Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes

Sometime in the near future this blog will offer memberships. There will be different membership levels and there will be different rewards for the different levels.

What’s in it for me?
The majority of visitors won’t notice a difference. There will still be free content available to everyone, including non-members. People who choose to become members will have to login to access member-only content. The login is the same as currently required to leave a comment.

You’re doing this because…?
Patreon is getting wanky.

“Wanky” is a technical term meaning “Their interface and associated rules, policies, et cetera, are becoming tiresome.” If I was the only person experiencing wankiness, I’d live with it. Others have shared that they’ve experienced wankiness. This equates to punishing people for doing good (supporting me). Punishing people for doing good is not acceptable to me.

Patreon has changed their contributor interface a few times, each time with “We’re improving your experience” and I’d like to meet the people making those decisions because when you take something that is known and works and turn it into something unknown that doesn’t work all you get is chaos.

Isn’t “changing the interface” what you’re doing, Joseph, by making this blog a membership blog?
First, if people get back to me that they don’t like the change, things will go back.

Second, everything published prior to the change will remain free and available to everyone.

Third, free, publicly available content will still be published.

Fourth and as noted above, the only people who’ll experience any kind of change to this blog will be those who become members. They’ll need to login to access members-only content. That login is the same as that required to leave a comment, so no big change there.

What about our data?
The only data stored on this blog’s server is your email, name, subscriber id, date of payment, amount paid, and membership level. Everything else (credit card information, personal identification information, et cetera) is handled by your credit card company and Paypal. We don’t see it, we don’t want to see it, it’s yours, keep it safe beside you, we’ll both be happier for it.

Do I need to support you on Patreon, too?
Please do if you so wish, otherwise not necessary. The premium content there will be echoed here. Patreon will continue to receive new content for patrons who want to remain Patreonic. There will also be some things here that the Patreon interface can’t do easily (audios, videos, group chats, et cetera). Everyone currently supporting me on Patreon will have equal level access here at no charge.

What will the membership levels be?
Glad you asked. They range from Muse ($1/month) to Polyhymnia ($1,000/month. Because I’m a fan of Daniel Bumham’s “Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood… Make big plans; aim high in hope and work.”). You can see all the membership levels on our Join Us page.

Feedback, Please
I’d appreciate knowing your thoughts on this. Please leave a comment if so inclined, use the Contact Me page if you’d prefer, email me directly if you know my email, call, send flowers and chocolate (or Scotch and cigars, even better), whatever.

Thanks.