Troll Pledging?

[bikingjehuty]

Has anyone else noticed how once we're about to hit a $1000 gain, or even more so a 10k gain, a noticeably large amount of pledges get revoked? I might be wearing a tin foil hat, but I swear there is troll pledging going on. Anyone else notice this or is it just me. Coincidence maybe?

[Sonoshee]

I noticed it went from 3,617,000 back down to 3,614,000 within the last 20 minutes or so. It's hard to tell if it's a troll, people genuinely making a mistake on their pledge, or the KS servers being retarded.

[shredingskin]

At this moment for the day we are -1699

WTF

[Anonymous81]

I hope it's not trolls. I hope there aren't people who would genuinely derive pleasure from frustrating a group of passionate, dedicate fans of something they love this much. But I'm sure they do. *Sigh*

[Doom_Infinite]

I don't think that's trolls. It can happen that people change their mind and pull out. Some rare times it can be Kickstarter glitching though.

[Riku Rose]

Whenever it's been about to hit a stretch goal tons of people pull their pledges which makes me think it's trolls. I don't really see the point though as all it does is make it take an extra 15-30 minutes and the Kickstarter has 25 days or so left. It's like a kid knocking on your door and running away but your mate just happens to be pulling into your drive so you just stand there an extra 30 seconds. If they was going to do it surely from their point of view it makes sense to do it in the last 10 minutes.

[mjq jazz bar]

I went up from $300 to $500 and then back to $300 (and now I'm back to $500) when i was having some second thoughts about how much I should pledge. I wasn't trying to upset anyone.

I do think Kickstarter should make it difficult to change your pledge or should verify you have funds when you go up to a certain amount. I think it'd be pretty difficult for a coordinated group of trolls to actively sabotage any Kickstarter. For one, most of them are probably 13 and don't have credit cards.

If they was going to do it surely from their point of view it makes sense to do it in the last 10 minutes.

I've heard--I might be wrong--that Kickstarter doesn't allow you to do this on the last day.

[Hyo Razuki]

When we approached the skill tree strech goal, a 40k drop occured. Seems to be frequent. I don't know what it is.

[Reprise]

I went up from $300 to $500 and then back to $300 (and now I'm back to $500) when i was having some second thoughts about how much I should pledge. I wasn't trying to make anyone upset, but I'm now back up to $500 and will consider adding more the closer we get to the deadline.

I do think Kickstarter should make it difficult to change your pledge or should verify you have funds when you go up to a certain amount. I think it'd be pretty difficult for a coordinated group of trolls to actively sabotage any Kickstarter. For one, most of them are probably 13 and don't have credit cards.

I

I don't think anyone is talking about a few hundred dollars here or there. There have been times when (particularly when approaching stretch goals), the funding has dropped by several thousands (or even tens of thousands) in succession. Those have got to be trolls.

[mjq jazz bar]

I know what you mean. It is frustrating, but at least we've been able to eventually get over the stretch goal every time. I am a bit worried we're not getting past $5 million without some major revisions to the front page, though.

[Reprise]

I know what you mean. It is frustrating, but at least we've been able to eventually get over the stretch goal every time. I am a bit worried we're not getting past $5 million without some major revisions to the front page, though.

Yeah, it's like Riku Rose said. It's pretty pointless and all it means is you just have to wait another 30 - 60 odd minutes, which is meaningless in the long run.

[elfshadowreaper]

If I had to guess I'd say it was people putting the amount in their "cart" but then not completing the transaction. I manage a e-commerce site(among other things) for the company I work for and if someone is purchasing a product with a limited number it marks it holds the item as purchased until the transaction is completed. Then if the transaction never finishes the item is marked for sale again. So I would say it's someone considering a pledge and getting to the point of paying, but then gets cold feet.

Also consider that some of the reward tiers have a limited number of spaces, like "Dinner with Yu." It varies from company to company but some would say "First person to get it in the cart gets the item" while others say "First to complete the transaction gets the item." I don't know how Kickstarter does their transactions though.

[Reprise]

I was wondering this, and hopefully it won't be an issue, but what happens when the Kickstarter ends and we all get charged, but if there are issues with some banks or cards (say there's an error or a card gets declined etc)? Will the funding then drop unexpectedly and those people will lose out? Or will they have a chance to alter/change their payment details or contact their bank to authorise the transaction?

I only ask, because in the past, very occasionally (it happened once or twice), when I've tried to complete a large transaction online with foreign currency, my card has been declined as the bank have incorrectly marked it as a suspicious transaction. I would hate for that to happen to me and for me to lose out (or to happen in general to people and see the funding drop at the end).

[elfshadowreaper]

I was wondering this, and hopefully it won't be an issue, but what happens when the Kickstarter ends and we all get charged, but if there are issues with some banks or cards (say there's an error or a card gets declined etc)? Will the funding then drop unexpectedly and those people will lose out? Or will they have a chance to alter/change their payment details or contact their bank to authorise the transaction?

I only ask, because in the past, very occasionally (it happened once or twice), when I've tried to complete a large transaction online with foreign currency, my card has been declined as the bank have incorrectly marked it as a suspicious transaction. I would hate for that to happen to me and for me to lose out (or to happen in general to people and see the funding drop at the end).

I've never used Kickstarter until now but I would imagine there will be a test hit a week before the funds will actually be withdrawn. If it comes back with no money they will alert you that you're broke and to get money or give them a different card.

[drunkensailor]

it's also troll pledging. it's pathetic but it happens all the time. there was this dutch game project that needed 10.000 more funding and hour before it went someone donated 10.000. the developpers were ecstatic and asked on the page to please meet this "jonathan" or asked anyone who might knew him as they wanted to thank him. then 30 seconds before kickstarter ended. he pulled of all his money and thus cancelling the whole project.

I can't put under words how terrible this is, because he donated the money other people might think well it's funded. but then to cancel out at the last seconds. I hope some terrible stuff happens to people like them