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Patreon donation site's user data published online after hack
Patreon, the crowdfunding platform for artists, has been hacked recently, and almost 15 gigabytes of data stolen from the site is now available online. Security researcher Troy Hunt of have I been pwned? told Ars Technica that he found 2.3 million email addresses (including his own) in the data dump, along with password and donation records, private messages and even the website's source code. Note that some screenshots of the data dump that surfaced online indicate that part of the data stolen was generated as recently as September 24th.
Now there's one fewer way to support your favorite indie artists
Whether you're crafting YouTube videos, blogging for yourself or making another form of content for the web, earning a living off of your creative output can be tough. That's where services like Patreon and Subbable come in. Both are fairly similar subscription tools (fans agree to give a certain amount whenever an artist releases a new piece of content), so it makes sense that the former would acquire the smaller latter. The move brings Subbable creators Hank Green and John Green, along with two dozen others, to Patreon according to TechCrunch. The reasoning is fairly straightforward: Subbable's payment platform, Amazon Flexible Payments System, is shutting down come June. The brothers Green feared that their service would lose a ton of subscribers in the process of overhauling the cash-handling platform, and Patreon's Jack Conte saw that as an opportunity to merge the two companies.
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen is now taking donations through Patreon
Brad McQuaid has apparently started a new Patreon to fund Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen, the third crowdfunding source that the game has employed. Let's recap: The game was first announced by the former Vanguard lead with a Kickstarter campaign that failed to meet its target goal. That was followed by an on-site fundraising campaign that abruptly ended when McQuaid admitted (against a backdrop of worrisome rumors) that there was no more money to pay the studio employees, at which point he told fans that development was starting again with an all-volunteer team. So what do you get for backing the game's development? Videos. The current funding goals are $1,000 increments for monthly development videos through January; they'll show the volunteer team's progress on the game. Those who donate large amounts of money will also be granted exclusive screenshots of the in-development version of the game (so far those we've seen include placeholder assets) and a spot in the credits of a development video. The page claims that any and all funds raised will fund the team as well as defray hardware and server costs.
What you need to know about Kickstarter, Indiegogo and the concept of crowdfunding
You have what you think is a cool idea, but you aren't sure if you can convince investors about the sales potential of, say, a tiny monitor strapped to your face, or a watch that is also a computer. Besides, who are "investors" and how do you summon them from their secret offshore lairs to pass judgment on your notional widget? Wouldn't it be easier if you could just put your idea on the internet, letting regular people who might be on your wavelength pledge directly to help get it done? That's what crowdfunding is about. Services like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Patreon and others gather funds directly from buyers, to make potentially crazy ideas a reality. Crazy ideas like a salad... made with potatoes. But it's not all free money and rampant innovation.
