I recall all of the first Kickstarter rewards being on-time except the coffee table book, which ended up including a bunch of Season 12 stuff due to the delays.
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Just to be that pedantic data guy, even if the net result is negligible…
Anyone who backed the first Kickstarter but changed their email address or got locked out of their account or for whatever other reason ended up backing the second Kickstarter with a new username would be counted as a new backer and not a returning backer.
Now that’s going to account for some of the loss, though I’m certain it’s a small percentage. For laughs let’s say 5%, so now we’re talking a 45% retention rate instead of 40%.
Sorry, like I said, it’s pedantic and ultimately doesn’t change the point. BUT I HAVE A COMPULSION TO POINT THESE THINGS OUT. I need help, I know.
But to actually add to the conversation… This raises some interesting questions. How does this retention rate compare with other repeat Kickstarters? Would it be possible to poll the non-returners about why they dropped and/or what it would take to bring them back? Can a proactive version of that survey be sent to the current backers? What other additional work can we give to Ivan just as he thinks this phase is winding down?
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So you’re Kickstarter Backer Volume Guessing Man, now?!?!?!
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For me, I think it was more of not being familiar with either voice, combined with the fast pace of the riffing, that made it hard for me to match the voices with the bots. Before, we only had one bot change at a time, and with the new season the voices are so dissimilar that it is hard not to know who is speaking (if anything it was Emily and Crow that I confused for a bit).
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I think it’s totally reasonable for someone to have this perspective:
“The Kickstarter is clearly going to be successful, so it doesn’t need me in order for new episodes to be made. And those new episodes will eventually be available to me through normal channels. So the only reason for me to back the campaign is for the perks.”
And a person with that particular mindset I think has every right to declare “no more Kickstarter for me” if they are unhappy with the perk situation.
If you were able to plot them on a chart of backers vs time, you’d probably find more people like this towards the end rather than the beginning, once the campaign was definitely going to succeed.
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Because A LOT of kool-aid has been consumed by most of the forum goers. They’ve created a real echo chamber and as you see, when someone dissents, this is what happens. So most people who are objectively looking at the situation left the forum long ago. There’s a far more rational look at the pros and cons of this kickstarter over on the proboard. This isn’t the place for any criticism of any aspect of the show.
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This isn’t an airport, no need to announce your departures.
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I can’t speak for everyone, but in my case… I was just too tight on cash during the S12 KS?
And, the more I’d look at the S12 KS, the more frustrated I’d get at the chaos tornado I was dealing with at the time.
I do hope that there’s more digital only levels in future KS?
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Well, that was uncalled for. 
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Yeah! It was Flavor-Aid, not Kool-Aid! Put some respect on the off-brand’s name!
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Also, I have no idea what the proboard is. 
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It’s the old Forrest Crow MST3K message board. Lots of cool history there, and there are half dozens of us who still post there every week!
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That’s 6 times the activity that MySpace gets now each week
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It looks exactly like this, and Reddit. Just unofficial. So it seems to be a place to say all the things that don’t fit the forums rules, or to allow what seems to be anyone actually affiliated with MST any place to interact. So they go there like it’s the GOOD dennys and this is the bad dennys. While they think we call THEM the bad Dennys, and the truth is, nobody actually cares until they want a Moons over my hammy. Now I want a grand slam breakfast…
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I never ordered a Moons Over My Hammy. It looked good, but I refused on principle to say it.
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I understand. But just point and grunt. You won’t regret it.
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Then there’s the “Deli Dingers” which just sound too much like Hamdingers for me to trust.
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My hope is for a digital only tier and then to add on a dvd box set. Season 14 and beyond!
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Just for a point of reference, the Rifftrax Kickstarter, which was annual, Initially took a huge dip (Based on Backer numbers) and continued to fall until the MST3K reunion show, which happened to be when all the MSTies had KickStarter Fever and pulled in a lot of non-regulars. The numbers fell after that and have been settling around 9000 backers ever since. Much higher than the original 6000ish, but not as many as the 12,000 who wanted the reunion show.
So barring some sort of major OMG type Kickstarter goal, I think diminishing returns are to be expected. I’ll totally pledge for any MST3K Kickstarter that comes along, but I won’t be able to take it all the way to the Snow-Globe-Tier every year, because my wallet has limits.
This is why, I think, they’re trying to find ways to avoid passing the hat around every season.
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