I think Keine has the best hat. It's still darn silly though.

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miko
Hey there! THP’s birthday is in a couple of days and there's plenty of cause to celebrate it. It's a good excuse to look back some and an even better one to look ahead a bit. Forgive me for being a little circumspect but I hope you’ll take the time to read this post and properly give me feedback since it’s essential to the future of the site and worth being just a little bit verbose about it.

First, with people joining and leaving our community all the time, I can’t assume that everyone is familiar with the administrative history of the site. I feel it’s worth going into a few details about how the site works and how we’ve gotten by this far. A few of the following paragraphs should help you understand the basics. That said, feel free to skip ahead to the red sentence in this post if you know all this already.

A little over nine years ago, the first real choose-your-own-adventure story featuring touhous suddenly appeared on 4chan. A few weeks later, for a variety of reasons, it found a new home on a little-used imageboard with the domain touhouproject.com. From there, others where inspired to create their own stories and soon every board on the site had at least one active story on it. This went on for some time until the person who ran the site could not be bothered to host it anymore. And the site died.

The THP community had grown quite a bit by then, and there was a lot of discussion as to what would happen next. It became clear that the only way that these stories would be able to continue was if someone else hosted the site elsewhere. This was because the owner of the old site was not interested in selling or giving away the touhouproject.com domain. As a result we had to settle for the touhou-project.com domain which, we reckoned, was close enough. In the meanwhile, quite some time passed with the original site looking completely dead despite having an active IRC community. All in all, it was a painful transition that saw the loss of many users but it was also one that for the first time allowed people from the touhou community to be in control of the site’s fate.

I was involved with the site’s revival from the very beginning. I took a look at the various imageboard software floating around at the time and even ran a few brief experiments to see how practical it was to set up and administer each one. When we had a more or less informed consensus among those most eager to revive the site, we moved on ahead with bringing it back to life. HY paid for the domain and server, Kapow helped salvage a lot of our old content without having database access and I deployed software on the server and generally administered the technical side of things. To this day, despite various levels of actual day-to-day involvement, all three of us have the honor of having the title of administrator.

A few months later, the site was still recovering from the sudden death it suffered. There were a few technical issues to sort out as well and we had a few resource problems that made the site unresponsive at times. These were taken care of bit by bit and, with HY taking on a less prominent role in the community, I eventually took on the responsibility of paying for THP’s hosting. This meant a move to another service and a new IP. Eventually, with time, I was also transferred the touhou-project.com domain and have been the owner ever since. It’s been seven years since I’ve been solely responsible for the upkeep of both server and domain.

In the time I have administered THP, quite a lot has happened. Not just with stories coming and going but with a whole host of things that demanded attention. I’ve had to deal with datacenter issues, making sure software was working alright and dealing with security. Occasionally, I delved into the site’s code and added or modified features as was needed. I wasn’t the only one who contributed in that sense but I was ultimately the guy you would have to yell at in order to find out why the site was down! All this in my free time, as a hobby, because I’ve always believed that the stories and the community here is worth the effort.

With the past summed up, it’s time to get to the reason why I’ve made this post in the first place!



All of this time and money I’ve poured in has been without any financial reward. As you may have noticed: THP has never had ads, and likely never will. I hate ‘em and I’m willing to bet that most users use some sort of adblocker anyhow. I haven’t minded paying for the site and, for the most part, it hasn’t really inconvenienced my wallet that much. However, a slew of developments in my personal life generally in the last few years, and last few months in particular, have made this unlimited and perpetual funding a more questionable prospect. I can’t outright say that I won’t be able to pay for the site by x or y month but if I didn’t have to worry about for budgeting the site and related expenses over the long term, it would be a noticeable relief.

This is why I’m thinking of instituting a way that users can send in donations. Achieving independence from any one person having to pay bills is probably a good thing for long-term sustainability, anyhow. The site isn’t very expensive to maintain if it’s crowdfunded. Taking into consideration server and registrar fees we would roughly need about $30 USD per month. This figure also factors in the cut taken by payment processors and middlemen to create a comfortable cushion for any excess fees that I might have to deal with.

