About this site

Joel+ is a Patreon alternative that is run by me, using the software Ghost, which is an open-source alternative to Patreon. I want to make it clear that I am not managed by anyone, I haven't sold out, this website is completely independent and of my own prerogative. In fact, this will cost me a lot of time and some money to run, as compared to Patreon.

Why Joel+ Instead of Patreon or Something?

Mostly because I'm a nerd that likes doing stuff myself, whether it be fixing cars or hosting websites. There are some tangible benefits to running my own Patreon alternative though:

• Now, 100% of your contributions come to me. No cut from Patreon or YouTube.
• I have more control over Joel+, no one has the ability to take it down without warning as when using a large platform like Patreon or YouTube.
• In my experience, Ghost is much more customizable than Patreon, it has been a pleasure to work with so far.
• If privacy is a concern of yours, I can assure you that I will not be selling your data.

Videos are still hosted on YouTube

This could be a positive or a negative, depending on how you view Google, but let's be honest, YouTube is a friggin' fantastic platform for hosting videos for free. You can just upload stuff to it and share it, completely for free, even if you don't make it public. While certain tiers here on Joel+ get access to direct downloads of the video files themselves, and I post all of my videos on my own self-hosted PeerTube platform (joeltube.com), those things cost me money, while hosting videos on YouTube does not. That's why videos you stream on Joel+, completely ad-free, are still hosted on YouTube as unlisted uploads.

Of course, let me know if you have any issues with or questions about Joel+.