Empathy is a finite resource, don't go wasting it on fools...
This is a quote I would like to borrow if you don't mind. I am really glad to see my fellow pirates also have empathy and feel like they might end up running out of it, and this terrifies them as this means no more humanity left.
262177 Here the full version of my rant:
However that wasn't my point I'm wanted to tell here. It was the fact that people deserved to get pirated for offering egregious prices for subpar content. If I was one of those people who had money to burned I would've spend $8000 to buy all those packs and share them into every pirate site known to man as a fuck you. Even though I lost thousands of dollars doing so, I manage to save hundreds or thousands of people for burned $8000 dollars for that content. So they may think its a lost in my end but its actually a win long term. Because that money given from one individual ain't going last long if they don't have that many people supporting them for the long road.
I blame Sakimichan. All the artists working with Photoshop started by following her; therefore, they also reproduced her absurd plan of locking past month works. I hate that, and leak everything I can with joy.
Yes, that's also the case, and just like resubscribing to Enty/Fantia, you don't even know if it's still there anymore, and end up going "what the fuck? I've been subscribing for 5 years, and now I need to pay 60 months of posts that have literally nothing inside just to subscribe for the next month, and next month it'll be the same thing again because this thing will keep considering I've never ever supported the creator?!"
Honest creators on Fantia will use the timegate very sparingly, and always warn you before you change plans (as this will entirely reset your membership). They will also warn you that backnumbers indeed require you to be subscribed to the corresponding paid plans, so you can't just get a previous month without first supporting another month all over again.
Even more honest creators just won't use it at all, and either charge a slightly larger amount to get the entire backlog (so you can effectively tip them when you can afford it while still being fair to everyone when you come back) or charge a set amount and give access to the entire backlog immediately, whether you supported before or not. The latter will also encourage you to use the free plan first, and even try it out if you don't have a Fantia account by giving away free pics as previews of the stuff they make (and will also let you know they value the fact people come to see their stuff and are thankful for your interest, not how much you pay for it). This is how a fan club tipjar works. Tip what you want, when you want, if you can, when you feel like it, without penalties, without the creator being tied to virtual promises or deadlines. Everyone wins. Needless to say, these deserve true support.
The rarest kind is the one also disabling social tippings, which makes Fantia really mad, but they still had to add a very hidden "disable all social tippings" feature after a huge riot happened. I link to that feature on every plan I support for creators to know about it if they don't want such things - as this is indeed people tipping with emoji and competing in a bragging rights contest. You can still reaction-emote if that's your kink, just not post paid emotes anymore to show off - you can still show off by overpaying since that one cannot be disabled at all.
To get back on the topic of Gumroad, yeah, I've heard of the Sakimichan bs. And the bitch's popular. If there's some kind of pay point ranking on Gumroad, then I guess that's another "let's see who's Sakimichan's most loyal walking ATM".
The tl;dr on Gumroad is people as usual are contributing to the issue. If they boycott those creators and force them to become honest or face consequences, the community wins. But lazy rich people are legion. And lazy rich people rarely have a brain, mostly because working your ass off to make ends meet helps you get a better idea of how hard it is to "make a living". See also the double standards with creators before and during the "twitter riot", before: "it's not even my main income", during: "I'm gonna starve to death because of you!"
A tipjar isn't a kickstarter or a crowdfunding project. A milestone doesn't make it a crowdfunding project, it's a personal milestone to drive motivation. If you want to crowdfund or kickstart something, you do it fair and square. Dishonest people will get pirated, and they will deserve it. We will regret nothing, because we have all paid and been scammed by such people.
Yes, pirates have standards. In fact, most people in this thread have more empathy than 90% of content creators. Not just because they pirate and leak, but because they also share stuff they like, and honest creators will appreciate the free advertising if it's done right. As for dishonest ones, they just deserve to fall if they refuse to become honest and remain criminals. Pirating stuff is illegal, but so is extorting money from backers in many, many shady ways.