Should I continue offering "early post" incentives for recouping some of the losses at the start of each month?

I don’t really have any extra money to give right now, but I’m budgeting to keep my tier each month. Keep offering the early release. I don’t find an issue with it since you release it anyway if we don’t make it.

Rho-fawx

The short version is, you do you. It's your channel.. or whatever they call it here lol. But I'd have to agree that the wording of the posts could have been better. I don't believe you intended for it to come across the way it may have for many people, so i didn't think much of it. But i definitely see how the phrasing could lead people to see it as FuriousDing framed it. I don't mean to try and tell you how to run your patreon, but perhaps just setting the goal, without prefacing it with the negative connotation of "i lost a lot of pledges if we can get x amount back" would at least avoid backlash to some degree. To be honest i didn't even think about what Nuptup said in regards to the goal messages only going out to people who are already patrons until i read it. I could see why people who that thought did click with might feel some sort of way about it lol. I didn't really get like manipulative intent from the post, but people have a tendancy to overthink things like that.

RealExivus

not voting because I think you should do whatever you think works. But that being said, I personally can't always assure that i have the money available on the first of every month, so i manually re-pledge, but usually not until several days later. While it's only 5$ coming from me, if there's 50 or 100 others in the same situation that could be a thing. That said, I've made a point to re-pledge monthly since i started in april, despite cancelling billing every month. I'd rather pledge a few days late, than have a $45 bank fee for insufficient funds lol. Just as a thought, have you considered flipping the way you do it, and having an end of month goal? so the late pledgers like me can make the difference, rather than a beginning of the month "if i recoup this much in x days" goal, where some people may not have the cash until say the second week of the month, as pay schedules aren't always like 1st and 15th kind of thing

RealExivus

I don't pretend to know all the ins and outs but I would think fluctuations in donations is normal and I too would ty to encourage folks to keep contributing if were in your place. There is no way to please everyone. Do the right thing and let the negative comments run off your back

Equinator

This is your Patreon. No matter what you do, you can't please everyone sadly. I'll support you as much as I can in what ever you do. Keep up the great work.

1289dude

It's hard for everyone but I really do think offering early post content is good idea.

Trilljacker654

I think you were perfectly justified having a negative reaction. I'd have felt the same in your position, so don't feel you need to justify yourself to anyone. Normally I don't really register the bonus incentive posts (I'm not in a good position to assist), it wasn't until you made this post that I even thought about their tone. So when I checked the last email I immediately picked up on what upset the other commenter, and I admit I didn't go looking into all your older posts on it. I don't know that commenter or what their position was, maybe they were just having a bad day themselves and saw that post. I can understand also why they may feel guilted with the message of "I've lost $X, help me recoup it" in the regular posts. Don't feel you need to defend sticking to your word, you didn't do anything wrong, and certainly don't feel like you're a terrible person. You're doing fine, this was a one-time occurance. Don't let it get to you too much.

FuriousDing

This is very fair. Thank you for this feedback, I really appreciate it. I’ve just gone back and checked all the times I’ve made these incentive posts, and I’ve ALWAYS framed it as “if we reach this goal, you’ll get things faster”. This is the one time I’ve framed it in any other way, and the only reason is because we didn’t hit the goal. When I announced it this month, I even called it a “bonus”. I only use the positive way of talking about it like you’ve said here. But this month, we didn’t reach the goal, so I made a post saying “sorry, we didn’t reach the goal, so I’m going to have to release the animation on its original schedule. I shouldn’t have used the word “delay”, that was definitely my bad. But I was “reluctant” in saying it because even in the past where we’ve missed the goal a little, I’ve still given the early release. This is the first time I haven’t been able to release the video early, and I figured you would all want to hear that it wouldn’t be coming for a few days. I understand what I did there was a little badly handled now, but it still wasn’t nice, after a long day of animating, to log on and be told I’m “punishing” people and that I’m greedy. I think that’s why I had a bad reaction to it. Because it made me feel like a terrible person. Thank you for the feedback.

ScrewingWithSFM

To be honest, I don't think they make a difference

I'm not going to vote. Mostly because I don't think it's that simple. By posting these insentives to patreon you aren't encouraging new patrons you are only encouraging people to pledge to higher tiers because obviously the only people who see these posts are people already pledged. It might be worth advertising your patreon in other ways.

You Still have my support Screw. 100% all the way.

Extremerogue

This is definitely it.

CraneVein

Screw, this is pretty much it. I personally don't mind the messages, but this person puts it the best. I also don't think you're greedy, having 1k ripped out from under you is rough, we get that, but your phrasing and delivery makes it feel like those of us who didn't cause the 1k to campus are getting punished for the people who left, instead of you offering a bonus reward of we step up and help you meet your goal.

NuptupTDOW

This feedback is negative, but I don't mean to tear you down - I hope you can get something practical and useful from it. I don't think you're greedy, just kinda bad at framing it. The posts don't come across as rewards "If we reach this goal you'll get things faster!", you frame them as punishments "If you don't reach this goal you'll get things slower." In the post you deleted you reluctantly say you'll have to "stick true to my word", and that you're going to "delay" the release. None of that comes across as a bonus incentive, it's definitely framed as a punishment, adding to the fact it's about losing money you're definitely putting guilt on people, intentionally or not. What you're doing is perfectly fine, the bonus incentives are a practical solution to your problem. At it's core, no-one actually has a problem with the idea, the problem is actually how it's communicated.

FuriousDing

I'm good with it. I don't think we should discount the stress of seeing your projected funds drop by a grand or so. Keep on going, you ain't bothering nobody who ain't lookin' for a reason to be bothered.

Jack Ponder

I've been following several artists for a long while now and when I see people go on like that they're either trolls or looking for free stuff either way it's hard to ignore but we push on regardless. Sadly i have no idea how to restore your loss income but i hope you do and you have my continued support.

DeadLineNight

I don't mind either. So long as my monthly payment stays what I set it to. However much or whichever way you put out your content is up to you, baseline amount aside. I also agree with Razetto in that people are ultimately in charge of their own money, and any reasoning to the contrary puts undue responsibility on you. I keep it simple; you put out content, and we pay you for it. The only thing that would stop me personally is if you officially quit making content all-together, NOT including breaks, whether deliberate or not, or hiatuses.

Knightwolf

You need to keep food on the table, if you let people get to you like that, they're taking that bread out of your mouth. You need to look out for you, do what you love, and continue to work hard. You set your own standard, and your heart will point you down a fair path, a path where you respect others and where people respect you, and most importantly where you respect yourself.

Viris

You are here to make money, you are not forcing anyone to do anything. Do what you feel you need to do for what is in your best interests.

Rooster

I simply don't mind

Omeggga

Now, I am the first vote here, but I think you offer it as an incentive. That means it does sort of guide people towards staying on. But ultimately, people are responsible for their own finances and need to make those decisions themselves. They shouldn't put that pressure on you, they should be adult enough to balance their books.

Suia Loctis