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Millionaire tries to get $829 via kickstarter to send daughter to RPG maker camp?
- Thread starter Goon Boon
- Start date
undrtakr900
Member
I've been skipping through this thread, but what was the reason for it?
Wibblewozzer
Member
Just curious, has anyone actively tried to get the word out to other gaming sites? Seems like something Kotaku would run. And Patrick Klepek is good with investigative stuff as it seems to scratch an itch of his. I'm sure there's plenty others but I don't go to too many sites these days. And with the Twitter issues of claims that we're all now misogynists this could definitely be something interesting to see something like Patrick interview the people that think the distaste for this Kickstarter is incorrectly believed to be aimed at bringing women down.
moka
Member
Doesn't this seem like prime territory for The Verge? I contacted them but I haven't received a reply yet.
Mr. Bubble
Member
New article about the interweb's findings:
http://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2013/03/kickstarter-girl-coding-susan-wilson/
Unfortunately, it is unlikely that reports will do anything particularly after the sheer number of people saying they have reported it through this past weekend. Susan just made an update on her KS page and it included a message from a "John" from Kickstarter giving her their seal of approval.
When I was looking at her KS page, the funding actually dipped below $21k, but went back up a few minutes later. Word is getting around.
http://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2013/03/kickstarter-girl-coding-susan-wilson/
Unfortunately, it is unlikely that reports will do anything particularly after the sheer number of people saying they have reported it through this past weekend. Susan just made an update on her KS page and it included a message from a "John" from Kickstarter giving her their seal of approval.
When I was looking at her KS page, the funding actually dipped below $21k, but went back up a few minutes later. Word is getting around.
And I've used it.
Screening a campaign before it launches won't notify Kickstarter of neglect, and abuse of the rules by the page creator. Hence, the report button.
Don't support Kickstarter, and if there's ever a project on the site you'd like to support tell those involved to set up a Paypal account or something so you can donate directly to them.
Gully State
Member
I think this might be what I'll do in the future for projects I want to support advertised on KS.
Wibblewozzer
Member
It's where I currently stand. I don't want Kickstarter to receive 5% of a donation of mine if they support Kickstarters such as these.
New article about the interweb's findings:
http://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2013/03/kickstarter-girl-coding-susan-wilson/
Unfortunately, it is unlikely that reports will do anything particularly after the sheer number of people saying they have reported it through this past weekend. Susan just made an update on her KS page and it included a message from a "John" from Kickstarter giving her their seal of approval.
When I was looking at her KS page, the funding actually dipped below $21k, but went back up a few minutes later. Word is getting around.
I wonder how much of that first $95 was chipped in by the mother as seed money.
I dunno if she's truly a millionaire, but there's lots of parents out there (mine included) who don't make a whole lot of money and but still pay a good portion of their children's education.
And yet this lady can't get 829 dollars? lol obviously this has been discussed, but it really grinds my geeearrsss.
And yet this lady can't get 829 dollars? lol obviously this has been discussed, but it really grinds my geeearrsss.
I seem to remember that she sold the kinkos.com domain back in 2000 for $100 million... I think it's likely she's still sitting on some of that cash now.
Mr. Bubble
Member
So regardless of whether her KS continues or not, Mackenzie is still going to camp which is totally a good thing. But the exploitation stuff is still a bad thing.
lol what's the point then? smh, kickstarter needs to step up their game.
So she is basically using kickstarter to reimburse her then?
moka
Member
I think the total was $1,348.00 and they only paid off $250.00 leaving a balance of $1,098.00.
I think the actual course costs $829 and they want KS to pay for that and they're gonna cover the costs of the overnight camp which is $519.
Fucking ridiculous.
slightconfuse
Banned
Stuff like this and Sullivan slugged is why I am hesantant to support kickstarters
Mr. Bubble
Member
Hero_of_the_Day
Member
Fair enough then, still a bit stupid considering the amount and offering a 10k reward tier and stuff.
There is just so much wrong with this, not to mention using the extreme minority (that makes everyone look bad) to dismiss everyone that speaks against her.
It's even worse if KS is actively supporting them like she claims they are considering the rules of KS she is technically breaking.
So I'm an idiot and I want to apologize. I thought you made the picture I found distasteful. I didn't realize it came from the damned kickstarter video. Now your post makes a whole lot more sense.
I apologize for calling you out.
Fucking hell, 7 updates so far (1 i can't see) and she has done nothing to show people her daughter is actually a real person, i don't even know that the mother is a real person. I do know that there is possibly some form of life running this kickstarter. Every time i read one of those updates that's apparently from her daughter it just reeks of an adult pretending to be the daughter.
Somehow everyone with a legitimate concern over this kickstarter and it's motives are getting tarred with the misogyny brush. How can people not smell that this stinks of shit?
Somehow everyone with a legitimate concern over this kickstarter and it's motives are getting tarred with the misogyny brush. How can people not smell that this stinks of shit?
Circle Jerk
Member
Pinko Marx
Banned
Has anyone tried emailing kickstarter and seeing what type of response they get?
So, we have established 100% that she is not beyond outright lying...
Before we had only assumed she had lied. Now we know she does it, so it's more likely she's been doing it the whole time.
They're really circling the wagons in the comment section now. The neckbeard accusations are flying fast and fierce.
On the topic of contacting Kickstarter, I think I'll give them one more day to at least say something, though I would clearly prefer if they just shut it down outright. Then I will compose a lengthy e-mail for kickstarter and perhaps send it to other relevant parties (news, developers who could stand to be harmed by kickstarter losing credibility, i dunno...)
On the topic of contacting Kickstarter, I think I'll give them one more day to at least say something, though I would clearly prefer if they just shut it down outright. Then I will compose a lengthy e-mail for kickstarter and perhaps send it to other relevant parties (news, developers who could stand to be harmed by kickstarter losing credibility, i dunno...)
