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on December 13
Tom Parker
backed a project
Don't Go Back to School: A handbook for learning anything by Kio Stark
A how-to guide for independent learning, with concrete strategies plus stories of people who learn on their own and how they do it.
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268% funded $38,928 pledged
- 1,588 backers
- Funded Dec 15, 2011
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on December 5
Tom Parker
commented on a project updateThat's great. Congratulations.
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on August 18
Tom Parker
commented on a project@Julia, is this a pending transaction or an actual charge? Is your Amazon Payments account new? Did you do this through an existing Amazon account, or just use a credit card to pay? $1 is a very typical authorization amount used to verify that the card is valid. If the transaction is pending, then it's just an authorization.
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on August 18
Tom Parker
backed a project
Orbit: A Swiveling Smartphone Suction Mount by Jon Norton & Joe Molinari
The Orbit defines what a smartphone mount should be, offering infinite adjustability and zero frustration. Form and function delivered.
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253% funded $63,457 pledged
- 1,882 backers
- Funded Oct 05, 2011
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on August 17
Tom Parker
commented on a project@Christopher I really think Craig had something to do with it. Steven might have thought he'd snag a quick two grand initially but got spooked once it turned out to be easy to track him down on the 'net.
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on August 17
Tom Parker
commented on a project@Tim Dorey It really isn't set up to prevent scamming. It's set up to promote project success -- that is, if you don't reach the goal you say you need to make it all happen, then the project isn't funded at all. That's a safeguard for legit projects, but doesn't prevent a scam project from being funded. Kickstarter really is about fan-oriented projects; projects where their is a community of supporters that provides some legitimacy to the effort. Lately, Kickstarter has become a platform for some high profile product launches, like Lunatik, where a ton of people who had never heard of the project creator come here to buy some gadget. The Lunatik project has very interesting comments where people were upset that their reward (that didn't exist yet) weren't delivered in three weeks so they had them by Christmas. It's not hard to identify an iffy project. Look at the creators. Have they done something like this before? Are they unknowns? Do they have anything to show for their alleged progress so far? I'm surprised anyone backed that Freeq project when the creators identified themselves only as the Singularity. Back people, not profiles.
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on August 17
Tom Parker
commented on a project@Scott Stefan, no post was deleted. That indicates that DDDD has deleted his Kickstarter profile. It seems his first Kickstarter experience is his last. Unfortunate.
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on August 17
Tom Parker
commented on a project@DDDD The basic facts lead me to believe this was a con. I think that's why the project was abruptly canceled and the creator account deleted. (The other explanation is that someone provided Kickstarter proof that the patent claim was false and they decided the project violated their terms of use.) As cool as it is to think about, I don't believe that an unknown with no track record found a way to produce a programmable, wireless wall outlet control for a fraction of the cost of the major players. I'd love to be proven wrong and have Steven's website pop up in a couple weeks for real but I think it's unlikely. Even looking at the basic story -- that they'd been at this for two years, were working on UL testing, FCC testing, had done their patent filings, but couldn't come up with a final $2,000 for an initial production run and had no prototypes to show us from their 2 year's of effort -- it just doesn't add up. @Anthony V My guess is that someone thought this would be an easy scam. As I said below, there are no guarantees here. I find it hard to see someone going to jail for this. You'd never be able to prove that it was a case of intent to defraud rather than just some very bad math that led to the project not being completed.
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on August 17
Tom Parker
commented on a project@DDDD Sorry if I misunderstood "Did anyone actually see a charge? You have 6 months to challenge a charge on a credit card anyway and whoever charged the amount would have to justify it with documentation. They would also get a chargeback fee per challenge," as being concerned about whether you were charged or not. Yes, anyone can put up a project that meets the terms of service and raise as much money as people are willing to pledge. For those of us who have been here longer than a week, we understand that this is a system primarily driven by the project creator's community and reputation. There are no guarantees here. You are backing somebody's dream and hopefully they make good on it. It's not Best Buy. That said, after backing more than 20 projects the track record here is pretty good. I've seen two projects canceled, a couple didn't get funded, and 80 to 90% of the successful projects have fulfilled their rewards. The remaining ones seem to be in progress. There are one or two I think might flake out. That's the nature of this transaction. Despite how some people characterize their rewards, you are NOT buying something here. You're backing somebody's idea. They promise to give you something. As in the real world, sometimes the pay-off isn't there. Kickstarter isn't going to be doing an due diligence on these projects. Their terms are very clear. Claiming that they verify a project's ability to perform takes on liability that they have no control over. It won't happen.
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on August 17
Tom Parker
commented on a project@Scott I was one of the eight. I pledged *because* of the comments. I didn't want to miss this -- $20 is cheaper than a night at the movies and this looked way more entertaining. ;-)
Tom Parker
Portland, OR
Tom has been an avid motorcyclist since he was twelve years old and interested in filmmaking for almost as long. He brought his two great loves together in his first film, The Fowler Formula, about motorcycle racers in the Pacific Northwest who compet... view more