I’ve done a bit of research into this and probably the thing that most people would be comfortable with is Patreon. It’s transparent with how much money is being raised and allows easily adjustable recurring donations. I also considered having a Paypal button on the site itself which might be a bit more direct and instant. I’d like to hear feedback on what the community would prefer. If there’s a realistic interest in donating by bitcoin, for example, it’s something I’m open to. Or any other service I may not have heard of, since there’s a lot of them and it’s hard to know which one is the best.

Exceeding fundraising targets monthly can also provide more flexibility to us as a community. It allows for a reserve that can be used for site-related things, too. Like if, for example, one month we’re short of the target or an unexpected expense comes along (like a fee for switching registrars or something). Beyond that, extra cash can be used to improve the site on a technical level and its web presence. Think hiring dedicated coders for an improvement or overhaul of site code. That’s stuff that is worth discussing somewhere down the line if this all pans out but I’m sharing because it influenced my decision to reach out to the community.

I originally wanted to get a few reforms out before bringing this whole topic up including finishing the mystery box but lack of time and presence of mind has pushed a lot of my would-be code enhancements way down my list of priorities in life. So I hope you’ll forgive me for being so useless and give me your feedback regardless!

Knowing whether or not people would donate in the first place is important too! So let me know how you feel about this. If this doesn’t prove feasible, I’ll try to think up another strategy to keep things rolling. Please share any and all relevant ideas, comments, and suggestions. I figured that it’s best to be open about this and give it a few days of discussion instead of just unilaterally moving ahead.

PS. I specifically chose post this a few days before April 1st (the site’s birthday of sorts and unfortunate coincidence for sober messaging) so that you wouldn’t think this was any sort of joke. My bringing up the topic of donations has been a while coming and something I’ve kept putting off for various reasons.

PPS. Using both my trip and administrator’s capcode in order to ensure that there’s no ambiguity that I (Teruyo as a pen name aka Zer00 on IRC) actually own and administer the site.
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I always wondered how that side of things is going. Well, I don't have a patreon account if it's needed, but the transparency does sound nice. Could put in stretch goals, too. Such as x amount of money above 30 to hire that person you spoke of, and keeping track of what the total reserve is.
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Neat. I personally have fuckall income due to being a full time uni student, but thanks for the update.
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It must be almost two years since I last checked up on this site, funny to see this post on the same day I decide to see what's going on. Despite the ever constant flux of stories coming and going, it looks like the community is still here. To those who are still here and writing, I respect your dedication – you the best. Anyway...

I think a Patreon would be the easiest way to keep a monthly sum of money coming in, but I also understand the appeal of having a quick one-time donate button through Paypal (or some other service that isn't run by Satan Shinki). I imagine there are a lot of people that would donate a little, but don't want to deal with Patreon's overhead if you're just trying to give a few dollars here and there.

Personally, I wouldn't mind donating a dollar or two a month. My only concern with this kind of stuff is stretch goals/targets or whatever else. 'Promises' and 'donations' together can be bad if things don't go as expected.
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I'd contribute to a Patreon. Paying the server has been on my 'if I won the lottery' list for some time. I haven't won the lottery, of course, but it'd still be nice to have an opportunity to help.
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I can't donate, but if you won't put a giant "DONATE TO MY PATREON" button on the main page or shut off the whole site if we don't scrounge enough money (unless the situation's extra dire), there's nothing wrong with that.

Of course, if you're doing this just because patreon came around you're a giant homosexual and should be bullied off the site, but I really hope not.
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Oh thank god.

Don't take me wrong, I'm not happy that we'll be needing donations, but I was seriously expecting an announcement of the site closure or something along those lines.

Anyway, I may not be able to write myself out of a paper bag or visit IRC more than once per year, but I still love this site. I've been here for seven years-heck, I voted in the first 'You wake up in gensoyko' threads back in /jp/ (although it was some cringy shit like, 'Mape the raids' or something) In fact, I think I even got banned for directing people to touhouproject.com

My only regret is immediately forgetting about the site for 2 years. I never enjoyed the all-nighters writers used to pull at that time and I missed, partially, the great Kira debacle (God I never saw the 'Twuck' meme the same way ever again) terrible retcons, writers expecting serious responses from anon, continues, promises of new runs that never came true, derailings, railroadings, trainwrecks, multi-route drifting and many other great train-related-customs that were lost to time and to greater standards of quality.

