Poll About Mega Links
Hi everyone! I've debated long and hard about this, regarding the mega links and password scheme I have for my animations. It's come to my attention that more and more people are having issues accessing them, specifically those on mobile devices. After investigating and having a few users run some tests for me, it's apparent that it's some kind of compatibility problem with mega links and mobile devices (saying the password is wrong, taking you to a log-in screen instead, etc).
That being said, as much as I wish to stop piracy as much as possible so that you all are getting what you pay for, I don't want it to be difficult for you all to access the content you all pay for.
Just to get an idea of where everyone stands with it, I'm going to have a poll below. You can answer more than one selection, but please select the one(s) that most apply to you. This will help me further decide where to go further.
I appreciate you all for the patience, and I never intended for these issues to occur. If I do end up removing the password lock, I will still have to host the animations on mega due to the size of the files. But that's dependent on the course I take.
Anyway, thank you for reading, and please vote below so I know where we all stand. I will have this poll set to end on the last day of the month so that I can implement any changes in the following month. Thank you again, and please feel free to leave any feedback below!
Comments (17)
I understand not wanting piracy, but paying consumers continue to not get what they pay for
You have several options. 1) use Google Drive instead, it allows you to send Invites to Patreon members via Email or white list them. Anyone NOT on your email list will be blocked from opening the link. 2) Use a custom website with a Patreon embed. BEETLEBOMB for example, only post their work on a website for download, which in order to access you HAVE to be a Patreon subscriber and of a certain Tier. 3) Use an automated mailing system or manually mail content. Instead of posting your content, you can just keep an Excel sheet of everyone currently Subscribed. Then email a link to them that will allow a direct download. Note: A word of advice. You can never stop a thief, only slow them down. It doesn't matter how secure, how foolproof, how convoluted your security is... a thief or pirate will Always find a way. The gaming industry has been trying to solve this problem for almost 30 years now. It's not possible. You need to decide if fighting pirates is a higher priority than easy access to loyal members
I'm not currently subscribed but figured I'd chime in. The biggest Patreon scrapper site (to my knowledge anyways) Kemono died a few months ago. And I haven't really seen leaks and such of anyone else's content in many other places (by this i mean traditional places like Twitter or Rule34), and even when i do it's far and in-between. Given that, I'm going to assume that the death of Kemono has pretty much halted leaks for the most part. Even that being said, probably still good to protect your content in some way, though i do usually find it annoying to have to do a bunch of extra steps to get to things.
Kemono wasn't even in the top 5 pirate sites. There's many more. Most of the leaks happen from Members who willingly post the content on those websites. For example, someone that's a Subscriber of Honolulu will post all the content, then get donations to keep being subscribed. And some of the leaks happen from hacked accounts, or keyloggers. doesn't matter what method is used for protection, it will not stop content being stolen, it will only slow down the pirates - which is still good, but there's no permanent solution.
Honestly i prefer you protect your work, only other way would be to use a discord server
Have the passwords or links themselves in chats works well for a lot of creators imo of an extra layer without extra hassle.
I think protecting your content from piracy needs to come first
The current sollution definately has it's issues, and it creates extra work for you too, having to remember to update multiple links every time new videos come out. I would suggest a website setup as a potential alternative, such as the one Pretty Clicky recently set up, that just contains links to their Dropbox repositories. Something similar could be done with your Mega links, locking them behing a patreon login on the website. It's a sollution many other creators employ, though it may impose some additional cost. I especially like Poter Collus's sollution, which hosts their comics and videos directly on their website. But either way, if the password's easier for you, then do what works. The password is a minor annoyance at worst.
Im fine with it
I have yet to have an issue on mobile
Absolutely think it's best for you to protect your work and make sure folks are getting it on your terms. Have you thought about self hosting it on a site with patreon integration? I think folks should be fine with a mega + password, but just another option to consider!
I have seen more and more people going this route
I've personally not had any issues with mega. I'm primarily on mobile but i don't use the patreon or mega apps at all and just use the browser which may be why i haven't had problems.
Maybe instead of the password being on the welcome message it could be in a patreon group chat? Would help the mobile users out probably
I 2nd this comment above👍
Mega password situation does have issues but im all for protection of your content
Yeah what this guy said