#top 1% earners

[fearsomeandwretched]

Rich ppl who are extremely stupid and bad at managing their money always hear poor or middle class ppl talking about col inflation etc and wanna join in and it's like NO we have extremely different issues

[bibleofficial]

You’re still ignoring the 3:1 difference in oil money. You have to go to number 8 on that list before you hit a Dem.

There’s a clear difference to anyone who isn’t committed to not seeing it.

so ur saying it would be more effectuve for the oil industry to line the pockets of the party whose voter base is against the very industry at the same rate that they would the party that is 100% in support of them ? does this help make it clearer ? but making it solely presidential candidates rather than ALL RECIPIENTS, i.e. senate, house, and candidates for both ?

[mcmansionhell]

namesake mcmansion

Howdy folks! Today's McMansion is very special because a) we're returning to Maryland after a long time and b) because the street this McMansion is on is the same as my name. (It was not named after me.) Hence, it is my personal McMansion, which I guess is somewhat like when people used to by the name rights to stars even though it was pretty much a scam. (Shout out btw to my patron Andros who submitted this house to be roasted live on the McMansion Hell Patreon Livestream)

As far as namesake McMansions go, this one is pretty good in the sense that it is high up there on the ol' McMansion scale. Built in 2011, this psuedo-Georgian bad boy boasts 6 bedrooms and 9.5 baths, all totaling around 12,000 square feet. It'll run you 2.5 million which, safe to say, is exponentially larger than its namesake's net worth.

Now, 2011 was an anonymous year for home design, lingering in the dead period between the 2008 black hole and 2013 when the market started to actually, finally, steadily recover. As a result a lot of houses from this time basically look like 2000s McMansions but slightly less outrageous in order to quell recession-era shame.

I'm going to be so serious here and say that the crown molding in this room is a crime against architecture, a crime against what humankind is able to accomplish with mass produced millwork, and also a general affront to common sense. I hate it so much that the more I look at it the more angry I become and that's really not healthy for me so, moving on.

Actually, aside from the fake 2010s distressed polyester rug the rest of this room is literally, basically Windows 98 themed.

I feel like the era of massive, hefty sets of coordinated furniture are over. However, we're the one's actually missing out by not wanting this stuff because we will never see furniture made with real wood instead of various shades of MDF or particleboard ever again.

This is a top 10 on the scale of "least logical kitchen I've ever seen." It's as though the designers engineered this kitchen so that whoever's cooking has to take the most steps humanly possible.

Do you ever see a window configuration so obviously made up by window companies in the 1980s that you almost have to hand it to them? You're literally letting all that warmth from the fire just disappear. But whatever I guess it's fine since we basically just LARP fire now.

Feminism win because women's spaces are prioritized in a shared area or feminism loss because this is basically the bathroom vanity version of women be shopping? (It's the latter.)

I couldn't get to all of this house because there were literally over a hundred photos in the listing but there are so many spaces in here that are basically just half-empty voids, and if not that then actually, literally unfinished. It's giving recession. Anyway, now for the best part:

Not only is this the NBA Backrooms but it's also just a nonsensical basketball court. Tile floors? No lines? Just free balling in the void?

Oh, well I bet the rear exterior is totally normal.

Not to be all sincere about it but much like yours truly who has waited until the literal last second to post this McMansion, this house really is the epitome of hubris all around. Except the house's hubris is specific to this moment in time, a time when gas was like $2/gallon. It's climate hubris. It's a testimony to just how much energy the top 1% of income earners make compared to the rest of us. I have a single window unit. This house has four air conditioning condensers. That's before we get to the monoculture, pesticide-dependent lawn or the three car garage or the asphalt driveway or the roof that'll cost almost as much as the house to replace. We really did think it would all be endless. Oops.

If you like this post and want more like it, support McMansion Hell on Patreon for as little as $1/month for access to great bonus content including a discord server, extra posts, and livestreams.

Not into recurring payments? Try the tip jar! Student loans just started back up!

[eugenedebs1920]

What a shame it was when the “conservative” (not sure exactly what they conserve honestly) sect of American society chose a, we’ll call it, unconventional candidate in 2016, the progressive sect also had an unconventional candidate (unconventional in a not insane or malignant narcissist kinda way like the rights candidate though) as well.

The difference is, the right let their self absorbed, racist, batsh*t crazy, compulsive liar win the nomination. The left, they felt a Jewish man with socialist tendencies was too extreme and went with a candidate who could be the very definition of the establishment.

How did that turn out?…….

Bernie Sanders has been fighting for the working class for decades! A no nonsense, straight shooter with fabulous sarcasm. Just dry, subtle and absolutely amazing cynicism.

