Except for when Patreon updated how they collect payments about a month ago and that made it very expensive for patrons to donate to a large number of different

Except for when Patreon updated how they collect payments about a month ago and that made it very expensive for patrons to donate to a large number of different people small amounts so they started cancelling their $1 and $2 donations because of the extra fees involved. So all of a sudden if you were getting 20% of your income from these smaller patrons you would lose that. Now they did eventually reverse it, but it just shows you that when you are dependent on X, you are dependent on X. It could be better or worse, but it's still a middle man in the system. You could go to a straight donation model like using Paypal, but that limits your global subscriber network since Paypal isn't used everywhere and you will also be missing out on the platform benefits. Meaning if someone is donating already on Patron they will more likely donate to someone else. Likewise if someone is subscribed to one channel on Youtube they will more likely subscribe to a second. I think ultimately there is a trade off here where you have to understand what you are exchanging in terms of freedom, control, and dependence, with the platform you choose to use.