So, yeah, I wasn't able to convince Fell that Sanae could be redemed nor to convince YAF to make that Futo or Youmu stories. I wasn't able to stop the Flight of the lost soul retcon disaster or to stop people from making our bard kill Yukari and break Ran's and Chen's hearts. I wasn't able to make THP focus hard enough on Kana before the wind of Hiatus destroyed her route forever.

I won't be able to see Doll's quest climatic fight against Cirno, nor how Alice's vault actually looks like. I will never know if Sanae gets over the fact that a Tengu took the appareance of her dead friend and tried to kill her nor if Garen's daughter will actually be named San (Considering her mother is called 'Satori' then I suspect she will be named something in the lines of 'half breed') I won't know if Batman does bang the rich Kochiya girl she just saved from mobsters nor if Meiling's relationship with a brave applepicker works out. I will never see the Shoes thievery carry on either.

But, on the other hand, I WAS able to make the SDM fairies sing Killer Queen to cheer up Flandre after she went into depression for accidentally blowing a human's head. I was able to deduce and convince THP that Odin was behind it all and that Gensokyo needn't be destroyed. I also wrote the write in that turned three unrelated goddesses under the same, successful pantheon.

I was there when spiderbeer went out from Marisa's storage closet into the realm of legends. I was there when Remilia decided she preferred to butcher Richter Belmont's speech instead of butchering the guy that suddenly appeared in her bedroom. I was there when Rumia's and Flandre's fans got cucked by Patchouli of all people. I was there when Youki allied himself with a vampire hunter and when we banged Mima in the middle of a party only to start a stable relationship with Yuyuko the day after. I was there when people cried when Bunny shot bunny and when guy shot maid.

And I WILL be there when our Necromancer saves the girl and gets the nun. When Renko sexes the flower and when Tenko's little crush manages to stay a week without losing consciousness. I will be there when Spider Shirou realizes that sex is actually a thing, when Yukari gets her shit pushed in by the emperor's finest, when Sanae changes the future by realizing that Youkai coexistence is real, when crime will finally pay and when a poor bastard managed to skip town with his sister in one hand and an evil hermit in the other. When Ringo's crush is reciprocated, when female awoo gets a ring in her finger and when male awoo gets a shrine in his honor. I will be there when Meiling's grandson finally leaves this life with a smile on his face and, yes, I will be there when THP needs me. Which, incidentally, seems to be now.

You can count on my donation, Teruyo. Thanks for everything you have done so far.
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Id be absolutely willing to donate whether through Paypal or Patreon, as long as there is some form of transparency with the amount of money being donated. Patreon is preferred because you can actively see how much money is being donated per month, but if you can do something similar with paypal then I feel that either will work.
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>>14712

Well said, anon. Bless this site and its crazy bullshit! May it live forever so we can still be arguing over 2hus while are brains are in jars.
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I'd also be more than happy to donate. If I'm reading it right, I could cancel my gym membership (which I was going to do anyway for the summer) and fund the site's minimum costs myself.

As for how, I don't really care. I feel like I've been conditioned to retch at Patreon, but objectively it might be the best option.
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>>14712
You're the anon that I inspire to be. Please keep doing what you do.

I'll also be happy to donate to the cause. Now, mind you, I'm a poor ass student and I don't have much in terms of savings, but damn me if I don't help out the site that brought me into writing in the first place.
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I'd be happy to donate! It's the least I can do for this site I've been enjoying for nearly a decade now.
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>>14712

You're the voter we all deserve. Like, seriously. I have no idea what half of the things you talked about even are, and yet they still sound awesome as all get out!

>When Renko sexes the flower

Well, that'd be the most awkward sex scene imaginable. Even by my standards.

And that is precisely why I would write it with the utmost glee.
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>>14709
>My only concern with this kind of stuff is stretch goals/targets or whatever else. 'Promises' and 'donations' together can be bad if things don't go as expected.
Honestly, only thing I can say is that I won't promise anything that I can't guarantee will happen. I wouldn't set a stretch goal unless I had a clear budget or plan for it, which would likely be shared openly. Baby steps, though. It's the kind of thing that I'd only consider doing after we have an established, workable thing going on.

>>14711
Actually, there probably would be a sign or button on the front page. And without funds the site would die. Though I'd do everything in my power to prevent it, that's still the bottom line. I know you're advising against sensationalism - I get that. But I think that the years as an administrator/owner should assuage those kinds of fears to begin with.

