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Sid Vicious posted:Because its not actually a 9 year old girl, I am starting to have doubts it had anything to do with her daughter to begin with. As has been mentioned this woman had some other ridiculous Kickstarters that didn't make it, and now suddenly she's rolling in the dough because "please help my daughter go to camp Comparing the photograph on her daughters Indiegogo profile to the one used in the kickstarter, I would put money on the latter being closer to age 4 than 9 at this point. Now Kotaku has jumped into the fray and, hilariously, received the third identical reply from Kickstarter when they reached them for comment. Confirmed that Kickstarter is just praying that this all blows over.  EDIT: I have made this its own thread so that I can stop making GBS threads up AwKickGen. Rime has a new favorite as of 00:46 on Mar 27, 2013 |
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Mar 26, 2013 23:51
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Rime posted:Comparing the photograph on her daughters Indiegogo profile to the one used in the kickstarter, I would put money on the latter being closer to age 4 than 9 at this point. The disgusting thing is that it probably will with people other than us, not everyone visits websites like Kotaku and whoever else did an article. And unfortunately if more good Kickstarters like Wasteland 2 and stuff pop up, even we will eventually give in, regardless of if we decided to boycott or not. Its completely pathetic as far as I'm concerned.
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Mar 27, 2013 00:12
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I'm just going to chock this one up to being a remarkably poor decision on Kickstarter's part because of the current state of gender politics and the loads of money being dangled in front of their noses, and hope they keep enabling long dead vidya franchises to claw their way back from the grave inch by grisly inch without doing this sort of thing too often in the future.
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Mar 27, 2013 00:15
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Rime posted:I feel like this is becoming a shitshow deserving of its own thread, now. Please do this, I miss the Awful Kickstarters thread.
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Mar 27, 2013 00:24
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The Amazing Jellybean So this is a $40 power strip with only two outlets that power cycles your devices on a timer. For only $250, you can get a gold or silver colored one! I don't know about you, but when my Internet is down the last thing I do is cut the power to everything. Almost always it's a problem on Comcast's side. Maybe people need to buy less lovely networking devices?
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Mar 27, 2013 00:55
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I'm confused, because I only have one device for connecting to the internet, is this unusual? Dunno the terminology but I've got a little white box that plugs into the phone socket and my computer plugs into that, I think it's the router but there IS no second box.
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Mar 27, 2013 00:59
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What I don't understand is the fact that she is now saying she will pay the tuition fees herself. Surely this would invalidate the entire project? OK, cheers for the 20k guys but I've changed my mind and will use it for my next stupid idea instead!
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Mar 27, 2013 00:59
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e: wrong thread 
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Mar 27, 2013 01:00
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Fatkraken posted:I'm confused, because I only have one device for connecting to the internet, is this unusual? Dunno the terminology but I've got a little white box that plugs into the phone socket and my computer plugs into that, I think it's the router but there IS no second box.
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Mar 27, 2013 01:09
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Why the HELL were people still donating after the $829 was raised? It's essentially a charitable donation to get a kid to camp, but with no stretch goals or plans (other than "buy a kid a laptop" and "spend more weeks at RPG camp" which is probably not even something they let people do) what did they think would happen to any excess money? Were the horribly designed mouse mats and drink cosies really that much of a draw? Also, did ANYONE contributing think that a single word of the pitch or the video was actually written by a 9 year old? It's an very obviously mature "voice" (what 9 year old has a conception of what a sugar daddy is, much less a working knowledge of where to find photographs of old rich men with young pretty women?). I mean seriously, "It's no secret there aren't enough females in STEM professions" is not a phrase that came from a third graders head.
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Mar 27, 2013 01:17
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...of SCIENCE! posted:Please do this, I miss the Awful Kickstarters thread. Already locked. Probably a record at this point.
