recieve exclusive content including advanced and premium 3D models in your email box. If we ever meet in real life, you are given the option of a sincere high-five. You’ll also get your name on a single sized supporter tile in the supporter mosaic.
- 3D Print Scholar $2 per month – An option for those who want to give a little more. You also have the option of an awkward hug if we ever meet.
- 3D Printing Graduate $5 per month – Supporters at this level get all previous level’s rewards, a double large tile, and the source files (usually in Blender) to the projects I release.
- 3D Alumni $20 per month ∙ All previous rewards plus a triple large tile.
- Instant Shout-Out $75 per month – All previous rewards, a huge tile, plus a shout-out in one of my videos. (Price based on current market value of my channel.)
For those on mobile, you can subscribe here:
Support the 3D Printing Professor directly through Paypal for exclusive content including advance access to 3D models.
