Hi again. So things have continued to be quite messy on my end – I got that root canal late last week, (with notable pain beforehand) and then had the base crown work done the day after, which left me really out of it for several days. Then today, I woke up with a wicked headache from the weather again… so shit has not improved much overall, and I am basically back where I started. As you can likely surmise, I have therefore not made much progress with renders and/or LITC 6 since my last post – so sorry about that, it will almost certainly get bumped into next month; but unfortunately, I think I have a bigger problem on hand right now.

For those who are not yet aware, I got an email from Patreon a couple days back that they are planning to very soon force all 18+ creators on Patreon to submit government photo IDs and pictures – allegedly at the demands of mastercard, their payment processor. This is a similar situation to a year or so ago when OnlyFans tried to ban adult content, again – allegedly at the behest of their payment processor… but at least they backed down from that since it would have destroyed them, kind of like when tumblr banned adult content. Allegedly, this is being done to fight ‘illegal content’ – but as most of you will realize, their plans will have a very, very minimal effect on that… while endangering/irritating everyone else; just like most video game DRM.

I could easily do it of course – but this is just the latest in a long line of steps against 18+ creators that Patreon has done… and honestly, I consider this dangerous and gross invasion of privacy the last straw. I never made much on Patreon anyway, but if their plans do not change, I will likely have to permanently suspend my page there; I cannot abide this sort of thing just on principle, really – it is just so stupid and dangerous of them to require this. (Or, it is just cowardly and weak of them to bend over for the credit card companies so easily and completely.) I did send them a long email today outlining how stupid and dangerous this decision was – but I don’t expect them to change their minds just because of me… however, if a ton of people also complain – then maybe they might go back on it, much like google and onlyfans did. The real problem with all this is that even if they do go back on it now, they have laid their cards/plans on the table – and it is effectively just a matter of time until they do something else to marginalize (or straight up ban) NSFW creators again. So while I would likely stay if they change their minds, I am definitely going to accelerate my plans to cultivate other options.

To be extra real with you all about this new requirement – when I first read about it, I was actually far more concerned for some of the artists I support on Patreon, rather than myself… which I suppose you can take several different ways. I have long heard other NSFW creators warning against leaning too hard on Patreon, etc (or any one thing) – for this very reason… and that is partly why I have my gumroad page, and others; plus, I have been considering listing some of my stuff elsewhere if need be. (To get more exposure, if nothing else.) Strangely, I just don’t feel overly concerned for myself about this – likely because I have little left to lose there, and I never made much with it anyway.

I have no idea what I will do if I am forced to suspend my Patreon page – but I can make my other content available via gumroad if nothing else… at least in the mean time. (All the mini-sets are on there anyway.) I was already in the middle of a fairly radical rethink of my whole project here, primarily because what I have been doing just has not really been working out, for whatever reason – so this actually may not change much.

In the mean time, I will do what I can for LITC 6 whenever I am next able to work on it properly – but as noted above, I can almost guarantee that it will get pushed into next month; for quality checks if nothing else. (I have forced myself to do a lot lately, when I have been far from 100% – so that means I have to go back later and go over it again…) As for next month’s Patreon thing, I will just have it be a choice of whatever mini-set for the middle tier again… if it is even still up at that point; I am not 100% sure what the situation is with this forced ID crap – but I have no plans to do it.

As mentioned last time – very low votes in the polls so far… so please vote in those; they are both things that I would very much like feedback on, as I have plans for both soon. 🙂

Ending note (which may soon no longer be relevant) if there is any chance anyone out there would actually like to help support me and/or my work on all sorts of new content; and/or get access to one of my latest/best mini-sets, (this month gets a choice of any mini-set of choice for the middle tier, not sure what next month will be yet… I may change things and still not do a new mini-set – not sure yet) like the remaining finished story sets, and larger versions of the completed animations I have made/posted, and/or the full games I have also made, (the micro VN and Salune’s Slave Training are still available via my Patreon page; not sure what else may come in the future at this point…) check out my Patreon page!: https://www.patreon.com/redleatherart

Any interest, comments, follows, likes, votes, or support really does help. It is hard to keep making new stuff when nobody seems to care. Following me on DA/slushe/pixiv/twitter/whatever doesn’t cost anything – and that all does help spread the word about my work… so please consider doing some of that if you haven’t already.