dickroach
Member
I hadn't heard any updates since that summit on Twitch, other then "Patreon" so I dunno. where can I keep up with what;s happening?
"Save Our SIFTD"
- Thread starter Gigarator
- Start date
I hadn't heard any updates since that summit on Twitch, other then "Patreon" so I dunno. where can I keep up with what;s happening?
My big question is this: We keep hearing from them that the existence of the site is in doubt, that they're on the verge of going under, that they desperately need the new subs to stay afloat. But then when people suggest that reflects poorly on the business model, Shane says this:
So the new money is largely to "create new shows to draw in more subscribers" which seems like less of an existential crisis and more of an attempt to expand. Which is a perfectly wonderful thing to pursue, but that's quite different from a matter of life and death.
katsubento
Member
I would patreon Pachter Factor on it's own.
To be honest, I doubt patreon is going to save this either. I don't think he has a following like many other personalities that launched through patreon. Maybe I am wrong and I hope it works out for him. He does seem to have put in a ton of effort into this so he deserves it in that regard.
tbf they have to build all that by hand
Yautja_Warrior
Member
Still think Shane should put more of his content on the YouTube channel, at least let people see what they are paying for, might get more people interested then.
To be fair, if the business doesn't grow, it will die. That's why ( I assume) he's asking for subs because the only real way to grow that site is to give people a reason to support them (content) so that they grow. If they didn't get more support and just stayed as is, the site would probably just die off in a matter of months. All businesses need to grow in order to survive, not just thrive.
mr teaspoon
Member
Same.
Patrick Young
Member
Agreed. All that appears currently is Pachter Factor and something called "Big 6" or whatever. A.K.A. "The shit you already saw yesterday on GAF".
Cutter Jones
Member
I'm almost positive that he cannot, by law, take money for a show essentially offering free financial advice.
dickroach
Member
by law of the English language he can't take money for free anything.
and he's totally not offering financial advice. he's stating his opinion on industry trends.
Isn't PF done now too? They literally have nothing left.
Giolon
Member
Pachter doesn't need a Patreon. (He also doesn't get paid for Pachter Factor. He does it because he's Shane's friend.)
Immortal Technique
Member
What? PF isn't done if SIFTD isn't done. And SIFTD is not done yet.
Someone in the PF thread said that it was the "last episode."
http://neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1136714
dickroach
Member
it's going on (at least) one more month
I think shane really believes in the site and is going to keep it going regardless if it's working or not. the "the site's going to shut down if we don't get more subscribers" was just a plea to get more people to sign up.
but I dunno know why the plea was to get more subscribers on siftd's site if the plan is just to nix that and go with the patreon, like MattKeil said
Immortal Technique
Member
Bad info I guess. Episode 75 came out on SIFTD today.
Novel Mike
Member
I'm very confused on why he has a rock bottom goal of 8,000$ a month. So if they don't hit that they aren't even going to continue anything for the site?
What does that 8,000 even go into exactly? The studio?
Yeah, and it's per month, not per piece of content. So patrons will be charged no matter what. Is Shane like giving this a soft time limit and then shutting the Patreon down if it doesn't hit $8K?
Also, comedians doing sets about video games sounds like the absolute worst. I hope that wasn't one of the ideas he was afraid of IGN stealing.
OrbitalBeard
Member
Good luck, Shane. $8000 per month simply to maintain operations is a ridiculous request to ask of your community. Really not trying to be harsh, but man, that is crazy. I'm not even denying that's the actual amount you need, but there's just no way this venture can continue being successful if it is.
Someone donated $7500 to go to Pachter's E3 party.
The tier says $750, but blurb says $7500. I'd hope it's the former lol.
I also love the idea of a paid tour to meet people during a party.
Pach: "Hey Geoff Keighley, this is John Smith, he paid almost $8000 (not including travel and lodging) to be here!"
Keighley: "Oh...hey. Why did you do that?"
OrbitalBeard
Member
It's a choice of $750 per month until the $7500 amount is reached or a lump sum amount of $7500.
Sweet Christ.
MyNameIsRye
Member
Also stealing the name from Xavier Woods (WWE) video game channel, Up Up Down Down.
Mikey Jr.
Member
I think they have to keep up that level for the next 10 months. 750x10=7500
Yeah same here, I just linked the patreon to see if anyone was interested, I like their podcast don't care for the other content, 8k a month for what exactly I don't know.
Bits N Pieces
Member
Good luck Shane. Always enjoyed his stuff on GT and the way he brought that gang together but for me personally I just don't consume enough content that I could actually justify paying money for gaming news or media.
Hope you get there though.
Hope you get there though.
Novel Mike
Member
Dear god I missed that. What the hell? What happens if the site doesn't hit its goals like 3 months in and that guy still paid the 7,500$ upfront or 3 payments of 750$?
I just don't think Shane knows what the hell hes doing here. Asking for 8,000$ upfront and not even providing why exactly he needs that much or what the money goes towards is a mistake and is a lot to ask from his community.