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Mar 27, 2013 01:38
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I know there's some good ideas, quality designs, and reliable people on kickstarter, but the whole thing irks me to no end. Kickstarter (the company) doesn't give two shits what people are trying to crowdfund, they just want money. And they want as many successful kickstarters, no matter how meaningless the project is, so that more people attempt to reach the same success. During the whole LORE fiasco, I was hoping kickstarter would face up to some of their own hypocrisy, at least remove a project that had no chance of ever fulfilling it's rewards, but instead, they defended it. Kickstarter also happily ignored their own ToS with the PA ad kickstarter; because everyone knows a PA kickstarter is going to generate a lot of bucks. Now the whole RPG camp thing; it doesn't belong on the site. That all being said; kickstarter has taken ages to correctly identify all it's problems, usually only waiting till something gets bad press and then changing their ToS or FAQs to address the new, totally-forseeable-but-ignored-by-kickstarter-till-impossible issue. I hope they go out of business; it's a sham. I know you want a place to share ideas and fund people's dreams but it jumped the shark a year ago. There's already a system for getting people's attention to your project - THE INTERNET. I hate kickstarter so much
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Mar 27, 2013 01:42
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Bluecobra posted:So this is a $40 power strip with only two outlets that power cycles your devices on a timer. For only $250, you can get a gold or silver colored one! I don't know about you, but when my Internet is down the last thing I do is cut the power to everything. Almost always it's a problem on Comcast's side. Maybe people need to buy less lovely networking devices? I think the point of the two outlets is you only plug your modem and router to it, so it doesn't power down everything when the internet is down. It's just something that's completely unnecessary because it's honestly not that hard to power down these devices manually. I haven't watched their video, but I imagine it's like those As Seen On TV device commercials, where it's all gray and an idiots stumbles to power off his modem, knocking over things before finally sighing in exasperation, narrator all asking if this has ever happened to you. Then the video is suddenly full of color and they're showing off this easy-to-use device that's going to revolutionize the way you live by making a simple task slightly more simple. But at least they seem to have a product.
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Mar 27, 2013 01:43
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Verdugo posted:Already locked. Probably a record at this point. I hosed that OP up so badly, was desperate to get it done in the 15 minutes before my hour-long commute.   Here is the comment from 2 years ago demonstrating that she has been trying to leverage her daughter as a promotional tool for her scams for quite some time. Since deleted now that she's aware that the internet has found these old projects.
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Mar 27, 2013 01:55
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Fatkraken posted:Why the HELL were people still donating after the $829 was raised? It's essentially a charitable donation to get a kid to camp, but with no stretch goals or plans (other than "buy a kid a laptop" and "spend more weeks at RPG camp" which is probably not even something they let people do) what did they think would happen to any excess money? Were the horribly designed mouse mats and drink cosies really that much of a draw? I think that there were a lot of people still upset from another kickstarter who felt like they needed to something for women in some way and didn't really look at the pitch carefully.
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Mar 27, 2013 02:21
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Madcosby posted:I know there's some good ideas, quality designs, and reliable people on kickstarter, but the whole thing irks me to no end. Kickstarter (the company) doesn't give two shits what people are trying to crowdfund, they just want money. Well yeah, this most recent issue just highlights the conflict of interest of it all: Since KS takes a cut of the crowd-funded money, there's an incentive for them to play fast and loose with the rules as long as any project is lucrative enough, regardless of that got all its funding.
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Mar 27, 2013 02:30
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^^^^^^^ It isn't a lot of money for them though. It's a 20k kickstarter and that's not much considering the site's operations.Rime posted:I hosed that OP up so badly, was desperate to get it done in the 15 minutes before my hour-long commute. Clearly her daughter is just brilliant and was able to both make an account and type that message at age 7. 
