Patreon suspended my account. They have not notified me • Hacker News Board

Re: Patreon suspended my account. They have not notified me

#21

Post by notafraudster » Tue, Dec 25, 2018, 5:32 AM UTC

It's possible this is an account suspension (i.e. "We don't want you to have an account anymore because you do XYZ"), but it looks more like a fraud / financial flag (i.e. "We think someone has broken into your account and we're holding your funds temporarily.") As evidence, they still contact him about new subscribers and his page is still online, which it isn't in other cases when Patreon suspends an account.

Still an indictment of their communications process, and still a financial risk to the person, but it's a little odd that literally all the replies in that Twitter thread are people talking about Milo Yiannopoulous. Even if Patreon decided it wanted to go all in on hosting controversial political figures, they'd presumably still have some kind of fraud checks, so the points really do seem to be unrelated.

Re: Patreon suspended my account. They have not notified me

#22

Post by koonsolo » Tue, Dec 25, 2018, 5:36 AM UTC

manfredo wrote: post #2

Patreon sounds like something relatively easy to replicate. Effectively every utility implements what patron provides. It's essentially just scheduling recurring payments, with a discussion forum attached. More behavior like what we've been seeing Patreon do lately, and I can see larger creators shifting to hosing their own patronage services. Essentially the same reason why EA, Blizzard, and even more niche game pub…

Some time ago the Armory 3D game engine also had this problem of suddenly being blocked, without notification or reason. The creator exactly solved it like this, with reoccurring payment, status on the website, and even a one-off donate button: https://armory3d.org/fund.html

Re: Patreon suspended my account. They have not notified me

#23

Post by TylerE » Tue, Dec 25, 2018, 5:40 AM UTC

bilbo0s wrote: post #18

Waterluvian wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The most bizarre part, to me, is that it feels like this should just be a part of modern banking. "Hey if you like my stuff consider adding my to your monthly payments. I guess Patreon provides a walled garden of premium content for patrons, but I'm skeptical that's universally desired by creators. The few I know don't do any of that.

> "Hey if you like my stuff consider adding my to your monthly payments.... Banks specifically DON'T want you doing that because they don't want undesirable businesses funneling money in and out of their banks. I'm sure there are different legal liabilities for different places for different undesirable businesses with that kind of thing. It's probably a potential minefield to let anyone do that indiscriminately. Pro…

Really?

My credit union offers free unlimited bill pay to anyone. Certain businesses can do it via a direct deposit, but I can send a set amount of money to ANYONE and they will mail a check on the Nth day of the month.

Re: Patreon suspended my account. They have not notified me

#24

Post by floatingatoll » Tue, Dec 25, 2018, 5:46 AM UTC

Patreon is very likely on mandatory US Holiday today. By the time they read this thread on Wednesday, it will be far too late for them to fend off the mob. They deserve one business day to reply, and they won't have had that until Wednesday at the _earliest_. Be kind.

EDIT: If your reply is "they should reply 24/7/365", ask yourself whether it makes financial sense to staff a support team on Christmas at triple-overtime pay; notice that essentially all US businesses do not staff support on Christmas; and then reconsider your reply.

Re: Patreon suspended my account. They have not notified me

#25

Post by sublupo » Tue, Dec 25, 2018, 5:52 AM UTC

manfredo wrote: post #2

Patreon sounds like something relatively easy to replicate. Effectively every utility implements what patron provides. It's essentially just scheduling recurring payments, with a discussion forum attached. More behavior like what we've been seeing Patreon do lately, and I can see larger creators shifting to hosing their own patronage services. Essentially the same reason why EA, Blizzard, and even more niche game pub…

SubscribeStar tried to do that exact thing, and they succeeded for a little while. Then PayPal decided to freeze their account. My guess is because many people started to contact PayPal and said that SubscribeStar wasn't censoring people with wrong-think like Patreon just started to do.

Re: Patreon suspended my account. They have not notified me

#26

Post by RomanPushkin » Tue, Dec 25, 2018, 5:55 AM UTC

GoFundMe also suspended my account this way in the past. No response or explanation for more than 6 months.

Re: Patreon suspended my account. They have not notified me

#27

Post by zorpner » Tue, Dec 25, 2018, 5:56 AM UTC

floatingatoll wrote: post #24

Patreon is very likely on mandatory US Holiday today. By the time they read this thread on Wednesday, it will be far too late for them to fend off the mob. They deserve one business day to reply, and they won't have had that until Wednesday at the _earliest_. Be kind. EDIT: If your reply is "they should reply 24/7/365", ask yourself whether it makes financial sense to staff a support team on Christmas at triple-overt…

If they are suspending accounts over the holidays, they need to have remediation available over the holidays. I'm fine being unkind to those taking away people's livelihoods over Christmas without notice or recourse.

Re: Patreon suspended my account. They have not notified me

#28

Post by catdog » Tue, Dec 25, 2018, 5:56 AM UTC

Waterluvian wrote: post #3

manfredo wrote: post #2

Patreon sounds like something relatively easy to replicate. Effectively every utility implements what patron provides. It's essentially just scheduling recurring payments, with a discussion forum attached. More behavior like what we've been seeing Patreon do lately, and I can see larger creators shifting to hosing their own patronage services. Essentially the same reason why EA, Blizzard, and even more niche game pub…

The most bizarre part, to me, is that it feels like this should just be a part of modern banking. "Hey if you like my stuff consider adding my to your monthly payments. I guess Patreon provides a walled garden of premium content for patrons, but I'm skeptical that's universally desired by creators. The few I know don't do any of that.

> "Hey if you like my stuff consider adding my to your monthly payments.

Here in Europe a lot of content creators do this. You can simply set up a recurring payment to any IBAN, transaction fees are usually low.

Re: Patreon suspended my account. They have not notified me

#29

Post by tokyodude » Tue, Dec 25, 2018, 6:01 AM UTC

floatingatoll wrote: post #24

Patreon is very likely on mandatory US Holiday today. By the time they read this thread on Wednesday, it will be far too late for them to fend off the mob. They deserve one business day to reply, and they won't have had that until Wednesday at the _earliest_. Be kind. EDIT: If your reply is "they should reply 24/7/365", ask yourself whether it makes financial sense to staff a support team on Christmas at triple-overt…

I get your point that most businesses are closed but I didn't know it was mandatory or required triple pay. Is that true?

Disneyland is open on Christmas. Most movie theaters are open on Christmas. I think most convenience stores, many groceries stores, and most gas stations are open on Christmas.

Re: Patreon suspended my account. They have not notified me

#30

Post by mcphage » Tue, Dec 25, 2018, 6:03 AM UTC

zorpner wrote: post #27

floatingatoll wrote: post #24

Patreon is very likely on mandatory US Holiday today. By the time they read this thread on Wednesday, it will be far too late for them to fend off the mob. They deserve one business day to reply, and they won't have had that until Wednesday at the _earliest_. Be kind. EDIT: If your reply is "they should reply 24/7/365", ask yourself whether it makes financial sense to staff a support team on Christmas at triple-overt…

If they are suspending accounts over the holidays, they need to have remediation available over the holidays. I'm fine being unkind to those taking away people's livelihoods over Christmas without notice or recourse.

They suspended it at some point several weeks ago. That’s part of the problem—since they never notified him, he’s not entirely sure when it happened. He just has a window based on payments.