After researching it properly, talking to friends and family who have given their support I have decided based on feedback to launch my own personal Patreon campaign to fund me and the GamingOnLinux website.
Find my Patreon here.
Note: Payments are taken monthly between 1st-3rd of each month.
Instead of a Patreon campaign being under the GamingOnLinux umbrella, it will be directly under me for tax purposes. Essentially this makes me self employed rather than running as business which is the correct way to do this (as GOL is not a business or a company).
This will be my only job as a self employed person, and it's exciting to finally be doing it.
What does this mean for GOL?
It means I can legitimately spend all the time I want on the website. Even without funding I was putting in 30+ hours a week into it to talk to developers, write articles, livestream and work on the websites actual code. It takes its toll, but it will be worth it with funding as I love doing it.
It means articles can be longer and more informative than they are currently, as at times they can be too short for my liking.
It means I will take things more seriously when talking to developers about ports, and testing the many ports that I do.
It means I can legitimately invest in a better microphone for our videos and livestreams, as I am currently using an extremely cheap and poor quality headset microphone.
It means an additional livestream each week done by me in addition to Samsai's weekly livestream.
What I won't be doing
I will treat you all the same if you fund me or if you don't. It's important to me to just do what you guys like me to do, and not hound you for money. I will occasionally pop up an article asking for support, or the occasional tweet, but I won't ask too often and if I do, please tell me.
We still refuse to show any adverts that would breach anyone's privacy (no adsense here folks). The only thing we may do in future is have static links/images to games. That depends on how/good bad the Patreon does, and hopefully even that will never happen.
I won't do "clickbait". I don't think I ever have done, and I don't plan on doing it now. I hate it, you hate it. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Find my Patreon here.
Note: Payments are taken monthly between 1st-3rd of each month.
Instead of a Patreon campaign being under the GamingOnLinux umbrella, it will be directly under me for tax purposes. Essentially this makes me self employed rather than running as business which is the correct way to do this (as GOL is not a business or a company).
This will be my only job as a self employed person, and it's exciting to finally be doing it.
What does this mean for GOL?
It means I can legitimately spend all the time I want on the website. Even without funding I was putting in 30+ hours a week into it to talk to developers, write articles, livestream and work on the websites actual code. It takes its toll, but it will be worth it with funding as I love doing it.
It means articles can be longer and more informative than they are currently, as at times they can be too short for my liking.
It means I will take things more seriously when talking to developers about ports, and testing the many ports that I do.
It means I can legitimately invest in a better microphone for our videos and livestreams, as I am currently using an extremely cheap and poor quality headset microphone.
It means an additional livestream each week done by me in addition to Samsai's weekly livestream.
What I won't be doing
I will treat you all the same if you fund me or if you don't. It's important to me to just do what you guys like me to do, and not hound you for money. I will occasionally pop up an article asking for support, or the occasional tweet, but I won't ask too often and if I do, please tell me.
We still refuse to show any adverts that would breach anyone's privacy (no adsense here folks). The only thing we may do in future is have static links/images to games. That depends on how/good bad the Patreon does, and hopefully even that will never happen.
I won't do "clickbait". I don't think I ever have done, and I don't plan on doing it now. I hate it, you hate it. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
I was a bit worried when the patreon disappeared and you started saying that you couldn't take money. I'm not sure whether the reasons for that were ever publicly shared (Taxmen beating down the door? :P), but I'm glad you've got it set back up. :D
I'm not a fan of giving my details to yet another website. Any chance you'll take PayPal donations again?
I'm not a fan of giving my details to yet another website. Any chance you'll take PayPal donations again?
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Quoting: WorMzyI was a bit worried when the patreon disappeared and you started saying that you couldn't take money. I'm not sure whether the reasons for that were ever publicly shared (Taxmen beating down the door? :P), but I'm glad you've got it set back up. :D
I'm not a fan of giving my details to yet another website. Any chance you'll take PayPal donations again?
It wasn't registered properly previously, so I re-did it :). Much easier to setup as self employed.
No paypal currently to keep it simple.
Last edited by Liam Dawe on 15 April 2016 at 4:55 pm UTC
1 Likes, Who?
just my humble opinion,
Well that is a big step and hopefully this will work for you.
In order to survive these days you need around 200+ Patreons if they donate 5$.
Lets hope that the community will support you.
Another thing is that some people don't like to be a Patreon and prefer a donation from time to time through paypal so maybe is better to check that option as well?
The more active you are in the social media(Twitch TV,Youtube,Facebook,Twitter etc), the more people you will attract.
Your articles doesnt have to be only for Gaming. Maybe from time to time, you present also a Distro all around just to show to people that Linux is not just a terminal with commands? Or maybe something else that will attract people? Like a Gaming Engine on Linux?
I think , It will be a good thing to reward your Patreons in a way but not forget also the non Patreon users.
Now what kind of reward I don't know. Hmmm...Lets say for example a developer gives you 10 keys for one game to give to your community , maybe give 6-7 keys to your Patreons and 3-4 to non Patreons? Maybe some exclusive wallpapers? if someone can do some wallpapers for GamingonLinux? Maybe also reward your twitch viewers with some Steam Keys while you broadcasting?
Anyway there a lot of things you can do, all the best and good luck :)
Last edited by wolfyrion on 6 March 2016 at 4:44 pm UTC
Well that is a big step and hopefully this will work for you.
In order to survive these days you need around 200+ Patreons if they donate 5$.
Lets hope that the community will support you.
Another thing is that some people don't like to be a Patreon and prefer a donation from time to time through paypal so maybe is better to check that option as well?
