Re:Substrate Is a $1B Fraud
by embedding-shape on Saturday November 01, 2025 @01:48PM
(#45783677)
Isn't the whole thing (or two) with Kickstarter is that if it's not funded, everyone gets their money back and if it's funded, the creator tries to deliver the goals according to the timeline but if they don't, they're not held liable for that? So if for some reason the creator run out of money before they could send actual products, you as a donator don't have the right to get your money back? Maybe I misunderstood the whole concept of Kickstarter.
James Proud:
* Promised an alarm clock that would do a bunch of things
* Took $2.5M in funding from Kickstarter
* Took another $50M in funding from elsewhere
* Delivered a piece of hardware that did essentially none of what was promised.
It's all detailed in OP and the linked Verge article. That's a scam and I'm not interested in your legalese arguing whether they can be sued or not.
Re:Substrate Is a $1B Fraud
by embedding-shape on Saturday November 01, 2025 @02:12PM
(#45783897)
> I'm not interested in your legalese arguing whether they can be sued or not
What... You know, it doesn't matter. Thanks for the summary anyways!
Ethics and legality are independent concepts. A scam is an ethical construct.
There absolutely is a promise. Even if you manage to legally find a way to not get sued, taking advantage of the fact that everyone who gave you money believed it was a promise is still scamming them.