>>14712
>I was seriously expecting an announcement of the site closure or something along those lines.
Heh, it's tricky to think of a subject line that doesn't sound too alarmist or too innocuous. Either gets people ignoring you.

>>14715
>I feel like I've been conditioned to retch at Patreon
I kinda do, too. But there's a million and one little crowdfunding things and it's clear which one would be the best fit for something like that. Since THP deals with adult material as well, that knocks out plenty of other platforms.

Patreon kinda sucks from what I've read of their terms and rates. It has fees for everything and makes it difficult to really benefit from lots of small donations. A significant chunk of that $30 figure takes into account all the nickel and diming. But it does have a few advantages, including transparency, a lot of different payment methods for patrons and protection from chargebacks (which can fuck up someone dealing with small amounts of money like I would be). There are hoops I have to jump through to actually get the money but the seem to be not as potentially bad as some of the alternatives.

Paypal is something I could have in conjunction with a Patreon account though I have no real love for that platform either for reasons that aren't worth getting on a soapbox for - at lesat not here and not now. A big drawback is dealing with the internal mechanics to receive payments. Can involve dealing with a fair bit of nonsense. But it's doable. I guess it would really depend on how things go with any other payment scheme.

But yeah, I'd like to do this right and make it as hassle free as possible for everyone involved. I'm okay with dealing with annoyances and overhead if it keeps the ball rolling. It's good to know what people are thinking either way, so keep the opinions coming!

>>14716
>>14708
You made me feel old. I was a full time student when I started taking responsibility for THP all those years ago.
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Thanks for the update on the site. As a person who isn't in the financial situation to donate I can't do much now, but once I get things sorted out I'll definitely throw something towards the site.

I've had a lot of fun on THP, and I don't want that to end anytime in the foreseeable future.
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I work a full time job and basically never spend anything past rent, groceries and gas. $30/month is well within what I can donate. Set up a way to pay and I'll cover it.
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It's been.. 4 or 5 years since I first found this site and while I've never been the most active voter and I've only ever written in one of the writing contests a few years ago, some of my favorite stories ever are located in the archives of this very site.

I'm not exactly rolling in cash, so I can't promise anything, but I'd like to donate at least a little bit to keep my memories alive.
Keep us updated!
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Feel like a poor sonuva because this reminds me of how money-less I am to not even be able to donate a dollar. And if the site does go down for some reason, I'll have nowhere to post about 2hus. Just another reminder for me to do better at work. And not lazy at writing here.
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I'm not hurting for money in any real sense, so I can donate small amounts continuously. While it's not great, Patreon is probably about the best solution given the adult content issue, and the relative transparency is a plus. I hope this all gets sorted out quickly so we can enjoy more frilly hat stories for the future.
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I'd rather make one-time donations whenever I have money to burn than sign up to some sleazy system of recurring payments, but I have no particular love for Paypal either.

Regardless, I'm no broke-ass miko, and there's no way THP is going under on my watch.
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All I have to say is that I'm glad to be part of this community, although I'm a fairly new user (I think I started coming here around two years ago). I was thinking of a way to contribute to the site since a while, and this is a perfect way to do it.

I loved lots of the stories here, and I really miss the fact of not being there when they were written. They made laugh,and cry (and yes, cringe sometimes). The quantity of fantasy showed here is amazing, all you writers should be proud of that, whatever their skill level is. Just the fact of go and trying to write is really nice, and most of you guys improved like crazy while doing so. Exploring all kind of scenarios, building up personalities, giving stories a proper plot are all hard to do - I am trying going at it, maybe I'll write something one day. Who knows.
Back on topic, I'll probably use PayPal too, so thanks for thinking of that other than Patreon.

tl;dr I enjoy being here and the advert thing is more than welcome.

>>14712
I am almost sad that even if I've read a lot of the archives I don't understand half of the references in your post. I might end up throwing myself into reading more often then.

