#paygate

[raivaryn]

counter intuitive, but this bummer cheers me up on the reg

[beesmygod]

Webtoons' entire business model seems to be convincing up and coming creatives that they're the only free comic hosting service available and that finding readers is too hard for someone to do without a massive corporation doling them out.

yes but also its about making some of the worst, most cynically crafted "profit" driven content disguised as comics that youve ever seen. anything actually good on the platform gets locked behind a paygate ensuring that it will die in obscurity with no audience

[alfabusa]

Hey Alfa,

Any plans on doing more Mage stuff

Yeah absolutely.

We released a WIP version first episode of our Mage actual-play in the form of our first Mage’s Awakening just as a link on Patreon accessible by anyone as we barely paygate stuff.

In fact, I can just as well link it HERE TOO as we do yearn for more thoughts and feedback…

We’re gonna be releasing the other three Awakenings as well as the first proper Session with all four Mages but we’re currently very focused on the next Chapter of Hunter and we’re not super able to focus on more than one project at a time as it stands, so it is fairly likely the rest will start releasing after HTP 4 is out.

[elleskinner-justart]

Month by month round-up of my art this year!

Laughing because I did something like 5 digital pieces this whole entire year and 3 of them are behind the patreon paygate. Otherwise it's all watercolor and ink drawings all the way down.

I'm laughing but I'm also very pleased. 2023: the year I got my fingers dirty making art again.

[tbgkaru-woh]

I am working extra hard to find a job just so I can subscribe to your paetron

aw ♥ i feel bad for paygating some of my art (though i still try to share enough outside of patreon) but sadly as a freelancer, any cent earned from what i do is much needed :')

[cerastes]

AI is almost cool, but you're right. Right now the only way to actually make it worth your time is to have a small warehouse of machines working together to do anything and that is just way too privately owned and way too beneficial to an individual who obviously wants to use it for money.

If a library or museum had it and was running it on their collection that'd be an entirely different story. They'd probably be able to source their creations correctly too since they have that metadata in abundance. I wonder how Star Trek's holodecks handle that, since holodeck programming is pretty much the same thing as AI Prompt Based Generation.

Besides what I've already said about AI in regards to artistic integrity and how I do not trust techbros to harness any of this tech in any way that could prove altruistic and not aimed exclusively at making money and maybe even NFTs 2 - The Sequel, I do think it's important to point out that the technology behind it is amazing and the applications and implications of advancing AI technology are sincerely intriguing.

For example, with AI art, an animation team could easily and quickly produce in-between frames in key animation, that is, the transition frames and smear frames between more important shots. This would, if implemented properly, alleviate a significant load off the shoulders of animators, and we know animators can use all the help they can get nowadays, in an industry that becomes more and more demanding to its workforce and that is yet so immensely disrespected and underpaid.

An illustrator could also get a lot of reference for their own art. Anatomy, backgrounds, certain poses, objects at different angles, the applications really are there! A writer of a more visual disposition could easily generate a number of assets for internal, personal use only, to help visualize locales, characters, objects, and what have you. With a more specialized model, I believe even sculptors and other more hands-on and physical artforms could definitely benefit as well, especially when you consider the leaps and bounds in 3D printing.

My scathing criticism of AI 'artists' is one thing, because I do not for one second think of anyone as an artist by just putting in a prompt into an AI that then generates an image for them, and that will not change, you didn't create art, you simply used a tool, so don't call yourself an artist for that one, to whoever it may concern, but AI technology in itself is fascinating, and what frustrates me is not the fact that there's an AI that can make visuals easily -- that's honestly fascinating -- rather, it's the fact I do not at any point trust the tech industry to ever respect art in any capacity because they have a track record of not doing so, and the interest in creating an 'art AI' is wholly based on a thinly veiled desire to mass produce for the sake of raking in profits while -- and I insist, bear this in mind -- disguising it as an "accessible tool" that can make anyone an 'artist'.

We have to make sure we don't go durr hurr technology bad, Tesla was a witch, because it's easy to do so and I've seen some bad takes on that regard already, it's ultimately techbros and the tech industry that live on this hardlane bubble of "profit no matter what we destroy or defame". Most everything nowadays starts by techbros selling the ideal of "look how helpful this could be!" and getting a lot of attention on their product, and when it's ready for a stable release, they paygate it behind the kind of money only big private industries can afford, and fuck everyone else.

And hey, that's been a lot of the world of business for a long time, in many, many other regards, but if people expect artists not to make a fuss when techbros look at art and try that shit there, I have no idea what they expect. Which is wholly disrespectful, anyhow, because everyone loves art but hates artists for some reason. Not to sound like a cafe blog for a second, but I do need to point out that during the harshest parts of the pandemic, art is what people turned to in order to assuage themselves. I hope that knowledge stings whoever it may concern.

