How Patreon moderates content material | Patreon Weblog

For the reason that starting of the 12 months, the Belief and Security workforce has printed a number of articles about why and the way our workforce creates Neighborhood Pointers at Patreon. At this time, we’re sharing what occurs once we uncover {that a} creator is violating our Neighborhood Pointers.

With this publish, we’ll lay out how we reasonable content material to make sure Patreon is a heat and protected venue for a various vary of creators and their communities.

To begin, let’s speak person experiences, which is certainly one of a number of methods we uncover potential violations of our group pointers.

How our group helps hold Patreon protected

It is vital for us to reasonable the content material that’s posted on and funded by Patreon. That manner, Patreon can proceed to be a protected place for all creators and patrons.

Our content material moderation course of begins with the invention {that a} creator has violated Patreon’s pointers. We discover out about creator violations in numerous methods — we’ll get into these different methods in a future weblog publish, however for now, we’re going to deal with person experiences.

We rely strongly on person experiences to find content material on Patreon that violates our Neighborhood Pointers.

Every report our workforce receives is totally reviewed by a Belief and Security workforce member, together with all supporting proof supplied with the declare. This proof can embrace screenshots, hyperlinks, or movies with timestamps.

Creators on Patreon rely on us for his or her paycheck. This can be a huge accountability and one we take very critically. For that reason, all selections that impression creators’ paychecks are made personally and case-by-case. No determination that impacts a creator’s paycheck is automated — every case is at all times reviewed by a member of the Belief and Security workforce.

Should you see one thing you consider violates our Neighborhood Pointers, we encourage you to submit a person report for us to overview.

In our content material moderation course of, context issues

As soon as we obtain a person report about an alleged violation, the following step within the content material moderation course of is to investigate all of the proof supplied.

Our mantra that informs how we work and make selections is, context issues. We all know that any phrase, phrase, remark, picture, video — or any sort of content material actually — may be interpreted otherwise relying on whether or not we perceive the context behind it. For that motive, any determination we make is supported by a robust understanding of the context behind the content material or actions being evaluated.

To verify now we have a superb understanding of what’s being reported to us, we do an intensive investigation of not solely the proof supplied, but in addition the context across the content material and the creator in query.

Throughout this investigation, we have a look at the three issues: the particular piece of content material that was flagged/reported, the majority of the creator’s work, and the creator’s on-line presence on and off Patreon. As a result of creators increase funds on Patreon, we could also be held accountable by stakeholders corresponding to regulation enforcement, our companions, and others for what is completed with these funds, so it’s important for us to know what venture, marketing campaign, and content material every creator is funding on and thru Patreon.

Are creators ever faraway from Patreon for violating our pointers?

We’re dedicated to being a creator-first firm. In our efforts to make Patreon a protected place for everybody, our purpose is at all times to coach creators about our Neighborhood Pointers, to be supportive and type in our communications, and to assist creators keep on Patreon, so we will hold supporting their artwork.

In some very, very uncommon instances, if we discover {that a} venture is basically at odds with our Neighborhood Pointers, we’ll contemplate eradicating a creator’s web page from Patreon as a final resort.

To take care of these actually excessive instances, we’ve developed a course of that’s each handbook and thorough.

Throughout this course of, all proof is evaluated personally and punctiliously by members of the Belief and Security Staff, who convey the findings and determination in a complete report. If we determine to take away a creator from Patreon, or consider extra context is required earlier than making a call, we talk instantly with the creator about our determination or investigation.

The excellent news is that over 99% of these contacted by the Belief and Security workforce a few content material violation are creators we work with and assist fund. Our purpose is to assist them perceive and observe our pointers to allow them to run a profitable membership marketing campaign on Patreon.

Our dedication to communication and training on this course of

We wish creators to deal with creating. That’s their work, and we would like them to do as a lot of that as doable.

After we encounter a violation of our pointers, we work in the direction of bringing the creator’s web page in query again into compliance with our pointers within the best and quickest manner doable.Nonetheless, on the similar time, it’s essential for us to coach the creator that has been flagged about our pointers, to allow them to keep away from violating them sooner or later.

If we discover {that a} creator has violated our pointers, we alert the creator upon log-in by a banner on the prime of their web page. Additionally, we at all times attain out to the creator instantly through the e-mail registered to their Patreon web page. To make sure that you’re receiving essential communications from Patreon, please be certain the e-mail in your account is updated and that you simply examine your inbox repeatedly.

As soon as we contact a creator a few pointers violation, we encourage them to do three issues:

• Learn our Neighborhood Pointers.
• Determine the content material that must be addressed (extra on this beneath in Widespread Questions).
• Take the required steps to carry their web page again inside our pointers.

After a creator does this stuff and is able to file for one more overview, they will tell us by replying on to the e-mail despatched by Belief and Security. In the event that they acquired no e mail, they will proactively attain out to us at pointers@patreon.com.

If we want the creator to take extra actions, we’ll proceed to offer steering through e mail.There isn’t a outlined deadline as we perceive that this course of would possibly take a while. So long as communication is open between us and the creator, and we all know they’re actively engaged on their web page, we’re completely satisfied to maintain working with them.

Does Patreon ever briefly droop creator accounts?

Usually, we’ll work with creators to carry their pages again inside our pointers with out inflicting any disruption to the creator’s marketing campaign.

In some instances, nonetheless, we’d determine to put a short lived suspension on a creator’s marketing campaign till the Neighborhood Pointers violation has been resolved.

Listed here are a few causes a short lived suspension may occur:

• We consider a good portion of the creator’s content material is outdoors of our pointers.
• The creator is unresponsive to our earlier makes an attempt to handle a content material violation.

Whereas a web page is suspended, the content material posted on that web page is not going to be accessible to patrons.

If a marketing campaign is suspended throughout cost processing, patrons received’t be charged for that month’s cycle and we don’t rerun these funds, even after the suspension is lifted.

Throughout this suspension, the creator retains the power to handle their marketing campaign and content material. They will nonetheless create or delete posts, make modifications to their marketing campaign advantages, and message their patrons. That manner, creators are capable of make the suitable modifications to carry their web page again inside our Neighborhood Pointers.

You possibly can learn extra about suspensions right here.

Throughout this course of, why don’t you inform me precisely which content material I must take away?

Our workforce will get this query rather a lot. Whereas we at all times inform the creators we contact which guideline wants their consideration, we don’t determine each piece of content material that’s in violation of that guideline.We do it this manner for a superb motive. After we work with creators to carry their content material again inside our pointers, we don’t simply need them to “do what we inform them” and transfer on.

Throughout our content material moderation course of, it’s essential for the creator to take the time to learn our pointers. That manner, they’ll perceive why their content material was in violation, moderately than simply understanding that it wanted to be revised or taken down.

Patreon’s dedication to transparency

Transparency is essential for all corporations. We’re dedicated to being a pacesetter in our business, and providing clear and sincere perception about Belief and Questions of safety right here at Patreon. That features how we function, talk, and make troublesome selections. We hope that by educating our group about these robust selections, creators and patrons will higher perceive the selections we make, even once they aren’t standard.

When you’ve got questions or issues about our Neighborhood Pointers, we welcome you to write down to us at pointers@patreon.com.

Keep tuned for a second half to this weblog publish, which can go additional into this subject. And, if you wish to learn extra content material like this, take a look at the remainder of our Belief and Security weblog collection, the place you will discover extra details about the logic and thought processes behind the selections we make as an organization.