[arglebarnacle]

I'm sure this horde exists because kickstarter creators market themselves as if they're selling pre-orders of finished products.

In some cases they have no choice, because some kickstarters are really expensive. It might make sense to pre-order Ubuntu's $700 smartphone for example, but nobody would ever throw Canonical $700 for some "goofy schwag" and just hope they might or might not get a phone later.