The Problem...
When posting new resources, it happens quite often that content is just lost in the flood of other content. As a creator I have no influence over that, it's really unpredictable. The number of likes/downloads often seems completely unrelated to quality of the content or effort that went into it. I think that's because people are just not seeing the new content. That can be quite disappointing. Now the funny things is, when updating an existing resource that has already a larger number of people watching it...those people all get a mail notification. And I see that immediately in the number of likes and downloads. For example a recent free LogicBricks update (v13) produced some 1-2K downloads in just the first 24hours, despite nothing actually using that plugin at that point. So, the problem is: How I can specifically notify those people interested in the stuff I do, that I posted something new?
The problem is soon to be aggravated as Patreon rolls out it's age verification process for adult-content creators. I have no problem with verifying my age....but I have a huge issue with them storing my biometric data, together with all the data on my government ID (name, date of birth, address, ....) at some third-party service company...who of course stores this at some forth-party cloud storage provider. That kind of data should be deleted instantly after the age was verified, but as I understand, they don't do that. It may actually be a legal requirement to store this stuff, so they can prove it later. But the potential for trouble if (when) this kind of info leaks is catastrophic. I likely will decide to switch my Patreon to non-adult, so I don't need to age-verify. That of course requires me to delete most/all of my old posts and I can't really post anything anymore or even link to the Hub. My content would be always "free" (and I'm fine with that), so no "Early-Access" anymore, which is actually good for the community, I think. Patreon would just be the tip-jar. But it would also mean that my paying Patreons won't get email notifications any more when there is some new content!
Posting on Discord, Twitter or Reddit doesn't do anything either by the way. Not enough people see that. The hub has actually more reach by now.
The Solution?
Now here on the Hub we have this function to "follow" someone. I seem to have actually a surprising number of followers, considering this function doesn't seem to actually do anything useful:
The only thing I could find that shows stuff of the people I follow seems to be the "Your news feed". But I doubt anyone is actively using that since that doesn't only shows new resources being posted, but also all forum posts, answers and even likes.
Now, wouldn't it be great if "following" someone would have the same effect as watching all their resources automatically? It's actually what I expected how it would work when the Hub was launched. So, I would immediately get a mail notification, if a resource is created or updated by that person I follow.
I think this is a way better way of dealing with the flood of resources. Lots of resources are good! But let me filter by the creators I'm interested in....and that will be different for everyone, so full control over that, for example by following (or not following) some creators will help a lot?
Alternatives
Or am I missing something obvious about how "followers" work here on the Hub?
// MacGruber
When posting new resources, it happens quite often that content is just lost in the flood of other content. As a creator I have no influence over that, it's really unpredictable. The number of likes/downloads often seems completely unrelated to quality of the content or effort that went into it. I think that's because people are just not seeing the new content. That can be quite disappointing. Now the funny things is, when updating an existing resource that has already a larger number of people watching it...those people all get a mail notification. And I see that immediately in the number of likes and downloads. For example a recent free LogicBricks update (v13) produced some 1-2K downloads in just the first 24hours, despite nothing actually using that plugin at that point. So, the problem is: How I can specifically notify those people interested in the stuff I do, that I posted something new?
The problem is soon to be aggravated as Patreon rolls out it's age verification process for adult-content creators. I have no problem with verifying my age....but I have a huge issue with them storing my biometric data, together with all the data on my government ID (name, date of birth, address, ....) at some third-party service company...who of course stores this at some forth-party cloud storage provider. That kind of data should be deleted instantly after the age was verified, but as I understand, they don't do that. It may actually be a legal requirement to store this stuff, so they can prove it later. But the potential for trouble if (when) this kind of info leaks is catastrophic. I likely will decide to switch my Patreon to non-adult, so I don't need to age-verify. That of course requires me to delete most/all of my old posts and I can't really post anything anymore or even link to the Hub. My content would be always "free" (and I'm fine with that), so no "Early-Access" anymore, which is actually good for the community, I think. Patreon would just be the tip-jar. But it would also mean that my paying Patreons won't get email notifications any more when there is some new content!
Posting on Discord, Twitter or Reddit doesn't do anything either by the way. Not enough people see that. The hub has actually more reach by now.
The Solution?
Now here on the Hub we have this function to "follow" someone. I seem to have actually a surprising number of followers, considering this function doesn't seem to actually do anything useful:
The only thing I could find that shows stuff of the people I follow seems to be the "Your news feed". But I doubt anyone is actively using that since that doesn't only shows new resources being posted, but also all forum posts, answers and even likes.
Now, wouldn't it be great if "following" someone would have the same effect as watching all their resources automatically? It's actually what I expected how it would work when the Hub was launched. So, I would immediately get a mail notification, if a resource is created or updated by that person I follow.
I think this is a way better way of dealing with the flood of resources. Lots of resources are good! But let me filter by the creators I'm interested in....and that will be different for everyone, so full control over that, for example by following (or not following) some creators will help a lot?
Alternatives
- How about a function to send messages to followers?
- Or even a full-on blog system that also sends notifications? (probably overkill...)
- How about a "filter by people I follow" for the resources feed?
Or am I missing something obvious about how "followers" work here on the Hub?
// MacGruber
