My fellow creators: PLEASE make an announcement about this! I've prepared a simple template; you can copy-paste this into a journal very easily! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MSy1XwCLBFySsrMaZ-ZJVpibRoIwGaMZqk7JRLsKae4/edit?usp=sharing
Recently, Mastercard, as well as Visa, introduced new policies, restricting them from being used as payment processors for NSFW/adult content. Many websites are reacting by blanket-banning adult content and deleting tons of it, including itch.io, for example.
This is a serious problem. This harms sex workers and adult content creators everywhere, especially those who make a living off of adult content. I am one of these people. I depend on my revenue from Patreon and from my commissions to put food on my table and pay my rent. If payment processors, of all things, are going to be able to decide whether or not I get to live off of this, I am seriously going to have to reconsider this job.
If you have ever enjoyed my content, or the content of any other adult content creator, please sign these petitions, and any other petitions you see on this subject. This is my livelihood. Signing this position will take you two minutes, but it'll mean the world to me.
If you live in the US: https://action.aclu.org/petition/mastercard-sex-work-work-end-your-unjust-policy
For everyone: https://www.change.org/p/tell-mastercard-visa-activist-groups-stop-controlling-w...
This is also a fight against corporate entities censoring the media we consume and deciding what we're allowed to read and create. If that sounds like a bad thing to you, please sign the petition. And then share it around, please! We need people talking about this desperately.
Signing a petition is a good first step, but if you really want to help, there's more you can do! This Reddit post includes the contact information for a number of decision-makers involved in this issue. Sending a few emails can help make a big difference as well, and if you're willing to write physical letters and make phone calls, you could be the voice that tips the scales in our favor. https://www.reddit.com/r/itchio/comments/1m83s71/things_you_can_do_to_counteract...
The only thing from this Reddit post I take issue with is that they encourage the use of AI. Please don't do this. Your words will be much more effective if they come from you, rather than a robot.
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>"Disgusted by Itchio"
Misplaced anger. Their only reprehensible action in this was not telling people first, acting second.
>Petitions.
The more people implore others to sign a worthless, laughably useless petition, the fewer people will actually be convinced to do anything that will actually matter. You're not helping. You're just muddying an already sullied pond.
> Misplaced Anger
Although I do think Itch isn't the main aggressor here, I do still think their actions were really horrible. It's threatening to many people's incomes and livelihoods, the action of delisting these games is a step too far, taken too quickly, with - as you said - no warning. Though, I do understand that my title targets my anger to the wrong place, regardless, and Itch themselves could be seen as a victim in this case as well.
> Petitions
I disagree with the idea that petitions are useless in this case; I believe showing public distress and dissent for the actions taken by Visa and Mastercard in this scenario is useful to helping show lawmakers what the people want. In this case, as I understand it, these actions were spurred on by the voices of an activist group. Showing the numbers of people who disagree with said group, and who disagree with these actions in general, is powerful. Further, higher numbers of signatures on these petitions can help news outlets and other groups, who are on our side, use these numbers to show more people where the majority lies in this case, if that makes sense. For example, the ACLU petition is nearly at 130,000 signatures. I'm sure you can imagine how this number will be useful for people writing articles about this, for example.
That being said, I do agree signing a petition is not the best thing to do in this scenario. Contacting lawmakers and representatives is a much better way to make action happen. I have edited my post to include some more advice for further action you can take to help fight this issue. I still wouldn't say the petitions are useless, but I do understand and agree that I should make it clear there is more that can be done to help.
Thanks for your comment; this post was quite hastily made, and I'm happy I could improve it to help further the fight against corporate censorship.
Judging from your comment history, you create nothing and just run around harassing creators, so your opinion on the subject could not matter less.
Sit down. The grown-ups are trying to save your “same size vore” you posted about being fond of.