the ridiculous "potato salad" kickstarter

It's always curious to see where people draw the invisible line between "funny joke" and "offensive exploitation"

@heyguys: In this case, what are you calling "bad"?

That someone made a silly Kickstarter as a kind of parody? Or that some people decided to spend some of their budget for frivolous things on a frivolous thing you don't personally like?

I mean, it's obviously a marketing ploy by Big Potato, but seriously, it worked, every time I looked at it I had a niggling feeling that I could really go for some potato salad...

So, is kickstarting potato salad better or worse than kickstarting a remake of Leisure Suit Larry?

Yes that people would throw their money away not achieving anything while people in this world literally starve to death is "bad".

So, what would you say we're doing now? Here on this forum? Spending our money on premium subscriptions to a silly website instead of giving it to the poor? Spending our time here that could be used serving the community?

While our activity has a more apparent return on investment (entertaining videos), can we definitively say the amount of entertainment we get from Giant Bomb is more worthwhile than the entertainment some may get out of this joke?

Or is the entire concept of frivolous spending "bad"?

I never realized how many people here have never spent a dollar or two on something frivolous. Interesting. Especially on a gaming site.

For a sensible guy that likes to explore all the angles I'd think you would be the first to see some of the morality issues here.

Sure on one hand this is a silly project that no one is forced to support and is completely carried upon willful donations.

On the other hand, Kickstarter started out as a site with a noble purpose of helping talented individuals achieve their goals through the help of a community effort - an effort fronted by people that believed in this conceptual product. I think it's more "sad" than "bad" that this sort of thing exists at all as it seems to be laughing in the face of a lot of talented people that had an honest idea and somehow couldn't amass a measly $5000 just to get over a hump - yet this guy makes a useless joke and manages to ride a wave of "comedic" donations past $35,000.

He's not hurting anyone and he's even throwing a party for the money he's raised - which is cool - but the idea of the whole thing is kind of a mockery and it's sad that Kickstarted has allowed it to exist in the first place. But hey, they still get their cut.

I'm not mad about it - but i'm also not backing it. But i'm also not going to go around with a superiority complex, shaming people who do.

I paid real money to see Dragonball Evolution. I bet watching a guy make potato salad is more entertaining than that, and would be a better use of my $10.

@humanity: In my other comments here, I addressed the "sad" aspect of this. Of course it's a joke. A sad joke on us. A mockery of what we might consider good sense.

But, of course it is. It's simply bold in what it is. It is frivolous with little return but your satisfaction or amusement at putting money into it. Frivolous in the same way we are here putting money into videogames and silly videos. The same way we spend even more than the initial goal of this Kickstarter on a hour or so of entertainment at the movies. This is frivolity at its most absurd. Yet, it is still frivolity.

I can see why this bothers some people, and I share some of that feeling. With friends who have struggled to get funding on Kickstarter for their projects and a friend who is at this very moment soliciting money online to afford life-saving medical care, I recognize all too well the clear and utter absurdity here.

But this is the truth of frivolous spending. The reality of how we as individuals prioritize our resources. I do not believe that "frivolous" spending is inherently "bad", and in many ways, it is not even frivolous. This is a mad world. A painful world. An often senseless world. Joy, fun, frivolity. These things are necessary to get through it all. I enjoy videogames and support a site like this despite that money perhaps being used "better" elsewhere, because as dumb as it may be, it gives me some odd joy in all this.

When I was dying a few years back and lost in a daze of hopeless decline, this site and its frivolous entertainment helped life be a little more palatable for me. Thanks in large part to the financial support of fellow lovers of dumb shit.

By all means, convince people of more worthy causes. Implore them to give of what they can to those causes you prefer. I certainly do. But, please, let people enjoy silliness. Let them enjoy frivolity if they so choose. This world is hard enough without us making others feel worse for trying to spend the resources they have on what seems to give them some joy.

