Should MST3K continue using Kickstarter?

Count me as a ‘no’ for the adverts. I run three different ad blockers now because online advertising is so incessant, intrusive, and full of malware. I’m more than happy to pay a subscription for Gizmoplex content to keep it advert-free.

I do not like the Hulu idea of pay us but you still get ads. No. Just no. (Which I why as soon as Hulu started that game I left and never went back.) You get one or the other. Not both.

As for KS and blockchain. It sounds more gimmick to me. Some marketing exec learned a new word and wants to use it to sound impressive. I don’t back many things on KS anyway. MST is about it, though my husband has backed a few techy projects.

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Went and caught up on the KS news. It sounds like things are still very much in the initial, exploratory stages.

From a write-up by TechCrunch, it seems like Kickstarter’s approaching this as a means to federate how crowdsourcing runs and introduce a token system that (totally guessing here) relates to asset or investment rights.

The second one makes sense, given the model for many funding platforms out there. But they could have totally chosen an alternative strategy for the first.

You don’t have to watch ads on Hulu if you’re willing to pay to remove them.

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Switching gears to Gizmoplex advertising as an alternative to crowdsourcing,… the double dip of subscriptions and then paid promotions is yucky but maybe there’s a middle ground that works.

For example, paid promotions don’t appear in an episode but are in a dedicated spot within the Gizmoplex, like a “vendor booth”, and folks can elect to go over there if they want. It might be weird to have a big Golden Grahams presence there (hey, if they want it then let 'em fork over phat ducats and get some Alternaversal people paid) but it could be a cool opportunity for MST adjacent stuff or a way for fans-who-are-artists-or-makers to also have a chance to put themselves out there. Just one idea.

I think faux ads between the bumpers would make for a fun spin on the invention exchanges (I kinda wanna see something advertising a Gizmonics job fair coming up) but maybe that can become paid time for people to use for something except advertising. Let the creatives fill the in-between with skits, animation, or whatever in small time slices that are relatively easy to buy and that have a certain guarantee on how often they appear in rotation.

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I’m in favor of ads but only if they show us ads from the original run of the show

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I don’t know, I think if I ever see the Reunite Blush “It’ll tickle you so pink” ad again, I’ll go postal.

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I can hardly wait to see Snapple ads. Made from the best stuff on earth!

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Only way I’d be okay with ads is if they gave you the option to subscribe to get rid of them. I hate ads and do not tolerate them, but I’m happy to pay for the content I enjoy.

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The whole reason for the Gizmoplex, and this last Kickstarter, was to create a platform for MST3K to live. The goal is to not rely on their parties, but make the Gizmoplex the one stop shop for fans to purchase, hold their library, and view the content they love.

And you are right about Blockchain, the current way that they ensure the validity of each transaction is extremely taxing and costly. Right now that’s the best way to do it, but there are many many attempts at making Blockchain technology be secure and green. And as others shared, taking away the middle man and making transactions peer to peer will eventually make Blockchain much more green than any other option.

That would be a really fun idea! Faux Gizmonic ads, it could also make for a cool slot to showcase fan made material like art and models, or even brief behind-the-scenes blurbs maybe?

THIS is really what my original comment about ads was going for, thank you for putting the general idea into better words :joy: I would love to see ads from the originally aired shows, if they can get permission to use them. It would be especially funny if they’re old ads for things that don’t exist anymore haha

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I was wondering too, but then I realized the Gizmoplex subs were probably supposed to fund the future seasons

Or ads like this (still one of my favorites):

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That’s just FUD. The issue with energy usage relates to a specific method of mining, or generating new coins, called “proof of work”.

The great majority of crypto or other Blockchain apps do not use that method.

Even for those that do, it’s not actually a significant pollution generator. This is because mining operations are not profitable unless the very cheapest electricity available in the world is used. The cheapest electricity is overwhelmingly surplus electricity, electricity production that exceeds local demand. In other words, electricity that already exists, with pollution generated whether the electricity is used or not.

There’s a thing going on up here in Rowsdower-land where shipping containers full of mining rigs are illegally hooked up to power at old wellhead sites. They connect to the internet thanks to cell coverage around the old worksites. So yeah people will go pretty far to make a buck out of nothing…

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Kickstarter itself is an odd concept when you think about it. Users are sending money to people they’ve never met in hopes of buying whatever it is they’re selling in the future. Kickstarting guarantees nothing, backers are in no way considered investors or have any equity in the thing being produced. There is no dividend, stake, interest, or profit participation of any kind. Kickstarter is completely out of the picture when the goal is met and they take their cut.

To be 1000% clear, Joel and crew are proven performers and swell people who will deliver the goods, but there has to be a hundred scams for every one good egg on the platform.

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Kickstarter are 100% aware of the scams that use their system, they know it’s the majority of things offered through them, and they don’t care so long as they get their cut. It’s working as designed, but I can’t support that business structure by using it.

I know Joel and the crew are proven performers who will deliver, but using Kickstarter contributes to Kickstarter’s terribleness, it’s sad but it’s undeniable.

Hopefully The Gizmoplex will make it more of a subscription service and allow Kickstarter to be dropped, which I’d be delighted to start using.

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