Comments concerning VN

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Concerned_user
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Comments concerning VN

Post by Concerned_user » Thu May 16, 2019 9:24 pm

All the kickstarter page comments should be collected here, since by the looks of it nobody checks them. At least here they stand a chance of being seen and addressed.

Nicole Trajano
about 15 hours ago
"You guys have lost my trust and loyalty. I was a High School Graduate when i funded this, begged my mother to get the $115 dollars which cost us like P5,800. it has been 6 years, and all you guys keep saying is to "check the forums"

I feel so used....

I hereby invoke my rights under Kickstarter's Terms of Use:

https://www.kickstarter.com/terms-of-use/oct2012

"Project Creators are required to fulfill all rewards of their successful fundraising campaigns or refund any Backer whose reward they do not or cannot fulfill."

I demand a full refund for my pledge amount. I will be reporting this project, I dont care if I had been a fan since the 4-panel age.

Nicole Trajano
about 15 hours ago
"BTW, i just want to add, I do read the forums sometimes. and I get that Life can get troubling. My Dad had an accident, and my mom had cancer (surgery successful, she is still recovering). And sometimes drawing does take time. but at least send in partial of the rewards, like the shirts and small stuffs. That is why I still think it's a betrayal.

You are neglecting the people here and focusing your work and admins in your own website. That is just..."

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Re: Comments concerning VN

Post by Rowandoll » Sat May 18, 2019 9:25 am

Copied from Kickstarter:

I hereby invoke my rights under Kickstarter's Terms of Use:

https://www.kickstarter.com/terms-of-use/oct2012

"Project Creators are required to fulfill all rewards of their successful fundraising campaigns or refund any Backer whose reward they do not or cannot fulfill."

I demand a full refund for my pledge amount.

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Re: Comments concerning VN

Post by paarfi » Sat May 18, 2019 11:35 am

Folks, Fred does get notified of comments on the Kickstarter page, but he does not typically monitor this forum, other than with a quick check or two of the current story discussion thread to see if people got what he was trying to get across in the latest comic. When he responds to Kickstarter comments, including requests for refunds, he will no doubt do so privately.

So if the purpose of copying Kickstarter comments to this forum is because you think that Fred is not seeing them in their original location and that he will see them here, then I'm afraid it is unlikely to accomplish what you wish.

If you need an alternative way to contact Fred, you can click on Fred's name on the Kickstarter page, then click on the Contact Me button to message him directly.

edit: formatting
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Re: Comments concerning VN

Post by walkingeagle » Sat May 18, 2019 10:18 pm

paarfi wrote:
Sat May 18, 2019 11:35 am
Folks, Fred does get notified of comments on the Kickstarter page, but he does not typically monitor this forum, other than with a quick check or two of the current story discussion thread to see if people got what he was trying to get across in the latest comic. When he responds to Kickstarter comments, including requests for refunds, he will no doubt do so privately.

So if the purpose of copying Kickstarter comments to this forum is because you think that Fred is not seeing them in their original location and that he will see them here, then I'm afraid it is unlikely to accomplish what you wish.

If you need an alternative way to contact Fred, you can click on Fred's name on the Kickstarter page, then click on the Contact Me button to message him directly.

edit: formatting
What a diplomatic way of saying that he doesn’t care what we have to say here and only has this subforum to quarantine the comments so they don’t leak into his fanclub.

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Re: Comments concerning VN

Post by paarfi » Sat May 18, 2019 10:50 pm

I said nothing about Fred not caring. He cares very much. I'm simply pointing out that this forum is for fans to talk to fans about MT and other things. It is not a good way to attempt to communicate directly with Fred. Regarding the VN, both the Kickstarter comments and the direct Kickstarter Contact Me would be better choices.
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Re: Comments concerning VN

Post by cool2burn » Mon May 20, 2019 6:10 am

Regardless if he cares the second he started living off the money he raised instead of using it for its intended purpose he deserved to go to JAIL. And in my opinion he still does. LOCK HIM UP!!!

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Re: Comments concerning VN

Post by cool2burn » Mon May 20, 2019 6:12 am

Did he pay income tax on the portion of that money he used for living expenses? Hmm maybe report him to the IRS as well. An audit might be in order.