In this speech he points out some good figures. Hey maga! Listen up because y’all keep defending this sh*t instead of your fellow working class Americans or the Constitution overall.

Elon musk possesses more wealth than the bottom 52% of the American earners. More than likely that’s the vast majority of maga, I know I’m included in that bottom 52%, as are many who have the misfortune of reading this.

The top 1% of American “earners” possess more than the bottom 93% of the Americans workers. I can say with certainty that is anyone reading this. That’s fkn CRAZY!!

While 60% of us are living paycheck to paycheck, just a handful of people own all but 7% of the available capital.

You gotta look at it like this. There’s only a certain amount of money to be made in the U.S. If there was an infinite amount, the dollar would be worthless. Let’s break it down into hundreds. There’s a hundred bucks to split between one hundred people. One guy gets $93 and the other 99 of us split $7.

I think the top 10% can pay a higher percentage than the 40% tax rate 93% of us do.

Call me crazy. Call me dumb. But they can afford to pitch in more to our country. 🇺🇸

[anarchistettin]

votes don't influence policy, and now there's no way for anyone but 1% of the wealthiest to leverage buying power.

the only power anyone has left is withholding labor.

to do this we will absolutely require alternative sources of water and food.

if, as is so much more likely, everything falls apart, we will still need water and food.

Mutual Aid + General Strike are literally our only shot to stave off mass mayhem and aimless violence.

[follow-up-news]

The IRS plans to end a major tax loophole for wealthy taxpayers that could raise more than $50 billion in revenue over the next decade, the U.S. Treasury Department says. The proposed rule and guidance announced Monday includes plans to essentially stop “partnership basis shifting” — a process by which a business or person can move assets among a series of related parties to avoid paying taxes. Biden administration officials said after evaluating the practice that there are no economic grounds for these transactions, with Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo calling it “really just a shell game.” The officials said the additional IRS funding provided through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act had enabled increased oversight and greater awareness of the practice. “These tax shelters allow wealthy taxpayers to avoid paying what they owe,” IRS commissioner Danny Werfel said. Due to previous years of underfunding, the IRS had cut back on the auditing of wealthy individuals and the shifting of assets among partnerships and companies became common. The IRS says filings for large pass-through businesses used for the type of tax avoidance in the guidance increased 70% from 174,100 in 2010 to 297,400 in 2019. However, audit rates for these businesses fell from 3.8% to 0.1% in the same time frame. Treasury said in a statement announcing the new guidance that there is an estimated $160 billion gap between what the top 1% of earners likely owe in taxes and what they pay.

[scarfacemarston]

Abigail's gift and sacrifice.

TW for canon child death. I don't think people realize how much of a gift and sacrifice it was for Abigail to agree to a second child with John. Remember that she became pregnant which then John was not supportive of her at any point. She had no family. Miss Grimshaw never liked her and not having another woman to help in such a terrifying time in a pregnant woman's life would be miserable. That leaves her with Dutch, Arthur, Hosea, Bill, Pearson and I would assume Tilly. Realistically, I doubt people like Bill or Pearson or even Dutch would be much help. She was just 18 when Jack was born. Not long after, John took off leaving her completely alone and incredibly dependent on the gang until the events of RDR 2. Remember that Abigail was one of the top earners for the gang. There are numerous audio from Hosea talking about how she was the best actress and con woman he had ever seen and Arthur agrees AND says she's the greatest thief he'd ever seen. Abigail completely loses her status. As time goes on, it's only Hosea, Tilly and Arthur that care for her. Then to go through all the events of RDR 2 and the epilogue would have made Abigail more anxious about bringing another child in the world. How would she know that John would stay with her this time? John was a changed man hence why he asked to begin with, but you and I both know that was always on her mind. She likely was worried sick about it. Additionally, as we can tell by her coughing, she was not always quite the healthiest, either. But the physical trauma and the emotional exhaustion would have been overwhelming for Abigail. She may have John, Uncle and Jack, but she still doesn't have a community or a woman to commiserate with.

She lived in a time where maternal maternity rate was still the number 1 cause of death for women followed closely by tuberculosis. Don't forget how likely post partum depression was, too. It makes it worse to think of all that worry, that time and pain that it was all going to come to the death of her and John's daughter. Imagine going through that pain. People stereotype that people in the past weren't as attached to their children and didn't mourn them the same. I can tell you right now as an academic that studies death and mourning rituals this is absolutely false. Just imagine picking up the pieces after all that. John is clearly torn up by it as well and I fully believe he would do everything in his power to support her through both the pregnancy, caring for their daughter and through mourning. But Abigail tried and that's what mattered, even if the end result was heartbreaking.

