Updating the Page
Added 2023-11-01 04:22:01 +0000 UTCHey everyone, I'm gonna be changing around the patreon page to make it more accurate since I've largely been streaming in between making a new show. I've also handed off the discord to someone else which I spoke about a little on stream, but wanted to mention here to be absolutely clear about it. In small part I left and cleared it out to avoid the discord getting destroyed: aka the rental store which was just sharing pirated shit. I don't think any reasonable person actually gives a shit about that, but I don't want to give any weirdo an excuse. Another part is just avoiding stupid problems: aka the arena getting cleared. That was a channel where anyone could freely speak about politics. Need I say more.
But more than anything, I left because of one major issue. Parasocial interactions. It skeeves me the fuck out. I've always hated it, and I MAJORLY hate how common of an issue it is EVERYWHERE. All of my friends who have quit making shit have stopped because of this. I hate knowing that because I stream, this move won't prevent it entirely. All the same, I wanted to take some time to remind people that you really need to stop fucking doing this to creators. I am not your friend, they are not your friends. If someone says they are not your friend, they aren't being quirky or acting on brand. Accept it. Make your own fucking friends. On patreon, people feel like they are owed your friendship because they chuck a dollar at you. They aren't. And this type of interaction is best case scenario here. At worst people show up to your fucking house. They message your family. You become the center of their life. This has happened to my friends and it has happened to me.
There was a time where I was fast and loose with just about everything because I foolishly believed that I would only create consequences for myself. Once you run into one of these freaks that all goes out the window. You called someone an idiot online? That's your sisters problem now. I hope your girlfriend likes getting phone calls at 4:30am. And look, I've been on the internet for a long time, I understand that when someone sends a death threat it really doesn't mean shit. It's literally like the laziest nothing thing you can do if you're trying to fuck with someone. "This is your address! I will kill you!" The end. I know that no one ever acts on this shit. My family doesn't fucking know that. It breaks my fucking heart knowing that its always someone else that bares the brunt of my fucking around. There is nothing you can do about it. If you're mean, a mentally deranged psycho will obsess over messing with you by any means necessary. If you're nice, a mentally deranged psycho will think you're their friend. Don't do anything. Get the fuck out of there.
I will continue to make things, just as far away from anything like this as possible. Support the patreon if you like the streams and feel like throwing a dollar around. Leave it if you think you are buying access to me. There are easier ways to burn money.
This was a largely negative post so I would like to end on a positive note. I think there is a lot of anxiety about how crazy people have become, and what has become of the social fabric in general. I want you all to understand, and I mean this earnestly, that this is all online. People are super fucked up and crazy, online, but out in the real world people are more reasonable than you think. There are nuts there too, but that's just how life is. You'll run into a lot of people who will say stupid shit and are maybe rougher than you'd like, but a lot of them mostly just want to help each other. Maybe this is too gay or non sequitur but whatever. I'll be streaming tomorrow, ask me any question on there.
Comments
I dearly hope that we can do more community shenanigans at a later date and everyone can grow as people as a result of this in some way.
Twisted
2023-11-02 00:23:08 +0000 UTCArt is all about connecting with people, so it's no surprise artists get drawn towards parasocial traps. In particular, young people with too much free time can get really obsessive - we've all at least seen it, growing up. And that's before considering stuff like mental illness, scammers, etc. Take care of yourself mentally and physically, that's always Priority 1. Priority number 2 is to get back in the art mines and dig us up some fresh content! /s Nah just kidding, you got my support with zero strings attached. In my mind, you earned it by the work you already completed. Animation and art is under-compensated and whatever they say about starving artists, I'd rather give my favorite artists more stability and free time. On that note - who has the time to be friends (or even just friendly) with hundreds of strangers? And on that note - good luck with your streams, if that's something you enjoy. I might eventually change my funding level but that's my own business - hopefully you don't feel that the whole concept of Patreon funding is poisoned because of a few scary/draining people. Relying too much on merch sort of sucks because most of the expense doesn't go to the artist and, with all due respect, it often creates more junk for the landfill. But at the end of the day, refer back to Priority 1. Maybe seek out experienced/professional advice about this - there's gotta be agents for content creators, or whatever you call yourself. Agents for YTPers?
Matt B
2023-11-01 12:31:52 +0000 UTC