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Mar 27, 2013 02:47
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It always bums me when one of my go-to phrases stops producing comedy gold (the Ron Paul vein has been mined out, I'm afraid) so when Steampunk only returned a series of mostly competently put together video games and art exhibits, I was worried that the shitlords had latched on to a different fad. Nope. It's a 24 hour a day, anime-steampunk-horror-halloween con that takes place on Halloween, because it's always a brilliant idea to schedule your event on a holiday. So, why did Nyte, the throbbing avatar of masculinity that's organizing this shindig, decide to pick Halloween, of all nights, for this buffet of nerdy goodness? quote:Lets Face it Geeks, Freaks and the Fantasy believers make the world a place worth living in when reality is pretty dim. Halloween for me in ABQ area has never been fantastic. I am not much of a drinker and to go our and face the police and the problems that happen on the holiday never seemed worth it. Sadly, they've only got 20 days left and haven't even broken $1,000 of their lofty. . . Wait, they're going to try to run a three-day convention on only $3,500? Well, sure, I guess that's enough to start something small, what sort of events are you planning? quote:Gaming, we all know that you can't have a geek event without gaming but we took it to the next level. The SuperCon 2K Series is the place to be to explore all aspects of the video gaming industry and beyond. This series travels to Anime, Sci-Fi and Comic Book conventions across the nation providing a home for gamers to interact with other gamers, make new friends, play casual games and to learn about the gaming industry. Whether you’re a casual or hardcore gamer we have you covered. There are multiple game set-ups, giveaways, tournaments and cool prizes to be won!! Don’t miss the opportunity, fun, memories, networking, prizes, education, bragging rights, and/or the chance to be named the most proven player in the nation! Uh, well, okay, maybe they're expecting advertisers and investors to help out. What sort of qualifications do you have, Nyte Breed? quote:Many of you know that Dark Cool offers amazing things with very reasonable pricing. Our Kickstart is our way of giving back to all of you. You heard it here, folks. Dark Cool Entertainment tossed out the rulebook and is going to homebrew this sumbitch for pennies on the dollar! 
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Mar 27, 2013 03:17
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burritolingus posted:I think the point of the two outlets is you only plug your modem and router to it, so it doesn't power down everything when the internet is down. It's just something that's completely unnecessary because it's honestly not that hard to power down these devices manually. I haven't watched their video, but I imagine it's like those As Seen On TV device commercials, where it's all gray and an idiots stumbles to power off his modem, knocking over things before finally sighing in exasperation, narrator all asking if this has ever happened to you. Then the video is suddenly full of color and they're showing off this easy-to-use device that's going to revolutionize the way you live by making a simple task slightly more simple. Funnily enough I was thinking the same thing earlier, and this video immediately came into mind.
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Mar 27, 2013 03:19
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http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1080427607/the-ultimate-in-cookie-dunking-techonlogy It's a bowl.
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Mar 27, 2013 14:13
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Waffleman_ posted:http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1080427607/the-ultimate-in-cookie-dunking-techonlogy The "There has to be a better way!" section of the video showing him ineffectually trying to dunk cookies the old fashioned way wasn't in black and white. That alone is a deal breaker.
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Mar 27, 2013 14:19
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Sid Vicious posted:Anyone actually interested in getting into the STEM sector at all would most certainly have no problem reading that stuff. I used to have an older version of RPG Maker when I was around 9 as well, maybe closer to 11, but I sat down and read through everything I felt I needed to learn to do it. Even if you don't like reading, there is countless YouTube and picture/text tutorials all over the web for it.  It's almost as if... as if... the little girl may have a different learning style than you! And that the difference in learning styles may be one of the biggest reasons women don't go into tech!*pick on the mother all you want but leave the little girl interested in technology out of it you stupids *SOURCES! SCIENTIFIC STUDIES! http://www.amazon.com/Unlocking-Clubhouse-Computing-Jane-Margolis/dp/0262632691 A study that follows female compsci majors at CMU through five years and it's pretty drat good
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Mar 27, 2013 17:32
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Hey, let's talk about literally anything else on the face of the planet. Like this loving thing, which is clearly Back to the Future fanfiction in "documentary" form. Boy howdy those nerds, eh?