I'm thinking about writing an infant mortality/child mortality mourning post following the history and culture of this time period. Let me know if anyone is interested, but I think I'll write it either way since it's a specialty of mine.

[izooks]

By the time they expire next year, Trump’s tax cuts are projected to have boosted after-tax incomes of the top 1 percent of earners by 3 percent, to an average of $2.1 million. But they barely affect the bottom 60 percent of earners, increasing their 2025 incomes just 1 percent, to $41,800.

[gadawg-404]

Top 1 % wage earners pay 46% of income taxes.

They earn 23% of the income to pay 46% of income taxes.

Top 10% pay 70% of income taxes

Top 50% of income earners pay over 98% of income taxes.

Top 1% makes 400 k ish or better pays 46% of our income taxes

Top 10 % earn 175 k or better and pay 70% of the taxes

So the top 10% pays over 70% of income taxes and politicians tell you with a straight face they aren’t paying their fair share.

All taxes are theft.

[kyunghwannie]

If you owned an adult entertainment company, what would you have each TWICE member specialise in?

KYUNGHWANNIE'S "TWICE: THE ADULT ENTERTAINMENT EMPIRE" – A VERY SERIOUS BUSINESS PROPOSAL 💎🔥

(Disclaimer: This is 100% delusional, 200% unethical, and 300% sparkly. Idols are innocent. Kyunghwannie is not. And as the CEO of "ONCE Upon a Time Productions", I take my responsibilities very seriously.)

1.) NAYEON – "THE TEASE QUEEN"

Specialty: Edging & JOI (Jerk-Off Instruction)

Why? Because no one can blue-ball an audience like Nayeon. That smirk? Those "accidental" nip slips? She was born for this.

Signature Move: Leaning into the camera, barely covering her tits with her hands, whispering "You wanna touch, don’t you? Too bad~"

My CEO Notes: "We’re putting her in bunny ears and nothing else. She’s our top earner. Literally."

2.) JEONGYEON – "THE DOMINATRIX"

Specialty: Femdom & Power Play

Why? Have you seen her glare? She could make a grown man cry with a snap of her fingers.

Signature Move: Straddling some poor simp in a leather harness, "You call that begging? Pathetic."

My CEO Notes: "We’re selling her ‘disappointed mommy’ energy for premium prices. Also, invest in whips."

3.) MOMO – "THE FLEXIBLE GODDESS"

Specialty: Extreme Positions & Face-Sitting

Why? Girl could fold herself into a pretzel and make it look sexy.

Signature Move: Reverse cowgirl, but her legs are behind her head, smirking at the camera like "Yeah, I know I’m ridiculous."

My CEO Notes: "We’re filming her ‘Yoga Porn’ series. It’s just her stretching… until it’s not."

4.) SANA – "THE BJ ARTIST"

Specialty: Deep Throat & Eye Contact

Why? Those lips? That "innocent" look? She was designed to ruin men.

Signature Move: Looking up with teary eyes, gagging just enough to make you feel guilty. "Does it taste good, oppa~?"

My CEO Notes: "We’re selling her spit in vials. Don’t judge me."

5.) JIHYO – "THE POWERHOUSE"

Specialty: Rough Sex & Dirty Talk

Why? That voice. Those hips. She could command you to cum, and your body would obey.

Signature Move: Choking some poor soul while riding him, "You better not finish before I say so."

My CEO Notes: "We’re marketing her as ‘God Jihyo’—because she owns you."

6.) MINA – "THE ELEGANT VIXEN"

Specialty: Slow Burn & Sensory Play

Why? She’s too classy for porn… until she isn’t.

Signature Move: Tracing her nails down her partner’s chest, "You’ll wait… until I allow you."

My CEO Notes: "We’re filming her in black-and-white to make it ‘artistic.’ It’s not. It’s just filth."

7.) DAHYUN – "THE BRAT"

Specialty: Roleplay & Cosplay

Why? Because she’s already a meme queen. Now she’s just getting paid for it.

Signature Move: Dressed as a nun, "Forgive me, father… for I absolutely will sin."

My CEO Notes: "We’re selling her ‘Dahyun Gets Punished’ series. It’s just her laughing while getting spanked."

8.) CHAEYOUNG – "THE WILD CARD"

Specialty: BDSM & Tattoo Appreciation

Why? She’s already got the bad-girl vibe. Now she’s monetizing it.

Signature Move: Tying someone up, then drawing on his pelvic bone with a Sharpie while sucking that dick. "You’re my canvas now."

My CEO Notes: "We’re selling her ‘Chaeyoung’s Degenerate Sketchbook’ as merch. It’s just dicks."

