Clapcast 05: Pistachio Armor

Hey everyone! Here's another Clapcast comin in for you, hot and ready! There's claps! There's jokes! There's bits! And they're all here, for you, our supporters!! 

While I have everyone here, let me say three things really quick: 

1. We still haven't added audio cues to clip changing in the Clapcast, but I made the pauses a little longer and a little more consistent in length so that should help! I know it seems like such a simple thing, but Jack and I have a lot on our plates and finding the appropriate thing is a little tough! So they're going to stay without them for a little while.

2. You might be thinking that this Clapcast is a little late, and it is! I (Ali, hello) mentioned this on twitter but in case you missed it: I had to travel out of town unexpectedly this past week which threw an already hectic release schedule and bad month even more out of whack. We shouldn't have to skip any weeks with Twilight Mirage (though if we do, it'll be this week) and shouldn't be skipping any of the Patreon releases this month, but output will be a little more inconsistent than it's been. If any of this changes, news typically gets posted to our Twitter and reposted to our Facebook so be sure to follow us there!

3. There's a big elephant in the room here which is: Patreon itself. You may have heard that Patreon is updating its fee structure and you may have also heard that the updates are really bad. This is especially relevant to you, those $1 supporters reading this who we specifically wanted to encourage and reward with these very Clapcasts! 

We aren't happy with the changes, so we've been determining what we can do to influence Patreon's decisions in the future. That said, Patreon's failure to solicit and consider feedback from creators is a major factor in the problems with the recently announced changes, so it's hard to know how successful those attempts might be. Still, Patreon is filled with some incredible creators, and so long as we're here, we'd like to push this platform to be as good as possible.

We've also heard from many of you that want to continue supporting us but are eager to leave Patreon behind, or who have needed to decrease your funding level because of the additional fees. Please know that we hold no ill-will for anyone who has needed to decrease their pledges for any reason. Also know that due to these changes, we've begun looking into other crowdfunding platforms and to consider our options. 

We're eager to give you a solution quickly so that we can focus our energy on making a great show for you. Unfortunately, Patreon is currently the best option for the sort of thing we do, so we don't have an easy solution today. We need something feature-heavy and established to help us organize and host the amount of content we put on here, to easily fulfill physical rewards, and to have organized access to our supporter's information to help with any issues with fulfillment. Finding that anywhere else is going to be hard and it sucks to feel stuck. 

I don't say this just to complain but to let everyone who's frustrated with the changes that we are too.   

When Friends at the Table started three years ago, we were scrounging together cash to afford USB microphones and watching YouTube tutorials to learn how to use free recording software. We know what it is like to build an audience slowly, without much institutional support, and using your personal income to supplement your passion projects. That's why we know how important it is that Patreon adopt policies that encourage young, unknown creators to find audiences here.

We are so, so, so grateful for everyone who's continued to support us through this. We do this show because we love to tell stories, to make you laugh and think, and to offer something you can count on even in tough times. Thank you so much for helping us to do that.

A transcription is available for this episode here.

A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!