Patreon Leak solutions?

Only issue there is folks who may otherwise sub to Patreon may then instead freesub to the leaked poster. Which fair if you dun wanna pay but it under cuts the loyalty of the current subbers and may result in less Patreon’s which can affect work, motivation, quality and such. Seems small but can be really harmful. Lan you are a good thing to come out of a bad bit but you are not always the result.

Lewis is one of my favorites ever since 2010, he’s a really good guy by all accounts, I’ve also met him in person twice at cons and he’s ridiculously sweet, so I would be thrilled if she went to him for advice.

Michael McKinney

I think I am the product of a leaked photo. I saw someone had posted what appeared to be a cleaned and official comic strip and i decided to become a patron. I have been following you for a while and supporting with merch, but I genuinely love what you have and you inspire me to go back into art. I want to keep supporting you, even though I am only really invested in hazbin right now. Sometimes leaks arent a big issue. Like someone else said, it can be free advertising.

Clownery Dunce

To be fair, Patreon does have the option to send emails to the paying Patrons. So, it is like they have a direct link to this stuff. I personally love your stuff and I hope others can appreciate your hard work too.

I've seen all kinds of attempts to stop leaks, but Patron only art always seems to find a way to sites, someone always blabs about some interesting thing they found out through a Patreon, etc. Personally, I'm not really that bothered by it. I give to Patreons because I believe in the work being produced and want to support it, not (necessarily) for the insider info and exclusive content.

Brandon Allendorf

Get a tech guy to set up a dummy folder or account to prevent leaks? Don't forget to take care of yourself. We're all looking forward to seeing Hazbin Hotel, but greatness involves some rest. Good luck. :)

Danny N.

Not really a good solution, that. The lower tiers are where those who have more love than money can still show they care. $10 is a Lot of money to some of us.

LimbicBlaze

Can you put watermarks on your posts here?

Overton Hallford

With all this amazing support, and seeing your guy's hard work and dedication to the hazbin hotel project I'd amazing. Please don't forget to rest up, it's well deserved. I know nothing of how to fix this situation personally. But I hope you can get it figured out. Much love and support goes your way. ^_^

It depends on what type of media is being leaked. Pictures, you can't do much about. You could spend a lot of time or money developing technical ways to make it hard to copy animations or audio, or to figure out who leaked it. But Like LordBaaa said, ultimately it isn't possible to make something that people can see but not copy. My thought is, people are giving you free advertising. When people re-blog / re-tweet / copy-paste+post things, that's called "buzz". You want that. If you think something would be a spoiler, you shouldn't be showing that to us anyway.

Whatever you think works is fine, sorry people are being shits like that.

Dave

The challenge: Anyone with some knowledge of a developer console in a web-browser can pretty much grab any resource they can see from a web page. Also unlike in certain apps or mobile version of things, on a pc you can easily take a screen shot with no restrictions no matter where you are. My opinion: I don’t think limiting/removing the $1-5 would help because they are already pretty limited and besides as I just said the problem is not local to low tiers it is global problem for all tiers, it’s just the higher tiers have more risk because they have more “juice” content. Also screening ppl isn’t the best either because yeah they still could snap a pic as soon as they see something (screenshot/take picture of screen with camera) What can you do: Now this IS a tough question because at the end of the day if someone is a Patreon and you give them the ability to see something, by all truth anyone could still “steal” content. However there are a few things I can say 1. Send out everyone a unique code to see stuff. This would segregate users and narrow down who accesses/downloads files. Could also have this attached to a temporary link if you want to further reduce access. This is more of a solution to be combined with other things. 2. Host your assets on an external server that can track downloads vs regular viewing. I can’t think of one off the top of my head but I know those statistics exists. Still have the problem of screen shot though 3. Censor the work. This is not a great solution but the only one that is sure fire. I have censored with color before as well the obvious blur/censor bar. You could hue/sat shift some of you work to not give away certain character details. This is the best and worst solution because we get less but if it is leaked it won’t hurt anybody. Personally I hate being limited but these are some things you could implement to have more access control.