Pinko Marx
Banned
yeah, I think we should give kickstarter till the end of the week at the most. Kickstarter is a large website and I'm sure they get plenty of reports a day. Let them have time to investigate into this one. If we get no word from them then It's safe to say they Dgaf.
Dave Meltzer
Banned
Her going to camp is neither a good nor bad thing. It's a nothing. How is this an event worth celebrating, cos she's a girl? Whole thing is ridiculous.
Maybe if KS gets a flood of 'pay my tuition masquerading as a project'...projects... it might cause them to think some more on it.
But chances are they'll make an exception for this one because they don't want to face down the gender-related accusations, while blocking any of those other ones out of the gate.
But chances are they'll make an exception for this one because they don't want to face down the gender-related accusations, while blocking any of those other ones out of the gate.
Yeah, it's just frustrating to sit here watching this train wreck. Need to distract myself.
Out of interest, I made word clouds out of the KS page which is supposedly written by the daughter, and a couple of the updates definitely written by the mother... Thought it might indicate something through similarity or differences in verbiage...
The Front Page
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/6526520/Untitled
The Updates
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/6526522/Untitled
Not sure I see much...
The Front Page
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/6526520/Untitled
The Updates
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/6526522/Untitled
Not sure I see much...
Dave Meltzer
Banned
People from /v/ have been reporting this for days. Nothing is going to happen because Kickstarter is a platform for people to make money, including Kickstarter.
I wouldn't call that proving anything 100%. They could be outsourcing customer service calls/emails and such.
::edit::
Not that I'm trying to say the whole enterprise isn't shady, mind you. The page reads like what a middle aged woman would write if she was trying to sound like a 9 year old.
Fact of the matter is I'm surprised it's taken this long to get a large amount of publicity for a Kickstarter project that appears to be a pretty obvious con job but that technically (thus far, at least) appears to not be against the rules.
spookyfish
Member
Interesting. All this is about "girl power," which is great -- but when I see the arrow at an angle, I'm reminded of the symbol for Mars, which is a decidedly male symbol.
Kickstarter for porn?
Have any tech news outlets run the story yet? I'd think if they ran it and it started looking bad for KS, they'd pull the project.
Dave Meltzer
Banned
Very true. That's not a possibility I had considered. Retracted.
Well, at what point does Kickstarter stand to lose more money by not shutting this charade down? Several people have talked about boycotting Kickstarter if they don't shut this down. I'm currently backing 7 projects and I could envision myself spending upwards of $200 every year on kickstarter (assuming quality projects continue appearing.) How many people like me boycotting kickstarter makes this an unprofitable venture.
Also, I'm not totally ready to take such a cynical view of Kickstarter's motivations, although my optimism recedes by the hour.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/susanwilson/9-year-old-building-an-rpg-to-prove-her-brothers-w
$21,801
pledged of $829 goal
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2009...t_powerful_women_entrepreneurs.fortune/8.html
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20080601/the-judgment-group-will-make-sure-you-get-paid.html
Not the first case like this on kickstarter : http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...kes-to-kickstarter-to-fund-pie-in-the-sky-mmo
He should have created a kickstarter to get his daughter's teeth fixed instead.
Damn gums are growing and covering up her pearly whites.
chickdigger802
Banned
Anyone tweet or message the big kickstarter fans in the press like Klepek?
Dave Meltzer
Banned
There is no backlash. It's just some nerds on the Internet who have noticed what's up. If this got picked up by big sites maybe they'd shut it down but no big site is gonna touch it cos its based on two basic ideas; aww kids are cute and let's stop girls being oppressed. Nobody is going to challenge that.
Delusibeta
Banned
Yeah, at the very least she could point to her previous videos and go "look, here's stuff that's similar to what I'm planning". We aren't even sure the child is question is even involved in this Kickstarter, never mind if the camp in question exists or what said camp does.
This is pretty cut-and-dry scam and worthy of boycotting Kickstarter over if it succeeds.
ThreePiMatt
Member
That's not her father, its Warren Buffett, one of the wealthiest people in the world.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
She just admitted to being a violation.
wtf
I'm finding myself torn... A part of myself wants to believe her and know that she is simply a committed, middle class mother... but when I read this:
'Susan was a founding member and the Executive Vice President of a technology startup that raised $12 Million in venture capital, became kinkos.com, and was sold in 2000 to the copy giant Kinko's for $100 Million.' - http://makemineamillion.org/about/speaker/susan-wilson
And see that she runs - what I perceive to be, at least - a despicable debt collection company:
'Supporting the nation's system of civil justice, The Judgment Group offers small, medium and large corporate lenders, creditors, debt buyers and government agencies the ability to work with a trusted partner and turn their unpaid judgments into cash.' - http://www.judgmentgroup.com/ (incidentally, she also described those who are strong-armed into paying their debts through her service as "deadbeats").
I find it incredibly hard to have any sympathy for her.
'Susan was a founding member and the Executive Vice President of a technology startup that raised $12 Million in venture capital, became kinkos.com, and was sold in 2000 to the copy giant Kinko's for $100 Million.' - http://makemineamillion.org/about/speaker/susan-wilson
And see that she runs - what I perceive to be, at least - a despicable debt collection company:
'Supporting the nation's system of civil justice, The Judgment Group offers small, medium and large corporate lenders, creditors, debt buyers and government agencies the ability to work with a trusted partner and turn their unpaid judgments into cash.' - http://www.judgmentgroup.com/ (incidentally, she also described those who are strong-armed into paying their debts through her service as "deadbeats").
I find it incredibly hard to have any sympathy for her.
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