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Mar 27, 2013 18:09
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Waffleman_ posted:http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1080427607/the-ultimate-in-cookie-dunking-techonlogy I won't be giving him any money, but at least the video made me laugh.
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Mar 27, 2013 18:12
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Little does time travel man know that, thanks to causality, any time he sends a message he's contacting the future. There, unravelled all the BS right there.
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Mar 27, 2013 18:17
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Hyzenth, could you give a brief pertinent example of how women's learning styles may be different in regards to Sid's post and this kickstarter? I hate to sound snarky, but I doubt anybody's going to go buy a book to get the point you're trying to make on the subject. Simply saying, "Go read this book" isn't very helpful to the discussion. For actual content, I can't tell if I love this or think it's really loving stupid: Dinosaur Who Gets Arrested EDIT: I love that Time Travel man wants $100,000 for his goofy idea. DeepDickPizza has a new favorite as of 18:25 on Mar 27, 2013 |
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Mar 27, 2013 18:22
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Here's another example of kickjacking: Fishin' Holes First ever game by BaZaDa Games: A fun-filled tile and token game where players cast out and reel in fish while avoiding hazards! Ask: $4500 Backers: 18 Funding: $4615 Average pledge per backer: $256. The graph is odd, it only shows 12 backers to the site's 18, but nevertheless there are two standout days with a total of $2500 from two donors, and three separate $450 donations. Obviously the family's helping out, what with several backers sharing a last name as the creator, so in this case it's more a question of honesty. Is it just loving family members helping out with a simple board game? Or a calculated attempt to ensure the other backers' money gets through?
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Mar 27, 2013 22:55
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What does Kickstarter's policy say about friends or family members contributing large sums to make sure a campaign succeeds?
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Mar 27, 2013 22:58
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Orzo posted:What does Kickstarter's policy say about friends or family members contributing large sums to make sure a campaign succeeds? Nothing. Why would they, when they get a percentage of it? And why should they, when it doesn't matter where the money comes from so long as the job gets done and the backers get their games? Combine the two facts, and KS would prefer people to do it that way instead of asking for $2500 while their family and friends will kick in $2000 direct.
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Mar 28, 2013 01:13
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Can't really find a positive Kickstarter thread, so I'll guess this one will have to do. A friend Stumpy from Brisbane, Australia who used to run the Trash Video store is trying to complete his "Search for Weng Weng" documentary he has been working on for over ten years - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/210613803/the-search-for-weng-weng-1 He still has a few thousand VHS tapes in his garage. The last attempt at getting funding for it went off in a different direction and turned into this http://www.machetemaidensunleashed.com/ It was OK (he was the producer, they got Mark Hartley who did Not Quite Hollywood to direct it), but it was not what he wanted. I will try to put at least some money in even though I am not working. For the right price you can get your name in the credits as "midget wrangler" or whatever credit you want.
