I bet the Veronica Mars people just steal the money and don't even offer a return for what people invested! That's all anybody ever does on Kickstarter! Take the money and run! Especially the women! Nice job funding things women want for thieving women, kickstarter guys!

The Veronica Mars Kickstarter befuddles me. I admit, I've not seen the show, and so maybe I lack the appropriate emotional connection to understand what's going on here. But this is a for-profit commercial venture, the sums being raised are pocket change to the rightsholding entity (though maybe not to the producers, actors, etcetera), and - critically - by contributing to the Kickstarter you obtain for yourself a reward that's clearly inferior to what you could buy with the same money by not contributing. To be sure, if you don't contribute there might not be a Veronica Mars movie. But you'd think the producers could come up with some meaningful way to reward their incredibly devoted fans - maybe even a rebate if the movie succeeds commercially.

@#1
Would you care to elaborate, in more reasoned tones? I've contributed to some Kickstarters with no "take the money and run" aspect, though in fairness the Kickstarters I contributed to were effectively pre-order mechanism for existing works needing capitalization. I know some of the technology Kickstarters have had problems (Pebble Watch, for example), but your bitterness seems extreme, and unless it's a joke that flew right past me the misogyny just seems weird.

@2 - same. So, fans pay to make it, then fans pay to buy it. I guess that's the genius of Kickstarter, no pesky investors to pay back.

@3

Look, I don't know, man. I'm just parroting the things I usually hear in comment sections when Kickstarter is mentioned. It's just a front for thieves! They're gonna take your money and you won't get anything for it!

Never mind that I myself have pitched in to several kickstarter campaigns and gotten what I was promised from all of them. Thieves, alla 'em!

Has anyone ever used Kickstarter or Indiegogo for a political campaign? It seems like it would be a great way to raise money in a one-time fashion. Kshama Sawant?

Wake me up when you get to Kickstarter Kickass II: Revenge opens.

@6, Kickstarter wouldn't work for a political campaign, since it's designated for creative projects that have a finite conclusion (though plenty of other projects slip through. their vetting process is kind of crap). i hate this veronica mars project more than that stupid seattle doomsday map (which was funding his business start up, not the map itself). i'm with @8, these projects lessen the value of crowdfunding by overfinancing flashy projects that don't need it, while letting other projects slip through the cracks. kickstarter has slipped too far from it's mission.

#9: Wouldn't it work for, say, a city-wide mailer campaign or something to that effect?

So, a Super PAC Kickstarter?

@10, according to Kickstarter's own guidelines (http://www.kickstarter.com/help/guidelin…), no. they specifically list the categories they currently fund as: Art, Comics, Dance, Design, Fashion, Film, Food, Games, Music, Photography, Publishing, Technology, and Theater; they specifically speak against "cause funding," which a political campaign would probably fall under.

as i've said, though, they've broken their own guidelines before. the seattle doomsday map (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tony…), previously on slog, clearly states that he has already finished the map, and is only looking to fund the first print run of the poster, which he intends to sell. if that isn't funding a business start up, i don't know what is.

so they break their own rules, probably when it suits them (people like zombies). maybe if you find out the political leanings of the kickstarter folks, they'd let you do it?