Changes to Posting - Addressing Patreon Terms of Service (Patreon)

Patreon has been more strict regarding their terms of service as of late. With an update to 18+ TOS, their tolerance for cheeks being out on display without monetary exchange has gotten much lower, and I've seen more and more reports of member and user bans, often without clear a reason. I'll be changing the way I handle new uploads moving forward, and experimenting with what I can and cannot do to keep my posts visible to my free members.

For the moment, I will be prioritizing the page's safety and good standing, as I update HotRamenAudios.com to effectively host certain aspects of Patreon so that I can treat this site more like a news feed, ensuring as much security in continuing to do what I do as possible.

Existing Posts

I have paywalled all my audio previews on Patreon. Blurbs including relevant information about the audio (direct links, summaries, and cast/artist information) will be visible without a paid membership.

Thumbnails

Unfortunately, thumbnails will need to be paywalled moving forward. For consistency, and regardless of content, an audio's full-image version will be hidden behind a paywall below all free-to-view audio information. Thumbnails hosted on Patreon will also be censored to feature fewer explicit elements, as TOS states that "fetish material involving bodily fluids" are Not Permitted. The terms are vague as to whether it just means content depicting real-life scenarios, as animated and illustrated works are explicitly Permitted, but they only acknowledged it in the context of nudity.

• Animated or illustrated works (e.g. cartoons, comic strips, graphic novels) that depict nudity in sexual contexts as long as they comply with Patreon’s other guidelines.

I'll be working with CrimsonSFM to implement ways to host full thumbnails on my website, hopefully both for viewership and for download. Ideally, this will also centralize the listening and image viewing experience, especially for mobile users.

I'd prefer not to change thumbnails, but you may see fewer holes, and more easily censored elements such as bowl-cams, for the time being. Farts seem to be of no concern thankfully.

Audio Previews

Audio preview thumbnails have been cropped to only show a small part of the image for the same reasons I mentioned above. Sadly, the preview length will also be limited on the Patreon page, as Patreon only allows a fraction of an audio to be previewed. Full previews will be available for free on HotRamenAudios.com as always.

Free Member-only Posts

I will be making exclusive posts for Free Members to alert them to new audios when they release. These posts will feature the same basic information as paywalled posts, but without an audio preview or full artwork. At most, it will feature the cropped audio thumbnail as a teaser.

Moving Forward

Once all relevant changes are made to HotRamenAudios.com, I hope to strip as many "risky" factors out of the actual posts I make to Patreon as possible. But for the time being, I'll be playing things safer. I played as fast and as loose as I could up to now, but the net is changing its stance on adult-orientated content, even for niches like ours. I won't be biting the hand that feeds me here. Patreon has provided me a way to make a living, ignoble as it might seem, and I actually quite like this platform. There's just no arguing with terms of service, especially when automated systems are inconsistent. I hope you can understand these changes!