‘Between Kickstarter’s Frauds and Phenoms Live Long-Delayed Projects’

Really enjoyed this feature by Casey Johnston for Ars Technica on Kickstarter projects that fall far behind schedule:

By this point, fairy-tales about successful funding and horror stories of projects that end in abject failure or corruption have led most of us to recognize the volatility of any Kickstarter project. But lost between these two extremes is a long, sometimes confusing road that is invisible, and sometimes even inaccessible, to the mildly interested passersby. In today’s Kickstarter Web storefronts, projects appear so singular to their backers that any unplanned activity can seem more erratic and suspicious than it actually is. In most cases, though, delays are normal.

This underreported grey area between funded and shipped (or sailed) isn’t necessarily something to loathe. Rather, it highlights many of the reasons crowdfunding is worth protecting — even if some of the practice’s worst contradictory forces are at play.

★ Monday, 29 June 2015