Thursday 21 November 2013

how to lose integrity whilst crowd funding

how to lose integrity whilst crowd funding


I feel I almost kept my integrity during my recent crowd funding campaign. . . almost.
It was quite trying at times and there was often the temptation to let integrity slip in favour of greed or in favour of following a beaten path.
Here are some things that I was aware of when doing the crowd funding thing.


1 - Acting like a fucking kid's tv host.

From the presentation to the language used it is both easy and probably advantageous to fall into an infantile persona. I'm not a fan of "super" being used as an adverb but you will find phrases like "super excited" and "super grateful" coming from grown women and men on almost all project pages. People don't like challenges and adopting such an attitude is indicative of the continual infantilisation of our culture. I was guilty of this.

2 - Being a fucking greedy, ungrateful shit.

There comes a point in a successful campaign when the goal is met and questions of stretch goals raise their hydra-like heads. I had a goal that allowed me to work part-time, allowing time to finish my project. That the goal was doubled meant I could work on it full-time. I could have mentioned this but I didn't so that I wouldn't appear ungrateful. 

That some people after reaching their goal then go on to ask for even more money seems preposterous to me. That this is the done thing is indicative of the continual worship of greed and money in our culture. I was not guilty of this. Be happy with what you have to be happy with.
( My approach was to reveal what any extra money could do only after that sum had been raised )

3 - Becoming a psychopath.

Odd one this, the use of the pronoun "we". It alleviates any immediate blame from the individual. It puts forth a familial persona that you can buy into. It puts the project into the territory of being a corporate being, faceless and immune. It is a trick that is employed by every company that is making the world a worse place. "We are super excited to have met our third stretch goal". 
I was guilty of this once and only once.

4 - Spamming your supporters. 

With Kickstarter you can post updates which are emailed to everyone who has backed your project. Some projects use these to write about other projects that are seeking crowd funding. I was approached by numerous backers who then told me that if I backed their project then they would give a "shout out" in an update about my project. Even worse, that if I might mention their project in an update they would do the same for me. Firstly, I thought only radio 1 DJs used the term "shout out". Secondly, surely you owe it to your supporters to not spam them with other projects. It's all in the name of monetary gain temptation and it's a fine line between greed and being enabled. I'm not guilty of this. 

5 - Spamming everyone else.

It's a nerve-wracking thing and you have to get the word out about your project. The most obvious place to mention it is on the social networking sites. I feel awful for having little else to say in a month other than that I was doing a Kickstarter campaign. I am guilty of this and will post this blog entry on twitter. 

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