[uptown]

I'm surprised this isn't a more-common outcome of things on Kickstarter. Seems like the perfect "market" to peddle vaporware without consequence.

[fuzzywalrus]

After a few bad projects like this, Kickstarter now has the following disclaimer and new hardware guidelines

"Product simulations are prohibited. Projects cannot simulate events to demonstrate what a product might do in the future. Products can only be shown performing actions that they’re able to perform in their current state of development. Product renderings are prohibited.

Product images must be photos of the prototype as it currently exists."

http://www.kickstarter.com/blog/kickstarter-is-not-a-store

Also see: http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/09/18/kickstarter...

[jlgreco]

Product renderings are prohibited.. but I wonder if photographs of cleaned up 3d prints of those same files would be permitted.

[Zenst]

Bit like showing the full walkthru of a 3D modeled house all nicely rendered, without having actualy built the house type approach?

[fragsworth]

This might be a serious problem already, but people are generally unaware of it. Kickstarter does not make it easy to find failed projects. And almost everyone who contributed to a project a year ago is likely enough to have forgotten about it by now. Even if they remember it, they have no way of rounding up all the other backers into an angry mob, except by posting on reddit or Hacker News.

[jaque]

do you know how many highly funded projects did fail?

i only know of zion eyez, where engagdet even featured a prototype and it still somehow vaporized.

[kamjam]

I would be surprised if it doesn't become more common, it's too simple an "idea" for it not to become a big target for fraud.

[makomk]

There's actually a fair amount of this, we just don't hear about most of the projects that go silent or otherwise implode.