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Mar 28, 2013 01:24
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DeepDickPizza posted:Hyzenth, could you give a brief pertinent example of how women's learning styles may be different in regards to Sid's post and this kickstarter? I hate to sound snarky, but I doubt anybody's going to go buy a book to get the point you're trying to make on the subject. Simply saying, "Go read this book" isn't very helpful to the discussion. Yep. Book covers interesting facts about how girls and boys talk when they're all in the CS program at CMU. When the boys go out to dinner alone, their topic is computers. When the girls go out alone, their topic is ...anything but computers. When they go out as a mixed group, the topic is computers again. Women get interrupted seven times more often than men, so eventually the girls' voices fade out (the conversations are recorded over the years and analyzed). This leads the girls to believe that they're just not as into it as the boys are, and therefore they must have no real interest. When you add to that the fact that about 90% of the kids surveyed report that, growing up, the computer was in the boys' room, or daddy was the one who used it all the time... all this adds up to the fact that they don't have a good starting point. By college, many many MANY more boys than girls have experimented with coding on the computer. Hell, before I got my CS degree, I'd never written a single line of code. Now lets add learning styles. Girls tend to learn socially, by following instructions, and listening / viewing. Tend to. This is the much less exact science. Boys tend to learn solo, by experimenting. So if you talk to a male CS student, the most off-cited answer for what they remember enjoying about computers as kids is: playing around. Tryin' poo poo on their own. Take that up to the college level. Most of the boys show their CS passion by working on outside projects - leaving the classroom and continuing to work on computers. In fact, in all the technical interviews I've done, that's a question that gets asked frequently. I had a group decide not to hire a young lady because even though she passed the interviews, she didn't cite any outside projects. They were "concerned about her level of passion." Girls just don't tend to show their passion for CS like that (when they leave the classroom, they tend to be Done With Computers for the day). They instead get passionate about thoughts around what they can DO with the thing. Can they use code to track eggs and milk (Achewood reference ho!)? Can they use it to help sick people? Can they build a game for others to enjoy? The book goes into details about how the kids describe their interest in computers. Boys rate highly "making it do cool stuff" (paraphrasing). Girls rate highly "make something to help people". Both avenues are really cool ways to think about computers! Cool poo poo for the same of cool poo poo is how we get some amazing tech. And helpful poo poo for the sake of helpful poo poo gets us awesome things too. But when you read the book and follow the kids, you find the girls (getting same grades as the boys!) losing interest and dropping out of CS. They cite many reasons, but by far, the unifying underlying theme is they feel the must not be as good at it or as into it because it's not the sole focus of their lives. Anyway, sorry for continuing the derail. I'll take my possible probation in as due course. Oh, and don't even ask me how many times a new developer or interviewee has mistaken me for HR. Edit: fixed a few grammar issues since I'm not phone-typing anymore. VVVV Hey, thanks. It's really a good book. If you plan to be working with women in a technical field, it's pretty much the best one I've found. VVVV Hyzenth1ay has a new favorite as of 06:46 on Mar 28, 2013 |
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Mar 28, 2013 03:25
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Hyzenth1ay posted:*SOURCES! SCIENTIFIC STUDIES! http://www.amazon.com/Unlocking-Clubhouse-Computing-Jane-Margolis/dp/0262632691 A study that follows female compsci majors at CMU through five years and it's pretty drat good We covered this topic for like 30 minutes in user interface design in college as part of the comp sci curriculum and it's a shame. I think it relates to the topic tangentially as many kickstarters are awful because their presentation is either to the wrong audience, to no audience, or just terrible.
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Mar 28, 2013 05:14
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Excellent. Sorry to encourage the derail, but I found that post very informative and helpful in framing this whole discussion. And apparently you encouraged someone to actually get the book.  Now back to your regularly scheduled iPhone accessories and whatnot.
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Mar 28, 2013 08:22
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iPhone accessory extravaganza! PowerGlove for the iPhone "Tight...but constricting." Tired of your earbuds falling out? Don't buy actual headphones! Buy BUDSNAPS, the small, easy to lose solution to keeping your earbuds attached to your ears. The first* iPhone/iPad/iPod curly power cord! * I totally had one of these for years. In fact, there are several available right now on Amazon.
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Mar 28, 2013 15:22
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Full disclosure: I know some of the people running this campaign. So the Trans Youth Equality Foundation is an awesome group out of Portland that reaches out to Trans* youth to help them get through the harder parts of growing up. They run summer camps, support groups, education and outreach programs, probably some completely rad BBQs with name-brand sodas and stuff like that, they're all good folk. They're running a kickstarter to improve their podcast where they reach out to trans youth in rural and impoverished areas, broadcast interviews with successful trans doctors, lawyers, musicians, and other positive role models, and probably a bunch of other awesome stuff too. They're an awesome group who do good work, and they need your help! If you've ever been an awkward teenager who didn't fit in and could have used a community that cares about you, LGBT or not, you should donate.
