I've kickstarted a few things, but only with tiny amounts ($24 and $12) and only for things that I couldn't find in the open market. I think Kickstarter has gre

I've kickstarted a few things, but only with tiny amounts ($24 and $12) and only for things that I couldn't find in the open market. I think Kickstarter has great potential and has brought about numerous things, but just like any tool it's got people who know how to use it and do well, and people who don't and blow their foot off. This goes both ways: A lot of the large kickstarters that make the news usually have gotten gobs more money than they ever thought possible from way more backers than they thought they would get. Then they're buying offices, cars, some fancy headquarters and all this other bullshit they didn't need. Were I to do that, not one sodding penny is going anywhere that isn't directly related to getting my backers what they paid for. I get that kickstarter isn't a store (people love to say that) and it's a risk, but just because the risk isn't yours doesn't mean you shouldn't mitigate it. You're spending other people's money for Christ's sake. By the same token, there were a lot of people who got burned on obviously fake/impossible projects but quite frankly, that falls into the category of stupid tax for me. A fool and his money are soon parted, etc. etc. I do wish there were more legal routes for burned backers though, in the current system the backers are taking all the risk and if someone's kickstarter goes tits up they just walk away, usually hardly affected (and potentially Internet famous). I understand that's the risk involved, but it effectively puts the people in charge of decisions in charge of managing the risk taken by people they have no legal obligations too, which never goes well. (See the Banking collapse.)