Hmmm...he pulled a Tyrion. Interesting.
CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar
- Thread starter Richard Baker
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Agreed. This seemed pretty clear that they might be trying to smoke out a 'source'. But if they did, its pointless.
First, they always get new donors and new potential volunteers.
Second, there is a hurricane's worth of bad history rain passed under their bridge. They will never, ever undo it. Its pointless to defend against criticism that has gone so far as to provoke a Federal judge on the record to mock you in their rulings wiping you out.
The only way forward is to start over and fly right, which requires no defenses but rather should invite sunlight (not foggy blogging). Fighting a rear guard action against exactly the person who could prove you have reformed is mindless.
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Plus - still (seriously) - these aren't state secrets. It's a damned building.
Think you're gonna be stalked? Then quit screwing around and playing at cloak and dagger and call the cops. And if you don't think the cops need to be involved, then there's no reason for this silliness.
Think you're gonna be stalked? Then quit screwing around and playing at cloak and dagger and call the cops. And if you don't think the cops need to be involved, then there's no reason for this silliness.
Yeah, that will NEVER happen with Alec Peters and Axanar Productions or any other for profit venture Alec Peters uses Crowdfunding to both live off of and get starting Capital for. Alec IS good at being a straight up con man - and he's had many years of success in honing his ways of succeeding. Mr. Peters knows that as long as someone with money is REALLY passionate and really wants to see/obtain something he promises; it doesn't matter WHAT the actual truth is as long as he can raise enough confidence in a person to get then to donate; and he can continue to deflect ANY/ALL criticism as: "They're (any Critic) just jealous of my success."
It's the reason e-mail scams still exist. There are enough truly blind/gullible people who believe in and fall for this crap that true scum bags like Alec Peters can make a living off of it. The fact Alec Peters is just a self-absorbed narcissist just helps him project the "You can trust me..." image. He's effectively able to subconsciously believe his own lies to the point that he doesn't come across as duplicitous if he engages you in person to become a supporter. Once (and if) you start to threaten his image or question his judgement - that's when the tables turn and you're immediately discarded and labeled a "Hater/Jealous of Alec Peters success because you can't do what he does..."
This plus the sunk-cost fallacy. A person puts $100 into Axa, let's say (e. g. more than just a little throwaway cash). The film is never made. All signs point to it being a lousy investment at best. But the donor doesn't admit to the issue or turn on AP because the donor wants to project an image of being careful and prudent and intelligent with their funds (and, by extension, their adult life). Admitting they had been hoodwinked shatters that self-image and that illusion. The donor is tap dancing as fast as they can, to show all and sundry that they are truly as shrewd as they claim to be, and Axa is just around the corner.
Get enough of these folks as donors and it's practically a perpetual motion machine of donations.
^^^ That
As I've said before: With each donation comes a free download of rose colored glasses.
I'm not a fan of social fundraising for fan films in the least, I feel it was a miscalculation in the guidelines if the attempt was to curtail the ability to create near studio level content.
If you're into fan films for the money there is a way around all those guidelines without even a lot of effort, Alec may have already begun to use a work around and when he's done CBS/P will have to punish all the rest of the fan films equally once again.
I wasn't much of a fan of crowdfunding before, and this has soured me even more. I recently gave $20 to a friend whose dog has incurable cancer, to help her with her vet bills. I had the $$, I love her and her dog, and I know that recent surgery to make the dog more comfortable cost over $1,000. If this friend goes out and gets lunch with my $20, I would be disappointed but it wouldn't break me. Either way, though, I know where the $$ is going. It's demonstrated.
But that is one of the only times I have ever given to crowdfunding. I have also donated to a few websites I like and use a lot (there's an etymology website which I use nearly daily whenever I'm writing historical fiction, so I gave them a comparable amount of $$). Again, they are demonstrated. And again, it was money I could afford to lose.
