It happens from time to time — especially if you're offering exclusive content on Patreon. Criminals (there's no other word) access your site and use various means to scrape the content and post it in places where others can access it for free. Unfortunately, there will always be people who are comfortable doing this. So, what can you do to stop it?
First things first. If you want to stop much of this activity, you should consider switching to Patreon's Charge Upfront payment cycle. After all, the point is to access your content without paying, and Charge Upfront secures the purchase immediately — defeating the purpose.
The Voldemort Rule
I prefer to handle a scraper site as if it were Voldemort. I NEVER SAY THEIR NAME. Not in public. Not in private. I just don't do it. That's my opinion, but I feel strongly about it.
“So... Brad... if nobody says the name... how am I supposed to know if I'm being stolen from?”
Because... there's really very little you can do.
You can file a DMCA notice, but there have been credible claims of doxxing as a result of this.
You can drop them a friendly note, but most of them are so entitled they believe they're morally right in this instance. And you can't argue with that kind of ignorance.
In the meantime, the least you can do is avoid giving publicity to their site!
Wait them out
Here’s the good news. These people have a baked-in problem with their scheme. They want to collect exclusive content and make it available for free. However, this creates very large server costs. In other words, sharing free content can get expensive.
So, many of these sites turn to their users for donations.
Let that sink in... they're turning to people who are using their site to get paywalled content for free... and asking them to pay.
So, inevitably, these sites tend to buckle under their own weight.
After all... put yourself in this person's shoes. They are footing the bill, month after month, so thousands of people can have free content. For a few months, you see yourself as a revolutionary. After a year or so, you look in the mirror and see a schmuck.
Are you building Content or Community?
This brings us to the most important point of all: They can only steal what you did yesterday.
Your Patreon backers aren't in it for the archive (although that is an important component of the total rewards offered). Rather, they're in it for the journey — to be part of the experience as it happens in real-time.
There's a reason that I devoted an entire chapter of "The Webcomics Handbook" to Community Building. It's essential to what we, as creative professionals, do.
We build a Community.
That's why I don't say, "support me on Patreon." That's all about me.
I say, “JOIN US ON PATREON.” That's about us.
A scraper site can steal your content. But they can never steal your Community.