9.) TZUYU – "THE INNOCENT CORRUPTED"

Specialty: Virgin Fantasy & Shy-but-Deadly

Why? Because nothing sells like "I can’t believe Tzuyu’s doing this!"

Signature Move: Biting her lip, "I-I’ve never… oh! That’s… oh~". Yeah that what happens when she feels the big d in her sweet womb

My CEO Notes: "We’re marketing her as ‘Taiwan’s Sweetheart Gone Bad.’ The backlash will make us richer."

=================================

FINAL CEO ANNOUNCEMENT:

✨ "TWICE is mine. You can watch… but you can’t touch. Unless you pay. A lot. Muhahah."

— KYUNGHWANNIE (CEO, Director, and Professional Degenerate) 💎🔥

P.S. "Yes, I’m the male lead in all their videos. No, I’m not sharing." 😈

[astrophileblogs07]

Astro Observations pt.19

Hello guys!! Back after so long! I am sorry for not being active here...I am prepping for my med school entrance this year and so I have taken a year off. But since I missed you all, here i am ❣️

• People with Saturn ruling their 7th house/Leo risings or Saturn aspecting their 7th house lord in a good way, always, I mean ALWAYS have people come back to them in some form or way no matter how much time it takes. It is mostly due to any karmic ties with that person, either for the good or for the bad. (My mom has this placement and I have seen literally so many people who haven't been nice to her at first end up seeking significant help from her..). Saturn rules karma and the 7th house is not only about partnerships, but is also about open enemies, people who are bound to you by karma. • The second nakshatra(and the things related to it) from your nakshatra can help you to make money. Eg. If you are a Mrig, look at the next nakshatra i.e second from your nakshatra which would be Ardra. Even an Ardra person can help you gain money.

• This one is a bit weird (🤡)but people with strong Mars placement/ Mars dominant chart/ prominent Mars naturally have that aptitude of analysing 'flirting' behaviour(Idk what you call it when people are so observant and smart that they just know what your actions towards a particular individual mean and they also know why you're doing it 🙆🏻‍♀️). Also they learn that thing soooo earlyy in life....I have seen soooo manyyy kids with this placement when they are like 8 or 9 but their rizz level is 📈📈📈🔥. Even if there is no outside influence (like TV or people around them, or even if there is...they learn that veryyy fast and early in life). (IDK HOW Y'ALL DO THAT? 😭😭🤣🤣) {Mars is charming ✨✨)

# Here is this small fun fact about my life: (Saturn rules time and hence clocks). When I had my first Saturn dasha (Sade sati) I was in 4th grade that time. One of the effects of Saturn Dasha is that it actually makes your understanding and mind slow. (grasping power becomes slower than usual). And the fun fact here was, at that time, we were learning how to read time on clock (like time elapsed, time left and solving math problems on that.) but I was the only one who couldn't understand it properly and made so manyyy mistakes, got scolded by teachers and my mom lol 😂.

#I have noticed 2 things in an Ashwini 🐴🐴 1. They are the early earners of their family may be due to family issues (not usually) but most of the times coz they're ambitious.

2. They have some serious Daddy issues. Every Ashwini I have seen has a bad memory with their dads bruising/destroying their ego in the worst way possible (like for example: insulting you in front of public, targeting you and your insecurities). And the added cherry on top is they're the first people to pack their bags and leave/ move out early. Like anything they'd do to stay away from their fathers. 🤷🏻‍♀️🥸 3. Ashwini and Pushyas are match made in Heaven (after Bharani ofc)

# In my previous post i had mentioned about the moon and Asc getting along. That happens only when they're in the same sign. But one more observation which contradicts this one is that when your moon sign and the other person's asc are in opposite signs... that's ⚔battlefield ⚔ right there. 💀💀 (Me being an Aries moon, have literally had the worst fights with Libra asc.)

That's all from my side for today. Hope to return soon! (srsly wanna post more 😫) Thank you my Tumblr Fam!❤❤❤💕😘💖 Lotsss of Love to you all! (Bye, going MIA again 🤡)

[probablyasocialecologist]

Capping demand from the top fifth, even at a fairly high level, cut greenhouse gas pollution from energy consumption by 9.7%, while raising demand from people in the bottom fifth who also live in poverty to a fairly low level increases emissions by just 1.4%. “We have to start tackling luxury energy use to stay within an equitable carbon budget for the globe,” said Milena Buchs, a professor of sustainable welfare at the University of Leeds and the lead author of the study, published on Monday in the journal Nature Energy, “but also to actually have the energy resources to enable people in fuel poverty to slightly increase their energy use and meet their needs.”

