5 ms·

Kickstarter Project Canceled After Dude Spends All the Money

10 points by avty 13y ago

nahcub 13y ago
Kickstarter shouldn't be considered anything more than a donation, with the possibility of getting something at the end. The model has flourished because of the simplicity of it, and involving contractual agreements in the sponsoring process would simply complicate it and scare away potential donors. One should support Kickstarter projects because they want to see a project flourish, and the rewards should be an afterthought.
- GhotiFish 13y ago
  while I agree with that, I can't help but feel if you're getting public money, your product should be public, and oh so many of them are not. Sometimes the upshot of donating to a kicstarter project, is that the public can later buy it. yay?
pallandt 13y ago
This is the real, full post that edge-runner just links to: http://valleywag.gawker.com/kickstarter-project-canceled-after-dude-spends-all-the-912176282 http://valleywag.gawker.com/kickstarter-project-canceled-aft... Also, the original link/site is 503 now, so try my link directly instead.
- wikiburner 13y ago
  The saying "consider the source" comes to mind. Valleywag has to be the most disreputable "news outlet" in tech, which is truly saying something. PG banned it for a reason.
  - pallandt 13y ago
    It's true...but in this case it seems the story indeed originated there and appears to have some credibility. I figured people might at least want to know what project it referenced and a minimum of a backstory.
    - wikiburner 13y ago
      Fair enough.
  - zmitri 13y ago
    I understand why they are banned -- a lot of their stories are sourced from hear say and aren't written with professional courtesy -- that being said, they actually do publish a lot of interesting articles that others just aren't willing publish because of their ties to the valley and partner relationships. That guy Sam Biddle digs really hard (sometimes into the dirt) and sources a lot of stuff others don't. When you drill down to it, the fact that PandoDaily's investors are also investors in a lot of the companies they report is a pretty big issue -- perhaps one that makes them disreputable? What about the fact that sometimes articles on TechCrunch are essentially large snippets of what a founder has just wrote to the writer in an email? There's a lot of bias in tech news, it just depends who's side you're looking at it from.
    - wikiburner 13y ago
      I understand what you're saying, but I respectfully disagree. I can't really speak to PandoDaily's ethics specifically, but between the dozens of media outlets who cover the sector who are brutally duking it out for pageviews, the idea that they are all pulling punches that would earn them hundreds of thousands of readers smacks of a conspiracy theory. The "Truth to Power" argument I'm sure they would make really looks like the refuge of a scoundrel when you look at the majority of their output - it's selling sex, sleaze, snark, and cynicism. All of these are just from the last week or so, and I think it would be tough to defend most of them: http://valleywag.gawker.com/google-boss-enjoys-15-mil-manhattan-sex-penthouse-909299764 http://valleywag.gawker.com/google-boss-enjoys-15-mil-manhat... http://valleywag.gawker.com/sean-parkers-wedding-tackier-than-we-ever-dreamt-991606651 http://valleywag.gawker.com/sean-parkers-wedding-tackier-tha... http://valleywag.gawker.com/silicon-valley-gets-4th-on-demand-laundry-startup-963298251 http://valleywag.gawker.com/silicon-valley-gets-4th-on-deman... http://valleywag.gawker.com/the-startup-crowd-is-becoming-an-actual-cult-926164987 http://valleywag.gawker.com/the-startup-crowd-is-becoming-an... http://valleywag.gawker.com/path-app-creator-calls-spanish-train-crash-a-message-949888571 http://valleywag.gawker.com/path-app-creator-calls-spanish-t... http://valleywag.gawker.com/you-can-still-view-eric-schmdits-deleted-instagram-pro-923748082 http://valleywag.gawker.com/you-can-still-view-eric-schmdits... http://valleywag.gawker.com/the-many-women-of-eric-schmidts-instagram-913796517 http://valleywag.gawker.com/the-many-women-of-eric-schmidts-...
japaget 13y ago
Link to the Kickstarter post for the project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/forkingpath/the-doom-that-came-to-atlantic-city?ref=live http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/forkingpath/the-doom-tha...
weisser 13y ago
Amanda Palmer got similar flack for using some of the money raised to pay off personal debts but at least she fulfilled all of her backer's rewards.
- wikiburner 13y ago
  Just curious, how was that revealed? Kickstarter recipients aren't required to reveal the accounting of how they spend the proceeds, are they? Did she voluntarily disclose to her backers that she was paying off personal debts?
  - molecule 13y ago
    yes. > to put a number on all of that behind-the-scenes stuff which just got us to DAY ONE of kickstarter: $250,000. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amandapalmer/amanda-palmer-the-new-record-art-book-and-tour/posts/232020 http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amandapalmer/amanda-palm...
smoyer 13y ago
You have to admire that he plans to pay refunds over time by "getting a job". I hope he sticks to that plan and I can guarantee that people will admire his character when they find out what he's doing.
elnate 13y ago
Have they considered open sourcing what they've done already?