That Mistery Box thing is making me rage a bit inside. Will we see it sometime soon? Preatty please?
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>>14728
>Advert thing
Ah dammit, I mean donations of course. Damn sleep deprivation.
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I'd like to request a 'preview post' feature. It would be useful for formatting posts between the transfer from [notepad of your choice] to the website.
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>>14735
Use this one, myself: https://infinite-story.com/tools/bbcode.php
The font is a little different than THP's (italics lean to the other side, for instance), but it gives you enough of an idea, and lets you CTRL+F for open brackets.
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I've gone ahead and launched the Patreon page, you can go ahead and donate at: https://www.patreon.com/touhou

Feel free to give feedback on the page itself. This is my first foray into the world of crowdfunding so let me know if my description or whatever needs work!

All the same, thank you in advance for the positive reception. I've spent many months wrestling with whether or not this is a good idea. It'll be next month, at earliest, before I see any Patreon money.

>>14728
>>14727
As far as I know, Patreon allows you to pay with Paypal. You can cancel your recurring payment at any time, so there's nothing wrong with setting up a one-off payment. I'd thank you for anything you can contribute. If you're still not comfortable with Patreon, let me know after this post and I'll see about setting up that account.
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>>14728
>That Mistery Box thing is making me rage a bit inside
It's something that requires a lot of other elements in place before it's working properly. That's why it still hasn't been implemented. I'd love to do it properly but I'm busy dealing with stupid real life stuff more often than not. "Soon" though - it's high on the list of site enhancements. Maybe a week or two of constant work.
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>>14745
Nope, sorry, I just can't stomach it. Patreon's not for me.
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>>14728
> I am almost sad that even if I've read a lot of the archives I don't understand half of the references in your post. I might end up throwing myself into reading more often then.

Not >>14712, but lemme see what I can point you at. Can't quite put my finger on some of the others, and I may have mis-remembered one or two, but these should keep you busy for a while:

> I wasn't able to convince Fell that Sanae could be redemed
The Game by Fell. Read with care.

> I wasn't able to stop the Flight of the lost soul retcon disaster
Flight of the Lost Soul by EZMode.

> I won't be able to see Doll's quest climatic fight against Cirno
Doll's Quest by Kahi.

> nor if GarenGarion's daughter will actually be named San
Tenshi is in This Story and sequels by YAF. The best purple around.

> I won't know if Batman does bang the rich Kochiya girl she just saved from mobsters
Superstitious and Cowardly Lot by Inquisitor. The first story I read on THP.

> nor if Meiling's relationship with a brave applepicker works out.
Fairy on Scarlet Lake by Thirty Terawatt Satellite Cannon.

> I WAS able to make the SDM fairies sing Killer Queen to cheer up Flandre
A Fairy's Tale by Princess Tepes. A masterpiece. Read it.

> I also wrote the write in that turned three unrelated goddesses under the same, successful pantheon.
Tengu of (Mis)Fortune by Keymaster. Recommend reading Being Meiling and Pleasant Meadows first. My favourite story of all time.

> I was there when Remilia decided she preferred to butcher Richter Belmont's speech instead of butchering the guy that suddenly appeared in her bedroom.
SDM:LA, AKA Expectation of Sanguine Disorder by Hungry Youkai. A THP classic.

> and when we banged Mima in the middle of a party only to start a stable relationship with Yuyuko the day after.
Hakugyokuro LA by Patchwork. Another classic.

> when our Necromancer saves the girl and gets the nun
Animating Gensokyo by !ZAL5aj48Pg.

> When Renko sexes the flower
Eastern Tale by DETERMINATION.

> when Spider Shirou realizes that sex is actually a thing
Kurodani Yamame Has No Gods by Anonymous.

> when Yukari gets her shit pushed in by the emperor's finest
FUCK GENSOKYO by ANGRY MASKED MARINE.

> when Sanae changes the future by realizing that Youkai coexistence is real
Otherwise by Fell.

> when crime will finally pay
Probably referring to City of Harsh Fantasies by Raftclans.

> when a poor bastard managed to skip town with his sister in one hand and an evil hermit in the other
No Such Thing As Ghosts by DETERMINATION.

> when Ringo's crush is reciprocated
Shoot for the Moon by NRFB.

> when female awoo gets a ring in her finger
An Excuse for an Excuse for Aya, AKA An Excuse for A-Who? by Moral.

> when Meiling's grandson finally leaves this life with a smile on his face
Another Incursion by Rifle.
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This thread just reminded me of all the Patreon's I've subscribed to, but never check anymore. I should probably go cancel those.