I am so sorry this is happening to you again Viv. People don't realize when they leak content from a "pay to see' website,t hat they're actually STALING from the artist, because they just don't care when they should. You put too much effort into your work to let a couple of thieves get you down, and we all know that Hazbin AND Helluva will still be just as wonderful when they come out. You got this, and we got your back! oh and to the leakers/thieves, if you happen to be reading this...we've got our eyes out for you. So DON"T do it again.

Flare Friday

Also, I'm sure you wouldn't want to take anything away from people but I think it would be best to remove the $1-$5 tiers. Maybe even $10 tier as well. It's possible these people are paying the bare minimum and then stealing it. If you start a little higher I'm sure it with dissuade jack-hats.

Epik Asia

Is there any form of coding options to prevent screen grabs or download/save photos? I know on webtoon if you pay to see a future chapter early they blocked it so you can't do either of those. There was this one panel in a comic that cracked me up and I just wanted to have personally to show my husband and when I tried to screen capture it I got a message below telling me it doesn't work there. I just didn't know if patreon can offer a similar service? I really liked that and appreciated that feature so there wouldn't be any leaked images.

Epik Asia

I'd rather they have to pay for it at least, the way patreon works now people can pledge and ditch, I feel like if people had to pay it would at least happen less ^^

Vivienne Medrano

I suggest talking to Lewis at Atop the 4th Wall. He's delt with this issue and has found many solutions. I wish I could help more than that 😔 I've seen many re-uploaders of you HH clips and know how discouraging it can be when people share your work without permission. Don't lose faith! We're here to support you and independent animation not just for previews and sneaks (I've avoided everything as I want to be surprised). In the long run, those who want to support you will not feel cheated. We're internet folk. We know the real thing when we see it and you certainly are! Talk to Lewis. He's given me great advice and I know he can help you.

Honestly, all publicity is good publicity, it sucks for us who are paying, but putting to much effort into stopping it would just take away time from your projects, therefor I say it’s not worth it.

Michael McKinney

Had a Patreon for a long time and this always happens. Thing a bunch of my fans had to point out to me is: We are supporting you just as much as we are your work. We appreciate the exclusives and will continue to support you regardless of the deeds of others. The people that are getting the content elsewhere most likely had no intention of ever supporting you or the project financially. BUT- some of that leaked content will surely lead more people your way anyway. That’s how it worked for me anyway. Wishing you the best!

Moekaki

I just want you to know I fully support what you and your creative team have been doing these years with Hazbin hotel. I'm sad too hear that THIS is still an on going issue. I'm still shocked that patreon has yet to lift a finger on dealing with this breach of security for both the artist and their own site. My only thought would be to use your Discord and/or Dropbox. Granted in either case, the hackers will have access to both via the Patreon. Perhaps, on Discord you can create a channel where the supporters can take a screengrab and show which tier they support as proof of their loyalty to teh project? It would require some additional man power too help filter and ofc more time aand energy. Other than THAT, I honestly cannot think of any other way too resolve this. Perhaps even creating a seperate Discord Channel, one that focuses mostly on checking out WHO your supporters are and their support tiers. it would be easier than making a new channel in your current one, I think. Unless there are others who have better ideas, this is the only solution I can think on. You and your team are doing amazing work. Don't lose heart <3

Savage Shark

This really sucks!! I do think having maybe a mod for the actual pateron interactions! Why the hell would you donate money for a project you claim to love and then undermine it by posting stuff that’s only meant for a select few!

Kitamu Latham-Sampier

Steganography (unique key, number or phrase per user) + Encryption (central key or unique) + Gatekeeper to distribute and log what has been given and to what user. Maybe something like this?

Albireo6972

It really bugs me when people leak stuff from a patreon. I dont know what to do about it though. A gatekeeper might be good. I wish i knew a way to figure out who it is.

Perhaps a gatekeeper, like you said. A little extra security may pay off. I'm sorry your hard work is not being respected as it should be. So stoked for the premiere.

Tuume

We are rooting for you!!

Michael Laws

Do whatever it takes, Viv!

mwik

This is kinda tricky since this is going to happen no matter what platform you use and if the person pays per content or not. Perhaps I can do some research for you on how to catch the crooks by checking their IP and to track down the person and have them banned from Patreon and other exclusive sites. This is just a thought since those buggers are hard to catch. If you need help with the screening then I'm happy to help!