There isn't really one.
The thing you're missing is that this isn't itch's choice. This is a decision caused by the payment processors, who were in turn pressured by puritanical cults such as collective shout.
The only fix is to make it so payment processors don't get to make decisions about what things are allowed to be bought and sold using them.
Any platform that doesn't want to deal with the market interference of from Visa or Master card will have to use cryptocurrency. I don't see any other way around it, but even that can be taken down. This is just censorship and it will most likely get worse with the direction politics have been going in the west at least.
The thing is that itch isn't the first and it isn't going to be the last until someone stands up and says no. If ALL the platforms that have been affected stood up together to give Visa and Mastercard the middle finger, then something might change because Visa and Mastercard wouldn't want to give up that much revenue. Until the corporations we are unfortunately beholden to stand up together, we are just going to keep getting screwed over and having to move from platform to platform.
Itch fighting this here would mean ALL creators here get fucked.
You're not wrong but it does go a bit deeper than that.
Intentionally or not, Itch are now saying that they heavily favour safe content. And that the definition of "safe" can change at any time, depending on who can bully the flow of money at any given time. Which doesn't quite sound like the open marketplace for independent digital creators with a focus on independent video games that Itch still claims to be.
That precedent kinda already existed. It already happened to a much larger degree with Tumblr and even fucking OnlyFans - a site whose sole purpose is sexual content.
Leave itch if you want, since I won't blame you for this leaving a fairly nasty taste in your mouth, but the same problem of payment processors getting to suppress whatever they don't like will keep occurring elsewhere until something is actually done about it. And companies ain't gonna do that, because they either can't afford it or just have no interest in dealing with it.
And look at what happened to Tumblr. They sold it off… and it was worthless. It got sold again and again for less money each time, and I can’t even remember the last time I saw anyone seriously use the service.
Folding might save Itch in the short-term, but you only have to look to Tumblr to find an example of the long-term effects, and since Itch is so much more specialized, I’d expect it to have a much harder time shambling forward.
Itch fighting here, and actually trying not rolling the fuck over instanatly, would mean they actually champion the "open marketplace for independent digital creators with a focus on independent video games" thing they claim to be.
They're victims, yes, but by no means are they blameless. Attribute blame to them, hold them accountable too
Fine, go ahead. List how they could actually fight.
Please, elaborate, o wise one, as to how they would not just instantly be fucked over, along with ALL creators on the platform, sfw and nsfw, if they told the payment processors (i.e. how payments are actually made on the platform) to fuck off.
Itch ain't got the funds to last for months while looking for a new processor with zero income.
alternative to stripe exist, they just aren't popular due to monopolization and ease of access [and probly favorable teams due to monopoly status.]
3thix reachsd out in email and in the forums, a payment processor happy to do stuff with nsfw. Oh hey look! An alternative that always existed and could've been taken all along! Waow it's almost like Itch didn't try
Event if they were pressured by puritanical cults such as collective shout they shouldn't bend . The reality is that they were just waiting for a occasion to try censoring some website. Master card and Visa are just to big for Collective Shout to put pressure on. They agreed to see if they can threaten other website in the future. Everything happening right now is just a big experiment.
what was itch's choice is the following.
Try to hide the censoring by deindexing and telling nobody. They only told us after we raised a fuss about it and demanded answers.
Removing games that aren't at all related to porn, like Mouthwashing, a game about consent [no porn, period] and some random lgbt stuff [also no porn]
Hiding behind "were small and no other payment processors exist!" [They do. 3thix reached out to them not long ago in fact]
They aren't blameless, don't act like they are
1 is nonsense, they had to remove it on the spot and nobody was "told" about it because people instantly noticed.
2 is literally shit the processors have pushed. They don't care about removing porn, they care about eradicating queer people.
3.1 is objectively true
3.2 is not quite as true but isn't something you state outright until you actually have something lined up.
Keep in mind that with literally all of this they have to balance out the fact that the processors may lash out at literally anything they think itch does wrong.
1 is nonsense... From you. Great job, bet you lickc e621s boots as well when their responses to the grilling eventually gave rise to the fact they were lying frorm go! Itch already has a tortious interference case if they gave a shit [they dont], if it truly was "DO IT NOW NOW" no warning... Wow, buddy, you're so blunt a stoner would try to smoke you
2. Nope. They wanted nsfw explicitly gone. Nothing about Mouthwashing. Nothing about the game about consent. Nothing about random lgbt games with no porn.
3 is just trust fullstop. If the payment processors want to lash out unjust, tortious interference laws. Read up my dood.
I don't mean this in a harsh way, but you genuinely do not know what you're talking about.
You're welcome to provide any proof that itch was lying, though.
Also, the point of these puritanical cults has literally always been the eradication of queer people. It's why these same cults try to push the idea that being queer is inherently sexual.
