This comment stuck in my craw a bit, and I'm trying to disect the comment and why it bothered me.

I have backed several kickstarter project, received the results of a couple, funded a project via kickstarter and promoted several projects. You could say, I'm a fan of the kickstarter model.

On the other hand, I've been predicting that one of these high-profile (likely physical hardware) projects in going to dramatically fail, and then we'll see the fallout.

I guess what stuck in my craw is "complicity allowing this sort of scam-project". Mainly because this feels like an unwarranted accusation.

To try and reassess my feelings, I visited the Kickstarter page to read the copy and get a feel for how protective they are of the backers.

How it Works
"Every project is independently crafted, put to all-or-
nothing funding, and supported by friends, fans, and the
public in return for rewards."
(Ok, so, explicitly stating that the funding is in exchange for rewards.)

"The filmmakers, musicians, artists, and designers you see
on Kickstarter have complete control and responsibility
over their own projects."

(Ok, this suggests that kickstarter isn't guaranteeing success... but does feel more like ass-covering.)

"Rewards are things like a copy of what's being made, a
limited edition, or a custom experience related to the
project. This isn't Best Buy — rewards aren't shrink-
wrapped and ready to ship. Once the project is funded, the
journey to bring them to life begins."

(Another really... hedged statement. This just implies that it might take a while to get the rewards, not that they may not be delivered.)

Clicking "Back this Project" on Lifx

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Who is responsible for fulfilling the promises of this project?
Kickstarter does not investigate a creator's ability to
complete their project. The claims and responsibilities of
this project are solely its creator's.

(This is interesting, and prominent on the backing page.)

Guidelines

Are creators legally obligated to fulfill the promises of
their projects?
Yes. Kickstarter's Terms of Use require creators to
fulfill all rewards of their project or refund any backer
whose reward they do not or cannot fulfill. (This[1] is what
creators see before they launch.) We crafted these terms
to create a legal requirement for creators to follow
through on their projects, and to give backers a recourse
if they don't. We hope that backers will consider using
this provision only in cases where they feel that a
creator has not made a good faith effort to complete the
project and fulfill.

(Now, that was really interesting to me, as I had never seen that. It's pretty explicit.)

So, basically, whether kickstarter is complicit comes down to a couple questions in my mind:
1) How much responsibility do they bear to vette each project for likeliness of funding?
2) Are they messaging backers well enough about everybody's responsibilities in these scenarios?

... And I don't know the answer to either. The information is there on the site, but a little hidden and the recourse for failed projects seems non-existant. Most of these larger projects are new LLCs set up for the project, and if all the money is gone, suing them is likely going to be fruitless.

(So... yeah, I've got no answers. Just some exploration.)

[1]https://ksr-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/creator-responsibility.p...