The more active you are in the social media(Twitch TV,Youtube,Facebook,Twitter etc), the more people you will attract.
Your articles doesnt have to be only for Gaming. Maybe from time to time, you present also a Distro all around just to show to people that Linux is not just a terminal with commands? Or maybe something else that will attract people? Like a Gaming Engine on Linux?
I think , It will be a good thing to reward your Patreons in a way but not forget also the non Patreon users.
Now what kind of reward I don't know. Hmmm...Lets say for example a developer gives you 10 keys for one game to give to your community , maybe give 6-7 keys to your Patreons and 3-4 to non Patreons? Maybe some exclusive wallpapers? if someone can do some wallpapers for GamingonLinux? Maybe also reward your twitch viewers with some Steam Keys while you broadcasting?
Anyway there a lot of things you can do, all the best and good luck :)
Last edited by wolfyrion on 6 March 2016 at 4:44 pm UTC
2 Likes, Who?
@wolfyrion some nice ideas, but keys cost money and developers don't generally hand them out. We do give out keys in livestreams anyway whenever we have them :)
Wallpapers is a nice idea, will see what I can cook up ;)
Wallpapers is a nice idea, will see what I can cook up ;)
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Pledged. :) You are doing quality work, Liam. And you should put a link somewhere on the front page, otherwise people will not know about it.
3 Likes, Who?
Quoting: LinasPledged. :) You are doing quality work, Liam. And you should put a link somewhere on the front page, otherwise people will not know about it.
Oh for sure, this is only the start I still need to tweak literally everything.
Thank you for the kind words, means a lot.
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Pledged! And thank you for the great work. I have read every single article here for 2 years or so.
3 Likes, Who?
Quoting: rodvilPledged! And thank you for the great work. I have read every single article here for 2 years or so.
Oh wow, nice to see an "oldie" around, thank you for the support.
0 Likes
Landing on the page, you had 8 pledges, and after adding mine you where at 10.
You largely earned it and I hope it continues to climb that way.
You largely earned it and I hope it continues to climb that way.
1 Likes, Who?
Quoting: tripyLanding on the page, you had 8 pledges, and after adding mine you where at 10.
You largely earned it and I hope it continues to climb that way.
Thank you :).
I won't be able to reply to everyone, but I will try to keep up!
1 Likes, Who?
Already pledged, I prefer simple paypal donation, but patreon will do.
This page is my #1 stop for info on linux gaming. Keep up the good work.
This page is my #1 stop for info on linux gaming. Keep up the good work.
2 Likes, Who?
Quoting: fakk2Already pledged, I prefer simple paypal donation, but patreon will do.
This page is my #1 stop for info on linux gaming. Keep up the good work.
Thanks a lot, I know people prefer Paypal at times, but Patreon makes it far simpler for me.
1 Likes, Who?
I have pledged but no money taken from my card? or this is happening end of the month?
1 Likes, Who?
Quoting: wolfyrionI have pledged but no money taken from my card? or this is happening end of the month?
Patreon take payments monthly around 1-3rd of each month, I will clarify this in the article and on Patreon directly.
1 Likes, Who?
Quoting: wolfyrionIn order to survive these days you need around 200+ Patreons if they donate 5$.
He'll need at least 330 to be making minimum wage (in UK) and I hope he gets a lot more than that :)
Going self-employed can be scary and stressful, I wish you luck Liam.
3 Likes, Who?
Quoting: GuestAre you earning from the site? (or trying to)
Because if you're not, why not just set up a yearly crowd funder, for just the cost of the site.
No self employment, no taxman, no problems.
Sorry if the article wasn't clear enough, but this is for an income.
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Quoting: fakk2This page is my #1 stop for info onThis is what it's like for me. The only kind of gaming that interests me is Linux gaming.linuxgaming. Keep up the good work.
Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to pledge, but I hope this works out for you! I think you deserve it, quality work you're delivering. (Too many journalists out there that don't know their stuff. Both inside and outside of technology.)
2 Likes, Who?
I was part of the previous pledge group, realised even after that stopped you're still putting out great content, even if I don't have the time to watch things like livestreams when they happen because of time zones and such.
Almost every time I find out about a new game or game being ported, it's links to this very site that I'm sharing with my gaming friends - one of whom has been frustrated with Windows 10 and actually switched almost full time to Linux, and another who is thinking of using a slightly older PC for Linux gaming. They ask me questions about technologies and games, and between here and Phoronix I feel like I'm up to date on the bleeding edge of what's new and upcoming.
Definitely resubmitted my pledge (up to 25 backers now!) - you do great work. :)
Almost every time I find out about a new game or game being ported, it's links to this very site that I'm sharing with my gaming friends - one of whom has been frustrated with Windows 10 and actually switched almost full time to Linux, and another who is thinking of using a slightly older PC for Linux gaming. They ask me questions about technologies and games, and between here and Phoronix I feel like I'm up to date on the bleeding edge of what's new and upcoming.
Definitely resubmitted my pledge (up to 25 backers now!) - you do great work. :)
1 Likes, Who?
Request: Add a $1 pledge level, saying you thanks for the support, every little bit helps. If 300 people pledge $1 you're well on your way. Starting at $5 makes a barrier to entry for those not overflowing with cash.
2 Likes, Who?
Quoting: subwolfRequest: Add a $1 pledge level, saying you thanks for the support, every little bit helps. If 300 people pledge $1 you're well on your way. Starting at $5 makes a barrier to entry for those not overflowing with cash.
You can pledge at any level, $5 is just for the reward.
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