September Update: No More Long Videos 2019

I agree with all of these ideas, as they speak to the nerd in me. They also give you a chance to shout out about a particular rabbit hole you'd like to have gone down but couldn't, which I'm guessing may also speak to the nerd in you.

Quick note on Patreon and Discord: the way Patreon is set up right this minute, if you add Discord rewards to a Patreon tier, everyone - and I mean <em>everyone</em> - who is a backer at that tier will be automatically added to that Discord server <em>every single month</em>, with no warning or explanation. That's not to say Discord can't be a thing (although community management is work, it's not a labor-free perk), but be aware.

The Packbats

Research notes as some people suggested seems like a good idea, if it is not too troublesome. Maybe a monthly reading/watching list, highlighting content you think is pertinent or of interest can also be an interesting perk. Having said that, I'll support no matter what. As most here have said, I'm a patron because I really like your content, not because of perks :)

Brainstorming mode ON! It's a bit hard to brainstorm without knowing what the effort would be on your part -- all these ideas might take 10x more time than what you already have. With risk in mind: * Share incidental research: Whatever its form -- book, blog, media -- share links to your sources of information. Even if it's a source you ultimately decided not to use. Even if it was actually a conversation you had with another person, maybe that other person has an interesting blog or twitter feed? * Outtakes, cutting room floor: Anything deleted from a video that might be of some marginal interest. * Short written retrospectives: I think you've done this a couple of times already. Write about some of your older work, like This Is Phil Fish, five years later. What's happened since? It can either be meta, like the reception or unexpected influence/unintended consequences, or things you'd want to change/amplify/diminish/recontextualize. * If you liked this video, you'll also like: Not research sources, but related work that your audience might be interested in that you already came across or know of. Don't do extra work to dig this stuff up, it's just stuff that's already in your bookmarks or viewing history. The link to the video on parasocial relationships is an example of this. That's all I got for now. Hope this helps, or spurs someone else in these comments to come up with better ideas.

PC Escobar

Came here to say the same about greater access to the creator perks, bleah! One I've seen is "1 hour Skype call with XXX" at the highest tier. For reals?

PC Escobar

Like a lot of the other people here, I'm just grateful I get to contribute to such important and well-executed work. I think you'd do well to do a bit of marketing to increase your volume rather than cater to folks. Perhaps you can get an interview with Michael Brooks, Sam Seder, or The Young Turks. Alternately, doing an AMA on reddit, or more specifically the politics sub ( where you're reasonably well-known).

C F

For the YouTubers I support, I generally contribute at the "name-in-the-credits" tier, which is usually around $5-10 monthly or per video. Some other things I've seen on Patreon that don't necessarily ramp up the (para)social interaction are voting tiers ("Which of these things should I do next?") and one-time requests for a high contribution one month (I'm thinking of how Todd in the Shadows occasionally lets people choose episodes for his One Hit Wonder series, in exchange for a large, one-time payment). It's a fundamentally tough problem, because you're trying to find things that other people value but are low/no cost to provide. Regardless, I contribute because I like what you do and want it to exist, so I'm not very interested in funding things that are exclusive or restricted to patrons.

Pretty much every perk I've ever seen has the goal of making the creator more "accessible" in some way. If you want to avoid parasocial building, I don't know that you'll really be able to give out perks. That said, some of the lesser parasocial perks you could try would be things like sharing research notes with us. I know you live-tweet; maybe bundle that up in a *very* lightly-edited version and blast it out. You could also share your notes--either a picture/scan if handwritten, or just sharing a digital version if that's how you do it. That shouldn't be too much extra work for you, hopefully. If you like that/find it worthwhile, you could easily scale that up and down from month to month, or expand to more sharing/updates of your work process.

Only every few weeks, not every day.

I like names in credits, too, but only you know whether you have too many. The perk I would like the most (although I already stated that I support so you can create, not so that you can cater directly to me) is a few little emails along the way, very short ones, about the creation of videos. These could be the length of a facebook post and just talk about what mistakes you made that day or what surprised you that day in a VERY informal way. A couple of sentences about your process now and then would make people feel included in your creation process and identify with you more.

Names of patrons in credits is a pretty common perk for YT. A more unique perk could be making a new tier (say $15-$20) where Patrons get some small merch once a quarter (I was thinking a sticker of one of the ARP doops) provided they were in that tier the whole quarter. Idk the effort and money involved to do that one, though.

Hey folks! I need to clarify something: it is always wonderful to hear, when I say "videos are running late," that y'all don't mind how long they take, and, when I say "haven't updated perks in a while," that y'all say "we don't care about perks." It warms my heart! But I need you to understand that the patrons who feel otherwise don't post comments saying so, they just delete their pledges. The Patreon has gone down about $100 this summer. When someone cancels a pledge, they can fill out an exit survey, and two very common reasons given are "wasn't updating often enough" and "didn't keep up with perks." Now, I am heartened to know that, in general, I can fall behind on these things and *probably* still make ends meet. But, obviously, I would like to keep as many patrons happy as possible, and finding a way to do that without overtaxing myself is important to me. So, if anybody's up for some brainstorming, I'd love to think through the best ways of doing that!

Ian Danskin

Like you said in your crowdfunding vids, people want to feel like they're part of the process. Feeling like we help you out (with feedback or just cash) is why we are here.

Totally agree with Eli, I’m here for the work you do. That being said, I notice other creators post credits for their top backers at the end of a video. That might be an easy low-effort perk whist also giving folks a chance to be called out by name as an awesome person who helped make the video possible.

Sabiryth

Hey man, we are here to support you. This is not a market place. I don't need perks. What I want is for us to provide you with the freedom you need to do your thing. Last thing I'd want is to become a burdain slowing your creative process.

Valentijn van der Horst

What Eli said. Any perk that takes away from your videos isn’t a perk, it’s a detriment to what I’m personally here for :)

JamesBergCanada

Yeah, exactly. If you don't feel like you can provide extra features for Patreon perks, no need to keep it around honestly

Anders O.H Moberg

How about a second, secret Twitter where you review pizza

Luis

Just a reminder that I’m a patron cause your work is awesome. I don’t need perks. Your work is the perks

Eli Bosnick gets to change his patron name because patreon gave up on his blog too