Neither Giant Bomb nor potato salad are making the world a worse place, and while I'm not backing this, I can only hope those spending their money here feel they are getting some joy out of it.

@heyguys: You are missing the point. How is people deciding what to do with their money inherently bad? If they want to spend it on something dumb, then they can. The Kickstarter is not trying to fool anyone. It is very clear on what the purpose is. Nobody is harmed by it. Pointing your finger at people and instructing them how to spend their money as you don't agree how they are spending it is dumb. It's none of your business. My point was you might actually have a point when telling people how to spend their money on things that do affect other human beings. I find it ironic that there are a lot of things going on, on a massive scale, that affect others negatively, yet it's normal so you can't say anything about it. This happens on a very small scale and doesn't hurt anyone, yet it's out of the ordinary so let's all start telling people how to spend their money.

It's just dumb. This thing doesn't matter. At all.

File this away under "things we look back at and cry about post apocalypse"

I don't see anything wrong here. I love Potato salad and support it's production through any venue.

Really though, I think the whole thing is kind of funny. I'm not gonna back it, but I really don't see how there's any problem. It's not like the guy isn't gonna do anything for the backers with the money. He plans on throwing a Potato salad party for all the backers to come to. It's a big dumb joke and if people want to be a part of that then great.

Does it show the flaws of crowd sourcing in general? Yes.

Should we get mad at this specific Kickstarter, even though they're clearly not malicious in intent? Nope!

Just take this opportunity to reflect on how you personally feel about crowd sourcing. It's satire and if real people want to give their money to that then that's they're business and we have no reason to be mad about it.

In the post-cyberpocalyptic hellscape of Neo New York, we'll all be hungry for that sweet, sweet potato salad. The memories of this Kickstarter haunting us still. As I look down into the cloudy eyes of my one remaining child, their sullen gaze gives way to visions of the potato salad which might at this very moment give us enough energy to see another day.

Yet, in the hazy prison of our shelter, there are no potatoes or eggs. Only the acrid stench of the grave.

What does it matter? The guy asked for 10 dollars, people found it funny. Just because the people who found it funny gave money to a dumb joke, doesn't mean they were going to give money to cancer research, or a new video game or some amazing new technology.

That's cool. Things that make me sad about society are things like racism and murder. But potato salad seems like a totally legitimate cause to lose sleep over too.

I'm pretty broken up about finding out tonight that my friend is dying and needs to solicit funds for her medical bills, but talking about this has helped a bit.

I think this is a good discussion to have, and while I may be defending this Kickstarter and those backing it, please don't get the wrong idea that I somehow don't care how crazy it is that things like this end up getting money while others go without. Of course it's messed up. Of course it's nutty and weird. It doesn't make any damn sense. But in that way, it makes plenty of sense.

If I got money like this, I wouldn't still be paying off bills from when I was in the hospital. But that isn't the point. These people are putting their money into something that brings them some dumb joy in this world, and while I may desire to convince them to support me, my friend, or some other more worthy cause, I won't begrudge them spending their money like this.

I'm sorry to hear that, duder. :( If I had any money to send right now, I'd be on that in a heartbeat.

It's alright. We're already partway there toward her current bill. People have been so generous. Though, either way, her prognosis isn't great. Even for being such a young woman, she is still apparently too bad off for them to do much more for her. Unless she can somehow get a new organ, well...

Maybe the next few months can go alright. Or maybe we'll see a miracle. You never know. This all came out of nowhere in just the last two months, and it's tough to really process it all. We were just celebrating her getting out of the hospital, but the reality of that is setting in more.

I have absolutely no problem with this. If people want to spend money on a joke Kickstarter, let them. The guy was completely open about this being a joke. Go for it if it makes you happy.

Grrr, Giantbomb.com, a website about video games, ate my post.

@truthtellah:

Stay positive (he says to the most positive person on the internet). I'm a big believer in outlook affecting outcome, especially in medical matters.

