1. Can you explain Patreon in super-simple English?
Patreon is a subscription basis, and we chose the "per-post" method. Ie, we put a "paid post" once every 5 months on Patreon, and it's at that time you are charged. If we don't post for a given month, there's no charge. If we have more than enough money, we'll skip a month, etc.
2a. Does AniDB accept anything other than Patreon?
If you wish to consider a PayPal donation, you will need to individually speak with us on IRC to see if anything is feasible. We are not considering any other platforms at this time.
2b. But what about Subscribestar, ko-fi, or other platforms?
Patreon is the only major platform that allows us to charge per-creation rather than per-month.
Subscription services like Subscribestar: We would accumulate more money faster than we can responsibly spend as subscriptions cannot be controlled. We would collect money much faster than we can spend it and build an unnecessary surplus; that is not fair to everyone that is donating to us and trusting us to responsibly handle the donated money.
Voluntary contribution services like Ko-fi: We would have a non-stable stream of donations, as these platforms (such as Ko-fi) are dependent on having a lot of people, donating a lot of money all the time and very frequently, and remembering to do so. The rent on the web hosting and server costs is pretty high each month (see our Donations page for details), and without a dependable and controllable income stream, it would be too much risk for AniDB to accept.
Subscription services like Subscribestar: We would accumulate more money faster than we can responsibly spend as subscriptions cannot be controlled. We would collect money much faster than we can spend it and build an unnecessary surplus; that is not fair to everyone that is donating to us and trusting us to responsibly handle the donated money.
Voluntary contribution services like Ko-fi: We would have a non-stable stream of donations, as these platforms (such as Ko-fi) are dependent on having a lot of people, donating a lot of money all the time and very frequently, and remembering to do so. The rent on the web hosting and server costs is pretty high each month (see our Donations page for details), and without a dependable and controllable income stream, it would be too much risk for AniDB to accept.
2c. But what about Patreon's recent censorship activities? I don't agree with that, and AniDB may also get censored too.
Patreon is the least burdensome way to easily fundraise for us. It's easy on the user (link a credit card or PayPal then you can forget about it) and easy for AniDB (we click "charge Patrons" and it's done, no need to run Wikipedia-style fundraising campaigns). Patreon is simple to use for users, and has the lowest administrative burden for AniDB. When I say administrative burden, this also includes tax and legal considerations that we need to handle, especially since we are run by essentially random people on the internet, and we need to raise money from so many individual users from all over the world.
While the potential of Patreon applying censorship is not desirable, there is simply no other platform that offers AniDB as much control and flexibility as Patreon does to charge per-creation, while also having the lowest tax, legal, and administrative burden. It would not be practical to use any other platform as no other platform offers what Patreon offers.
On the topic of AniDB itself being censored, aside from posting our banner contest winners, AniDB doesn't actually post any content on Patreon itself, so there is nothing for them to censor.
While the potential of Patreon applying censorship is not desirable, there is simply no other platform that offers AniDB as much control and flexibility as Patreon does to charge per-creation, while also having the lowest tax, legal, and administrative burden. It would not be practical to use any other platform as no other platform offers what Patreon offers.
On the topic of AniDB itself being censored, aside from posting our banner contest winners, AniDB doesn't actually post any content on Patreon itself, so there is nothing for them to censor.
3a. What happens if we exceed the per-post goal of at least our recurring hosting fees as per the estimate on our Donations page?
If each post is worth more than one month, then it means we can do 2 things:
1. Build a rainy-day / reserve fund of $1,000 USD.
2. Post less often once the fund is built. At the current levels of funding, we only expect to post 2 or 3 times a year.
1. Build a rainy-day / reserve fund of $1,000 USD.
2. Post less often once the fund is built. At the current levels of funding, we only expect to post 2 or 3 times a year.
3b. So if AniDB exceeds its goal per post, what happens? Does my contribution still add value? Will it still help?
1. Our current cost per month can be found on the Donations page. If 1 post gives us 3 months' worth of funding, then we simply will not post for 3 months, so people are really only paying once every 4 months. If we used the default Patreon model of per-month automatic charges, we would be collecting far too much money than needed.
2. The goal is an ongoing one; the more people sign up, the less frequent we need to post for money. If we get to $1,500 for example, we would only post approximately once every 6 months, meaning everyone pays less.
So yes, it will continue to help if you sign up, regardless of how high the goal goes. It is an ongoing expense to rent a server. In theory, if enough people signed up so that 1 post generates $2,400, then we would only need to post once a year, meaning everyone only pays their pledge ($5 or whatever you decide) once a year, which is much better than us posting, for example, 6 times a year and everyone paying 6 times each year.
2. The goal is an ongoing one; the more people sign up, the less frequent we need to post for money. If we get to $1,500 for example, we would only post approximately once every 6 months, meaning everyone pays less.
So yes, it will continue to help if you sign up, regardless of how high the goal goes. It is an ongoing expense to rent a server. In theory, if enough people signed up so that 1 post generates $2,400, then we would only need to post once a year, meaning everyone only pays their pledge ($5 or whatever you decide) once a year, which is much better than us posting, for example, 6 times a year and everyone paying 6 times each year.
