So the
Kickstarter for
The Pandeism 100 has come and gone in the
blink of an eye, beset by
fate to go only so far (for now).
It launched a little over a week ago, and within the day it was already a third of the way to its goal. But there is always
shadow at the
edge of the
light. The day I launched, I got a pledge at my highest level ($144 for 12 copies of the book for resale) from a backer named "Charlotte," who immediately asked me to contact them offsite (which I thankfully didn't); I did message them onsite, and they started raving about an "expert" who I could consult with at campaign.succes (at) gmail.com (note the misspelling of success), paired with a
Shreveport,
Louisiana phone number to
call. I include the email here to clearly identify the scam source, should anybody else venture towards this
platform.
My gut told me they had pledged not out of belief in this book, but to bait me into chasing a sales pitch. On Kickstarter,
phantom pledges often offer methods of
payment which fail when actually charged, so a project can make its goal but not receive that portion of the funds. I wanted to celebrate the milestone, but couldn't stop circling back to that doubt.
I told "Charlotte" that I would wait a few weeks to see how the campaign went, and then they incessantly began messaging me telling me "The expert is online right now this is a great chance to message them directly" (they sent this exact line several times, like a bot).
But before I could decide how much attention to give this
grift, life found another way to
shift, in a way far more profound. I learned of the sudden
drowning death of my
friend,
Jimmy "Ninja" Chaikong. That news left me stunned and gutted. Whatever worries I had about scam pledges, momentum, or milestones evaporated in that moment, and I knew I didn't have the heart to continue the campaign. Even before anything else unfolded, I had already made up my mind that I was going to end the Kickstarter.
Not long after I came to that decision, Charlotte's pledge vanished on its own. It turned out to have been the scam it seemed all along. By then, though, the course was already set. The disappearance only reinforced that ending things was the right call.
So here we are. I've halted the project.
This doesn't mean the idea itself is finished. I still believe in the concept for this book, and it deserves to take shape. When it re-emerges, it will do so guided by clearer eyes and a stronger foundation. And dedicated to Jimmy's memory.