[Administrative] Patreon Model Change to Charge Up Front

Hey everyone, just wanted to give a heads up: this campaign will change to the charge up front payment model on July 1.

This does not affect any pre-existing patrons (as of before July 1) and no action is required on your part.  This change is mainly being made to ensure fairness in voting in polls.  

As you may already be aware, the majority of Patreon campaigns had been operating on an uncommon model of collecting pledges at the end of the month rather than the moment you decide to pledge. This has historically allowed a loophole where people are able to pledge to a campaign, receive all rewards, unpledge before the month ends, essentially receiving all benefits of the rewards for free. 

Patreon has recently made the "charge up front" option available to everybody. Although I haven't been hugely impacted by the above problem as I use Patreon as more of an optional tip jar (thank you all again for being here!!),  a switch to charge up front will close out ambiguity in regards to voting in polls: up until now it would have been possible to vote, lower a pledge to below the voting tier/unpledge, and still have the vote count in the finalized poll. 

Using June as an example:

The current situation
- You can make a pledge any time from June 1 to June 30. You will be charged on July 1 to being a June patron.

The new situation
- Existing patrons: Nothing changes. Pledges continue to be collected on the 1st of each month. You will be charged on July 1 for being a patron in July. (Technically, this means patronage in June will be free!)

- New patrons: You can pledge any time within the month, e.g. June 15, and be charged on that day for being a patron for that month. On the first of the following month, e.g. July 1, you will return to being charged for the month after. 

For more detailed information (esp. in regards to changing pledge tiers in the middle of a month), see this official article from Patreon here.

I've had a long read at all the documentation and overall I think this will be a positive change to ensure poll fairness especially considering how often we get close results, but if you have any concerns, please feel free to let me know (before July 1!)

Have a great end of June,
Welonz