Musing on an Indie Web Patreon

So, this article is dystopian but made me think about how to make it better.

I could see an Indie Web version of Patreon that allowed people to use their own sites to publish but provided both payment processing and a discoverability element – I’m thinking you get a feed of all the content you’ve subscribed to (RSS-like but more seamless feed?) where they can easily quote portions of content by other creators in a way that followers can see who they’re responding to. I see the feed being a mashup of Twitter, Instagram, and blogging (as you can post different content types on WordPress) so it’s a blend of images, short text posts, threads, and articles like Patreon currently supports. Maybe you can toggle between content types so you choose your own feed style, and easily turn on and off “shares” aka retweets, and hide replies if you want. Integrate conversation into Patreon – and being paid access you may find it easier to keep out the trolls. Copy kickstarter’s projects we love feature to highlight different creators in the feed every week (which you could also turn off). And with a more Indie Web approach you could also see the likes and bookmarks of creators you follow which I could see being appealing to some. So basically rebranded RSS / blogging with a central portal and payment system 🤷‍♀️