Support
Please subscribe to The Yellow Light; the Subscriber tier is free. Everyone at every tier will get an email whenever The Yellow Light publishes a new article or episode of the podcast, The Yellow Light Sound. The articles, the podcast, and the Discord server will remain open to everyone.
The Yellow Light appreciates any further help you can provide. This will help me to dedicate all my time to the essays and the podcast, with a goal to include interviews in the near future.
In the fall of 2025, I plan to have a private podcast series with participation from paying members on Patreon. Because Patreon processes sales taxes and VAT, it is the only feasible choice.
Direct Support
In addition to an article and a podcast episode every week, The Yellow Light aims to do deeper research and, someday, interviews. If you would like The Yellow Light to continue and to create more content, then you can help by upgrading your subscription to a higher level. Additionally, anyone can make a one-off donation.
I left academia, foolishly worked with AI, then decided to dedicate my talents to analysis, writing, and education for the widest audience. Travel is expensive, as is living. I never had a well-paying job (you don’t get rich with political science when you’re not a tenured professor), and so I live pretty modestly. I won’t lie and say you’re helping to feed my cat or dog. You’ll just help me pay to get my bike tuned up more than once a year. (That’s bike as in gears, cassettes, and derailleurs—not a motorcycle.)
Donations and recurring payments through this website (via Stripe) won’t incur sales tax or VAT. These pledges maximize your contribution with minimal processing fees.
If you would like to receive the benefits that are slated for the fall of 2025 (such as the private podcast and participation in podcast episodes), you may want to consider pledging on Patreon.
Benefits
You can also become a supporter on Patreon and receive benefits when they go live in the fall of 2025. Regular updates still go out to subscribers of this site, and getting on Patreon should send a subscription link to this site if you are not already subscribed. (This will go the email address of your Patreon account.)
On Patreon’s basic tier and up, paying members will be able to access the audio part of the chat room on Discord and the private podcast, The Yellow Light Club. At higher levels, supporters can participate in live recordings of discussions for a special episode of the private podcast every month.
Taxes
Because Patreon members pay for benefits, Patreon may levy a sales tax or VAT. Legally, online commerce must pay its share.
Certain perks and digital goods can be liable for sales taxes or VAT in a given territory. It is not feasible to deliver those benefits if supporters pay through Stripe (which is the payment portal here on Ghost websites, Buy Me a Coffee, and Substack).
If I use Stripe for taxable benefits, then I have to collect and remit taxes to every jurisdiction where I have nexus. Physical presence counts, as does a minimum of transactions. If I reach a geographically diverse audience, then handling taxes will become very complicated very quickly because tax laws apply where the paying customers live.
Stripe Tax may calculate and charge taxes, but it does not remit them. The seller or creator must register with the local tax authorities in every Canadian province, US state, or country where a paying member lives. Then, the creator would have an obligation to remit taxes regularly to each of those jurisdictions.
Content creators who use Stripe directly with Buy Me a Coffee or Substack or even Ghost may not charge taxes, but if the creator has taxable benefits, then the safe option is to put the taxable benefits on Patreon.
Card Usage and Safety
If you get tired of having to reset all of your payment details because someone stole your card details and the bank canceled your card, then these tips may help.
When going out and about the safest way to use a card is through wireless connections or inserting your card into a chip reader. The chip in the card will calculate a special number, and it will use that number to authorize only one transaction. It’s impossible to copy the card.
The stripe on a card, the thing that gets detected when you swipe? That isn’t secure. Sneaky criminals can put so-called skimmers on top of card readers at stores or bank ATMs. Anyone can make a duplicate card or buy things online with the information.
You can show extra care when entering your information online by looking for a secure connection. When a website begins with “https://” you know it is safe because the s stands for secure.
If a payment system such as Stripe offers to link your bank account, that is simpler than and no riskier than using a debit card. A debit card does not provide the buffer that a credit card does. Once you make a “purchase,” the funds will be drawn from your bank account just the same.
Records
If you contribute direct support through this website, Stripe alone will handle financial data as per its privacy policy. This is true even when Sae Ong Jee Ma LLC is the merchant of record. If you become a member on Patreon, then Patreon becomes the merchant of record and processes payments in accordance with its privacy policy.