How can I turn off the advertisement to new patrons informing them that they can now direct message me?

Patreon Feedback
#1

As I understand it, the status quo is that all new patrons are presented a welcome page that includes a prominent notice informing them that they can now DM the creator. I don’t see any possible way to turn that off.

If that message is mandatorily-on, you are setting your creators up for failure. Any kind of guaranteed one-on-one interaction with fans cannot scale, and comes at a trade-off of time spent working for everyone.

I have a steadily increasing group of 600+ patrons, and I have been getting more and more behind on reading and responding to DMs I never said I would respond to. Rather, you implicitly said so, - on my behalf - without even telling me, let alone asking if I wanted to or even could offer it.

Please fix this, or tell me what setting I am missing. I can’t have Patreon creating problems for me.

5 Likes
#2

Hey @RealWorldPolice, thanks for reaching out. At this time, creators are not able to turn off the direct message feature. I apologize for the inconvenience but will pass your comments along to the team to consider for future updates.

You can always make a post informing your patrons that Patreon messaging is not the best place to get in touch with you, that you don’t keep up with messages there, ect. Or you can create a Discord server for an easier community space for you and your patrons to connect. :slight_smile:

#3

Hi reyna,

Thank you for your reply, but I think you are misunderstanding what the problem is. I don’t want to turn messaging off. I want Patreon to stop telling every new patron that they can now direct message with me. I never agreed to that, and I would never agree to that. It’s not scalable, and even if it was, the pledge amount that would guarantee I take time out of my schedule to DM with a specific person, without limit to the number of ‘subscribers’ to that reward, would have to be astronomical. You are essentially giving away my most valuable asset - my time. And you are doing it without even consulting me; without even telling me! I had to find out about that message from Patrons!

(Telling patrons that they can DM me obviously implies that I will DM them back. No one would tell someone that they can now have a conversation with themselves.)

My supporters are great and I enjoy messaging with them, but I have to have other priorities, like producing a show for a half-million people. That’s why they are fans to begin with. I don’t have time to respond to the steadily-increasing influx of customer messages Patreon created.

An unmanageable stream of messages would be fine if I had never told my supporters that they can DM me. (Oh, wait. I didn’t.) But because Patreon has stepped into my shoes and told them for me, now not-replying or very delayed replying comes across as me not delivering on something they are paying for. That is 100% Patreon’s fault.

I own my time. Patreon doesn’t. I am the only person who gets to decide what I am going to sell my patrons. Patreon making promises to my patrons without even asking me if I can or want to deliver on them is not fair to me and is not fair to my supporters. Why on earth would you do that? And much more importantly: will you stop?

Note: ”you” above = “Patreon.” I’m sure you’re a cool person.

6 Likes
#4

I too would like to turn that off. Patreon Messaging app is not the fastest, best, or easiest way for us to handle patron queries. we have an email address we point people to in reward tiers and in nearly every single patreon post we ever make.

it’s misleading to say that patrons can reach out to a creator via messages, implying privacy, when there is a creator team that may or may not use this feature. In essence, the product is promoting a perk that is not actually being offered by the creators, setting an expectation for the patron that is not on par with what the creator is actually offering.

6 Likes
#5

Sorry for misunderstanding, @RealWorldPolice. I hear your concerns though: Patreon invites your patrons to message you when that’s not something you want advertised on your behalf. I’ve noted your feedback and will definitely pass it along! So sorry for all the frustration this feature has caused but I appreciate you bringing it to my attention.

1 Like
#6

Hello!

I was just wondering if you could include the note that there are multiple people who have a problem with this feature?
I am only supported right now by a handful of friends, but the idea that Patreon sends any message, ever, offering something that they don’t tell me they are offering (from me?) is incredibly troubling.

The overall Patron experience is something that we creators don’t get to see (I still don’t know what it’s like to sign up for my own page), but to include things that offer things that =I= have to serve on? Eghhh.

3 Likes
#7

Thanks for chiming in @ArtemisCaine, your feedback is noted!

#8

Absolutely agree on this - It isn’t scalable and needs to be fully creator configurable

#9

Does Patreon intend to do anything about this? I am considering leaving because of it.

#10

Hey @RealWorldPolice - We’re working on improving the messaging system as we speak! We are slowly rolling out an updated messaging feature to make it easier for creators and patrons to control their messages and inboxes. You’ll hear more about this soon. :slight_smile: