I went here and clicked on “Report this project to Kickstarter” at the bottom of the page and selected “not a project”:

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Per the Kickstarter FAQ: “Kickstarter is not a place for soliciting donations to causes, charity projects, or general business expenses.”

And per this project’s FAQ, they are fundraising to operate their website business for a year, including paying for, “rent, wages, health insurance, utilities”, which is otherwise paid for by advertising space they sell on their site.

Also from this project’s page, “if it doesn’t work [we] will be fine. We’ll keep going just like before…”

So instead of selling ads to cover business expenses, they’re using Kickstarter to cover those very same expenses? How is this a project? What creative work is being produced here?

How is this not providing funding for business operating expenses, something explicitly forbidden by Kickstarter?

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Maybe there is some grey area here that Kickstarter just hasn’t clarified yet on their Project Guidelines page. That would be kinda cool, since I have plenty of talented friends who make web comics who I’m sure would love the opportunity to use Kickstarter’s fantastic service and fund-raise living expenses so they can make comics full-time.

But as it stands, that’s not what Kickstarter’s guidelines are, and I know people who’ve had projects rejected because Kickstarter forbids, “Fund My Life”-type projects, projects that allow creative people to not have to worry about money (as in this case, advertising money) and just create stuff. I don’t…quite…understand the difference here? So I’m hoping the Kickstarter team can clarify.

(photo by Loren Javier)