First, I want to thank everyone for the candid opinions, and I've read through them all.
Someone asked about our 'motivations', so let me be very clear. This is a business. The servers that are serving up the post you're reading right now cost $13k a month and while I wish that was my biggest expense, it's far from it. But, Patreon is not about supporting the boards, or the DIS. To produce the content we produce on YouTube/iTunes, I pay three full-time salaries with full benefits. That includes the vast majority of health insurance costs (employees contribute less than $100 a month towards a health insurance plan that we pay more than $1000 a month for per employee), not to mention all the other associated expenses that come with having employees. People seem to love our reviews, and they seem to love our willingness to be honest. I've stated frequently that we will not review anything that we're not paying a publicly available rate for. Every dining review has to be paid for. Every hotel review has to be paid for. Then there is the equipment - they need computers, cameras and other equipment to do the job. I do my best to put a premium on quality to the best capacity that I can and that costs money. In short, the podcast/video production is a cost center and its a cost center that has grown exponentially over the last 6 years - and well beyond what I projected when we moved into that realm.
I won't even go into the salaries and expenses that are part of running the rest of the site/
Dreams Unlimited. Your heads would explode. I'm just talking about the shows and the video content here.
I hear comparisons being made to other podcasts and what they do on Patreon. I don't know what their business reality is, I don't know what their costs are, but I do know what mine are. For years, I turned away advertising in all forms (save for Dreams) on any of the shows. In looking at the costs to produce the shows last year, a decision was made that we needed to be more aggressive in generating revenue. Even in doing so, I try to curate the sponsors to make sure they offer something I think will be of real value to the audience. I can tell you honestly, I routinely turn away lucrative offers either because I don't feel passionate about the product, or I feel it's not a good fit for my audience.
Patreon was set up as a way to help offset the increasing costs of running the show. Last year, the show and video content we created cost more than $150k to produce. Patreon doesn't cover that, and while I don't need the entire amount covered, I do have to offset those costs because this is a business. In all sincerity, I don't begrudge anyone at all who feels that $10 a month is too much, and I'm as grateful for those people (who watch the show, enjoy our content) as I am to those who are willing to pay for Patreon. I will continue to do my best to produce informative, honest, entertaining content that has always been, and will always be - free to watch for anyone willing to give us their time.
Pete