@truthtellah: I'm really sorry to hear about your friend. I am hoping for that miracle! You have a really great attitude for what you've been doing through.

Yeah, she's keeping a good humor about it all despite how dire it is.

Fortunately, like many around here, she appreciates the comforts of dumb shit. A truly invaluable frivolity.

Did it eat it after you posted it? Because sometimes the editor will eat it before I post but this is the first time I've noticed one of my posts actually straight up disappear after I've posted it.

If it's intended or not, I think it's a good example on how internet and money works. This is not something new, in fact this stuff happens every single day. All it does is showcase the ridiculousness of it all. It makes me wonder how long it's gonna take (if ever) before society starts catching on to the insane practices we see all over the web.

I take issue with basically your entire post. I'll highlight some of them.

I think it's disgusting that people in the first world put their money towards that instead of helping people who need help.

I have no idea who you are, but there is a 99% chance I'm right in saying this: you're probably a hypocrite. Have you never spend a dollar or maybe 5 on something dumb that didn't make much sense? I feel confident in guessing you actually have... multiple times in your life. Also, if you care about helping people in need so much, then why aren't you doing anything about it? Again, I have no idea who you are, but again 99% chance I'm right here: you don't spend your money on slave-free clothes, slave-free phones, slave-free TV's and monitors, slave-free food. It is the norm to buy that stuff and because it is, you feel comfortable doing it. But because this out of the ordinary thing happens, you also feel confident speaking up about it. Meanwhile, this Kickstarter doesn't hurt anyone. The people who donated weren't deciding between donating to either this or a charity. If they didn't donate to this, they wouldn't have donated to anything. That's not how it works.

If you have money to just toss at stuff like this, you better be working your damned ass off. And lets face it, they aren't.

Says who? Says you? Forcing your values and opinions on everyone will you? Here is something for you you better damn well accept: no. You do not have a say in how other people spend their money, nor do you get a say in how efficient they handle it to your standards. If I make a living and have only 10 dollars left at the end of each month and I decide to donate 10 bucks to this Kickstarter because I think it's funny, then that is fine. You do not get a say in it. It doesn't hurt you. It doesn't hurt anyone. None of your business.

The creator should make this into some "feed the homeless" thing instead of a "lol internet hangout" thing.

Really? Why? Do we have to choose now between doing a funny thing of charity? No, we don't. I'm a free man. I get to do what I want. If you want to argue that everyone should put all their money they would otherwise spend on things they don't need to charity, then you picked a really poor thing to fight over. Again, are you helping the homeless? I bet you're not. The sad thing is that you could've started a Kickstarter yourself to help the homeless, but instead you pick an ironic one and point your finger to say that he should have.

@truthtellah: That's great to hear. A healthy mix of gallows humor, self-awareness, and a love of the dumb can really be helpful for one's own morale.

@humanity: Yep. I even got the "message posted" post-posting message, and then nada. Usually when that happens, it spits it out after a minute or two, but no dice this time.

I take offense with the $350 stretch goal about "Better Mayonnaise from the natural foods section", that's a pretty blatant example of the naturalistic fallacy.

People donated for the entertainment of it. No different than us paying money to this site every month/year for a few extras. People have the right to do whatever they want with money they earn. If they wanna give it to a guy for a potato salad party, then so be it. If not this, I'm sure people would find something else just as useless to blow their cash on. It's nothing to get mad over, duder.

I think it's good in that it highlights the flaws in kickstarter. If I were him I'd donate the money after receiving it but whatever, if people wanna waste their money that's their prerogative.

The fact that people spend money on virtual clothing for their Xbox Avatars used to agitate me, but I guess as long as you market something right, you could sell ice to an eskimo.

It's not really the same though, is it? Putting money in for a subscription to this site is a contribution to the production of something we want, whereas throwing money to something for a laugh is in itself the product. You're laughing at the stupidity of your own action in throwing money at something ridiculous. It's fiduciary masturbation.