[vinsterfox]

I uh...made an original species, open cuz why would I paygate something so simple?

[hatboyproject]

I'm not asking a question. I just wanna say I (and by I, I mean myself, Rowan and Aldara) appreciate everything you do and I want to throw money at the project. I think you had a Kofi? What is it (if it's alright) 🫣

Alright, guess I did ask a question.

Sure, it's this! But as always, I must stress - donating to this project is of course very, very appreciated! It does indeed help support my crippling smoothie addiction creative endeavours in various ways, some of which are fruit flavoured and others not. But - I will never hold any part of this project behind any paygate, and everyone will receive the same mod at the same time when it is released. Hmm. Maybe I can hack the end credits and put supporters' names in there, in its own section. Worth a try, right?

[turnstileskyline]

but then again frankly a lot of music festivals are inherently inaccessible and put safety behind a paygate. so.

[greetings-inferiors]

One thing I fucking despise about street fighter 6 is the battle pass. But only specifically the music. I don’t care less about avatar customisation or stickers (although I don’t like that they’re locked behind a pay wall because there probably are people that like them), but the music is something that I’d genuinely use often. I don’t think I’d be able to hear it in matches (which would be fucking sick) but it’d still be nice to listen to. Now if I don’t cough up four quid I’ll be losing rashid’s street fighter five theme forever. Or until they decide an arbitrary amount of time has passed and sell it to us again. It just sucks that pieces of music that I’d like to be able to listen to are just gone forever

The thing I love about smash is that all the music can be played on any stage (from the same series) and the only pay walled songs come with other things (the music is just a bonus) and aren’t limited time.

The outfits and colours being paygated sucks but at least you can obtain them through other means

[itsyveinthesky]

To this day one of the best pieces of journalism was the 2004 account of the sinking of the MS Estonia. Europe's worst maritime disaster after WW2. It was written by William Langewiesche, who wrote and is still writing incredible stuff and I urge everyone to check out his contributions to The Atlantic, Haarper's Bazaar and Vanity Fair.

Langewiesche is one of the best disaster writers out there and his articles are always a must-read.

His theory about MH370 is probably one of the most compelling and complete that I've read. He also wrote a great article about the mid-air collision of a Boeing 737 and a Legacy 600 over the Amazon.

And I think his article about the El Faro's sinking is kind of a sister to his MS Estonia article, though it was due to different reasons.

The only drawback is most of these links go to paygate locations. But they're great writing, and well worth figuring out a way to get to them.

Now finally here is the link to:

A Sea Story

[ani-ki--blr]

I am ethically and morally against the hoarding and/or monetisation of information that should, for all intents and purposes, be freely available.

Case in point: modding FFXIV is already against ToS and charging for mods is a grey area as-is (I personally feel that charging for ports is iffy, but people who create content from scratch do deserve some manner of compensation), but charging for a tutorial is just criminal.

I am not above rewriting paygated tutorials and releasing them for free.

[paylogic]

PAYGATE – Centralized Data Collection for Accurate Insights

[tbgkaru-woh]

feel free to ignore this, but why did you wipe your twitter?

(your art is incredible btw, it's super unique and I love your redesigns especially!!! ♡♡♡)

i had some bad experiences there (lovely wondeful ones too but bad stuff usually stucks with you more somehow)+ i wasn't communciating with many of my moots anymore despite wanting to+ lots of people moving on or not caring for stuff i like in the first place made my dash very barren of things i'm in the fandom for and altogether it was very unhealthy for me to compare myself to more successful creators in the fandom and just see people move on so quick. so i wanted to stop going back to that enviroment :') going on hiatus would not do it as it'd tempt me to keep going back, so i had to just... clear it all, be done with it and focus my attention elsewhere. i never wanted to paygate my art, my patreon was always optional for early accessand WIP etc, but im in such a bad financial situation that i decided to use my exit as an option to perhaps earn something from making my art exclusive for those who care/can afford it :') I still post on tumblr/discord/ao3 every now and then, but it will be very small fraction of what will be posting there

[mobiloitteindia]

Secure Web Apps for Payment Monitoring in South Africa

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PayGate: As a prominent South African payment processor, PayGate provides a secure web app for payment tracking and monitoring. Their platform offers real-time visibility into payments, fraud detection, and robust reporting capabilities.

PayFast: Another reputable South African payment processor, PayFast, offers a secure web app with features like real-time payment notifications, fraud detection, and subscription management.

Peach Payments: Peach Payments, a South African payment processor, provides a secure web app that includes features such as real-time payment analytics, fraud detection, and payment reconciliation.

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