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Re: Comments concerning VN

Post by paarfi » Mon May 20, 2019 7:07 am

Oh for pete's sake. Of course Fred payed his taxes. And of course some of the kickstarter money went to pay his living expenses. Fred has put more work in to the VN than anybody, and to do so he nearly stopped work for years on the comic and everything else that enabled him to pay to bills and feed his family. That is not illegal. The Kickstarter money was to fund work on VN, and a very large part of that work needed to come from Fred. It is silly to expect him to do that for free, and that would be a complete misunderstanding of what kickstarter funding is all about or how any real business works. This has been a real business failure yes, and you can fairly blame Fred for inexperience, incompetence, and an inability to properly run a project. But there was nothing illegal here or even immoral here. New business venture fail every day.
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Re: Comments concerning VN

Post by cool2burn » Mon May 20, 2019 9:07 am

LOL i am sure he paid the taxes he owed thru kick starter. However once as a business with 300k of capital. If he took money from it for living expenses he needed to file a w-4 and either remove that capital thru hourly pay or salary. Which is subject to federal income tax. And basing this upon the utter lack of anything I would think at least 200k of that went into his pockets. The IRS loves shady people like that,

Reguards

A actual Business Owner.

P.S.

If i did what Fred did with investor money I would be sweating bullets.

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Re: Comments concerning VN

Post by walkingeagle » Mon May 20, 2019 2:56 pm

paarfi wrote:
Mon May 20, 2019 7:07 am
Oh for pete's sake. Of course Fred payed his taxes. And of course some of the kickstarter money went to pay his living expenses. Fred has put more work in to the VN than anybody, and to do so he nearly stopped work for years on the comic and everything else that enabled him to pay to bills and feed his family. That is not illegal. The Kickstarter money was to fund work on VN, and a very large part of that work needed to come from Fred. It is silly to expect him to do that for free, and that would be a complete misunderstanding of what kickstarter funding is all about or how any real business works. This has been a real business failure yes, and you can fairly blame Fred for inexperience, incompetence, and an inability to properly run a project. But there was nothing illegal here or even immoral here. New business venture fail every day.
So... it’s not immoral at all to not communicate with your backers at all because you’re just ever so upset about it, and then make them have to request a refund instead of reaching out about things, and then - according to comments on the Kickstarter - not even follow through with the refund at all?

By the way, you’re talking about work halting on the comic etc as proof that he worked hard... but he never has been getting comics out on time so that’s not exactly a good way to gauge that.

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Re: Comments concerning VN

Post by Piroko_chan » Mon May 20, 2019 5:42 pm

paarfi wrote:
Sat May 18, 2019 11:35 am
Folks, Fred does get notified of comments on the Kickstarter page, but he does not typically monitor this forum, other than with a quick check or two of the current story discussion thread to see if people got what he was trying to get across in the latest comic. When he responds to Kickstarter comments, including requests for refunds, he will no doubt do so privately.
Yeah...here's the problem with that last part:
"Nothing is gonna happen. On January 5th I was told by Fred that he would be happy to refund my pledge, after I send him my Paypal address. He never sent the money or responded again.

You can defend him as much as you want. Maybe you know Fred better. But the fact stands that he took the money, didn't deliver and lied to me."
(This was from a few days ago.)
So if the purpose of copying Kickstarter comments to this forum is because you think that Fred is not seeing them in their original location and that he will see them here, then I'm afraid it is unlikely to accomplish what you wish.

If you need an alternative way to contact Fred, you can click on Fred's name on the Kickstarter page, then click on the Contact Me button to message him directly.

edit: formatting
The last time someone involved with the project replied to a comment was two months ago and the last time before that was 9 months ago. When it comes to communication and the VN, you're it.

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Re: Comments concerning VN

Post by Concerned_user » Mon May 20, 2019 9:39 pm

Volumes of manga for sale around the world, a store selling merchandise and art for hundreds of dollars a piece, convention sales, and a successful kickstarter of up to 300k, not to mention a 2k a month patreon, all to make barely 4 pages of a comic a month that should have ended years ago?! Give me a damn break. I wish I had such a job. I still have a lot of very similar hardships as him,but I manage somehow on way less support, luck, and money.

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Re: Comments concerning VN

Post by Concerned_user » Tue May 21, 2019 1:15 am

by the way, if anyone is keeping track, patreons are being sold the idea that 2000 bucks a month will make a min of 4 pages per month. its approaching the end of May and so far only 2 pages, with patreon goal met. This is all reading very similar to give me this amount of money for visual novel or stretch goals etc and I will give you this, and this. It hurts that this is looking more and more like fan abuse. So many unyielding supportive fans, being taken for all they are worth.