However, I see requests for honeymoon money, or rent money, or to write for a living. And I'm sorry, but no. I'm not going to do that. The honeymoon? Go on the cheap - my husband and I did. To write for a living? Sorry if you can't afford editing, so start saving up your funds. I did. As for rent, I am not made of stone but, somewhere in there, you need to come to grips with your choice of location not being feasible or affordable. We live in a cheap section of Boston, not quite gentrified yet. We bought at a good time (and I know not everyone does), but we put serious cash into our house and BTW our one car is 14 years old and we don't go to fancy places for vacation or dinner (for the few times we go at all) and we turn down the a/c in the summer if we use it at all, and all of those things you do when you are a responsible adult. I am not averse to helping people out and I know folks fall on hard times and I am not, as I said, made of stone. But I'm not made of money, either.
I am happy to help out my friends and I do so. I also don't want to be taken advantage of, my charitable impulses taken for granted. I support art and folks who need help and new businesses and cute dogs and helpful websites. I also need enough to pay my own damned bills so that I don't have to crowdfund my own life - because that's not how I, personally, roll.
And get off my lawn.
/rant over
A lot of good points there. Sometimes there are desperate situations where charitable donations can mean the difference between life and unlivable life. A friend of a friend was living at home while his sexually abusive mother was in a psych ward. One time she came home and he decided he needed to move out; he didn't have enough savings to rent an apartment - his friends raised several thousand for him overnight so he could start living a normal life.
It's extreme, and if I'd had the money I would have helped too.
I can absolutely see that, and it is definitely extreme. I'm not averse to that. It's to fund luxuries or business as usual things from life, if that distinction makes any sense.
Oh def. I see people using crowdfunding if they can't get seed money from VC, but I'd be very wary of funding such a thing. On the other hand, i've seen some very clever merchandising done on Kickstarter, including a special kind of hotplate that my mother got, that would be harder to get into stores without the KS funding. To take your example, I couldn't afford a honeymoon, we didn't take one until just before #1 was born, and that cost less than $100 including gas and tolls* (*for anyone in driving distance of the Pocono Mountains in PA, check out 'The Villas at Tree Tops and Fairway', they have deals out all the time).
But yeah, totally agree. If you can't afford a luxury, save up. don't ask others to help you pay for it.
But yeah, totally agree. If you can't afford a luxury, save up. don't ask others to help you pay for it.
"Ares Digital" was always obviously a way to concentrate and profit off of potential genre crowdfunders in a place where they could be sold ("donate for") fan (professionally made for profit stolen IP) merchandise and productions and any other way to exploit others' IP.
But like everything else, "who knew it was so hard? Who knew there were processes in place to prevent just doing what you want?". Heh.
It does to me.
My uncle passed away on 4-24. He had a good full life and left my aunt with far more than she'll need. On the 26th we found a go fund me in his name by someone we don't know very well. It's been taken down.
I've heard Alec claim he does it for the love of Trek. Well if you love Trek so much, build a stage in your garage and then watch the donations roll in because your concept is so awesome.
Some people just gotta go first class.
Where is the Awesome Movie Alec?
Just a few dollars more.
I know exactly what you mean. It's put me off the crowdfunding thing altogether - I possibly could have benefited from it before, in a business sense (by the logic of an actual non profit - raising to offer community enhancement, not personal gain), but it sours it when so many are looking for personal gain and I didn't want to be perceived that way.
A former client (and friend) of mine used it for her start up business. Pleading that there was no other way. But knowing the person, I knew there was another way; but she had already spent her savings and her (now ex) boyfriends rent on personal luxuries. I was disgusted by the act and couldn't bring myself to do something genuinely good with the platform.
....that said, my wife uses fundraising platforms all the time such as justgiving (link in my twitter for anyone curious on that style of crowdfund) but the cash goes straight to the charity with nothing in our hands.
I know people who have had success with crowdfunding, including a friend who's received all the 'perks' he pledged for as he saw a startup that needed capitol, but people take the piss and the Alec Peters of the world make me incredibly distrustful.
Thats horrible. What kind of complete scumbag does that without family knowledge? :/
I never met this person and knowing my cousins she would be smart to never show up around my aunt's house for a very long time.
Because of cupcakes..
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