We received an e-mail regarding Duck Prints Press’s official view on Kickstarter’s recent announcement of their intentions to go transfer to a block-chain based system, and if Kickstarter’s actions would influence Duck Prints Press working with them in the future.
For those who many not have heard, Kickstarter has indicated their intention to transition to using block chain in…some fashion…to “decentralize” and make their organization more “open and collaborative.” Their own announcement is posted here, and despite a lot of glitzy-sounding copy, it basically reads as nonsense. Maybe a crypto-bro would understand it but it all sounded pretty meaningless to me (you know, a well-educated professional author and editor). There are lots of websites who have posted more readable explanations, and which thoroughly roasted them, and I imagine the way I’m writing this already makes clear our position, but since we were explicitly asked, and answered, I see no reason to keep our answer a secret.
When I submitted And Seek (Not) to Alter Me to Kickstarter for approval and review, they asked me to take a survey. The survey primary cared about demographics, but there was a free answer item at the end, and I used that opportunity to tell them in no uncertain terms that if they do more with blockchains and/or cryptocurrency, we will no longer work with them. We have zero interest in being a part of anything like that.
Based on my understanding of their announcement, so far they’ve only declared a “commitment” to this change, and started an organization to “develop the protocol.” Which means, for now, we’re still willing to work with them, mostly in the hopes that in light of the blowback they’ll change their minds. However, if they don’t change their minds, we’ll discontinue working with them and switch to a different crowd-funding platform, most likely Indiegogo based on the currently available options and the information we currently have.
I am still slightly reticent even to continue with Kickstarter as things stand now, because if they DON’T back down, the fees they collect from us will go to fund something we truly utterly do not support, but we feel committed at least for our next campaign. Depending on how the situation progresses, though, that may change by the time we’re discussing our third.
Hope this makes it clear that our attitude amounts to “fuck that noise,” and reassures anyone who shares our concerns that we will absolutely not continue to be involved with them if they go in this direction.
And if you actually support them doing this…uh…well, um, good luck with that, I guess?