[...]

“The study confirms that energy demand reductions can contribute significantly to climate change mitigation, even as poorer households are lifted out of energy poverty,” said Felix Creutzig, an IPCC author and professor of sustainability economics at the Technical University of Berlin, who was not involved in the study. “High-income, high-education households have more scope and also more capacity in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions – and also carry more responsibility.”

[...]

Studies have shown the global rich – which includes middle-class people in rich countries – play a disproportionate role in heating the planet. In 2015, the top 1% of earners emitted twice as much carbon dioxide as the bottom 50%, according to estimates from the Stockholm Environment Institute and Oxfam. Rich people have more agency to cut their emissions and those of others. A commentary in Nature Energy argued in 2021 that this covered not just how they shop, which the authors stressed was a powerful lever, but also how they act as citizens, investors, role models and workers.

[eugenedebs1920]

What a shame it was when the “conservative” (not sure exactly what they conserve honestly) sect of American society chose a, we’ll call it, unconventional candidate in 2016, the progressive sect also had an unconventional candidate (unconventional in a not insane or malignant narcissist kinda way like the rights candidate though) as well.

The difference is, the right let their self absorbed, racist, batsh*t crazy, compulsive liar win the nomination. The left, they felt a Jewish man with socialist tendencies was too extreme and went with a candidate who could be the very definition of the establishment.

How did that turn out?…….

Bernie Sanders has been fighting for the working class for decades! A no nonsense, straight shooter with fabulous sarcasm. Just dry, subtle and absolutely amazing cynicism.

In this speech he points out some good figures. Hey maga! Listen up because y’all keep defending this sh*t instead of your fellow working class Americans or the Constitution overall.

Elon musk possesses more wealth than the bottom 52% of the American earners. More than likely that’s the vast majority of maga, I know I’m included in that bottom 52%, as are many who have the misfortune of reading this.

The top 1% of American “earners” possess more than the bottom 93% of the Americans workers. I can say with certainty that is anyone reading this. That’s fkn CRAZY!!

While 60% of us are living paycheck to paycheck, just a handful of people own all but 7% of the available capital.

You gotta look at it like this. There’s only a certain amount of money to be made in the U.S. If there was an infinite amount, the dollar would be worthless. Let’s break it down into hundreds. There’s a hundred bucks to split between one hundred people. One guy gets $93 and the other 99 of us split $7.

I think the top 10% can pay a higher percentage than the 40% tax rate 93% of us do.

Call me crazy. Call me dumb. But they can afford to pitch in more to our country. 🇺🇸

[cha3x]

bored web browsing taught me that in order to be part of the top 1% of earners on onlyfans, you'd need to make a monthly... $6k. and käärijä made $40k in december.

our bisnesman casually slid into the business with a cheap christmas tree and a dream & immediately became one of its highest paid creators 🩷

[getvalentined]

The Big Patreon Breakdown

Okay, Patreon's Discord Q&A ended on the 16th, and I've been waiting to see if anything else happened—like maybe a a public announcement from Patreon instead of emails sent exclusively to creators and a video hidden on the CEO's personal YT page—but nothing has happened, so I'm gonna do a breakdown of what we're looking at.

This is an EXTREMELY long post. I am not putting it behind a cut. I'm not sorry.

Short attention span version here.

—

I. The iOS processing fees are a smokescreen covering up the actual devastating changes that Patreon is forcing creators into.

The iOS fees are trash, 30 percent is extortion and we all know it—but that's not the biggest issue at hand here. Patreon is using this event as an excuse to change the entire structure of the creator side of their platform, and blaming Apple to avoid getting backlash.

They tripled their platform and processing fees in 2017, passing it on to patrons without notice, and the subsequent hemorrhage of paying users forced them to walk it back. They tried to force everyone onto their rolling billing model in 2021, and the entire community pushed back so hard they were forced again to walk it back.

This time, they're doing both and insisting it's Apple's fault, and everyone is taking that at face value because Apple sucks. And Apple does suck, but Patreon is getting what they've wanted for years by catering to Apple.

Oh, also, they're forcing creators to notify their patrons of the billing model changes (with a suggested template that explicitly refers to it as a decision made by the creator, even though nobody is making any decisions here except Jack Conte) rather than doing it themselves.

II. Patreon is not going to change course for any reason. This is set in stone.

There are multiple proofs for this, including but not limited to:

One-on-one calls between the platform's top earners and the CEO, Jack Conte, wherein the vibe was apparently not "What can we do to support your business in order to retain your place on our platform?" but rather "We know that the only way this works is if we don't do it, but how can we keep you from complaining about it any more than you already have?" One creator explained in granular detail how they run their business through this platform and why changing their billing model would ruin literally everything, and Conte responded with "Is this an essential part of your offering?"