With that said, It's hard to argue against people saying that what people do with their money is their own look out, I just think there's a fundamental difference between this and the usual class of thing that we spend money on (marxists may feel free to argue this point, re the ephemera of late capitalist desire).

@zevvion: Just because the OP may or may not be hypocritical, doesn't mean they can't point out a moral problem. A point's validity shouldn't depend on the person who says it. Don't people have a certain responsibility in how they spend their money? It certainly feels like the phenominally wealthy - billionaires and such - have some kind of duty to do some good with their money, right? I'm not sure why that kind of reasoning doesn't filter down to normal people with normal sums of money.

But I guess the worst thing about this kickstarter is that it's throwing into the spotlight how unfair the distribution of resources in the world is. Individually, every person spending a dollar is insignificant, but it adds up to something that could make a huge difference if properly deployed. It's the same way that each family throwing away half a plate of waste food each evening doesn't feel like much, but if we could somehow collect and distribute all of that then no-one in Africa would have to starve. You're not a bad person for donating to the potato salad kickstarter, and you're not a bad person for boiling a little more pasta than you need to, but it's all just a reminder how we're so close, yet so far, from the world being a fairer place.

I think it's pretty funny. It's extremely dumb but it's funny.

Two points

1) It's absurd to me how many people are looking for any reason to trash Kickstarter at this late date. At this very moment I am playing Divinity: Original Sin, a Kickstarted product, and loving it.

2) Potato salad is inferior to mac salad.

Has anybody bothered linking to the actual KickStarter yet? I'm seeing nothing on the first page, other than maybe a story.

FUCKING HAMMERBLOWS

I'm throwing up gang signs reading your post.

The next time someone gets mad about people "wasting" their own fucking money, they should direct their scorn towards @taswell on Twitter, who once made a Kickstarter related video where he burned currency on camera because it was an absurd thing to do.

Feels like it's just the Reddit crowd going "UMG SO RANDUM XD" and backing it.

People are being scammed And who knows who this guy is. Maybe it was a way to get money all along. Or maybe he's a racist.

But hey if people are dumb and think it's funny to give someone money for no reason to spend on who knows whatever.

Were missing the real point here. Potato salad is fucking gross.

It frustrates me because SRS costs $20,000 and this dude has raised over $30,000 over a fucking joke. I could improve the quality of my life drastically and still have enough to live off of for a year(more than I make annually at the moment, actually!) with what he has raised for potato salad.

Not like, legitimately upsets me. But I see that number and it's like "the things I could take care of with that... and it's going towards potato salad."

This is also true.

Probably all the people on the r/potatosalad subreddit.

The only legitimate problem I can think of is this is going to lead to a lot of kick starter spam that could really hurt a good thing. Time will tell.

This is viral marketing for something. Has to be. If not, hilarious.

i dunno if it turns out its a marketing major that used it to prove a point the rage at the idiots who put money into it that they got "scammed" would be pretty hillarious

The biggest problem is that now due to the success of the joke, there will be a lot of copycats. And I mean a lot.

As someone who once contributed a dollar to the project known as Super Drake Tracker 2000 EX, I can't in good conscience condemn people for contributing to a stupid internet joke.

Potato Salad is Frog Fractions 2.

I just pledged $10. I've never given anything to a Kickstarter before and I may never again (we'll see). I'll spend all the money I damn well please on dumb bullshit though and if you don't like it, tough

That would be the best outcome. The guy seems genuous though. I guess he's just a smart dude who will make a bunch of money off his love for potato salad.

Completely agree.

This is kind of funny to me but I think it's annoying when people make other people feel bad because they've gotten upset about something. This is obviously 100% stupid. Anyone defending this is just as dumb as the person who's upset about it. Max Temkins tweets about how "there are more important things in the world to get upset about" is just idiotic high and mighty bullshit. If he felt that way he never would have tweeted it in the first place because the only thing less important than this potato salad kickstarter is the fact that some people don't think it's funny.