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Tukaro

Hard Drive Patreon Concerns

Tukaro
Jan 7th, 2024
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  1. +++ DISCLAIMER: I do not have direct affiliation with the Hard Drive nor Hard Times; this document was put together using publicly posted information. None of the individuals discussed here have been contacted regarding this nor given approval of its contents. As clarification/documentation emerges, this document may be updated to properly reflect events (such edits will be briefly listed at the end). +++
  2.  
  3. For those who don't know, Hard Drive is a satirical video game website; it's one I've long enjoyed and find quite funny. Unfortunately, the site has fallen on some hard times (get it?) and, a few days ago, did a hard pledge drive (get it? okay I'll stop) for Patreon membership. As I understand, it was a success; normally this would be cause for celebration, but behind-the-scenes issues have been brought to light that I--and others--feel need to be understood by those who are or would pledge.
  4.  
  5. I want to make it clear up front that this doc is not being made to tell people they *shouldn't* pledge, nor should drop support for HD in general, nor leave the official Hard Drive fan group or otherwise mob-up; the purpose of this post is to make sure people who put up their own money (or are considering such) have a better idea of what they are supporting. (And, for those that now have direct buy-in, can potentially influence improvements to these issues.) To that extent, I have avoided citing names for the direct claims: while these are easy enough to find by following the citations, no one involved in this (including former staff and current staff) should be harassed in even the slightest manner.
  6.  
  7. Personally, I will not pledge to the Patreon, but that decision is made for me as I'm flat-broke; I plan to continue following Hard Drive, as well. This is, I think, a ship that can be righted, but not without the holes in the hull being identified and plugged.
  8.  
  9. I) Misleading claims in the Patreon drive article itself
  10. a) "We’re completely owned and operated by our original founding team"
  11. This claim is the primary reason for this document, as it can easily be a central point of confusion for patrons.
  12.  
  13. Many editors, including many public-facing ones, left HD in the back half of 2023. According to HD's own "About" page, HD's cofounders were Jeremy "Elon's Second Biggest Fear" Kaplowitz, Mike Amory, and Mark Roebuck, as a spin-off of Hard Times under Matt Saincome. None of these co-founders remain, though, only Matt Saincome. Mike left many years back; the exits for the other two were public--and, from the statements given, very amicable--but were also easy to miss, so anyone pledging may think the pledge supports their favorite, but now-former, editor. It is possible this is unintentional, and "original founding team" actually refers to the Hard Times founding team, but in the context of Hard Drive this is not clear in the slightest.
  14.  
  15. Speaking of the "About" page: Mark Roebuck and Kevin Flynn are still listed as editors but both stepped down last November[1][2]. Unless I've missed something and they rejoined, or I misunderstood and it wasn't a complete separation, their names should not be there and can add to this sort of confusion.
  16.  
  17. b) "we actually sold Hard Times (not Hard Drive) [...] we bought it back"
  18. As far as I can find, the buy-back occurred in August 2023. If financials were so dire as to cause an exodus of editors, though, how was HT bought back? The announcement post[8] mentions a name I can't find any other information about, so it's possible the new "co-founder" is an investor who financed it. (A former editor states that, instead, the company HT was sold to (Project M Group) collapsed and HT was handed back to HD in lieu of outstanding payments from the sale.[3] However, everything I can quickly find suggests Project M Group is still in operation, though it has shed/sold at least three brands since late 2021, including HT.)
  19.  
  20. II) Slander, Harassment, and Gossip
  21. Both management and newly-hired editors have allegedly been involved in slandering and gossiping former staff, if not harassing them outright.
  22. a) Some new editors/writers are stating that claims regarding the reasons for former staff leaving are played up, if not straight out lies[4]
  23. b) Management directly accused a former video editor of attempting to trash HD in a comment on the article announcing the Patreon push (the comment summarizes much of what is here) without any evidence. Management withdrew the accusation after being confronted, but the former video editor believes gossip regarding it was spread prior to such[5]
  24.  
  25. I have seen other related claims, but either they were in passing (i.e. from an account I did not know to be affiliated with HD), vague, or I cannot track down the claim to directly reference and so offer only these two.
  26.  
  27. III) The Patreon is presented as a last-ditch effort for funding, all other options exhausted. However, the Patreon has existed since at least 2021 (apparently for select podcasts) and either not retooled or pushed until now. Former editors state they did present, and push, Patreon as a possible revenue source to management (among other options) prior to last year's exits, as early as Nov 2023.[6] They were always rejected because it wasn't "100% certain", which is confirmed by management.[7]
  28.  
  29. IV) Management was slow to respond to a (likely unintentional) re-doxxing of a former writer. While they did remove the offending information, there was enough delay for an Internet Archive pass of the original; additionally, the writer was then blocked from the Slack[9] for coming at management "very aggressively" (confirmed by management)[10].
  30.  
  31. V) While Hard Drive has made fun of "AI" in the past, it has been or is planned to be implemented. Potential uses are directly for articles and various social accounts[11] and at least two Hard Times article image headers[12]
  32.  
  33. ADDENDUM: The face of "Ace Watkins" has also given his thoughts on the matter, mainly stating that he believes the pledge post did misrepresent an appeal to nostalgia. https://twitter.com/PhilJamesson/status/1743412087617880473
  34.  
  35. [1] https://twitter.com/Mark_Roebuck/status/1721592080785371167
  36. [2] https://twitter.com/whoiskevinflynn/status/1719803624803479664 (twitter account is now protected)
  37. [3] https://twitter.com/jeremysmiles/status/1743714827409785185
  38. [4] https://twitter.com/jeremysmiles/status/1743325416130064819
  39. [5] https://twitter.com/VideoSealMan/status/1743039835525280032
  40. [6] https://twitter.com/kevinpodas/status/1743053133469917306
  41. [7] https://twitter.com/MattSaincome/status/1743066177805668689
  42. [8] https://twitter.com/MattSaincome/status/1686805181210763264
  43. [9] For the sake of the doxx'd, I will not directly repost their thread here. I will provide a censored screenshot if requested, but the overall incident is confirmed by management
  44. [10] https://twitter.com/MattSaincome/status/1743073256800964946
  45. [11] https://twitter.com/tayfabe_/status/1743336590750183904
  46. [12] https://twitter.com/jeremysmiles/status/1743374308934590935
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