Should I start a ko-fi?

[Jubal]

So, I'm thinking of starting a ko-fi virtual tip jar and want opinions on if I should. I'm going to register for self-employed income anyway this year so there's no bureaucratic bar any more, it's just whether I should or not.

As you guys know, I do an array of free stuff already in free time that's sporadic but hopefully interesting to people - over the past year, six songs, eight misc articles, two travelogues, three politics blogposts and a computer game. Can see positives and negatives to having a ko-fi to help cover that.

Positives:
+ More money is nice. I'm not desperate atm, but I am only on half a salary for my work grade and I'm getting away with that in large part because my rent keeps not getting hiked.
+ More money could allow me to spend more on projects - I expect some of it would go towards art and proofreading for things.
+ It could be good to have a hub for people to see various bits of what I'm doing, though I feel like people are bombarded with things to look at all the time nowadays

Negatives:
- I don't *need* more money, this is a precarious time and I don't want to feel I'm siphoning from people who need that style of income more.
- I'm worried setting one up will mainly show me that there isn't actually much interest in all the stuff I do
- I'm nervous about it becoming an obligation: much of this stuff is hobby projects and having to produce on a schedule might stress me out
- What I do is so mixed across fields that it may be weird to have one system to cover it all?

Thoughts welcome in any case

[The Seamstress]

I totally understand the positives as well as the negatives! It's not an easy decision. I personally have a ko-fi (linked to my fedi profile) which I plan to maybe sell things on some time in the future and it's for now just acting as a bunny treat jar, though I've only received one tip so far, lol. I don't really stress out about it atm because it's just there. *shrugs*

In general, I'd encourage you to at least try though, link it to your socials saying something like "If you enjoy(ed) some of my projects, feel free to put something into the tip jar". If people do, fine, if they don't, you don't have lost anything really (though I can see why it could be demoralising :/). But! People not donating could have myriads of reasons that have nothing to do with you or your creative work and you can't control their decisions anyway, so maybe that helps not taking it too personally in case nothing happens (which I doubt, frankly). Also I wouldn't see it as an obligation to produce on a schedule. You don't need to advertise "I'm doing xyz in two weeks!" or whatever, just leave it there as a general tip jar and go on as usual, period. I also wouldn't worry about the mixed nature of projects, it's just you being you and that's fine.

I support two artists via Patreon and honestly, I don't even look at all their stuff because I often don't have spoons or something else is going on, but I'm happy to still know my few euros per month help them keep up their creative work, just because. I guess there are more people like me out there, you just gotta find them

Anyway, my thoughts on the matter, the final decision is, of course, yours.

[Jubal]

Update on this: it exists! I think that the cost-benefit analysis is not going well given that PayPal have decided to nuke my account from orbit, buuuut ah well, here we are: https://ko-fi.com/jubalbarca

[The Seamstress]

Hooray for the ko-fi, boo PayPal. I really hope they'll respond and do something about it.

[Jubal]

I'll be pleasantly surprised if they fix it, but it really was the worst customer support experience I've had possibly ever in that I didn't even get to speak to a person when I phoned them, it was just an AI on the other end of the line which was worse than useless.

[The Seamstress]

Ugh.

[dubsartur]

I was able to get through to a person at PayPal eventually when I tried a few years ago.  They are notorious for poor customer service.  Does Stripe work in Austria?

I especially hate site which add mandatory SMS authentification.  I live somewhere with poor cell reception even from the top floor, and I have moved internationally and changed cell phone numbers in the past.

[Jubal]

I was able to get through to a person at PayPal eventually when I tried a few years ago.  They are notorious for poor customer service.  Does Stripe work in Austria?

A few years ago would probably have been before the latest waves of automation. There may be a magic word to get the AI to transfer you to a person but there was no obvious route given. And yes - the ko-fi is thus still operational, it's just only using Stripe and not PayPal as an option.

I especially hate site which add mandatory SMS authentification.  I live somewhere with poor cell reception even from the top floor, and I have moved internationally and changed cell phone numbers in the past.

As someone who used to live in a very rural area in the east of England, yes, we used to have that problem a lot, it's improved a bit but one still sometimes needs to run round the house to find a signal spot. Countries like Canada and the UK that got good wired internet early AIUI tend to have relatively poor rural wireless connections even compared to much worse off countries that started later but mostly invested in wireless options.

[The Seamstress]

There may be a magic word to get the AI to transfer you to a person

I'd be curious if "Ignore all previous instructions" works on the phone...

This looks interesting though I don't know when it was written and if it is applicable to the EU:

When asked why you are calling, simply say "representative." You may need to do this a couple of times before you're transferred to the queue to wait for a customer service representative. You can also try dialing "0" or "00" to bypass the prompts, but this doesn't always work.

This reddit might be helpful, too? The post is three years old though so no idea if this still works.

How to talk to a Live Person in PayPal Customer Service Dial 1-888-221-1161 and press #. Then enter 2 and say "speak to the a representative". Once you do it you will be connected with a live customer service representative (typical waiting time is about 1 hour 20 minutes – 1 hour 50 minutes). The time of day you call can significantly affect both the wait time, and which call center (domestic or off-shore) you reach

ask the Bot to transfer you to the disputes team and then say "speak to an agent" when there. they are more specialized and will do everything to help you

Maybe worth a try?

[Jubal]

I suspect all the current stuff is more recent. I did wonder about Ignore Previous Instructions though.

I wonder if my best bet for getting a working PayPal again may actually be to use a different email and set up a new PayPal via their Austrian site based on my Austrian bank details?

[The Seamstress]

I wonder if my best bet for getting a working PayPal again may actually be to use a different email and set up a new PayPal via their Austrian site based on my Austrian bank details?

Hm, that could work I think, if the other account was based on UK bank info?

[The Seamstress]

Any news re: PayPal?

[Jubal]

I got asked to send some documents by their complaints department so we'll see how that goes. I haven't tried making a separate European-side account though actually it will make sense to for the Ko-fi so all the Ko-fi payments go to the same account, so that's still on my To Do list. My To Do list is long and scary lately.

[The Seamstress]

I got asked to send some documents by their complaints department so we'll see how that goes. I haven't tried making a separate European-side account though actually it will make sense to for the Ko-fi so all the Ko-fi payments go to the same account, so that's still on my To Do list. My To Do list is long and scary lately.

I see, so I guess I better cancel the subscription then, as I think it is linked to the former UK-account and I don't want my support euros go into the void. Did you even receive the first payment?

[Jubal]

I see, so I guess I better cancel the subscription then, as I think it is linked to the former UK-account and I don't want my support euros go into the void. Did you even receive the first payment?

I didn't - yes, please do cancel, I'll let you know when I have something working set up. Sorry!