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Re: Comments concerning VN

Post by tsubasa » Mon May 27, 2019 6:16 am

As an old friend of Fred who knows the very early days of MT, I don't think he tried to deceive backers regarding this project.
However, I don't understand why:
1. he does not disclose his project finance.
2. he does not post updates at Kickstarter, although it seems like he does have time to update his Twitter.
3. he does not cancel, or, declare the suspension of the project.

Didn't he keep records of the project finance with double-entry bookkeeping? Didn't any of the project members tell him he should? If I were him I would monitor a cash flow with a proper bookkeeping system, and would ask a professional accountant to audit my records. In that way, although I might have to pay for an accountant, he or she would prove I'm an honest person. Parfi says he does not have anything to hide. Then, he should be able to show project finance report.

Also, I don't understand why he keeps silence at Kickstarter. If he posts at Kickstarter that he will concentrate on his family issues for the next five years and does not have time to work for the project, that is a sad news though, it would be regarded that he does his homework to update people.

Finally, it is very difficult to understand why he insists to keep this project open, while all of his time and effort has been onto his serious family issues for years. We never know when he can get out from his problems, but from what I saw, it must be very difficult for him to resolve them in the next five years. I have experiences trying to help my family's surgeries and dementia by myself. It can easily be a matter of years.
When he would finally work them out, at that time he would run out of fund.
It is an honest attitude to declare that he and his team created one-hour scenario, project resources was used, and he does not have time and resources anymore. People will think the project is a business failure if there is a proper accounting report showing the team thoughtfully used their fund.
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Re: Comments concerning VN

Post by tsubasa » Mon May 27, 2019 7:46 am

I contribute/help to contribute Japanese Wikipedia articles, specifically talking about new manga artists with two or three comic books. In Japan, Fred published only one book, so he is a 'new' manga artist.

I did not want to mention his medical/family issues in his Japanese Wikipedia article, since the issues are purely personal, and such personal issues do not usually have a great significance to be mentioned in an encyclopedia. But, if things grows to affect the author's way of writing/drawing, and they are properly cited by the third-party articles/news media, I believe it should be mentioned from a neutral point of view. I came to think that it would be unfair to the readers that I do not talk about the MTVN project in the chronicle of him.

I'm thinking about mentioning the project and his statement given in this forum. The facts are that Fred did a fundraising campaign, 4,958 people backed, the project has not been able to release the title, due to, by his comment, a series of difficulties fallen on him. I think they have greater values to talk about, than a project like Warmth or his other project.
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Re: Comments concerning VN

Post by Concerned_user » Thu May 30, 2019 12:23 pm

tsubasa wrote:
Mon May 27, 2019 6:16 am
As an old friend of Fred who knows the very early days of MT, I don't think he tried to deceive backers regarding this project.
However, I don't understand why:
1. he does not disclose his project finance.
2. he does not post updates at Kickstarter, although it seems like he does have time to update his Twitter.
3. he does not cancel, or, declare the suspension of the project.

Didn't he keep records of the project finance with double-entry bookkeeping? Didn't any of the project members tell him he should? If I were him I would monitor a cash flow with a proper bookkeeping system, and would ask a professional accountant to audit my records. In that way, although I might have to pay for an accountant, he or she would prove I'm an honest person. Parfi says he does not have anything to hide. Then, he should be able to show project finance report.

Also, I don't understand why he keeps silence at Kickstarter. If he posts at Kickstarter that he will concentrate on his family issues for the next five years and does not have time to work for the project, that is a sad news though, it would be regarded that he does his homework to update people.

Finally, it is very difficult to understand why he insists to keep this project open, while all of his time and effort has been onto his serious family issues for years. We never know when he can get out from his problems, but from what I saw, it must be very difficult for him to resolve them in the next five years. I have experiences trying to help my family's surgeries and dementia by myself. It can easily be a matter of years.
When he would finally work them out, at that time he would run out of fund.
It is an honest attitude to declare that he and his team created one-hour scenario, project resources was used, and he does not have time and resources anymore. People will think the project is a business failure if there is a proper accounting report showing the team thoughtfully used their fund.
Thanks for commenting. What you said is perfectly reasonable.

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Re: Comments concerning VN

Post by paarfi » Wed Jun 12, 2019 1:41 pm

Concerned_user wrote:
Wed Jun 12, 2019 12:58 pm
Latest from KS:

Dani Bean
about 11 hours ago
This is incredibly disappointing that 0 progress or updates have been made that we are told about. I had forgotten about this, but the Shenmue thing from E3 reminded me about it. I backed knowing the completion goal was a pipe dream and it would be a lot longer, but it's well past the point of patience. You disappointed me Fred and MegaTokyo's story currently makes about as much sense as Lost's finale, just letting it organically flow and sometimes remember you have a plot to advance, right?

