[law]

You're completely correct. Where I have trouble with the model is that Kickstarter does not do enough to correct the spread of misinformation concerning the precise character of your "pledge." It's not a donation and it's not an investment; both of those terms beget some serious legal issues. Instead, it's a purchase of goods, namely, the "rewards." So why even refer to these purchased goods as "rewards"? To me, a reward is something extra you get for some unrelated action. For example, you wouldn't refer to groceries as a "reward" for the money you gave to the cashier...

Moreover, there's a secondary issue with the confusion of market norms and social norms. Ostensibly, this project spawned from a passion for programming. Now, however, that passion is unclear, because it seems to be about money, given the quasi-ultimatum for python support.