Also, two of the references in >>14712 are probably from Gensokyo High and A Wizard is You. I say that because you can't make a nostalgia post without including those two. Prolly the bits about Rumia/Flande fans and Bunny shooting bunny. Maybe. Though, City Quest also had a prominent character named Bunny, so it might be that.

Also also, I don't mind donating to this site or whatever.
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So, what's the 2$ Patreon reward entail?
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To anyone who wants a direct paypal button for donations:

This isn't likely to happen.

After researching all the particulars (finding all details about services and payments is not very straightfoward btw) I've come to the conclusion that direct Paypal donations are too risky. To make a long story short: Paypal offers little to no protection for either buyers or sellers for 'intangible' goods or services. The main sticking point is that I am wholly liable financially for chargebacks if they were to occur. So say that someone donated $5 and then told their credit card company to get their money back - Paypal would pass on the cost of that processing directly to me. They'd charge me $20 for that 'privilege' so I'd be out $25 in this example if someone were scummy enough to do that. This isn't just an academic concern, you can find plenty of stories about streamers and others who have a donation button that have taken this kind of hit because of Paypal.

I could deal with opening a business account, bullshit fees and all the other hoops Paypal makes you jump through but not this, sorry.

As mentioned previously, however, you can opt to use Paypal as a payment method on Patreon. If you want to make a one-time donation, you can always cancel future pledges after the previous one is collected. It's not a perfect system but it's one that makes it less likely that random assholes will ruin it for everyone.

I'm still open to other platforms where I can take in contributions. The rough criteria needed is:

1) Accepts a variety of payment methods
2) Isn't US-only
3) Has protections/guarantees for both parties
4) Is okay with adult content
5) Isn't just a one time campaign

So if anyone has any suggestions of other platforms that they would actually use, let me know and I'll look into it. Honestly I don't think we'll do better than Patreon. That said, I haven't really looked at each and every one of its competitors because there's a lot of them and most of them cater only to a specific niche. So there could be something better out there.

Other than that, realistically speaking, there's only stuff like cryptocurrencies (bitcoin, litecoin, etc) which usually take out the middleman in the actual transaction. But there's still things like having to pay fees to services that convert coins to/from currencies. I'm open to this, too, but would have to read up on how it all works and only if you guys indicate demand for it since it's otherwise not worth it.

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>>14749
Would you care to say why you can't stomach it? Is there something I'm missing about the service? Should we not be using it?

>>14752
I'm not really sure what it will be specifically at this point. I was going to talk about the technical setup of the site initially. Down the line, I'll likely talk about what I'm working on/plans for site changes and a more detailed vision. This may include listening reaching out for feedback on priorities via polls if it's relevant (like, between two tasks that would either take me the same amount of time or would cost the same to contract out). Maybe have stats in there once in a while. Or talk about stories and the site culture with a bit of an administrator's perspective. There's a lot I can do with it and I mainly added it because Patreon claims that according to statistical analysis it incentivizes people to donate. I'm playing it by ear but I will try to make posts interesting and varied as a general "thank you" to anyone who donates. We'll figure together what's more interesting to see and what isn't. I'll get around that first post soon enough.
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I say you go full shill and give the excess donations to the contest winners.
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>>14754
That's the way to a very dark slippery slope. He should keep them. It's not like he can do much with that money anyway.
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By the by, is someone archiving the stories? I see that the archive hasn't been updated in a while and I fear that we may be losing a few threads in /th/ by now.
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>>14754
I'm not sure "shill" is the right word to use there. Either way, cash incentives on anonymous boards where anyone can vote(spam) sounds like a terrible idea. MAYBE patreon donors voting with the in-built polling I can put up there, but that's kinda shitty to do, since I'm not looking to build a shadowy cabal.

I'd much rather put any leftover money into paying for better stuff for the server or paying people to help code stuff. Excess money in general is to be used at my discretion to benefit the site. I may put stretch goals as it were in the future on the patreon page when I have something a little more concrete.

>>14756
Threads that are bumped off the board aren't immediately deleted iirc. I can't recall what the deal was with the semi-manual archiving that was put into place, since I don't really deal with that, but it's safe to say that things aren't likely to be lost.

At any rate, worst comes to worst, I have a local copy of the site in its entirety stretching from about the time I first started administering it on my computer. It's updated daily.
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YHe88
>I'm not looking to build a shadowy cabal.

