It Feels Like Just Recently That I Tried To Boost My Income In Response To A $100 Rental Increase, But

A Letter from Julia Baritz

To the Pillowfort Community, 

Transparency from myself and my Staff is part of the foundation that makes Pillowfort so great. The news I am about to share is not easy. But it is important for you, our community, to know what is going on.

Pillowfort has always relied on the generosity of our users. We are proud to be user funded. Over the years we have been able to operate using the funds from our 2018 Kickstarter campaign, which raised over $60,000, in addition to ongoing payments and donations from you.  I am extremely grateful for the support we continue to receive. 

However, despite cost-cutting efforts, we have struggled to break even in revenue since 2021. The funds from the 2018 Kickstarter have been depleted to cover operating costs and to ensure our Staff receives the compensation they deserve.  I will never ask my Staff to work without being compensated.  

We are now at a point where Pillowfort is in danger of exhausting all current finances in the next six months if we continue the current funding/spending trajectory. This is not hyperbole. This is the unfortunate reality of what the platform is facing. If we do not change course now I will have to end contracts with our entire team soon and, eventually, Pillowfort would no longer be able to operate. 

For the past two years I have not compensated myself for my work on Pillowfort. My commitment to Pillowfort is not for personal gain. I was fortunate enough in my privilege to have adequate savings to cover my own personal expenses for a while. I sacrificed what would have been my own compensation in order to ensure my third-party contractors (Staff) could be paid. 

I take full responsibility for the current state of Pillowfort. It has been challenging being a first-time business owner in such turbulent times. Looking back now there are ways I would have managed things differently with the knowledge I have now.  If we can recover from this, I will continue applying what I have learned these last several years to make sure we do not reach this point again. 

I knew Pillowfort was going to be a difficult enterprise due to the very things that I believe make us great: we don’t have shareholders or venture-capital investments (which often leads to shifts away from a company’s primary mission as they are directed to achieve revenue and profit growth to benefit investors); we don’t compromise your privacy by selling user data to third parties; and we don’t host third-party ads that would disrupt your experience. We also pay much higher payment processing fees because we host adult content. Compared to other social media sites that have millions of dollars in corporate investments backing them, things are much harder for us. 

In spite of every hurdle we face,  I truly believe  Pillowfort deserves to exist. I believe in Pillowfort’s mission and I am determined for this platform to succeed. I am not going to abandon this platform until every possible option is exhausted. That is why I have decided it will be necessary to initiate another, more ambitious fundraiser. Our goal will be to raise $25,000 by December 31, 2023. 

This amount is based on the following: We are at risk of the IRS reclassifying Pillowfort as a hobby instead of a business because Pillowfort has not been profitable for several years. If we are reclassified as a hobby this would prohibit us from deducting expenses which will make our financial situation more dire.  The $25,000 amount will make up for our existing year-to-date losses as well as cover our projected expenses (Staff Compensation & Operating costs) for the remainder of the year. 

Raising this amount will also buy our staff the time needed to complete the following projects geared toward increased long-term revenue: 

Finish Progressive Web App development to allow Pillowfort to reach a much broader audience on mobile platforms.

Add the ability for users to pay to promote their posts.

Add the ability for users to gift Pillowfort Premium to other users. 

Once these features are in place, Pillowfort will be in a better position to bring in reliable revenue than we have been recently and will hopefully be on the road to continued self-sustainability.

If you appreciate that Pillowfort is beholden to its users instead of shareholders– if you believe in Pillowfort’s core principles of user privacy control and freedom of expression and creativity–  then I ask you to consider supporting this fundraising effort.

We will post more information soon regarding rewards for reaching our goal (yes, we will be offering a profile badge to donors, and more!), so stay tuned for details. This time around we are also planning to have rewards geared toward users who help spread the word about us too. We understand that not everyone can support us financially right now.

If you can’t donate to the fundraiser there are still many ways to help us. Here are some examples: 

Talk about us to your friends and family.

Write about or make a video about us. (Psst: Use #Pillowfort on other platforms like X, Tiktok, Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, and Bluesky so we can find your posts!) 

Invite your friends, family, and colleagues to Pillowfort using your Invitation Keys to allow them to join immediately. 

I am forever grateful for your past and continued support. Thank you for taking time out of your day to read this message. Let’s work together to make Pillowfort a robust site for years to come.

Best Wishes, 

Julia Baritz Founder & Lead Architect

KOSA IS BEING PUSHED FOR REAL THIS TIME

‼️URGENT: KOSA has been officially introduced in the House as of today.

We need to spread the word on social media and urge people to send emails to Congress through stopkosa.com.

Fight for the Future

Stop KOSA

KOSA is a censorship bill that won’t make kids safe. Instead, it'll put all internet users at risk, especially youth. If you believe in a fr

• There will be a hearing on Wednesday (17th April) where KOSA, along with some other bad internet bills, like the Protecting Kids on Social Media Act could be pushed.

• We will be having a calling day on TUESDAY (16 th April) to make clear to Congress that there is still a ton of opposition to these bills. https://energycommerce.house.gov/posts/chair-rodgers-and-ranking-member-pallone-announce-legislative-hearing-on-data-privacy-proposals-1

House Committee on Energy and Commerce

Chair Rodgers and Ranking Member Pallone Announce Legislative Hearing on Data Privacy Proposals

The Committee on Energy and Commerce is the oldest standing legislative committee in the U.S. House of Representatives and is vested with th

• House Energy and Commerce is holding the hearing so they are the best offices to call this week ‼️ https://energycommerce.house.gov/representatives

https://energycommerce.house.gov/representatives

• You can use http://badinternetbills.com/ to contact your congresspeople !

Fight for the Future

Bad Internet Bills

All of the bad internet bills. One website.

• And https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative to find all of the phone numbers of your House Representative, and faxzero.com to send up to 5 free faxes a day

While the bill needs to be aproved by both the house and senate WE NEED TO MAKE SURE IT NEVER LEAVES CONGRESS.

SPREAD THE WORD !!

@adobe-outdesign Make sure to check out the other parts too, there’s some really neat stuff!

Rosie Tonkin has shared a couple of behind the scenes photos of the cast and crew of the dhmis tv series on her Instagram the past few days

Part 1, part 2, part 3

(Blood warning)

rosie tonkin: Dunno if I've mentioned it before 🤡 but last year we made a tv show! It's on the actual tv on Fridav! I don't have the words to fully describe the incredibleness of everybody who worked on this but safe to say 2021 is one to remember. A wild, slightly broken rollercoaster that's mostly fun but sometimes makes you puke. I loved it. 🥹😭❤️‍🔥

COMMISSIONS: OPEN

my new commission price sheet!

This is my new and improved commission price sheet! As always, this is mostly just rough guidelines, prices will vary from piece to piece, but this should give you a general idea of what you can get from me for roughly what amount of money.

DM me if you’re interested or want to know more or whatnot. I’m pretty flexible about format, making changes, and the price, so I’m open to discussing every commission individually. And here’s a list of fandoms I’m in if you’re interested in fanart.

♥  Gift Guide Help  ♥

Hi all :-) 

As you know one of my fave things is to browse the net for cool trinkets and goodies, so if you’re a bit stuck on finding a gift for your pal/co-worker/dog/enemy this holiday season - send me an ask and I’ll see what I can find! 

All you need to give me as a guide is a budget, and a lil summary of their personality (fave movies, season, trinkets, colour, hobby, something they hate perhaps) and I’ll see what I can do! 

everytime that i heam "oh can 1,000,000[insert rpg creature] beat one of all pokemon" im just like. tyranitar exists

i could defeat a tyranitar myself. easily

they're finally here....... the HalOPE artbook and OST releases!

after much delay, the HalOPE artbook and OST are now available for purchase!

The artbook contains 160 pages of concept art, scrapped content, and developer commentary. also a lot of silly doodles. so many silly doodles

The OST contains the 30 tracks found in-game, along with 17 bonus tracks. Many of the tracks were also edited from their in-game counterparts in order to flow better as an album release.

If you like the game and want to support me, I would greatly appreciate if you checked out either of these. Like everything else I make, I poured my heart into them.

if you haven't played HalOPE and have no idea what I'm talking about... the game itself is free! go play it!

Commissions are open!

Writing Commissions from the Bird!

Hello, everyone! I'm Garça Visconde, local Humans Are Space Orcs writer, and I really need some money at the moment, so I'm making yet another writing commissions post!

My most popular posts are all Humans Are Space Orcs (also written as HASO) scenarios, but sci-fi is not the only thing that I write! Here's everything I do:

Fanfiction, including x readers, OC x canon, and canon x canon. If I'm not familiar with the fandom, just show me videos/reading material for me to understand things better!

OC backstories;

Worldbuilding!

Ghost writing, if you really need one at the moment;

Original stories;

One-shots;

Multi-chapter works;

Horror;

Fantasy;

Romance;

And, of course, sci-fi! This includes more HASO things.

Interested on my work? Consider looking at my masterpost!

Payment wise, this is what I do:

U$2 = 100 words;

Maximum amount of U$60 = 3.000 words.

This means that if you commissioned me 2.500 words, You'll have to pay U$50,00. If you commission me 3.000 words, you'll have to pay U$60!

Payment should be made via PayPal or Ko-Fi only.

If you aren't interested in commissioning me (or simply can't!), consider reblogging this post, or just reading what I have already posted here! Thank you for you attention, and I hope you have a nice day! Bye <3

Hey uhhhhhh convenience store overcharged me for a half gallon of milk and an Arizona for 16 dollars SOOOOO uhhhhhhh could someone buy a bundle to cover that pls and ty

You get $75 of games and expansions for $25 and you help me out so it's a win-win!!!