Ok so I read this here article earlier about how Gizmodo is SO OVER Kickstarter which linked to this Gawker article that was also about how terrible Kickstarter is. And then I started thinking about Kickstarter. And I think we should talk about Kickstarter for a minute. Cuz what else have we got to do?

Anyway I MOSTLY agree with these articles that basically say man, ###### Kickstarter. It's a good idea ruined by a million terrible projects. I remember years ago when a few people were first experimenting with crowd funding and it occurred to me one could possibly finance a low budget motion picture in this way. Why not put the script online, show everyone what you're doing every step of the way and let them pre-order the DVD for $20 before you shoot? And then everyone on Earth started doing this with whatever dumb idea they had and I now my eyes glaze over as I scroll past a million recommended Kickstarters every day on twitter. I had never even thought about the fact that so many either don't pan out or are just outright frauds. But then I've only ever funded one project, for a gallery and performance space I frequent to move into a larger space. The directors are friends of mine, they do good work and it'll be good for the street they're moving to. They have a lot of support beyond Kickstarter and I expect it to happen, and even if not it's basically like donating to PBS, I don't mind supporting what they're doing.

These articles are mostly about failed gadget-based projects, but the thing they don't address is that I think it's still a great platform for art. Sure that "anime" about battling Satan's army or whatever sounds terrible, but that's up to the people who fund it to decide. The problem is when people don't follow through. But for small projects, and established artists trying to do something new? I think it's a great way to finance a record or a comic book or something. And it's effectively no different from producing something based on preorders, just a different platform.

You know what, I don't even know where I'm going with this, other than that Kickstarted is kinda great but also really stupid and I wanted to complain about it. Does anyone have any experience on either side of it?

I supported a local web design, independent band, and art festival here in Cleveland, OH call Weapons of Mass Creation Fest (http://wmcfest.com) the 1st year they wanted to have the event via Kickstarter. I know the guy that was organizing it and I didn't mind helping out. If you donated you also got one free ticket to the event if they got enough money to fund it. They ended up getting enough funding and now the event is being organized for its 3rd year.

I have seen a few other projects in the Kickstarter newsletter I get that looked promising, but I have to admit that a lot of them don't interest me. I have also seen people just seeming to ask for money for no real reason. These remind me of the people on eBay asking you to bid on their MacBook listing for them to get a MacBook. They state that you are not buying a MacBook, but instead donating money to them, since they are a poor college student that needs one for their education.

I can see where Kickstarter could become a place for people to try to scam people and get money for their own good. I can also see where people would have stupid ideas that they would like to get funded. I guess it is up to the people funding them to decide if they are stupid and vote with their wallets. I don't think Kickstarter is terrible, but lots of people might be ruining it by trying to get money for stupid ideas or scams.

I have never thought about using it for any of my ideas and I would probably think that my ideas were too dumb to ask for money, but I guess other people don't care and put their good or bad ideas out there. I just wonder how many projects don't make it on Kickstarter and what happens to the money if the project isn't funded or fails?

So here's a pretty reasonable use of Kickstarter.

Nice. We need to come up with something to raise money for on Kickstarter. I have always wanted an exotic car. Do you think someone will fund my project called "Daddy Needs a Lambo!"? All I need is $250,000 to $400,000 to make my dream come true. I will even take it in rainbow colors if it makes Jessi happy. hehe...