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[Ted Belmont]

I'm not sure what your point is in linking that tweet. To me, it seems like she really has no idea what she's doing(which her previous, failed kickstarter would attest to), which kind of conflicts with the whole "evil rich lady scamming Kickstarter out of mad ca$$$h" theory that Reddit is pushing.

[Classic]

I don't think "clueless rich lady scamming Kickstart out of mad ca$$$h" reads any better, and is a small enough narrative leap that it can be made without anyone noticing.

[A²]

It makes my absolute skin crawl to have to exist in the same remote universe as most of Reddit.
EDIT: To clarify the above statement, in no way to I endorse Reddit's war on everything that isn't Reddit, and I also am extremely creeped out upon learning that the source of the first findings of this thing were from MRA. Believe me, I researched what I could once I found the source was MRA to make sure it wasn't the crazy fuckers who populate that shithole mad that girls don't like their fedoras again.

Not knowing what she's doing runs up against the fact that it's apparently her job to raise money - she even has her own site for this, which is why her handle is "FundHer", that's the site. It's possible she's that wildly incompetent, I mean, Sony exists as a fucking shining beacon of that, but I'm not saying she's basically Dark Lord Necron here.

I'm arguing she's exploiting her kids for cheap gain and has no real idea how to scam properly, so it just comes off as sad.

[Ted Belmont]

Well, Lyrai, it looks like you were right. Sorry for doubting you. She is a fraud.

Which I guess means the MRAs were right, too! Broken clock, and all that.

[Ted Belmont]

Anyway, here's a good one: precision-weighted solid metal gaming dice. You can get them in aluminum, stainless steel, copper, brass, or titanium.

I backed her previous Kickstarter, and I can attest to the quality of the dice. I got a pair of stainless steel "casino-style" dice; they're quite heavy and solid, although unfortunately, as I have neither a dice table nor carpet, I can only use them for display purposes. These dice are made to be playable on just about any surface.

Also, math!

[Zaratustra]

If a woman is a crook, MRAs will hound her to the ends of the earth! Also if she isn't.

[Brentai]

I keep reading MRA as MRE and it makes every post with that term so much better.

[Büge]

Zef made some good point about it over on Talking Time:

To me, this is the exact same situation as the Tropes Vs. Women kickstarter:

* Someone starts a well-meaning project (helping a 9 year-old fund herself via Kickstarter) with a tinge of gender politics (proving her brothers wrong, and, as a bonus, promoting the cause for women in the tech industry.)

* The Kickstarter's original, modest goal is reached very early in its lifetime. Meantime, it attracts attention from major donors and industry people.

* The Kickstarter keeps getting funded. It gets far more funds than the creators know what to do with.

* Outside commentators (probably NOT the backers, or else they wouldn't have backed it in the first place) convince themselves there's something fishy going on with the Kickstarter, so they dig up as much dirt as possible to prove themselves right.

* Before the creator can even get a word in, the internet judges her guilty of everything it can think of, and rallies the troops.

* Cue death threats, scamming accusations, hugely gendered verbal violence, and, well, MRAs and redditors being MRAs and redditors.

Going over the Kickstarter site myself, I see nothing wrong with it. I'll have to take it on faith that the girl really DID propose raising her own money for the camp, and do so without any help from her mother other than to set up the KS in the first place. Unfortunately, the internet decided that these good intentions were all a lie, and without giving them a chance to explain, judged the mother a deadbeat and a scammer --again, highly reminiscent of the Sarkeesian debacle. But AFAIK, once you've backed a KS project, you're free to withdraw your backing right up until one second before the fundraiser closes, no? So it means that those (as of this writing) 1269 backers and their $22,776 still believe in the project and are willing to stick with it. So what business is it to ANYONE ELSE whether the project has overshot its goal, and what business is it to ANYONE ELSE what the extra funds will be used for? The only ones who should care are the ones putting their money "at risk," and like Kickstarter's TOS state, they're the ones who judge the validity of the project and the worth of its goals. And again, the fact the $22k are still there speaks louder than any criticism.

Still, the very thought that the internet outrage brigade is coming down on a 9 year-old and her mother with its usual misogynist violence is very much Last Bullet material.

If you say that a parent is responsible for their children's projects, then I'll remind you that the child in question did NOT want her parent's money, and that the camp is not essential to the child's education, development, or well-being. Saying that this parent should have financed camp from the beginning means that children who ask their parents for help building a lemonade stand should just skip the whole deal and ask their parents for the toy they were saving up for.

[Ted Belmont]

Except for the fact that she's already tried to scam people through IndieGoGo.

