Patreon News

Hello all. I'm sorry I have to write this post in the first place. I'd much rather write about some kickass women doing something awesome. But I think it's important to keep you all abreast of what's going on with Patreon and how it might possibly relate to you.

I want to let you all know that I've been paying very close attention to the recent news that Patreon has been hacked. So far, the only things they've acknowledged as having been compromised were "registered names, email addresses, posts, and some shipping addresses."

This from the message I received from Patreon CEO and Co-founder Jack Conte:

At this point, I don't think it's anything serious enough to warrant cancelling my Patreon account. Although I totally support you if you decide to. But I do see this as another reminder to continue practicing "Safe Internetting."

• Make your passwords harder to guess. Instead of one word, use a lyric from a song or line from a poem and pick one letter from each word. Include non-letter characters for some to make it that much more challenging.
• Change your passwords regularly. And never, ever share it with anyone. Even if that person claims they're from the place you're trying to log in to.
• If you're going to share your accounts and password (look, I know it happens. I share my Netflix with friends and family), make sure that password is in absolutely no way similar to your other passwords.
• Use two-step authentication whenever possible. 
• Consider using an encryption database like KeePass or KyPass.
• Check your bank and credit card statements every month, if not more often. Report any discrepancies immediately.

I will continue to monitor the news, and if I hear anything that might change my opinion on this matter, I will certainly let you all know as well. If you have any questions or concerns you'd like for me to address, please leave a comment below, or reach out to me on social media.

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Support me on Patreon

I'm still down with the flu, but taking a moment to do a bit of end-of-month bookkeeping, and I wanted to remind you that I've set up a Patreon to help support the work I do for this blog.

There are several levels at which to contribute, each with its own set of benefits. I'm open to suggestions for ways I may improve it.

Every pledge allows me to devote more time researching and writing rather than working on other freelance projects. I have lots of big plans for ways to build this site to include more stories of various subjects -- historical AND present day, as well as games, movie, book, and television reviews.

Please consider contributing. I need your help to continue doing what I've been doing for free.

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