Patreon is adding public feeds

Hey folks, Kaye here. I'm writing to let you know about a minor change coming to the way public episodes across the network are served. I'm currently testing a new feature for Patreon that gives podcasters the ability to host public feeds on Patreon itself, which should greatly simplify the way you get our content. I've already run some experiments that assure me I'm not making you the kind of guinea pigs that get a small and tragic lab funerals.

I'll get the headline out of the way: We are not moving all of our content behind a Patreon paywall! Public shows are still as accessible as normal. Additionally, you should not have to take any action to continue getting everything you're currently getting.

Currently, all of our shows are hosted on individual sites, mostly at Fireside.fm (a hosting service that hasn't had a meaningful update in five years). To find anything on our network you have to go to each of those sites to search or subscribe. Subscribing through podcast directories like Apple Podcasts or Spotify works fine, but anything more in-depth is a hassle.

Most annoyingly, for shows with both public and premium episodes like Watch Out for Fireballs! or Bonfireside Chat, you have to subscribe to two feeds to get every episode. This is a hack and I hate making people do it.

I've been testing several new features for Patreon, and getting a chance to have input on how they work specifically so things will be easier for everyone. We're an unusual use case, since I can't think of another network/Patreon that does as much varied content as we do.

This new feature will put the hosting and episode information for all of our shows in one place, here on Patreon. No more disparate sites for each show. Premium and public episodes for each show, including premium episodes we've made free, will all be available in a single feed accessible from everywhere.

The public feed for each show, available on Apple Podcasts and other directories, will contain all free episodes, along with previews of premium episodes (clearly marked) to give everyone a taste. This means the generalities of every WOFF! episode, and short excerpts of other premium episodes across the shows.

The premium feed for each show, available to patrons exactly as you're getting them now, will contain all public episodes, and the full versions of premium episodes, with no previews present to gunk things up. So for WOFF!, you will get every single episode presented as you'd expect. For Bonfireside Chat, episodes pre-2019 will be available in a single feed alongside all of the episodes since the reboot.

Search will be easier too. Say you want to find every episode about a Mario game. You'd be able to just search "Mario" on Patreon and get each post, including Abject Suffering episodes about weird and bad Mario spinoffs, and Adaptation Decay episodes about Mario movies and TV shows.

You'll still find and subscribe to feeds just like you're used to, just more easily, we hope.

This will be something of a lengthy process, which I'm undertaking in a specific order to reduce mishaps and disruptions. Here's how things will come through:

1. Shows that are premium-only (Adaptation Decay, Real Lich Hours, Unfilmable)

2. Current public shows (Best Quality Vacuum, Everything to Guppy, The Level)

3. Current hybrid shows with both premium and public episodes (Abject Suffering, Bonfireside Chat, Watch Out for Fireballs!)

4. Retired shows (so many)

I will inform you of any big disruptions if they happen, and I will also tell you when the first three phases are done (all currently running shows). As I said at the beginning, I do not anticipate you needing to take any special action to continue getting what you're already getting. The worst that might happen is some old episodes might show up as new in your feeds because of the redirects.

Let me know in the comments if you have any questions about this, and I'll do my best to answer. Additionally, since this is in testing, if you identify anything that could be better, let me know so I can pass feedback along to Patreon's podcast feature developers.

Sorry for the novel, and I hope everything is clear. I also hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Kaye