4. How do I get an AniDB Supporter Badge on my profile?
Refer to this post: https://anidb.net/post444741
With much fanfare, we can finally announce that we have created an AniDB badge on your userpage for our Patreon supporters!
Caption: Supported AniDB through the Patreon campaign
Unfortunately, we are not able to automate adding the badge to your profile page, due to GDPR considerations potentially creating more overhead than we can handle.
NOTE: You will only be awarded a badge after you have been charged at least once.
As such, if you would like the badge on your profile page:
When we receive your message, we will add the badge to your account. Please note that since this needs to be done manually, it may take us a few days to get through everyone's requests.
**Note: If your account has not been charged before (ie you're a new Patreon subscriber), we won't add the badge until you have been charged at least once. Please re-send the request after the next time we make a paid post.
Please feel free to comment below if any questions!
Link to this post on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/21913719/
CDB and the Staff
DATE: 2018-10-07
[Patreon] Patreon Supporter Badge on AniDB
CDB-Man wrote:
Patreon Supporter Badge on AniDB
With much fanfare, we can finally announce that we have created an AniDB badge on your userpage for our Patreon supporters!
Caption: Supported AniDB through the Patreon campaign
Unfortunately, we are not able to automate adding the badge to your profile page, due to GDPR considerations potentially creating more overhead than we can handle.
NOTE: You will only be awarded a badge after you have been charged at least once.
As such, if you would like the badge on your profile page:
- If you have not already done so, sign up to support AniDB on Patreon.
- We only award Patreon badges after you have been charged at least once.** If you have never been charged before, wait until we make our next Donation post so that your account is charged, before making the request.
- Visit your userpage: https://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=userpage
- Obtain your userID, which is displayed at the top of the page, next to your name. For example, on CDB's page, it says "My UserPage - CDB-Man (up560966)" at the top, where "560966" is my userID.
- Go to the Patreon website, and log in to your Patreon account.
- Hit the Messaging icon at the top-right of the page to go to your inbox.
- Start a new message, and type "AniDB" to search for us.
- Send us a message that includes the username and userID to which you want the badge applied; for example: "Hi there! Please add the Patreon badge to my AniDB userpage. My username is CDB-Man and my userID is 560966."
When we receive your message, we will add the badge to your account. Please note that since this needs to be done manually, it may take us a few days to get through everyone's requests.
**Note: If your account has not been charged before (ie you're a new Patreon subscriber), we won't add the badge until you have been charged at least once. Please re-send the request after the next time we make a paid post.
Please feel free to comment below if any questions!
Link to this post on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/21913719/
CDB and the Staff
5. What does AniDB do differently than MAL? How do AniDB's privacy policies compare to MAL?
Refer to this post: https://anidb.net/post445091
Cross-posting from the Introductions subforum, we have a former MAL user that's happily moved to AniDB. His post actually captures many of the key differences between us and MAL, so I thought it would be good to share.
Hello. I already had an account for quite some time, but I finally decided to move here and to never go back. I'm unable to keep going with MAL after I realized the "let's take every single penny out of you" approach. This forum post may be used as future reference to anyone wondering why switch to AniDB. Here goes a quick comparison:
Their privacy policy is not very direct and it leaves open the possibility that they may be selling personal information to 3rd parties. Even if they don't sell, they certainly share that information as it is stated in their Policy.
They have worked towards implementing their own built-in manga store, instead of working on building a working platform. They also keep promoting other questionable companies like crunchyroll and TOM, which also have very bad privacy practices.
MAL allows many 3rd parties to set cookies and track every single move you do, in order to make targeted ads or sell this information to other companies.
yep, after trying to profit from every move you make on their website, MAL will then ask for your money if you want to fully utilize their services and customize your profile to the full potential. In addition, you have no way to know where that money is going (probably towards promoting partnerships with other bad companies).
The Privacy Policy explicitly states that your data shall never turn into an asset to be sold.
AniDB will not try to throw in your face a bunch of crappy products from third parties. Ads are non existant. Their only concern is delivering a working DB.
when you connect to AniDB you are not connecting simultaneously to another 20 domains you didn't know:
You can utilize the website to it's full potential as soon as you register. The users donate to keep the service running. AniDB opens their wallet so that everyone sees what's going on and where the money is going.
You are free to make changes to the layout of the profile to your heart's content.
A feature I liked from MAL is that they also have Manga and LN available, unfortunately it's something AniDB doesn't have. But that's the only thing MAL is doing better than AniDB, and just for that feature you have to abandon your data privacy and pay to get the full experience - Not worth it!
Now part of this community. Thank you for being the best Anime Database around
Gikkul.
CDB-Man wrote:
What does AniDB do differently than MAL? How do AniDB's privacy policies compare to MAL?
Cross-posting from the Introductions subforum, we have a former MAL user that's happily moved to AniDB. His post actually captures many of the key differences between us and MAL, so I thought it would be good to share.