Amanda Rae Garrison
about 11 hours ago
Has anyone actually received a refund?

Joseph Bettica
1 day ago
It's kind of pathetic that the creator of this mess basically just ran away and has been running for many years at this point. That he even has the guts to even post on twitter and leave something like this abandoned is a joke. Wonder if he just bans people on twitter if they ask about it so he can keep hiding his head in the sand.

But sure, take the money from KS and use it on other projects that also won't ever get done. Charming.
mod note: this post has been moved to the relevant forum
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Re: Comments concerning VN

Post by walkingeagle » Thu Jun 13, 2019 3:26 pm

paarfi wrote:
Wed Jun 12, 2019 1:41 pm
mod note: this post has been moved to the relevant forum

...and ignored completely and utterly by Fred Gallagher and Paarfi [insults snipped] and it can be swept under the rug so long as we keep moving it out of the main forums
FTFY

modnote: Insults removed. Please PM paarfi or another mod if you have concerns about this action.

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Re: Comments concerning VN

Post by Llethander » Thu Jul 11, 2019 6:03 am

Jeeze, people seem really whiny in here. Folks need to calm down.

As someone who scraped together the funds to pledge the level I wanted to the point where I barely had enough money to get by until my next payday I don't really understand why folks get so aggressive. Threatening and harassing Fred and his moderators isn't going to get anything done faster.

Perhaps for those who are complaining here this will be a stark lesson in the potential issues that can arise through pre-purchasing or crowd-funding a project. Shit happens. If the money you pledged to back this project was so important that you need to throw a hissy fit because things aren't happening as quickly as you think they should or even that Fred may have thought they would (Fred being someone who likely had little to no experience with a project and likely underestimated the amount of time and work that would be required), perhaps you should avoid giving money you're not willing to part with.

Allow me to reiterate: acting like man-babies isn't going to speed up the process.

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Re: Comments concerning VN

Post by Sibul » Thu Jul 25, 2019 5:56 am

The lack of updates is just the biggest concern here, it "just" takes a half an hour of writing a big one. Doesn't need that long at all. Just an "Hey guys, I have a problem and that is point A, B and C and therefor I have to postpone the project a little until X, Y and Z is resolved, because I'm still interrested in completing it - OR - I have to cancel the project because of reason XYZ and I still have some money left, here is your payback of amount ZYX."

Noone can argue that he/she doesn't have 30 minutes of spare time in month of time passed...

The other one is people forgot what kickstarter is... It's a risk investment with no guarantee you get anything worth your money back. So stop whining about your money and accept the fact it's eigher lost or you will get a VN somewhere in the future.

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Re: Comments concerning VN

Post by paarfi » Thu Jul 25, 2019 8:18 pm

Sibul wrote:
Thu Jul 25, 2019 5:56 am
The lack of updates is just the biggest concern here
My last update/explanation post was here on the forum in March. Fred doesn't tell me everything that's going on in his life either, but as far as I know nothing has substantially changed in the few months since then. I know it's not enough, but f you haven't seen it yet maybe it will help a little.:
https://forums.megatokyo.com/viewtopic. ... =551#p6523
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Re: Comments concerning VN

Post by cidjen » Sat Jul 27, 2019 11:18 am

Sibul wrote:
Thu Jul 25, 2019 5:56 am
The lack of updates is just the biggest concern here,
I have to blow my own trumpet here but maybe this would hit home: if you participate in twitch or are aware of anything worth mentioning, post to the WIP megathread, on this forum.
You don't have to do it always. But if something is worth mentioning, that not everyone may know about, by all means do it. Silence is golden but sometimes it may mean bad news. So please consider participating in the WIP thread.
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Re: Comments concerning VN

Post by Sibul » Mon Jul 29, 2019 10:09 am

Yeah @paarfi, I read it, but something unofficial is not the real thing.

I read like half of the shitstorm here and just wanted to waste my first post since registering in 2017 to add my 2 cents to it.
Latest <console> post on MainPage is from 2018. It's not like that everything on Megatokyo is dead. I just can understand that most of the backers are really upset about it and a little reaction - on a prominent possition (Not third party site like twitch, twitter, facebook, whatever) - could actualy DO something, but it's just not happening. Makes me sad.

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