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.
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.
Some you may have missed, popular articles from the last month:
Quoting: coryrj19951Hmm, never noticed the monthly pledges stopped went ahead and started that again. Keep up the good work, don't want my homepage to go down :D
Oh, and noticed on the "twitter spitter" thing over there you were looking for a banner, here's an attempt... also here too :P
Thanks a lot, I hope you don't mind but I'm pinching your image idea but rolling my own based on it :)
1 Likes, Who?
This is a very good idea! Also, if you're self employed and buying things like microphones and graphics cards (things you need for this), you can get VAT returned on those purchases so the donation money should go further.
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I have a problem with the previous Patreon page: I can't edit my pledge.
When I go to my Patreon homepage, it says I'm still supporting GamingOnLinux, but when I get on the GamingOnLinux Patreon page, I only get this message:
GamingOnLinux is the only patreon page with which I've got a problem, every other patreon pages works fine and I can change my pledge. I've tested different ways, but it seems that you blocked the system so we can't even remove GoL from our supported pages.
When I go to my Patreon homepage, it says I'm still supporting GamingOnLinux, but when I get on the GamingOnLinux Patreon page, I only get this message:
QuoteGamingOnLinux has made this page private.
GamingOnLinux is the only patreon page with which I've got a problem, every other patreon pages works fine and I can change my pledge. I've tested different ways, but it seems that you blocked the system so we can't even remove GoL from our supported pages.
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Quoting: Segata SanshiroThis is a very good idea! Also, if you're self employed and buying things like microphones and graphics cards (things you need for this), you can get VAT returned on those purchases so the donation money should go further.
Yeah, that's one thing I still have to research on how to claim VAT back. I also won't pay standard tax as there's no way I will hit the UK personal allowance any time soon from Patreon.
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Quoting: CreakI have a problem with the previous Patreon page: I can't edit my pledge.
When I go to my Patreon homepage, it says I'm still supporting GamingOnLinux, but when I get on the GamingOnLinux Patreon page, I only get this message:
QuoteGamingOnLinux has made this page private.
GamingOnLinux is the only patreon page with which I've got a problem, every other patreon pages works fine and I can change my pledge. I've tested different ways, but it seems that you blocked the system so we can't even remove GoL from our supported pages.
That is nothing to do with me, contact Patreon I have no control over anything there only my personal Patreon.
The old Patreon under GOL is not collecting anything.
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Quoting: TheBossThanks a lot, I hope you don't mind but I'm pinching your image idea but rolling my own based on it :)
Go ahead, I don't mind at all ^_^
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Hmm this is worrying me. I've kept supporting the GOL Patreon page with monthly transfers for a long time now and am pretty sure my account has been deducted steadily up until now - since when should this no longer work?
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Quoting: BeamboomHmm this is worrying me. I've kept supporting the GOL Patreon page with monthly transfers for a long time now and am pretty sure my account has been deducted steadily up until now - since when should this no longer work?
Nothing to do with us, contact Patreon or your bank if you're confused. An old GOL Patreon was shut down some time ago.
This is a personal Patreon.
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Pledged!
I have been a silent GOL reader for about 2-3 years now and I really appreciate what you do. I just registered to tell you thanks for all your hard work and I hope you get all the support you truly deserve. :)
I have been a silent GOL reader for about 2-3 years now and I really appreciate what you do. I just registered to tell you thanks for all your hard work and I hope you get all the support you truly deserve. :)
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Quoting: TheBossQuoting: BeamboomHmm this is worrying me. I've kept supporting the GOL Patreon page with monthly transfers for a long time now and am pretty sure my account has been deducted steadily up until now - since when should this no longer work?
Nothing to do with us, contact Patreon or your bank if you're confused. An old GOL Patreon was shut down some time ago.
This is a personal Patreon.
Maybe... but why the patreon page of GoL isn't accessible? You might have done something in your page settings to shut everything down. The problem is that we can't remove our pledge on this page before setting pledges on the new page. Can't you take a look at the old page to see what's going on?
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Quoting: CreakQuoting: TheBossQuoting: BeamboomHmm this is worrying me. I've kept supporting the GOL Patreon page with monthly transfers for a long time now and am pretty sure my account has been deducted steadily up until now - since when should this no longer work?
Nothing to do with us, contact Patreon or your bank if you're confused. An old GOL Patreon was shut down some time ago.
This is a personal Patreon.
Maybe... but why the patreon page of GoL isn't accessible? You might have done something in your page settings to shut everything down. The problem is that we can't remove our pledge on this page before setting pledges on the new page. Can't you take a look at the old page to see what's going on?
As mentioned, I have zero control over any old GOL patreon. I only control this personal Patreon.
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Quoting: CreakMaybe... but why the patreon page of GoL isn't accessible?
Patreon are aware of the issue, they just don't feel like fixing it.
https://patreon.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/207931976-Why-can-t-I-can-t-delete-my-pledge-to-a-former-creator-
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Quoting: TheBossNothing to do with us, contact Patreon or your bank if you're confused. An old GOL Patreon was shut down some time ago.
Nothing to do with you? I talk about this account:
https://www.patreon.com/user?u=232486
Surely this account must have *something* to do with you, or I've been scammed for a long time. When was it that you shut it down?
Last edited by Beamboom on 7 March 2016 at 8:02 pm UTC
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Quoting: tartifQuoting: CreakMaybe... but why the patreon page of GoL isn't accessible?
Patreon are aware of the issue, they just don't feel like fixing it.
https://patreon.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/207931976-Why-can-t-I-can-t-delete-my-pledge-to-a-former-creator-
@Beamboom see that link ^
It's a problem with their system.
QuoteWhen a creator reverts or closes their account, unfortunately this does not remove their patrons from being listed as patrons. The good news is that you are not charged during the time they are inactive, but you are not able to remove the pledge from your creator page at the moment.
Fear not! Shoot us a note and we will happily remove the creator from being listed on your account.
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Cool, thanks!
I contacted them, as soon as it's fixed, I'll update my pledge for the new Patreon page ;)
I contacted them, as soon as it's fixed, I'll update my pledge for the new Patreon page ;)
1 Likes, Who?
Quoting: CreakCool, thanks!
I contacted them, as soon as it's fixed, I'll update my pledge for the new Patreon page ;)
Great to hear, annoying for you guys I imagine but nothing I can personally do.
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Quoting: TheBossGreat to hear, annoying for you guys I imagine but nothing I can personally do.Yeah I'm sorry, I didn't understand that you actually closed your old account, I thought you just changed the page settings so that everything went private.
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Would you also consider creating a page on Flattr and adding the link to the "Support us" page? It looks like this (example):
https://flattr.com/profile/openstreetmap
People can either do a one-time donation, or subscribe to it and a portion of their monthly budget is sent to you each month.
https://flattr.com/profile/openstreetmap
People can either do a one-time donation, or subscribe to it and a portion of their monthly budget is sent to you each month.
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Quoting: ripperWould you also consider creating a page on Flattr and adding the link to the "Support us" page? It looks like this (example):
https://flattr.com/profile/openstreetmap
People can either do a one-time donation, or subscribe to it and a portion of their monthly budget is sent to you each month.
Tried it before, it was useless as no one used it. I would also prefer to keep all of it in one place as its easier to manage on all fronts especially for one person.
1 Likes, Who?
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