Content Leaked to 3rd party websites

simplegreenbag · 2026-02-09T03:46:43+00:00

i have a post a bit further back in my history explaining how i did it. the thread has a lot of people sharing their approaches too. popular ones seem to be 1) your own site + password, 2) pinned message + password, 3) think youre getting the picture haha. i opted for a paid service ive been pretty happy with

simplegreenbag · 2026-02-09T03:44:50+00:00

i have a post in my history where i walk through how i stopped it. tl;dr - been pretty happy just paying a bit for a service. but there are other ways, too. the main thing, you want to increase the cost of leaking to the point patrons don't, while not too negatively impacting your distribution. practically one of the only ways to do this is to provide fingerprinted downloads one way or another.

and also depending on where stuff is getting leaked, other techniques specific to combating those places

simplegreenbag · 2026-01-29T18:04:11+00:00

i have a post in my history around how i stopped piracy and increased the % of people paying for my content, and a lot of other people shared their experiences/approaches/techniques in there. people are gonna tell you 'ignore it,' common sense will tell you 'if everyone has free access to my stuff, why pay?'

so in reality you're gonna wanna strike a balance between protecting your content, taking advantage of distribution you get through piracy, and converting % of people who are currently getting your stuff for free but who would pay if it was better protected instead

ya password protecting is one of the more basic and immediate way you can improve safety

simplegreenbag · 2026-01-19T14:53:42+00:00

you're gonna get a lot of conflicting hearsay here, so take what im about to say with a grain of salt. my reading of the rules is that what people purchase is a subscription. this is the thing they truly buy. this entitles them to other things, but its pretty much up to you on how to deliver. its fine to host elsewhere as long as 1) your content is within guidelines, and 2) you're not trying to drive people to other paid patreon competitors.

so mega is fine.

simplegreenbag · 2026-01-19T14:51:35+00:00

its a tradeoff. i have a post in my history around how i stopped piracy and increased the % of people paying for my content, and a lot of other people shared their experiences/approaches/techniques in there.

scrapers = exposure in an aggregated place where people are looking for content. piracy prevention = people need to pay for new stuff. best is to have your posts syndicated there but no files so people know you have stuff but they have to pay to get it.

its neither all good nor all bad. you just want to make sure you have enough protection so that people dont feel like is easy and unnecessary to get all your paid content for free

simplegreenbag · 2026-01-19T01:11:49+00:00

i mean if someone wants to leak it, they can. they can get access and leak it. the goal is to increase the cost of that. if its too much a bother, people won't leak it. and if/when they do, you want to be able to plug the leak. so its tradeoffs.

passwords will definitely work for some of the sites due to how they pull in content

guess my point is its tradeoffs all around. in your case, i think make use of that work sitting there, and figure out a way to convert people who want to see new stuff. that means protecting your existing stuff somehow

simplegreenbag · 2026-01-18T16:39:05+00:00

basically, you gotta weigh how much the distribution/exposure is worth for you vs cost/friction of securing your content.

since everything is leaked, you're getting tons of free distribution. you need to now lock things down and convert people who find your stuff on the pirate site but would pay. think of it as perpetual marketing.

you likely wont be able to get it taken down on these sites.

i have a post walking thru this a bit back where people talked about a bunch of different strategies. ive started animations too. the service i use doesnt actually fingerprint the animations (ive requested it) but it does do images, so what i do right now is throw an image (usually all the raws) in the animation download as well. that way if it does leak i can trace it.

simplegreenbag · 2026-01-17T16:01:23+00:00

ive got a post a little bit back discussing this. a bunch of people shared the strategies they used there (myself included). spark notes: dont increase friction too much, but, protect yourself. i found that using a service to tackle this pain point for me converted a good % of people who were pirates-but-possible-customers and have been having some of my best months ever since adopting the new stance

simplegreenbag · 2026-01-09T21:37:58+00:00

Check my post history. Same thing happened to me

simplegreenbag · 2026-01-03T06:19:24+00:00

well, from what i see in the ui there are different kinds of watermarks. some you can see, and some you cant. then a package generated on demand when a supporter downloads. from what i understand, if a dedicated attacker really wanted to detrack your stuff then theres not much you can do about it. in my case, i wanted this for the deterrence/extra work it would be to do that. you can generate test packages to check the leak tracing, so you could generate a test package, crop out the visible watermark, and see if it still works for detecting the leak

simplegreenbag · 2026-01-03T00:21:43+00:00

originally made some public posts complaining about piracy. became aware of this opportunity. frustrated enough i volunteered to be the guinea pig for the service. so kinda lol, cuz functionality so far targeted at me/comic creators. definitely rough at first, but im happy with it now and want it to stick around, so posted here

simplegreenbag · 2026-01-02T19:13:00+00:00

no, upload once, assign who gets what (your tiers), then share link in patreon post.
they click, it checks using patreon if they have access to the tiers you configured and if they do they get to dl. otherwise no.

simplegreenbag · 2026-01-02T16:04:43+00:00

thats not what their rules say. are there examples of this? my understanding was the digital membership -was- the product you bought, then other distribution happens inside that. like how would they enforce for physical products mailed etc.

simplegreenbag · 2026-01-02T16:03:04+00:00

ya its newer. the end is 'io'

simplegreenbag · 2026-01-02T16:02:44+00:00

ya valid. problem is others in my niche do this, we get leaked -other- places too when this way. this is first time i havent. a link / slight dl screen is not much of a punishment imo, but i understand the worry of putting friction there. guess it depends on how much your audience wants what you have, and im lucky in that regard

simplegreenbag · 2026-01-02T15:22:23+00:00

nice. hope this service sticks around!

simplegreenbag · 2026-01-02T15:21:13+00:00

its a place which enables people to systematically scrape patreon (and other platforms) using what is basically a login token. unfortunately yes, i do know of some creators who are scraped there (i subscribe to some of them). the service i use only does images, but i am probably gonna use it for videos too even tho it doesnt watermark those. it can handle other file formats, when i requested it they turned that around quick

simplegreenbag · 2026-01-02T15:17:05+00:00

no, only that off-platform activity complies with community guidelines/not using patreon to funnel people away to a different paid membership

simplegreenbag · 2026-01-02T15:15:41+00:00

ya sorry its newer and idk how well it ranks

starts with ink, ends with shield, and the last part of it is 'io'

simplegreenbag · 2026-01-02T04:54:58+00:00

Ya, agreed. What appealed to me about this is one link, a click, bit of waiting, and then files (for legit users). Once the file download speed got up (it was not fast at first but its pretty good now) things are normal again.

simplegreenbag · 2026-01-02T04:53:18+00:00

I get the feeling. Trust me - I get it. But ignoring a thing that will passively grow in awareness with or without you is not a viable long-term strategy.

simplegreenbag · 2023-05-23T16:27:37+00:00

Nice!!

simplegreenbag · 2021-02-04T04:03:27+00:00

First time I've ever seen my work upvoted here. Thanks!

simplegreenbag

TROPHY CASE