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Comment by Axsuul | Hacker News Reader

While building a web crawling framework, I became fascinated with Patreon but was disappointed with its discoverability features. So I decided to put my crawling framework to the test and track every creator on the platform. The result of this was PledgeSociety, a side project I put together over the weekend that helps you discover new, interesting, and popular creators on Patreon. Please let me know what your thoughts are and if this is useful!

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Your site looks interesting but I'm mostly curious about your web-crawling framework - looks like it worked pretty well. Is it open-source?

I posted a comment about the web-crawling framework below so check that out for more info. Also, check out this if you'd like to know more about it @ http://bit.ly/1KiUmlS

Shortened link goes to:

http://roboheart.us10.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=49bc41b243...

Somwhat scummy. Oh look, I used my brain scraper:

''' Crawlspace is a hosted crawling service that handles proxyification and everything for you behind the scenes. With Crawlspace, PledgeSociety was able to crawl and track every single creator on Patreon.

If you're interested in a service like this or you happen to do alot of crawling, we want to talk to you! '''

Not my intention to be scummy. Just collecting emails and gauging interest. I had no intention to allow the public to use it but due to some others asking, I thought I'd set up a landing page for it. Appreciate the constructive feedback.

On sites like Patreon, discoverability is key. The more tools people can use to find creators worthy of their support, the better.

Very nice work!

This tool mostly feels like it'll help the popular people get more popular.

I'm really not sure how I feel about knowing that I'm currently the 3077th-best-earning creator on Patreon. (Although that number is kind of deceptive as I'm paid per creation, which can vary from 1/month to 8/month. On good months I'm more like #595, although I'm sure there are other per-creation folks who make more things per month and/or get more per thing.)

Looking at just the home page, sure, but if I bookmarked the New in Games page[1] and check back occasionally I can be reasonably assured to find lesser known creators in a category I'm interested in.

[1] http://www.pledgesociety.com/?by=new&category=7

That was definitely not my sole intention, which is why we have different filters on the page. Each creator is updated nightly so as I gather more data, the "Trending" page will be more accurate. Would love to hear your suggestions however on how I can get the unknowns more known. I have a cousin on Patreon who's extremely talented but struggles to get a fanbase so I know how you feel!

Have you considered setting up alerts? E.g. sending an email when a trending new Creator in the Games category appears.

Nope I have not and that is a great idea. Would definitely need to refine "Trending" to something that is giving useful data before implementing this however. Thanks for the suggestion and keep em' coming!

/adds feature suggestion to Trello board

Really like PledgeSociety! It would be great to see an average $ amount per fan (earnings \ by no of supporters).

I think with that kind of filter I'd be able to find some really cool people with a small fan base, low earnings but that are bringing a lot of value to the fans they do have. Would help with early discovery!

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