If the 8K is for the set I have to question that as well because theres a reason that when gametrailers was over and they decided to become Easy Allies and do a Patreon that they didn't have a minimal goal and the studio goal was so large (which they still haven't hit). Them deciding to do it from Brandon's home gave them options on how to really reach some higher tier goals, many were hit in the first day because they started small and didn't ask for anything minimal in order to at least keep doing a few things like the normal podcast. It showed that they were going to do this anyway even if it didn't end up being successful.
It just makes me think Shane doesn't understand how and why Pateron works. To say that they won't even continue doing any content going forward unless they hit this extremely high goal is completely nuts. I'd also really be curious if Shane even talked to Brandon or anyone else from EZA to find out what they did and why because thats the model he should be trying to emulate here.
The $8K minimum is a weird one, only because I personally haven't seen a Patreon do that before (doesn't mean it's never happened, I just haven't seen it).
It would be okay if Shane said they won't take anyone's money until they reach the $8K, that would seem fair to me. But it's frustratingly vague about what the status of SIFTD is in that in between phase, if it takes a couple months to reach that $8K but people are still putting money in. And that $7500 thing is extra bone headed, since you would assume that the perk will only be delivered if all 10 payments have been processed, but that's assuming this Patreon even lasts 10 months.
I'm glad they went the Patreon route, but there needs to be more clarity if they are going to do things like set minimums.
It would be okay if Shane said they won't take anyone's money until they reach the $8K, that would seem fair to me. But it's frustratingly vague about what the status of SIFTD is in that in between phase, if it takes a couple months to reach that $8K but people are still putting money in. And that $7500 thing is extra bone headed, since you would assume that the perk will only be delivered if all 10 payments have been processed, but that's assuming this Patreon even lasts 10 months.
I'm glad they went the Patreon route, but there needs to be more clarity if they are going to do things like set minimums.
The Patreon goal is insanely discouraging, and makes it feel like pledging is essentially throwing money into a pit (even though I know they usually don't charge upfront.) I also feel like the insane delay between the SOS call and this random Tuesday launch was a really bad mistake, but I'm not an expert by any means.
What should happen? An invitation to Pachter's has no real value (as in: you aren't actually causing any significant costs by visiting Pachter), so I'd assume that those people would get invited regardless. I doubt Pachter is the kind of jerk who'd say: "Nope, you only paid $2.000 before we closed the Patreon, no invite for you!"
I wonder what happens if you've got to stop your contribution halfway through, though. Being left with nothing after you've already paid several thousand dollars would be pretty bad -- I don't think using Patreon to pay something in installments is a smart idea, honestly.
I don't quite understand what people expected. People told Shane for months that he should use Patreon as it's supposedly a great platform for this sort of thing. Now he's started a Patreon and all of a sudden people are surprised that running a proper business costs a ton of money? Well, duh.
They apparently bleed money for a long time, so instead of setting an unrealistically low goal, they should focus on a goal that actually pays the bills. If they can't reach that, it's probably more reasonable to abandon this project for good, before the people involved drown in debt.
I don't see what Patreon as a platform has to do with any of this? He's asking people to donate with the first thing anyone sees being "if we don't reach 8000, this will all be for nothing." It's just a discouraging message to start off with.
I appreciate his honesty but yeah it doesn't inspire confidence. Ultimately he shouldn't have been in this position (over a year late to the Patreon party) and it also begs the question why it took 6 weeks after the SOS thing to set up. Generally Patreon is for people who are established but want to go full-time which is inspiring and implies somebody is on the up. Conversely, "collectively donate this large sum every month to our video game website or we go under" tends to go down like a bucket of cold sick. There's a reason the Easy Allies patreon blew up while this one is bumbling along.
dickroach
Member
yeah, this isn't how Patreon works
you take the money people pledge and you produce content with that money. you don't say "we will not make anything unless we reach $x"
He turned Patreon into a bad Kickstarter.
Holundrian
Unconfirmed Member
Pachter Factor a show I personally do not care about is still the only thing I can see on their youtube page. Dunno as I said early in this thread I still have basically no clue if the content they create I would even like.
I guess good luck. But I think in the end I'm not interested enough to take the blind plunge.
Edit: nvm clicked on the patreon which lists samples I'll check it out later
I guess good luck. But I think in the end I'm not interested enough to take the blind plunge.
Edit: nvm clicked on the patreon which lists samples I'll check it out later
Ben Morales
Member
This is exactly what I thought when I saw it.
This isn't how a patreon is going to work. You don't say we need $8,000/month to maintain the company and make people feel like their are wasting money if you don't get to $8,000. You say donate and then you make goals like new shows etc with the intent of doing those once you meet that milestone. This was just really poorly done imo.
Ben Morales
Member
This is probably why he was so against starting one. He may not have fully understood how it works or what it is for.
Novel Mike
Member
Its not as if he can't do research or talk to people who would know. He's from game trailers him and Brandon Jones know each other quite well and with how successful EZA was thats what he should be trying to emulate.
If they spoke about what he should be trying to do it certainly doesn't seem like Shane decided to listen. I cannot understand why at the very least he doesn't exactly spell out what the 8,000$ actually goes towards and why he needs that monthly and I swear to god if its for his freaking studio hes crazy.