[BostonEnginerd]

I was burnt by Kickstarter when a project didn't deliver. In this case, it was obvious fraud -- the guy walked away with about $15k. There was an article written about it:

http://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2013/02/9807-kickstarter-fra...

The response that I got from Kickstarter was basically "Sorry, that sucks" and "Try contacting the creator through Kickstarter or through Facebook". They wouldn't provide any other contact information for the product creator.

I understand that they're responsible for the production of the product, but they do profit from the transaction. The right thing to do would have been to at least refund the 5% that they collect as a gesture of goodwill. I understand that projects fail, but they should be at least partially responsible for outright fraud.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/500095192/md-pen-minima...

[maxerickson]

"partially responsible for outright fraud" gets them into the business of deciding when outright fraud has occurred. I can see why they don't want to do that.

I also think that encouraging skeptical backers is going to be better for the ecosystem in the long term than doing more and more to make it 'safe'.