But we already have an IRC so yeah!

>I have a local copy of the site in its entirety stretching from about the time I first started administering it on my computer.

Now I want to know the size of it. Uh, the site I mean.
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>>14750

> I was able to deduce and convince THP that Odin was behind it all and that Gensokyo needn't be destroyed.

I think that was that one with the frost giant in it?

> I was there when people cried when Bunny shot bunny and when guy shot maid.

The first is most likely Favors Owed, but I don't remember the author of that nor what the second one is.

> when Tenko's little crush manages to stay a week without losing consciousness

Do The Right Thing, which is more convoluted than most troll fics (or the fics that I write, myself)
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>>14753
> Would you care to say why you can't stomach it? Is there something I'm missing about the service? Should we not be using it?

No, just my paranoia talking. I don't let sites save my details, period. Big repositories of credit card information are much juicier targets for hackers then cracking random HTTPS sessions every time I re-enter them, or at least that's what I've been telling myself.

> This thread just reminded me of all the Patreon's I've subscribed to, but never check anymore. I should probably go cancel those.

Also this. I have a shit memory. I can't even remember when I last updated.
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>>14760

Sign up with fake details and use a 5$ prepaid visa card from 7-11.
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I've added a new goal on the Patreon though I don't have any specific plans yet for any excess money. I don't expect we'll make it that high but it's still something to strive for. With the way the payout system works it's also more advantageous to withdraw more money at once. It's always good to have a reserve even if we don't need to hire programmers ($8-10/hr) or buy ad spaces right away. If we ever needed to upgrade the server plan or move to another hosting company, for example, it'd be useful to have enough to cover one-time charges.

There's also a new tier which isn't that special but if there's people who go for it, I'll be writing every once in a while about a story on the site. Its historical context, impact as well as its execution and so forth. I'm not sure if $7 is too high or not for that but I thought it an appropriate nod to history. There's extra effort involved from me with the setting aside of time to reread and prepare something coherent and interesting so I think that also justifies the cost. Let me know if that feels right or not, still playing it by ear and seeing what works and what doesn't. I trust that time will help sort things out for the best.

Also, I've added a link on the bottom of every page for the Patreon, in colors I hope are eye-catching enough across all the different site styles. I don't want to beat users over the head with this but it's important that both existing and new users are reminded every once in a while to donate if they can.

>>14760
I share the paranoia to an extent. Though my concerns by and large tend to be more about the internet from a privacy standpoint. Which is why I've resisted ads and have the site working https-only. Trying not to digress too much, however, I think that Patreon is about as safe as you can get in our current world. From my understanding, no payment details are stored on their actual servers and it's all up to their payment processors. So if there's a breach, it'd be on Stripe or Paypal (the two options they have for payment processing). I'm not sure that makes it better for you to know that you're equally fucked anywhere on the internet where those two payment processing options are used but it is what it is.

Hope it does change your mind, though, or at least the minds of anyone else who may be hesitating. It's about damn time we took a more proactive role in improving the site and overhauling code. I haven't been able to invest money to make the site more modern or visible but I hope we can change that in the coming months.
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Welp, that's enough to fund the server twice over. Good job.
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>>14750
Thanks for the explanation wall. This helps my to-read list a lot. I still have to read Flight of the Lost Soul, Tenshi is in This Story, Superstitious and Cowardly Lot, Fairy on Scarlet Lake, Animating Gensokyo and An Excuse for an Excuse for Aya with the prequels. So yeah I have lotsa stuff to read. I've already read (or I'm reading) the other ones and I agree, Keymaster's stories are all amazing, along with many others like SDM:LA, Pathcy Quest, Scorn's story in /forest/ etc.

>>14753
Ah well ok. I'll go with Patreon then. Paypal is really full of bullshit for this though.
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>>14759
> I was there when people cried when Bunny shot bunny and when guy shot maid.

>The first is most likely Favors Owed, but I don't remember the author of that nor what the second one is.

As the author of both, yeah, that first one is definitely Favors Owed. The other one is Compensation Adequate. It was... my first real attempt at a story. Couple great moments in a literal sea of shit!

On a more thread-related note: I'm glad to have the opportunity to give back to the site that's given me so much, now that I have the means to do so.
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