The Future

So about a year ago, Patreon announced they had plans to require age verification for NSFW content creators. At the time, I didn't think it was a huge deal; Patreon already knows my full name and address and bank info and etc. But last year they revealed how they were going to be going about doing that, partnering with a company called Jumio. Send in your driver's license, get your face scanned, and then you're verified. That made me a bit hesitant, because while I've given out some personal info to dozens of sites before, I've never given out a government ID for anything online. And that seemed way more... sketchy? There was even a section where it talked about "can I block out the stuff that isn't my face and date of birth?" to which the answer was no, because they need a clear picture to verify the ID's authenticity. Like, I believe them. But I don't wanna just be giving out aaall that info. Partly because I'm now starting to trust Patreon even less.

A year and a half ago, Patreon laid off their entire security team. And Jumio, the age verification platform, faced a lawsuit several years ago for mishandling the privacy of their users' data. And then a second lawsuit a couple years later for the same thing. And according to this reddit post, they might even have the right to sell my biometric data. On top of it, their app isn't even that good.

So, I was already thinking, hm, I don't really wanna use this shitty app to give someone my government ID that I don't even trust will be in safe hands. I was thinking, hmm, my browser on my macbook has my debit card info, and then that just inputs itself whenever I pay for something online. And I trust Apple with my data way more than I trust Patreon or Jumio, so it'd be cool if I could verify my age on my computer and then use that for any relevant sites going forward. But also credit cards aren't the same as biometric data and government ID's, so idk, maybe I still wouldn't? Idk, I'm getting off topic and it doesn't matter since that's not even possible anyways.

But that all leads to this weekend, when I saw that 1) Gumroad is banning all NSFW stuff on their site (which isn't really relevant to people here on Patreon, but just means re-selling monthly exclusives won't be possible thru that site anymore), and 2) Patreon is now requiring explicit consent to be given in all content (including fictional literary work); as you can see from that Tweet, they even ban "consensual non consensual" work. Obviously consent is important in real life, but the thing that I'm sure you're all aware about size fantasy stuff is it's pretty much founded on the idea of being controlled or under the power of someone much bigger than you. Not every story/artwork, I guess, but the vast majority. I'm not even sure if some femdom stuff would qualify, since that seems to be "consensual non consensual" to me.  Even stories of mine where characters are in love, like Truth or Dare, I could see as being easily misinterpreted as breaking the new rules since the little guy in that often talks about liking being used and powerless under his roommate. So continuing my stories, at least on Patreon, is gonna be pretty much impossible. Kinda just a matter of time until someone reports one of my posts and I get a notice to take it down.

So, this isn't really the end yet. There are other sites, like SubscribeStar, where I started an account for a couple years ago as a backup and now will probably start using as a Patreon alternative. The interface is definitely not as nice lol, but there's a version of it designed precisely for 18+ content creators, or at least for people like me who don't technically make porn but still make fictional adult stuff. I'd just have to upload a big backlog.

But for now, DeviantArt has subscriptions, I have like 12k followers over there already (and a dozen or so paid subscribers since I added all my Patreon content there back in November), and plenty of other size writers and artists and captioneers seem to be using it. I wouldn't be surprised if rules get tightened up over there as well, but at least for now it seems to be fine.

But anyways, that's all. Thanks all for the support. New chapter of Mini Mason posted earlier tonight in case you didn't see.