DiS Patreon/Funding/Finances

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#1

Got an email from Patreon yesterday saying “Drowned in Sound just became a patron of GoldFlakePaint.”

Kinda wasn’t expecting to see the DiS Patreon account donate to what seems like non-core DiS things such as physical publications by other blogs. I thought my monthly sub was for the upkeep of the forum/site. Not gonna do a kneejerk cancellation, but that email was a surprise.

I guess this makes me feel like enquiring about how the monthly subscription/donations fit into the funding of the site, how funding and finances of the site stand generally, etc.

Feedback appreciated, @sean .

Thanks.

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#2

I think that just means Sean has signed up to support that other page, not that the funds from the dis one is being diverted, I get emails from the accounts I support when they’ve signed up to support another person, who knows what tier, could just be a dollar a month or something

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#3

That’s all it is. Tom from GFP (used to be a DiSser and contributor to the review site) is setting up a quarterly magazine/journal and is looking for funding. Sean gave him a shout on twitter for it. Don’t think any funds have been used here at all.

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#4

Like I think it’s part of the functionality of the site, let’s people know who the creators you support support themselves, helps discover similar things, unless we think Sean shouldn’t have any disposable income while the Patreon exists

#5

Like, I don’t know how it works, but Sean might have sent something via Patreon to subscribers of DiS as there would be a large crossover market. IDK, and am not speaking for Sean here btw.

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#6

I think to become a Patreon is always a minimum of a dollar, but still that’s probably his own money, hopefully the dis money is ring fenced (maybe it’s audit time!)

#7

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#8

I thought I had done that as me not as DIS.

The funding is barely covering any costs. I’m personally going to have to cover the cost of keeping the site going but I can’t continue to that. Having serious doubts about keeping the site online. I might just have to kill the main site and keep the forums.

#9

I still think the answer is some sort of subscription based model. It’s all well and good a few users doing regular and ad hoc donations but it’s clearly not helping enough and it’s not fair that you should continue to be out of pocket. Have different tiers of membership eg. Free users can only post x times in a week/month or those that pay have access to some ‘exclusive’ content (doesn’t have to be significant). Most of us regular users would happily pay a subscription if it means keeping the site going.

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#10

What percentage of regular users of the site make a regular contribution to its upkeep by Patreon, JustGiving, GoFundMe, CrowdFunder, Ko-Fi, Paypal, etc? 5%? 10%? Could we think of productive ways to improve that gradually?

(I don’t, btw, before anybody accuses anyone of pointing fingers, etc. No reason, just never got round to it + laziness.)

@sean

#11

It’s this exactly. I think I’ve done it three times (today being the third) because I forget. I would happily sign up to a regular subscription where the money just come out of my account each month, as I think many users would.

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#13

I can’t remember exactly how I did it, but I set up a recurring paypal transfer for this and it was pretty easy.

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#14

Obviously some people won’t be able to donate, and there’s no explanation necessary, and others won’t want to, which is absolutely fine, but there are probably 500-600 people who use the site every other day or more. If we could, get, say, 1-in-2 to donate, say, the equivalent of £1 a week, surely that would make a dent in the bills?

How much does the site cost you to run, @sean, and what are the ways of donating?

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#15

I remember @sean saying PayPal was the most efficient way to donate (from his end). I tried, but seem to remember some nonsense questions that need answering that I didn’t want to (or know how to best) answer. So I’ve stuck with $5 a month via Patreon.

Defo agree that some sort of token gesture bonus for subscribers could be pushed. Even if it were just an icon under the username. Could be a jokey moneybags thing. Could even be available to those not able to pay, or only require a quid a month or summats.

Dunno. Seems mad there’s no nags or pointers to ways to donate whatsoever (that I know of) on the forum.

Interested in the number of visitors/users of the main site Vs active members of the forum/community.

#16

I know on WATMM only members (which you need to pay a small fee for) can create topics, upload pictures, download files etc

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#17

Would be brilliant if only paid members could make threads on here. Shitstorm central.

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#18

It’s one of the sticky posts, but they only stick until you’ve read everything in them.

Tell a lie… it’s not. It should be.

#19

One thing I will say, @sean is that if binning the site is a genuine possibility, is there any chance you could raise this here with a lead time that’s sufficient enough to allow us to continue with a user-led takeover or migration (to a rebranded? version of the forum)?

This place has become a genuinely useful life resource that has tangible value (worth paying for).

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#20

something about a tory… something… something :laughing:

#21

That’s nice to hear.
Accusatory threads suggesting I’m squandering donations on supporting a DiSsers new venture, not so much. Not that I expect an apology.

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