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Mar 28, 2013 16:33
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PHIZ KALIFA posted:Full disclosure: I know some of the people running this campaign. In case you missed it, this is the 'Awful Kickstarters' thread..so perhaps the wrong thread to post this in.
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Mar 28, 2013 16:41
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Gaze upon Visorman. The OUYA exclusive of their dreams.
OJ MIST 2 THE DICK has a new favorite as of 19:22 on Mar 28, 2013 |
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Mar 28, 2013 18:03
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PHIZ KALIFA" posted:Full disclosure: I know some of the people running this campaign. Autechresaint posted:In case you missed it, this is the 'Awful Kickstarters' thread..so perhaps the wrong thread to post this in. Yeah - this definitely belongs in the PYF Kickstarter Project thread.
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Mar 28, 2013 18:30
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I agree that we could use some more females in CS, for a more balanced perspective. That said, I'm at work right now, as a software engineer, and both my boss, and my boss' boss, are female, and very good engineers. We employ a pretty equal split of genders. So its not so bad really. Its not even male/female. Its just, as you said, people who teach themselves and do projects outside of class, versus people who need to be taught and want to go home and switch off for the day. Long story short, you need to be a geek to be a CS major. And in our society, more geeks are male. So the question is just why aren't there more female geeks? You can't make somebody be a geek; most people would hate CS if forced to major in it. You have to revel in the technical details or it gets boring. More CEOs are men than women, but its because more men are willing to put in more hours to make more money and get more promotions, where more women want to go home after the day and spend more time with their families. STEM careers require you to build up tons of knowledge and skills, and many of them like CS are constantly evolving and require you to study it outside of your job, even long after you've graduated. Some people don't want to keep learning. Those people shouldn't major in CS. But... is that wrong? Should we force men to have families? Should we force women to work all the time? No, if people are doing what they want, that's not really so bad. Its just if they're massively pressured to do so, but we have women in lots of CEO roles now, and women in lots of CS roles. There's pressure on men not to be stay at home dads, and there's pressure on women to be stay at home moms, and that sucks. But its getting better all the time, there are tons of stay at home dads now. Just because women don't choose CS doesn't mean they can't. Hyzenth1ay posted:Girls just don't tend to show their passion for CS like that (when they leave the classroom, they tend to be Done With Computers for the day). They instead get passionate about thoughts around what they can DO with the thing. Can they use code to track eggs and milk (Achewood reference ho!)? Can they use it to help sick people? Can they build a game for others to enjoy? Look at what you said! Women don't think about CS outside of school, but... they do think about what they can DO with CS? That counts! If you go home and write up some software to manage your grocery list; How does that not show passion!? That is precisely what we are looking for! You don't have to sit at home reading CS textbooks, nobody does that. You come up with your own projects. That's a perfect example. So I don't know what the hell you mean to say women don't show interest outside of class, except when they do. That's a contradiction. If a girl writes her own game or a way to help sick people, that's an amazing resume. Those who don't show any interest outside of class and are just passing through a CS degree, male or female, are ignored. Those who show passion are hired. Gender isn't really an issue, other than as part of a larger cultural drive for women to settle down and men to be breadwinners, and sure that isn't ideal, but that has almost nothing to do with CS. Again, my boss, and my boss' boss are female, and we just hired a new female engineer because she demonstrated proficiency in development versus the guys we interviewed that all seemed clueless, even though they have degrees. Interviewing for programming jobs is nearly impossible, you get tons of applicants who have no clue. We hire whoever can pass the tests. Zaphod42 has a new favorite as of 19:01 on Mar 28, 2013 |
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Mar 28, 2013 18:42
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Only you can defeat modern, generic military first person shooters with a snobbishly late 90's, generic military first person shooter.
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Mar 28, 2013 19:27
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