10 points by avty 13y ago

Kickstarter shouldn't be considered anything more than a donation, with the possibility of getting something at the end. The model has flourished because of the simplicity of it, and involving contractual agreements in the sponsoring process would simply complicate it and scare away potential donors. One should support Kickstarter projects because they want to see a project flourish, and the rewards should be an afterthought.

GhotiFish 13y ago
while I agree with that, I can't help but feel if you're getting public money, your product should be public, and oh so many of them are not. Sometimes the upshot of donating to a kicstarter project, is that the public can later buy it. yay?

pallandt 13y ago

This is the real, full post that edge-runner just links to: http://valleywag.gawker.com/kickstarter-project-canceled-after-dude-spends-all-the-912176282 http://valleywag.gawker.com/kickstarter-project-canceled-aft... Also, the original link/site is 503 now, so try my link directly instead.

wikiburner 13y ago
The saying "consider the source" comes to mind. Valleywag has to be the most disreputable "news outlet" in tech, which is truly saying something. PG banned it for a reason.
- pallandt 13y ago
  It's true...but in this case it seems the story indeed originated there and appears to have some credibility. I figured people might at least want to know what project it referenced and a minimum of a backstory.
  - wikiburner 13y ago
    Fair enough.
- zmitri 13y ago
  I understand why they are banned -- a lot of their stories are sourced from hear say and aren't written with professional courtesy -- that being said, they actually do publish a lot of interesting articles that others just aren't willing publish because of their ties to the valley and partner relationships. That guy Sam Biddle digs really hard (sometimes into the dirt) and sources a lot of stuff others don't. When you drill down to it, the fact that PandoDaily's investors are also investors in a lot of the companies they report is a pretty big issue -- perhaps one that makes them disreputable? What about the fact that sometimes articles on TechCrunch are essentially large snippets of what a founder has just wrote to the writer in an email? There's a lot of bias in tech news, it just depends who's side you're looking at it from.
  - wikiburner 13y ago
    I understand what you're saying, but I respectfully disagree. I can't really speak to PandoDaily's ethics specifically, but between the dozens of media outlets who cover the sector who are brutally duking it out for pageviews, the idea that they are all pulling punches that would earn them hundreds of thousands of readers smacks of a conspiracy theory. The "Truth to Power" argument I'm sure they would make really looks like the refuge of a scoundrel when you look at the majority of their output - it's selling sex, sleaze, snark, and cynicism. All of these are just from the last week or so, and I think it would be tough to defend most of them: http://valleywag.gawker.com/google-boss-enjoys-15-mil-manhattan-sex-penthouse-909299764 http://valleywag.gawker.com/google-boss-enjoys-15-mil-manhat... http://valleywag.gawker.com/sean-parkers-wedding-tackier-than-we-ever-dreamt-991606651 http://valleywag.gawker.com/sean-parkers-wedding-tackier-tha... http://valleywag.gawker.com/silicon-valley-gets-4th-on-demand-laundry-startup-963298251 http://valleywag.gawker.com/silicon-valley-gets-4th-on-deman... http://valleywag.gawker.com/the-startup-crowd-is-becoming-an-actual-cult-926164987 http://valleywag.gawker.com/the-startup-crowd-is-becoming-an... http://valleywag.gawker.com/path-app-creator-calls-spanish-train-crash-a-message-949888571 http://valleywag.gawker.com/path-app-creator-calls-spanish-t... http://valleywag.gawker.com/you-can-still-view-eric-schmdits-deleted-instagram-pro-923748082 http://valleywag.gawker.com/you-can-still-view-eric-schmdits... http://valleywag.gawker.com/the-many-women-of-eric-schmidts-instagram-913796517 http://valleywag.gawker.com/the-many-women-of-eric-schmidts-...

japaget 13y ago

Link to the Kickstarter post for the project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/forkingpath/the-doom-that-came-to-atlantic-city?ref=live http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/forkingpath/the-doom-tha...

weisser 13y ago

Amanda Palmer got similar flack for using some of the money raised to pay off personal debts but at least she fulfilled all of her backer's rewards.

wikiburner 13y ago
Just curious, how was that revealed? Kickstarter recipients aren't required to reveal the accounting of how they spend the proceeds, are they? Did she voluntarily disclose to her backers that she was paying off personal debts?
- molecule 13y ago
  yes. > to put a number on all of that behind-the-scenes stuff which just got us to DAY ONE of kickstarter: $250,000. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amandapalmer/amanda-palmer-the-new-record-art-book-and-tour/posts/232020 http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amandapalmer/amanda-palm...

smoyer 13y ago

You have to admire that he plans to pay refunds over time by "getting a job". I hope he sticks to that plan and I can guarantee that people will admire his character when they find out what he's doing.

elnate 13y ago

Have they considered open sourcing what they've done already?