The Patreon Team on Discord has continued to shut down all discussion of alternative options with assertions that Apple won't allow it, even if those alternatives were suggested based on legal precedent set by lawsuits against Apple, and the declaration that they will not be allowing the app to be removed from the App Store no matter what because it's the single most important and integral avenue of creator growth on the platform. (Put a pin in that.)

The platform's top earner is on the pay-per-creation billing model, the one that is going to be hit the hardest; creators on this model stand to lose literally 90 percent of their income overnight. This creator and his team were as blindsided as the rest of us, and they've been offered no assistance except for a complex math equation to try to calculate how much they should be charging people on fixed-price tiers, and no assurance except "the iOS app is the platform's highest source of engagement and is necessary to help you continue to grow."

Pay-upfront (PUF) and pay-per-creation (PPC) billing is going away for new accounts and anyone who doesn't opt out via Patreon's convoluted backend before November 1 of this year, and anyone who doesn't manually switch over to their rolling billing cycle will be automatically pushed into it on November 1, 2025. This means that PUF creators no longer have the promise of a steady paycheck when they need it, early enough in the month to pay rent and bills, while PPC creators are losing their entire business model all at once, which has resulted in a loss of 75 to 90 percent of income for multiple PPC creators who have tried to switch to the rolling billing structure in the past. They are killing these people's livelihoods and they know it, they have seen the data to prove it, but they will not be swayed.

III. Patreon claims the iOS app is the highest source of engagement on the platform at 40 percent—but will not define what "engagement" means, and staff refuse to share detailed analytics or data on the revenue share coming from the app.

Several creators, some with a couple dozen patrons and some with thousands, polled their audience to get a feel for how many of them used the app. Consistently across every creative industry, genre, and form of media, the answer was 2 percent or less. The average across a dozen-plus polls of actual active patrons, numbering into the thousands, is that around 85 percent of patrons access the platform exclusively via the web, whether on desktop or mobile. The majority didn't even know there was an app.

Further, Patreon would not explain what "engagement" means, but did not deny the possibility that dismissing an app notification on your phone counts as an "engagement."

When Patreon was asked for data on how often people pledged to support a creator via the iOS app, the only response was the claim that information is "sensitive to [Patreon's] business" and can't be shared. In a creator-exclusive server. With the people who bring that revenue onto the platform in the first place. And have our own analytics that we can look at individually, which show an average of 0 to 0.5 percent revenue from the iOS app.

IV. Patreon does not have a refund policy in place to work with Apple, and has given no implications of intention to work with Apple to shorten the time it takes for funds from iOS purchases to be paid out to creators, which is currently 75 days.

Yes, you read that correctly: at the moment, it takes 75 days before creators can cash out funds processed via iOS. On top of that, Apple's refund policy is 60 days, and the creator is not involved in the process whatsoever—if a malicious actor pledges to your page, downloads all your work over the course of a month, and then pings Apple for a refund? Apple gets to decide whether or not they get that refund.

Patreon's general refund policy is that it's up to the creator 99.9 percent of the time, with very rare cases of fraud requiring Patreon's intervention. In the case of pledges and Commerce sales via iOS, the creator has no say, and Patreon currently has no policy to protect them. They've stated that they're working on a refund policy that will work with Apple's guidelines to keep everyone happy, but at this point we all know what that means—they're just going to use Apple's refund policy.

They also wouldn't say whether or not creators would be on the hook for Apple's added processing fees, as is usually the case with other big payment processors, but it sounds like we are! So if someone pays $14.50 on the iOS app, the creator gets $10, can't pay it out, and then the malicious actor can call for a refund weeks later and the creator will owe $14.50—in spite of only ever having seen $10 and never being able to pay it out because the 75 hold hadn't passed. Sounds great!

V. Patreon's own graphics meant to explain why this is necessary and how the new fees work are not correct.

I'm gonna let these mostly speak for themselves:

The sale price listed on this graphic is $10, but adding together the three fees listed gives a total of $11.35. This is likely a copying error, as 4.35 is clearly not 30% of 10, but the lack of attention to detail on one of the only two pieces of official material that we have which refer directly to the numbers on which Patreon is signing away our livelihoods is slightly concerning.

This one totals up to 103 percent! (Actually closer to 104, since I rounded Android and Mobile down by about a quarter percent each.) The 40 percent figure on the iOS bar is based on the figure given to us by Patreon staff, and was used to place the markers to denote individual percentages on the other three.

