The problem of "making patrons pay up front" is one that is profoundly interesting to a certain vocal segment of Patreon's customers: creators who are using Pat

The problem of "making patrons pay up front" is one that is profoundly interesting to a certain vocal segment of Patreon's customers: creators who are using Patreon to create a paywall for their work. As a creator who's been supporting herself via Patreon for a while, I'd like to give Patreon the benefit of the doubt and assume that they do not, in fact have any hidden motives involving "making lots more money" and/or "running afoul of financial regulations". It's worth noting that "paywall-as-a-service" is not the problem Patreon ever set out to solve; they've always been about figuring out how to aggregate micropayments to support creators who are giving stuff away for free. Sadly, the fact that this change completely breaks the original micropayments-aggregation model makes this hard to do. And their continued insistence that this change is all about "giving creators more money" makes me trust them less and less.