No one is missing the "brilliance"
The entire first paragraph of that message was my tongue-in-cheek expression of what I thought AP's thought process was. It wasn't meant to be taken seriously. I would have thought the part about the "Axanar Set Preservation Society" would have given that away, but I guess not.
He's not as clever as he thinks.
Exactly, although he has so little money left, I suspect CBS simply won't bother with him because legally going after him for his silly maneuvers would cost more in legal fees than they would extract from him. It's not like he can pull off another million-dollar Kickstarter at this point.
I'd imagine just things directly tied to Axanar. Can't fault a guy for getting help to pay his rent, or moving expenses, etc., you know? Wink wink? Nudge nudge?
Yeah, basically, and I'm guessing CBS is like "Whatever. Let him keep his stupid set. Not worth our time."
I have thought about it and the difference is neither of those studios stole over 1.5 million dollars from people who give it to make a fan film. Not really a great comparison for the point you are trying to make.
I get what you're saying about his reputation, but consider the following:
1) Not too long ago, some people on this board were openly questioning the intentions of Ray Tesi. (Although I personally think he's genuinely trying to help the fan film community.)
2) Starbase Studios has basically disintegrated like Multibran Chex in a bowl of milk due to in-fighting.
AP's supporters will just say that the money was lost because CBS sued, and will point out stuff like the two points above. A better argument would be that Neutral Zone Studios (formerly Stage 9 Studios) and Starbase Studios both pledged to make their sets available to other fan film makers, whereas I'm not sure if Ares Studios has said anything similar regarding their own bridge set.
I've mostly seen it used by Youtubers who are not at the level where they're making enough through ad revenue to support themselves, so they ask for donations through Patreon.
The overwhelming majority of YouTubers are on Patreon these days because YouTube has made it nearly impossible to make a living from video monitization unless you're cranking out low quality, entertainment-oriented content on a daily basis. Every other video I watch on YouTube these days has someone joking "Oops, there goes our monitization". People who are giants within their own niche communities aren't making enough ad revenue to buy a cheeseburger from the value menu.
I apologize for that post, at the time I didn't really give it much thought, but I do see now where it was inappropriate.
Thank you,
@JD. I appreciate it.