Patreon made these and gave them to us with the assertion that they were proof that the iOS app is indispensable—why should we trust anything they say about numbers if the charts they gave us are literally impossible?

VI. Patreon refuses to offer any promises to 18+ creators that they will not be removed from the app in order to adhere to Apple's content guidelines.

Instead, Patreon staff's response to this request for reassurance is "We have no plans to remove 18+ creators from the Patreon app." You may note that's phrased very specifically, and leaves a hole big enough to drive a freight train full of iPhones straight through. They have no plans to remove 18+ creators from the app. When asked for clarification on this, confirmation that they would not be removing us from the platform if Apple pushed them to do so regardless of whether or not they have plans, this sentiment was simply repeated in more words and with more apologies, along with a reminder that Patreon has had to change their terms for 18+ creators several times already in order to keep up with laws and competition.

VII. All the features Patreon is insisting are integral for creator growth are inaccessible to 18+ creators, and questions about this were either dismissed, redirected, or ignored.

Remember how the iOS app is the single most important and integral avenue for character growth on the platform? Well, 18+ creators are not discoverable on the platform, regardless of the avenue of access. We are not visible on the app unless you have it installed, are logged in, are already following us on the platform, and click an external link to be directed to our pages from somewhere else via a mobile web browser. There is no way to find us on the platform itself.

Other features that staff insist are necessary for growth to which 18+ creators do not have access:

Patreon creator search (on web, Android and iOS apps)

Mass post editing (now called the "Library," which reads as "Something Went Wrong" for me and other 18+ creators who tried to get to it)

On-platform video hosting

Built-in cross-creator recommendations

All on-platform "commerce" features (both digital and physical goods)

The ability to market ourselves by linking to Patreon from our social media and vice-versa (we're basically not allowed to do this or risk being banned)

Yeah, about that first and that last point. We're hidden from searches on the platform, and we can't link to our pages from social media or risk permanent suspension. We cannot grow in this fashion at all, and in fact 18+ creators are getting all the downsides of this switch (except maybe for the app fee, since you can't fucking find us to pledge on the app) with none of the benefits. Nothing they are doing here will help us grow, because they've kneecapped us already. Now they're going after our capacity to obtain a steady paycheck at the beginning of the month, too.

VIII. Patreon's iOS app is currently (as of August 18, 2024) in violation of Apple's guidelines for app ratings; staff did not state any intention to become compliant by raising the app's rating as needed to maintain their 18+ creator community.

The App Store guidelines on creator apps state that they must be rated equal to the highest rated creator content on their platform. In spite of hosting 18+ content, which requires a 17+ rating per Apple, Patreon is rated 12+ in the App Store. Increasing the rating to 17+ would cut out the entire market of wealthy teenagers with iPhones, and since everything else being done here is intended to please Apple, it's unlikely this will be the point that Patreon finally gives an inch for its creators. The exact response from staff on this was "We hear and acknowledge your inputs on the app rating and are exploring our options there." Their "options" on this are to increase the rating, or to remove all 18+ content from the platform. That's it. Those are their options. Why do those need exploring, if they really give a shit about the 18+ community?

I know a lot of people out there are going to say that it would be nice if Patreon would "get rid of the porn," but you need to understand something: 18+ content is not all sexual.

18+ content can and does also include:

Horror (particularly body horror, which is explicitly or implicitly banned on all current adult-specific creator platforms, leaving me nowhere to go when Patreon kicks me)

True crime (murder, violence, theft, etc., is all 18+)

Health (blood/discussion of blood is 18+ regardless of context)

Education (what if you learn about war? that's 18+)

Trauma recovery (the word "r#pe" makes everything around it 18+)

Profanity (ko-fi marks creators 18+ for saying "fuck")

Languages (because you might learn profanity)

Weaponsmithing (because weapons are dangerous)

Leatherworking (because leather can be a fetish)

Shoemaking (feet can also be a fetish)

...even more I'm not bothering to list here.

Implying that they somehow didn't know about this extremely important part of the guidelines—which are being used as an excuse to force the top earner on the platform to ruin his entire business model—is absolute nonsense. Patreon knows about this requirement, they haven't taken any steps to comply based on their current creator population, and I will be shocked if they do. Much easier to just kick us all off, since we can barely use the damn platform as it is.

—

The entire thing makes no sense. Patreon is losing out on so much money by doing this—they're crippling all their highest-earning creators to keep the iOS app running, and it's going to hurt everyone except for Apple. The only reason I can think that they would refuse to budge on this is that there's something else going on behind the scenes between Patreon and Apple. That, or the company is intentionally throwing itself into an extremely drawn out death spiral. But we all know which of those is the more likely scenario here.

