What the article didn't seem to get is that there's a difference between people getting away with sites with funding for Porn, and what is Patreon's mission and how Jack Conte tries to use Manifest Observable Behavior (MOB) to govern Patreon. Like any system, it has it's flaws, and there are things on Patreon that essentially are porn, but hiding behind a NSFW (not safe for work) tag, and claiming they're not porn, but R-rated material. However, if MOB is to work the first thing one has to do is read up on Patreon's Community Guidelines, and if you do see Patreon pages that are not following these guidelines, make it known to Patreon, and even show them their guidelines, such as these for Nudity and Pornography:
"Patreon is not for pornography, but some of the world’s most beautiful and historically significant art often depicts nudity and sexual expression. Because of that, we allow nudity and suggestive imagery, as long as it is marked NSFW. Think of the policy as allowing 'R Rated' movies... but not porn. In keeping with our strong commitment to safety, we have zero tolerance for content that sexualizes children in any way. The glorification of rape and sexual violence is also not ok, Patreon reserves the right to review and remove accounts that may violate this guideline.
This includes images (illustrated, animated, and otherwise) that glorify rape or sexual violence, accompanied by titles/captions/descriptions.
Depictions of rape or sexual violence within the context of a personal/historical narrative or satire are subject to review."
Patreon can't do much about what they have yet to observe. Being a person that has had my own art groups on Flickr, I've had to deal with this. At first, it seems pretty easy. Make rules, or guidelines that help give an idea what is and is not allowed in the groups. And yet, there have been times I've had to ban people because they couldn't follow the simplest of rules, and continue to try and post pictures that have nothing to do with the theme of the group. For instance, I have one group to post pictures that focus on Nekos in Second Life, and have make it clear what Neko is, and that non-Neko related pictures are not allowed. Yet, I've had to ban people from the group for constantly posting (or later, submitting, when I made it submission only) fashion blog pics that had nothing to with the focus of the group. Another major thing was inverted crosses and pentagrams due to them being disrespectful to religion and often tied to Satanism, which, as a Christian, I do not and will not support. There were some favorite artists that had great art, but the moment they went down that dark road, I had to ban them from any and all groups I have on Flickr, as well as block simply to avoid drama.With Patreon, its a much larger platform than my art groups, and, as such, this ability to ban and block is that much more difficult, even just looking at the size and scale of Patreon. For me to individually look at hundreds, or even an accumulation of nearly 1000 pictures that are submitted to my Flickr groups is a daunting task, of which I'm currently backlogged on. Patreon uses a safety team, which makes sense for why Jack Conte wouldn't know all the answers on every single individual or group that starts a Patreon page and why their page might be taken down, or not be able to start one up in the first place. Also, for what is on Patreon that is porn dressing itself up as R-rated, NSFW content, if you see it, flag it and let Patreon review it. Jack Compt himself says to send the examples so Patreon can look into it.
However, with Lauren Southern, he does have the manifested observable behavior and discussed it on his own YouTube account here:
It's pretty clear and observable in the video clips that were shown in this detailed response that Lauren Southern was audibly telling the driver of the boat to block another boat. While I may believe that what Southern is trying to do is a good and noble cause, it was still crossing the lines from reporting on the issue to becoming an activist for the issue. I Southern wants to become an activist for this particular issue, that's fine. But, in crossing the line from observing to actively being involved, it can lead to consequences - some good and some bad. One of those unfortunate consequences is losing a Patreon page. While I sympathize with Lauren Southern, I can also see Jack Conte's point on this. The nuances of policies can be difficult, and, while it's easy to armchair quarterback and criticize the whole process of a business in trying to follow its mission, it's still important to know what that mission is. I can agree with the general message and guidelines, and so will continue on with Patreon for a while longer.
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