The Online Photographer

Or you're like me, living in a bubble of ignorance. Never aware of the threatened changes, hence no need to uncancel what was never canceled.

Pledged. (Though I should admit the amount is rather small for now.)
Thanks for your excellent work producing high-quality writing. I've been a reader for the past 6 years, at least.

Regards,
Aashish

On the subject of Patreon fees I found that, if I sent you some money every month I was getting hit for big fees on exchanging GBP to USD. Once a year would be ok, but every month put me off. Is there any way around this?

Kickstarter have recently started trialing their own equivalent of Patreon, called Drip. I think it was invitation only to begin with, but it will probably roll out more generally soon enough. No idea what their fees are though..

https://d.rip/

To celebrate this good news and common sense decision by Patreon I've decided to increase my pledge to TOP by 20%. Admittedly this is a modest increase, but this has been a reminder to me how much I appreciate TOP, which I read and enjoy daily. Thank you Mike for all your efforts and for your excellent web site, and daily discourse. I hope you continue for years to come.

Very glad to hear this about Patreon-though still unhappy about how they tried to "package" it. I encourage everyone to consider supporting TOP this way. It is really about as painless as it gets-even for us retirees, who are likely making up an increasing part of the readership-but who on the other hand have the time to enjoy it the most. Keep up the good-and very important-work!

When I got Patreon's email, I almost cancelled.

I did not like the email one bit. It looked like a money grab to me. Maybe they need the money to keep the platform going, I don't know. And if they do, that's fine. But the email felt disingenuous. I said it was all being done to benefit the creators, but it wasn't quite clear how. It just seemed to me the money would flow into their pockets, not the creators.

So I felt wronged somehow. I was ready to pull the monthly donation. Then I calmed down. It's a big hike in proportion to the donation, but not a disaster in real terms. And (this was the key thing) it's Mike and TOP, for pity's sake. Mike. TOP. There are many reasons why you and the blog are important to me. In fact, I should pay more.

Reading about the significance of TOP for you makes me pleased I didn't cancel. It's terrible to think that Patreon's communication is costing the very people it was created to support.

I hope you do get to 15 years. I hope you get to 30.

Mike, your comments on health insurance being your third biggest expense had me thinking. (I live in Ontario.) As we age we all need health care, it can't be something you insure against like a house fire.

Case in point; last year my wife went in for a routine mammogram, and was called back the next day. She had cancer. This was the first time I had seen the health establishment doing its thing, and I was impressed: Our GP told us he would be our case manager and recommended a surgeon who was the best for this type of work. We interviewed the surgeon while the results of various tests (biopsies etc.) were still coming in and then scheduled surgery. We seemed to be meeting doctors every day, but everyone was on time and friendly. Eventually she had the surgery. The elapsed time from the initial mammogram to coming home from the operation was nine days.

When she had healed, we met with radiation and chemo oncologists. The radiation oncologist scheduled a set of thirty treatments to happen every week day (we got to chose the time of day) for about six weeks. The chemo oncologist said that chemo was not strictly required but some people in my wife's circumstances would opt for it in any case. We could choose, but it would start with more lab tests (ironically to be done in California and costing about $3000), so she wanted us to decide before she incurred the costs – although none of it would be payed by us. After consultation with the GP my wife decided to take a pass on the chemo. However the oncologist did prescribe a long course of inhibitor drugs. Up to this point our total cost of treatment had been zero. We did partly pay for the drugs, but being heavily subsidized that was only $6 for a three months supply. I am happy to say the prognosis is excellent.

What bothers me now is that I have American family (and living in the US) and I worry about them in the long term. I can't imagine going through the stress of last year, and additionally worrying about the financial hit, or worse, whether we could afford it at all. And I read this morning that the US has decided to increase the defence budget to $700 billion/year, although it already has half of the world's aircraft carriers (a weapon last used effectively in WW2), and is ramping up the national debt at an ever increasing rate. I'm not being smug here, I seriously worry about the place, what it's priorities are, and where it's going.

Finally. Keep TOP going for another ten years at least! Make it subscription if you have to, I'll still be a reader.

How do we donate to TOP if we cannot make it a recurring thing?

Thanks for the link and the explaination of the need.
I like that I can curtail the charge anytime.
So I signed up.
Curious how many other did just now?

Reading TOP daily your post about Patreon made me feel guilty for my paltry contribution to such an important and vital part of my photo experience on the www and I wanted to increase the amount.
I don't mind being called stupid but I could not find out how to increase my amount.
Could you outline the process in a post?
Don't be shy about asking for money! I think we, as in your readers, all want you to continue this adventure.

I'm paying less than I used to spend on monthly photo magazines for more interesting content. Happy to contribute.

May I offer a practical suggestion... Figure out how much extra income you need in order to thrive; and read one or two books on the Law Of Attraction. Whatever else you decide to do, do this as well, preferably first.