[irisintheafterglow]

assassin!sakusa au: the dagger games part 02 of 03. (part 1)

they did not, in fact, have a change of heart overnight.

as was tradition, the games began when both hands on the clock struck 12 midnight, and would last for eight hours or until one team was victorious. you stood beside daichi for the opening ceremony, all the crews gathered in a circle in the clocktower square lit by only the dim gas lamps. there were numerous familiar faces: your allies, the cats and the owls; the castles and barrel-shouldered ushijima; aone and the 'wall keepers' that dwelled in the perimeters of the city; boastful terushima who'd brought confetti poppers to the occasion. at midnight exactly, each crew threw down a smoke bomb and disappeared into the mist, whether to run and find high ground or nab easy points while everyone was disoriented.

"take the first-years and hide out at the top of the paper mill. we'll come get you once we've gathered a good amount of points," daichi instructed you the night prior, before kuroo arrived to give you information (or lack thereof) about sakusa's vial.

you assent wordlessly, carefully filling a thin cotton bag with a cup of thick black paint. the paint inside the bags would serve as a point per color. if your bag was sliced, the enemy's dagger would be stained that color. the number of colors on your blade at the end of the games would determine point values, and bonus points were awarded for the team who was the most elusive.

"what are kuroo and bokuto's plans?"

"no idea. we can't officially work with them, remember?"

"right. formal alliances are prohibited, but they'll never know we crossed each others' paths if we don't fight."

"exactly. just focus on getting the new guys out of the way, and then we'll take turns babysitting them." it was an unspoken tradition that the newbies of each crew were the first to be eliminated because they were the easiest points; they didn't have extensive knowledge of the city, and they were more likely to make mistakes in the excited atmosphere of the competition.

with kageyama, hinata, and yamaguchi following you out of the smoke, your instructions were to stash them somewhere safe before going out to hunt the veterans. the four of you silently climb the outside ladders of the abandoned paper mill and creep through an open window, locking it behind you with a loud CLICK!

"why are we up here, again?" hinata's whisper is barely hidden by the sound of the floorboards creaking beneath your boots.

"we need high ground," you reply patiently, ushering them into a moonlit corner with a window overlooking the streets below.

"but we don't have sniping weapons," the shortest newbie muses. "what's the point of being up so high?"

"from here, we're not looking to attack; we're looking to gather information. look there." you nod out the window toward the sidewalk just across the street, where you barely make out the shadows of two figures swiping at each other. "the dagger games are named for the assassin's primary weapon before firearms. they are the most primal way of killing, and we honor those before us by establishing hierarchy based on knife-fights alone." you watch the glint of the daggers in the lamplight, and briefly catch the paint color in the bags at their waists.

red and teal. a cat and a castle.

"do the foxes ever play the games?" yamaguchi's eyes stay on the fighters below, who keep swinging in a stalemate.

"they usually win," you inform him and his eyes widen. "kita and his right-hand twins have been the highest point earners for the past three games."

"aren't the games held bi-annually? a fall and a spring games?" kageyama asks and you nod in confirmation. "so they've won twice for each year?"

"yeah," you chuckle. "their whole crew are monsters." there's movement in the alleyway next to the two fighters, a figure slipping in the darkness to position behind the castle. during the brief pause for both to catch their breath, the intruder lunges with two quick stabs to the castle's paint bags. two shades of teal coat their dagger, double points for getting both bags. then, the figure disappears back into the alleyway.

"woah!"

"that was terrifyingly quick."

"at least that's one castle out of the games," kageyama smiles evilly. "oikawa and his stupid kingdom will fall."

"yeah, and you're not allowed to be part of it." a melodic, familiar voice echoes through the dusty space and the three boys jump, hinata yelping in surprise. you smile to yourself, knowing full and well that he'd been there for the past three minutes.

"any luck with early points?"

"a few of the party pack," sugawara replies as he steps into the moonlight. he holds up his dagger triumphantly, stained yellow and flecked with pieces of confetti. "they definitely weren't hard to find, by any means."

"did you take out all of them?"

"i tried, only got a few of the newbies." you pat his shoulder sympathetically and he shrugs.

"why would suga need to take out all of them?"

"points are based on the number of team colors, not necessarily number of members," you recall from memories of your first dagger games where you thought it was pointless to take out an entire team. "if you already got one member, it's best to finish off the others so no other team can get their dagger stained that color."

"but that's for your next games," sugawara reminds them. "for now, say bye and tell them 'happy hunting.'"

the boys nod in understanding, bid you 'happy hunting,' and you exchange roles with sugawara before leaping into the night to find your own marks.

part 03.