Suspicious Kickstarter

@Swampert: That article sums it all up beautifully. I actually just shared it on my Facebook,.

what he said. Kickstarter letting this project and other projects that seem to be bad ideas in the first place pretty much threw whatever integrity they once had into the trash. And even when this wasn't around, the fact that I've read of other promising projects that were rejected from Kickstarter for no good reason means that Kickstarter is far from perfect and any insinuation that they had integrity to begin with should be thrown out the window.

Huh, really? Is Indiegogo better?

Apparently not, since Susan Wilson made quite a few similar projects on there and was able to get the money despite the lack of success due to the flexible funding option.

Well in some ways yeah. For one, there's no approval process in Indiegogo, which means there's no chance of your project being declined if it didn't meet their (possibly vague) standards. This guy mentioned a project that he tried to put up in Kickstarter: a $500 project for an open source board for making a generic USB game pad device out of any collection of buttons, switches, and joysticks you may have. According to him, Kickstarter declined it for no apparent reason, and when pushed for a reason, they responded that Kickstarter's for "creative arts projects." He mentions that there's a bunch of clone projects out there lying within the site as an aside, thus putting the whole "creative arts project" thing into question.

Later, he mentions how Kickstarter is "super shady" in that their policies on what makes a good project change over the years. His description is quoted below:

Basically, Indiegogo's better because there's less bullshit.

edited 29th Mar '13 8:42:36 PM by Nettacki

Do you have any links to information the guy assembled about his proposed device?

The posts I linked are the only ones I have of his Kickstarter-project-that-could-have-been. Or did you mean something more specific, like a website?

I notice that some people in that article aren't necessarily defending the Kickstarter, but rather attacking the overly critical "lynch mob" mentality of the people who criticized the Kickstarter. This person, for example.

I think the idea is that people who aren't unscrupulous enough to do what this lady is allegedly doing are mad that she can apparently "get away with it." That's certainly where i find it objectionable. If it were that easy, i could slap together an idea for a web-toon or something, claim i was 40 and that my 11 year old autistic kid was making it, and get mad sympathy moneys and cash out.

It's about fairness and integrity. If everyone generally isn't allowed to do this, what makes her so special?

Hmm. Sounds like they're defending it as well. "It's very unlikely to be a scam, and even if it were, so what? No reason anyone should care."

Because people's money is being taken?

Yeah, but read further. He said this:

He just sounds like a self-righteous higher-than-thou moralfag.

Like some people say (not me): Why care if people's money is being taken? It's not your money (and if you're complaining about the Kickstarter, chances are, you're not paying up anyway), so it shouldn't be a concern.

edited 31st Mar '13 3:06:48 PM by Nettacki

Anyway, I do feel like he has a point. Internet lynch mobs, whether they are well-intentioned or not, can be rather vicious, almost as much as a real life lynch mob even thanks to the anonymity allowing them to act like a dick without worry of needing repentance.

That's true to an extent, but I think it's a good thing for people to get upset over scams. The alternative is...not so good. And honestly, expecting people to not get upset over them is just fucking ridiculous.

It is a good thing to be upset over a scam, but it is NOT okay to be calling for blood over it.

edited 1st Apr '13 12:55:55 PM by 0dd1

Sometimes that kind of response is needed, certainly not to the point of death threats but a strong sense of moral outrage puts pressure on the people involved to do something about it. As well it causes some alert to the general public about what kind of scams are out there and keeps them informed.

The issue is that the attacks are half of what's allowing her to play the victim card so successfully. If more people stayed rational then news sources would actually be hearing more of the concerns and wouldn't be portraying the issue sympathetically to all the people on the internet who haven't heard that there's an issue. At this point, Kickstarter really can't even cancel the project without some solid evidence against her since they'd get so much flak from the people who had only heard the "internet attacks 9 year old girl and mother for no good reason" part of the story.

The guy who attacked the lynch-mob mentality of the critics gave me an explanation behind his side of the argument. I'm still trying to come up with a half-decent rebuttal without getting riled up over the fact that he just called me a self-righteous idiot even though I never supported the other idiots who said those crappy death threats.

well, insults generally invite insults.

plus, insulting someone in the middle of an arguement sends a firm message to them that you're on the opposite side. because the opposite side are also insulting him. and you never stated your neutrality, and simply told him to explain himself. thus, he has no reason to doubt you're on the opposite side.

edited 2nd Apr '13 4:33:58 PM by Tarsen

This should be a discussion, not an argument. He's making it an argument by his own insults. Not that we should fling insults back. We just remain the bigger people and don't take the bait.

Dude, abort. There is no chance to survive, make your time.

Well, it's certainly obvious to me that he's a total fuckwad. It's best to just ignore people like that, they literally have nothing of value to say.

Annnnnd it sounds like this is now rapidly approaching "exporting drama". The thread has ceased to have any purpose beyond bitching about people on other sites.

Locking it up.