Kickstarter is a great tool for funding projects that are worthy of being an idea, and people usually get great rewards for funding these projects, and usually cheaper than actually buying said product after it comes out. This can range from producing an album, to even something like this: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kmi/quneo-multi-touch-open-source-midi-and-usb-pad-con?ref=history - which is a legitimate idea backed by someone that has something to offer people.
This is also legitimate to the right people, even though I personally would have no usage for it: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/supermechanical/twine-listen-to-your-world-talk-to-the-internet?ref=history - it’s impressive to see how much funding they got above their initial goal.
This is not so much of a great idea, primarily because I think VHS tapes should be forgotten about, not having documentaries about them, as they were a horrible format: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rewindthis/rewind-this?ref=history
The only thing they are good for is if the content is exclusively on it and then by all means already, get someone to transfer it to something else properly if it means so much to you. Stop leaving material on magnetic tapes to rot. It’s the same situation with releasing new things on cassette only and exclusively these days…it’s AWFUL and a complete waste.
Same with this… http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2049768676/valuco-font-design?ref=history - how about just selling the font on a site and be done with it? We don’t need wallpapers and we certainly don’t need screen prints of your font. Yeah, it’s a cool font, but get over yourselves.
However, I just saw some of the absolute worst excuses for projects in my life and are plain out abuses of the service. These are ideas that if such nonsense continues, the site will be flooded with any other idiot that thinks they have a legitimate project, but really don’t, to come out and try to fund a project about a book for their life story, when they have lived with their grandmother their entire life, or something similar. It’s shit that not only no one needs, but no one wants, and it’s pretty much selfish, hedonistic, pointless, overall an abuse of the whole idea. This includes crappy photos of your family and going to chain stores and taking photos of random furniture and people you don’t have the rights to take their photo and use, then taking said photos to make a photo book.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/874070171/happy-inside?ref=history
“Hey, look at me! I’m going to go to IKEA and take photos of random people in beds, on couches and other places in the store, and once I take enough of them, I’m going to make a photo book! Don’t mind the bad lighting from my flash!”
If this kinds of nonsense makes you a photographer, then excuse me while I exit stage left and put my cameras up for sale, because the photos shown and this whole idea is a fucking joke.
She even goes on to say, in the poorly produced video, that the whole thing “happened by accident” and not only that, she states that the first time she went there to take photos and she looked at the film after, “2 of the frames had people in the room” which at this point, you realize that she not only does not have permission from these people to use their image in a photo book, but her photography sucks. She goes on to tell you that after looking at these 2 photographs (keep in mind, these 2 photographs she does NOT have the rights to use for profit), she knew this was going to be a long term project, like she is some all seeing eye or a mighty seer of the future in that her longing in life is to go to IKEA stores that are all laid out the same across the United States and take photos of all of them. She also mentions she is “working with someone very talented” to which her eyes get large, as if she were speaking like she is very excited, possibly in the form of this book being a key to a door of having another sexual encounter with the person she speaks of, like they have a very large penis or something of that sort, which will not have anything to do with her otherwise if she does not have a specific reason to be around them, and this project is that key, going on to say after “that it will look amazing”.
This has got to be one the most un-resourceful uses of time and money I have ever heard of in my entire life, not to mention all the cost on traveling, which if she used a car, it just polluted the environment more with her hedonistic goal of this awful idea of a photo book. In regards to her comment that it will “look amazing” - I find that believably un-assuring, as looking at her poor photography, the only thing that comes to mind is “trash in, trash out.” I don’t care how “talented” someone is, they can’t make this kind of piss turn to gold.
Anyone that funds such nonsense would be better suited to go to an IKEA themselves and take their own photos, but please don’t make a photo book from them.
What’s even worse on top of all of this is the fact that Kickstarter themselves has put this in their weekly newsletter to promote this particular project, like they deem it to be so great. As of my current typing, this project has: $2,857 of it’s $5,000 goal and it has 42 days left to waste bandwidth.
This is another photo book project that is either on par, or worse than the above: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/brianshumway/happy-valley - This is not a project. It’s some Utah Mormon disguising taking a few photos here and there, printing them up and dressing it up as being some kind of project to make money to fund some other unlisted cause. Let’s get it straight, I don’t like Mormons anyway, but this is an abuse of the service. No one cares to see your family in stupid poses, playing Jesus, wearing secret underwear, or whatever other crap you are doing from day to day, be it leaving your kid on top of the roof or having your sister pose for some kind of sexy shot (check the photos on there and you will see what I mean) along with other nonsense.
The guy that came up with this project says “My family was quite dismayed (to say the least) when I left the faith at about the age of 16.” but yet he goes on in his video to state that he has been going back to where he used to live for nearly 10 years, even though he lives in New York City. So which is it, you live there or you don’t, or you are using this idea to exploit the family you want nothing to do with because of their religion. Make your mind up and even better, who are you trying to convince, everyone else or yourself?
He plainly states “the funds with be used for plane tickets, medium-format film, lab costs, scanning and other project expenses. I anticipate that Happy Valley will one day be published as a book and accompanied by exhibitions.” - aka, pay for a vacation to go see my family and take photos of them so I can further exploit them, and even better, make a business out of it!
He goes on to say “Ultimately this project is about all of us.” as well as even citing multiple other religions (“Whether you’re Mormon, Buddhist, Jewish, or atheist”) in some futile attempt to make this sound legitimate. Go speak for yourself, asshole. I want nothing to do with your ‘project’ and I hope you don’t get funding for this awful idea. In fact I urge as many people as possible to go to the page, scroll all the way down to the bottom and right underneath the photo of some girl (likely his sister) posing for him, there is a link that says “Report this project to Kickstarter” Make sure to select the section that says: This is a charity project, and feel free to bring up any of my points, as well as the specific one about him using the donations for plane tickets so he can travel there, as well as “other project expenses” which he fails to denote, that I would not be surprised if it entails him staying at a 4 star hotel, fine dining and other high living that encompass the majority of $3,500.
To put cherries on the fake cake, at the end of his video he even uses video footage of 2 of his relatives (likely 2 other younger sisters) trying to look cute, but failing by having one teach the other to say “Hi Sucka” and “What’s Up?” - sorry, but it’s neither cute, nor funny, and it’s nothing but trying to spread pity bullshit in some piss poor attempt to get people to donate to his cause.
I found this second project via the prior one above that was linked from Kickstarter’s weekly email, and as of typing its goal is the $3,500 I mentioned above with only having gotten donations currently of $375 (LOL), but it has until the end of February (33 days) until it is over. I hope this shit gets pulled before then, or no one else donates, even furthering my statements here in that this is NOT a project, nor is it even something worth funding in any form.
