Patreon is a relationship processor that handles some elements of some relationships with content hosting and payment processing.

I don't think it's unreasonable to distinguish between what Patreon does and basic PP. Users are paying for access to the package - which includes removal of PP friction - not just for a basic PP service.

So they also provide a service that imgur, catbox.moe, google drive, and others do for free?

Yes. Creators should upload content to Imgur and ask supporters to pay them directly through PayPal. That’s a fantastic alternative to Patreon.

I mean, he's right. all these file-sharing services like dropbox merely exist because the general public doesn't know how to use something like bittorrent.

Maybe you can grift off of that ignorance for a while, but that doesn't mean it's a sustainable business model.

I think you're missing the forest for the trees.

You can apply a variance of that philosophy onto EVERYTHING.

"Automatic transmission merely exists because the general public doesn't know how to use something like manual transmission"

"Calculators merely exist because the general public doesn't know how to use something like a slide ruler"

Note, these are analogies, I'm not saying Patreon is as innovative or world-significant as either. But it IS optimized for a very specific use case, and it does it incredibly well.