Moving to AniDB - Tired of other website's bad conduct -- by gikkul
gikkul wrote:
Hello. I already had an account for quite some time, but I finally decided to move here and to never go back. I'm unable to keep going with MAL after I realized the "let's take every single penny out of you" approach. This forum post may be used as future reference to anyone wondering why switch to AniDB. Here goes a quick comparison:
MAL
1) Sells your data
Their privacy policy is not very direct and it leaves open the possibility that they may be selling personal information to 3rd parties. Even if they don't sell, they certainly share that information as it is stated in their Policy.
2) Is always trying to sell you some crappy product
They have worked towards implementing their own built-in manga store, instead of working on building a working platform. They also keep promoting other questionable companies like crunchyroll and TOM, which also have very bad privacy practices.
3) Everything you do will be tracked
MAL allows many 3rd parties to set cookies and track every single move you do, in order to make targeted ads or sell this information to other companies.
4) It has the Audacity to ask for premium membership after all of the above
yep, after trying to profit from every move you make on their website, MAL will then ask for your money if you want to fully utilize their services and customize your profile to the full potential. In addition, you have no way to know where that money is going (probably towards promoting partnerships with other bad companies).
AniDB
1) Will NEVER share your personal data
The Privacy Policy explicitly states that your data shall never turn into an asset to be sold.
2) It is not-for-profit
AniDB will not try to throw in your face a bunch of crappy products from third parties. Ads are non existant. Their only concern is delivering a working DB.
3) Does not have any built-in trackers
when you connect to AniDB you are not connecting simultaneously to another 20 domains you didn't know:
4) You donate if you want to help
You can utilize the website to it's full potential as soon as you register. The users donate to keep the service running. AniDB opens their wallet so that everyone sees what's going on and where the money is going.
BONUS - Customization Everywhere
You are free to make changes to the layout of the profile to your heart's content.
Final Note
A feature I liked from MAL is that they also have Manga and LN available, unfortunately it's something AniDB doesn't have. But that's the only thing MAL is doing better than AniDB, and just for that feature you have to abandon your data privacy and pay to get the full experience - Not worth it!
Now part of this community. Thank you for being the best Anime Database around
Gikkul.
post #1 by CDB-Man on 28.01.2018 20:29
Introduction
Again, the Staff at AniDB would like to thank everyone for their support in the first post last January 2018. I know it's been a bit silent during all of January 2018, but there's good reason for that; we have now successfully migrated the main services to our new home on Hetzner's servers!
I am happy to announce that the Patreon page is now live:
AniDB Patreon homepage: >> https://www.patreon.com/AniDB/overview <<
Direct link to Patreon checkout page:
Please use the link above to share our Patreon page. Our goal is to raise at least enough each month to pay our recurring hosting fees as per the estimate on our Donations page; we currently anticipate to post no more than 2 or 3 times a year, based on current Patreon support levels. More details on the mechanics are found below.
Our plan is to always hold a $1,000 USD reserve / rainy-day fund, in case anything goes wrong.
From AniDB's side, the accounting will be tracked on a new Donations page, found near the bottom of the main menu.
In particular, we want to give a shout-out to komarex for giving AniDB our first donation. Komarex was generous enough to give AniDB a seed donation amount to pay the initial setup costs on the first server, allowing the Staff to plan the technical aspects of the transition without having to worry about funds. Thank you komarex!
If you donate to AniDB, you can get a badge on your profile page; see FAQ #4 for details!
This post on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/16659396
Thank you,
AniDB Staff
The below is an excerpt from our Accounting page.
Donating
At this time, AniDB will only be accepting Patreon donations. There are several reasons for this, including, but not limited to: cost, administration, taxation. If you wish to consider a PayPal donation, you will need to individually speak with us on IRC to see if anything is feasible. If you cannot donate to AniDB at this time, you can still help us out by Contributing to AniDB (see below).
What is Patreon?
Patreon is a crowdfunding platform. It allows "Patrons" (the people donating) to pledge support towards a subscription-based funding model for "Creators" (the people receiving the donations) that they support. The Patron subscribes to a Creator, and specifies the maximum per month that they are willing to pledge to that creator each month. The Patron cannot be charged by that creator more than the maximum specified by the Patron.
When you subscribe and become a Patron to our Patreon page, please be sure to both choose your reward tier, AND set the amount you wish to donate to AniDB for each post. After you confirm the $ value per post, check off the optional checkbox to specify the maximum number of times per month that you will pledge to AniDB. In general, AniDB will post at most once per month to collect funding.
Details: How do I set a monthly max to my pledge?
AniDB will be using Per-Creation Model of funding. Patrons subscribe to the Creator, and specify the amount per post they want to pledge + the maximum number of times they want to be charged per month at the specified amount per post (for example, 1 times per month). When the Creator publishes a "paid creation post" to their Patreon project, all subscribed users are charged, for the amount that they have specified they want to pledge for each post by the Creator. If the Creator posts more than once a month, you will be charged for all of those posts, unless you have set a maximum # of charged posts when you subscribed and your maximum is exceeded, or the Patron cancels their subscription. More details here: Patreon: How do I set a monthly max to my pledge?
How Else Can I Contribute?
You can also help in AniDB's success by doing any of the following: