It isn't linear, they could have spent less to have a more usable service. Just look at the self inflicted mess that is AirBNB, the front end basically crashes if you type too fast on a slow connection.

The complaint is about forced inefficiencies that Patreon then foists onto its customers. They are balancing their books by upping their fees, not streamlining their business and they can only do this (in the short term) because they have a fairly captive audience.

We are about to see a whole sea of Patreon competitors.