Your Substack Subscription, Patreon Subscriptions and a SURVEY

Does the journey continue?

This is primarily a final reminder to my past patrons that crunch time is approaching for The Daily Doom where we all find out whether support from my patrons that has encouraged me to keep writing over the years on the economy and particularly the Federal Reserve now rolls over here on Substack so that I can continue writing on economics and other topics. While I hope that is how this will work out, I also want to make sure that patrons on Patreon don’t accidentally get billed in July by Patreon. So, instructions are included below for those particular subscribers here at Substack on how to terminate support on Patreon if they choose to begin a paid subscription here. (In case they didn’t get the Patreon message that went out a couple of days ago.)

ANYONE — former patron or new subscriber — who has subscribed with a single up-front one-year payment here on Substack or as a Founding Member can be sure that I’ll make the same diligent efforts you see me making now to be certain you are taken care of with a properly pro-rated refund IF this experiment with The Daily Doom doesn’t move forward for the remaining months you paid for up front. That would be the case if my Patreon support does not roll over by the start of July now that the complimentary one-month full subscriptions I gave to all of my supporters on Patreon during the first week of June when I quit writing on The Great Recession Blog are coming to an end in the next few days. (Note that those who were comped in the middle of June will continue to get complimentary access until a month after their comps began.)

I, of course, hope that everything will roll over smoothly in the next few days so The Daily Doom will continue on ahead as past patrons continue their generosity. That won’t be possible without them as NEW paid subscriptions here on Substack over the past nine months have not been enough to justify continuing my writing if past support from Patreon doesn’t roll over. (There have been lots of new free subscriptions, but not enough new paid ones here on Substack to continue based on those alone.)

Whether my past patrons do roll over your support in the next couple of days to a paid Substack subscription or not, I thank you for all you have given in the past. My goal has always been to help as many people as possible see what the Fed apparently cannot see and what the Fed has coming in store for them, so most of my writing has always been free, and that has been made possible in part by supporters who have always gotten a little extra in return for their support of my efforts as well as my giving away my time for years (in the sense that support has always averaged about $5 an hour for the time I put in, so the value I consider my time worth above $5/hr has been my contribution/entrepreneurial investment). We’ll now find out if years of writing on economics get to continue due to paid support continuing at that minimal threshold I set for myself years ago (on the hope of improved reward over time); but I’m thankful for the past years, regardless. The next few days will be interesting.

(Note for the mega-generous who have always provided extra support for no real extra benefit: that option continues via the “Founding Members” subscription option where you can write in any higher amount you want. And, as I say, if things do not move forward, I’ll be as careful to make sure you get a refund as I am now in making sure no one gets billed by Patreon for benefits that will no longer be continuing via Patreon in July.)

This is also a survey of all readers

As my writing is not always as purely economic as it used to be, I recently polled all of my patrons to see if there were any clear patterns as to what they want more of and what they want less of. The only clear trend in the few voices I heard from was that they all cared most about getting the daily editorials, which they placed as more important than getting the news out early. So, that has been my focus.

I’d like to open things up now for all subscribers to comment (even free subscribers). If you are willing, send me a reply back to this email that states the one or two things you like the most and the one or two you either like the least or would like to see added. I’ll, again, see if any trends stand out. If there is no clear trend, I’ll continue as I’ve been doing in terms of the topics I editorialize on, assuming past support now rolls over sufficiently to make continuing worthwhile. If a large number of responders want me to stay with just economics, as I used to do, I’ll do that.

For Patreon supporters who need to cancel Patreon billing:

While you are welcome, of course, to continue your support through Patreon, supporting me there will not enable you to get the automated editions of The Daily Doom in your email each weekday or to access the headlines once the complimentary “paid” Substack subscription I gave to all patrons runs out or to read the special articles I write for just paid subscribers. (Another “Deeper Dive” on the Fed’s internal written concerns about how serious this coming recession might be is coming out very soon.) So, continuing your support via Patreon wouldn’t be in your best interest, though it would be in mine because Patreon takes a slightly smaller cut than what Substack does; but it doesn’t function as smoothly for supporters.

For past supporters, the following are Patreon’s instructions on how to cancel your membership on Patreon if you wish to do so in order not to get billed by Substack and Patreon in the upcoming month: (Sometimes their instructions are not quite up to date, so you might have to figure your way through this if the terminology no longer quite matches what you see, which I have no control over.)

How do I cancel on a desktop computer?

1. Click the Settings link from the left sidebar navigation

2. Click on the Active memberships link from the menubar

3. Click the Edit link for the membership you'd like to cancel

4. Then click the Edit or Cancel Payment button directly under the update button

5. Select the option to Edit or Cancel Payment

6. Click the Cancel your membership button

How do I cancel on the Patreon app?

1. Tap your profile icon

2. Tap on My memberships

3. Locate the creator and tap the pencil icon

4. Scroll down to tap Edit or Cancel payment directly below the update button

5. Select Cancel your membership

6. Tap the Cancel your membership button to confirm

For more information on what happens after you cancel, visit their reference guide: What happens when I cancel?

Those two paths delete your Patreon membership with me by which you have provided patronage to me (something only you can do from your end). Those paths leave open your Patreon account, in case you have other creators on Patreon that you wish to continue to support there. The following is Patreon’s instructions as to what you have to do if you want to wipe out all of your Patreon account information for good:

How do I delete my entire Patreon account

Starting July 2020, Patreon no longer offers the previous “disable” feature. To close a Patreon account, users must submit their account for deletion through our Privacy center.

Deleting your Patreon account will erase all of your data from Patreon. Deleting your account is not a replacement for canceling a membership or any pending payments on your account. If you're a patron, you can delete any active memberships you have and still keep your account.

If any of Patreon’s instructions just don’t work, here is their support link email: platform-support@patreon.zendesk.com (Let them know up front you are PATRON, not a creator, as I think this is their support email for creators, but is the only email support for Patreon I could find in case you need it.)

I sure hope you keep things going on Substack as not too many patrons have yet made the transition to paid subscriptions. Either way, the journey has been long and interesting; so, I thank you for all the support you have given in the past, and we’ll soon all find out how this new direction went and whether it continues. If it doesn’t continue, I do not at all regret the effort I’ve put in over the past years, which you have encouraged.

—David Haggith