[patito]

The problem though, is that the mother does seem to have actual history of fishy businesses and kickstarters, so it's possible she's actually taking advantage of a good cause to raise money for herself. Thus devaluing future trust in such projects.

[A²]

The problem though, is that the mother does seem to have actual history of fishy businesses and kickstarters, so it's possible she's actually taking advantage of a good cause to raise money for herself. Thus devaluing future trust in such projects.

This is the point that incenses me the most. Thanks for making it that much harder, you fetid pile of shit. Your kids are going to be thrilled when they grow up and read all this about you.

EDIT: The NeoGAF thread, a place decidedly more free from MRAs, seems to keep digging up dirt. Some of it is speculative, but the gist is the iphone credit card case is barely the first time she's tried to questionably raise money from Kickstarter/IGG

[patito]

I mean, granted this could be the one time she's being sincere and she actually just thought of helping her kid, but you know, the boy who cried wolf and all that.

[TA]

I mean, granted this could be the one time she's being sincere and she actually just thought of helping her kid, but you know, the boy who cried wolf and all that.

I can't help but feel like if it were sincere, she mighta tried doing it through FundHer.  You know, the women-only crowdfunding site that she created and runs.

[Beat Bandit]

* The Kickstarter keeps getting funded. It gets far more funds than the creators know what to do with.

This goes out the window when you remind yourself she had a five-slot $10,000 donation level.

Going over the Kickstarter site myself, I see nothing wrong with it. I'll have to take it on faith that the girl really DID propose raising her own money for the camp, and do so without any help from her mother other than to set up the KS in the first place.

"Well, I don't see the defendant actively murdering anyone in the court room today. I don't get why people keep bringing up this 'evidence' of her in the past doing exactly what they try to claim she did this time."

So it means that those (as of this writing) 1269 backers and their $22,776 still believe in the project and are willing to stick with it. So what business is it to ANYONE ELSE whether the project has overshot its goal, and what business is it to ANYONE ELSE what the extra funds will be used for? The only ones who should care are the ones putting their money "at risk," and like Kickstarter's TOS state, they're the ones who judge the validity of the project and the worth of its goals. And again, the fact the $22k are still there speaks louder than any criticism.

Why try to give people information if they're perfectly happy making decisions without it, right?

[Ocksi]

threatening to rape a 9 year old is giving them information.

[Beat Bandit]

Apparently I haven't been paying enough attention to the stretch goals if that pertains to "what extra funds will be used for".

[Beat Bandit]

Regardless of the outcome, it's clear that at least one child's school life was sacrificed for this project.

Kickstarter Update

[Ted Belmont]

Richard Broadwater has been trying to get a line of action figures based on urban legends off the ground since the late 90s. He's tried a couple of different kickstarter projects, and finally one took off: an urban legends tactical card game, with the action figures as optional pieces for the game.

It's worth noting that the full, boxed version of the card game will only be available if the project hits the 30k stretch goal, but that's due to the low project goal he started with.

[Royal☭]

A friend of mine is trying to get funding to make a music video for his band. He's only about $350 away from his funding goal with about five days left. Plus, he has a friend who is matching contributions. Help him out, yo.

[Thad]

Robin Snyder has set up a kickstarter to put The Ditko Public Service Package #2 (a satire of the comics industry as it stood in 1991) back into print.

It's already well on its way and looks like it'll well exceed the goal.  But I think it could set a great damn precedent.  Most people don't know that Ditko's still working steadily, and it's a bit of a hassle to get your hands on his new work.  I'm hoping Snyder starts to see Kickstarter as a long-term solution to those problems.

Bissette just put up a fantastic Gorgo/Ditko post, so I figure I should go ahead and remind people of this thing one more time.  It's reached its goals, but I'm just looking at some of the incentives -- I've been meaning to grab some of Ditko's work in The Comics! for years anyway, and this looks like a great way to do that.  $20 (plus $5 shipping) will get you the Public Service Package plus a selection of The Comics back issues; another $10 will get you an issue of The 32 Series.  And, lest we forget, your money will actually be going to Ditko himself, unlike when you buy a Spider-Man comic.

I'm sorely tempted; I just found out I've got to replace my damn radiator, but it looks like this Kickstarter closes right around the time I'll be getting my first paycheck and I think I can swing it.

Done and fucking done; indeed, after a careful reread of the incentives I went ahead and threw in for the highest one.  Because that's a lot of Ditko for a pretty reasonable price.

I've been meaning to throw Snyder and Ditko some money for literally years and it feels good to finally get around to doing it.  Nice to be able to do shit like this; I sure missed having a job.