Why I don't offer a tipping page anymore

Why stop using it?

Ever since I started streaming, my dream was to become famous, like at least 1k subs famous. That dream was getting closer too, because I already made over 100-200 subs from my Geometry Dash level request streams. But I kind of got tired of that game for a while and left its community around 5 months ago (iirc).

Anyway, since I REALLY wanted monetization so I could unlock memberships and YouTube superchats, I decided to go the external service route. I set up my first StreamElements tipping page.

The page was basic. I didn’t really need to customize it much, just a header, a background image, and some built in prices. That was mostly it.

I wasn’t getting any money, and I figured it was because I wasn’t promoting it enough. So one day I started 24/7 lofi streaming and put the donation page in the description. It was the only kind of stream I could think of that might actually go viral. It didn’t go viral, and it didn’t make me any money either.

I tried moving the 24/7 lofi stream onto my Raspberry Pi too, because I couldn’t accept that my old PC wasn’t good enough for it. The video quality was terrible, but the music worked. The problem was the stream kept buffering every 10 seconds, for me and probably for everyone else. I don’t think my RPi is built for that.

But here’s the thing. After not thinking about lofi streams for a long time, today I had a realisation: I actually liked doing those streams. I’m not joking. So this time I’m prepared to do them properly.

And then I remembered the donation page. I was like “wait, my DONATION page???!?!?!”. And right after that it hit me: I never even set a payment method on it. Says a lot about me, huh?

So from now on I’m removing the links to it, at least on newer streams. It just feels wrong to take money from internet strangers. These are people who showed up to chill to some lofi or watch me play a game, and turning that into a transaction makes the whole thing feel off to me. I’d rather the streams just be a place to hang out than something I’m trying to squeeze money out of. The vibe matters more than the cash.

Will you ever bring it back?

Maybe, maybe not. If I get popular enough and start my own company someday, maybe.

So, should I use one?

It depends. If you don’t have many subscribers and you want to live off tips and donations, sure, go for it. But if you’re already popular enough to have monetization and you’re getting enough from YouTube and your own investments, then there’s no need. Your choice in the end.