Critical Bears

We are grouchy & critical furry bears. But wait, it’s for a good cause, we call out scams because we cant turn a blind eye to it.

[Critical Bears @CriticalBears]

We are investing our time writing about products, mostly found on @Kickstarter . We tap into our knowledge as long-term project creators and highlight what we find dubious or misleading we come across.

[Critical Bears @CriticalBears]

There are @Kickstarter campaigns that fail to fulfil. And then there are those who intentionally scam. What we are trying to do is to raise awareness of scams and poorly-planned campaigns to help backers make more informed decisions. But @Everette chose to block us. Go figure.

[Critical Bears @CriticalBears]

@TechStuffWoody @martinsegur @Kickstarter Indiegogo has a much lower barrier of entry, and is more like a pre-order platform nowadays. They have a business development team in China to get factories and startups to launch campaigns.

[Critical Bears @CriticalBears]

@LinusTech Failed projects can be:
1. Legit projects that failed due to poor planning of lack of technical expertise.
2. Scams that were made just to grab money with no intention to fulfil at all.

Both don't fulfil the promise.

More should be done to identify them:
https://t.co/Y4FNEqacD8

[Critical Bears @CriticalBears]

Yes, they put a disclaimer about the projects to indemnify themselves should the campaign not deliver. We believe that more can be done in the form of due diligence by @Kickstarter:

1. Have experts who can assess whether the campaign is a viable product should it be funded.

[Critical Bears @CriticalBears]

@bendthekneetome @Everette We are doing research in our free time to help backers identify potential scams. Yet he decides to block us. Doubt he'll do anything about the scams.

Kickstarter takes 5% of the total amount funded, even if they are scams.

[Critical Bears @CriticalBears]

There are @Kickstarter campaigns that fail to fulfil. And then there are those who intentionally scam. What we are trying to do is to raise awareness of scams and poorly-planned campaigns to help backers make more informed decisions. But @Everette chose to block us. Go figure.

[Critical Bears @CriticalBears]

3. Be aware of red flags that are so common in scam campaigns:
🚩 Teams with just first names and fake photos
🚩 No company behind projects that are obviously not feasible for an individual to bring to life
🚩 Products that are not remotely feasible with current tech
🚩 Fake IDs

[Critical Bears @CriticalBears]

Yes, they put a disclaimer about the projects to indemnify themselves should the campaign not deliver. We believe that more can be done in the form of due diligence by @Kickstarter:

1. Have experts who can assess whether the campaign is a viable product should it be funded.

[Critical Bears @CriticalBears]

2. Do some background checks using publicly available information to ensure that the creators are legit, like what we do in our Critical Bears articles.

[Critical Bears @CriticalBears]

@arnhemsejongens @Kickstarter We'll have a look

[Critical Bears @CriticalBears]

We are investing our time writing about products, mostly found on @Kickstarter . We tap into our knowledge as long-term project creators and highlight what we find dubious or misleading we come across.

[Critical Bears @CriticalBears]

Would he notice if we make #kickstarterscam hash trend on Twitter?

[Critical Bears @CriticalBears]

Discover the truth about the Solarlol solar panel. Is it a scam or a revolutionary product? Learn about the red flags and alternatives before making a decision. https://t.co/zHW3nbm4wY

[Critical Bears @CriticalBears]

@martinsegur @Kickstarter @Everette We can only try to do our part and hope enough people are talking about it so Kickstarter has to respond.

7 billion raised. What portion of that were scams?
https://t.co/6KgkwJyWxu

[Critical Bears @CriticalBears]

@ceruleanlib @gigadrive_ssd Given how there is barely any information available about the company, we are very inclined to believe it is a scam.

[Critical Bears @CriticalBears]

@driftingcode How did you get the beta unit?

[Critical Bears @CriticalBears]

We have seen several robots for the lawn, including Lawna (that turned out to be a scam), and Luba (that also looks like a scam). How does Yarbo fare compared to these? https://t.co/Cl32shRmN5

[Critical Bears @CriticalBears]

@HeesakkersRick @Kickstarter @Everette @mastersofscale Until the platform starts to address the issue of scams, there's no way backers should trust them. They are profiting off scam campaigns.

[Critical Bears @CriticalBears]

@martinsegur @Kickstarter The company doesn't seem to care. They get commissions from campaigns that are successfully funded even if they end up as scams. We tried raising the issue with their new CEO @Everette. He blocked us instead of addressing the issue.

[Critical Bears @CriticalBears]

Kickstarter scams: Because why work hard and make a good product when you can just trick people into funding your fake idea?

[Critical Bears @CriticalBears]

We got requests for new articles. We are working on them, but do understand that we are volunteers who with full time jobs to make a living.

If you find our articles useful, support our efforts and buy us some honey 🍯
https://t.co/Am26YUxNSh

[Critical Bears @CriticalBears]

@UpstartThunder @Kickstarter How much of the 7 billion funded go to scams? Would be interesting to see how much Kickstarter made from the scams. If the platform doesn’t protect backers, we’ve gotta help each other and raise awareness. We raised the issue with @Everette and got blocked so we doubt he cares.

[Critical Bears @CriticalBears]

@Kingviper74 @Freewavz I hate to break it to you, but it sure looks like a scam…