Patreon and Adult Content - Straightening Things Out

I've made a post about this on my blog but I figured I should share it here. This is a little late, but anyway:

Recently Patreon implemented a few changes to their community guidelines. This seemed to at first signal they were coming down harder on adult content, and a few pages had been locked down for 'review.'

I have access to the Patreon community forums so I have a direct line to talk with staff, and they explained what's going on. To get it out of the way early: there is nothing to fear.

• Adult content: Prior to the change, adult content was very vaguely defined. Now it is much more clearly defined, and is confirmed permissible. Patreon has given me this explicit statement  “Porn, which we define as real people engaged in sexual acts, has never been ok on Patreon”--so things like art, animation, and games are in the clear. (This is also why cam shows for cosplayers/models are now a banned reward, however--private cam sessions count as a sexual service.) Prior to, adult content was vaguely mentioned and, despite assurances from staff that it was okay, it always left me uneasy as it wasn't in writing (just a vague 'oh yeah artistic nudity' statement). I personally feel much more reassured now.
• Fringe content: The guidelines now more strongly state that they do take a stance against content that promotes fringe content like child exploitation, bestiality, etc. This has already been the case in the ToS, it's just now included in the community guidelines for additional reference.
• Page presentation: The changes do also mean that it's more important that your public-facing parts of your page are appropriate. One crippling mistake a lot of pages make is they don't mark their adult posts as 'patron only' like the guidelines require, or they use adult imagery in their banner or page elements. Pages have always needed to be designed so, while there may be adult stuff in the posts themselves, if a kid were to find the page somehow it wouldn't be a huge issue. This has been the case long before these guideline changes. A few pages have been suspended temporarily for these reasons--which actually isn't a bad thing, as my next point goes over:
• Review: Pages going down for review is a new workaround for both staff and creators. They are reinstated as soon as they make modifications to their page to comply with the guidelines. Prior to this, the only option was for a page to be deleted. This new approach was implemented with the goal of assisting creators, not punishing them, as a way to keep pages from being closed down. (One page for instance only had to remove a link to his adult game from his page, while another had porn in their banner that they had to remove. Both pages have been reinstated, and neither of them had to change the content of their games at all.)
• Overall, nothing in terms of what is allowed has changed. Patreon is taking a harder stance on content that was already banned, but there are now clear definitions / go-aheads for adult creators as well as a protocol to typically allow them leeway if they do run into issues.
• Staff was very insistent with me that they understand how important Patreon is as a source of income for people. They’ve also released a blog post going over the changes. If you want to read it, you can check it here.

If you see anyone panicking over the recent changes, or even assuming the worst, share this information with them.