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OMAT holding a kickstarter to fund his travel

OMAT holding a kickstarter to fund his travel

Old May 8, 2014, 4:21 pm
  #61  
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Leslie was spot in saying what many are to shocked to say. Gary was his usual passive/aggressive, bur know he wants to keep his tight relAAtionship with AA as well.
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Old May 8, 2014, 4:39 pm
  #62  
 
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I could pay off my student loans with this kind of money...
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Old May 8, 2014, 5:28 pm
  #63  
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Flying can be a passion but can being the first to review on a blog EY's superF become an obsession? It's almost like collecting, in this case collecting/reviewing all a380 F products.

It's pleasant if your work can pay for your airfare but if you can't pay the airfare, one must be patient and save money / work more(harder) till you get the required amount. It surprises me that impatience and desire seems to prevail to common sense.

Like someone else said before; the product hasn't been rolled out yet and surely the first initial weeks will suffer from the usual beginner hiccups. Too high expectations can only bring dissapointments.

Last edited by HadesNL; May 8, 2014 at 5:43 pm
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Old May 8, 2014, 10:26 pm
  #64  
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I enjoy Jeremy Clarkson's reviews of cars I will never drive. Lots of middle class and even rich people enjoy indulging in daydreaming. So I am pleased that Top Gear is able to arrange those reviews.

But JC asked me to help pay for him to buy a car that I will never drive so he can review it for me I would laugh in his face. Or maybe send a tweet similar to the one Leslie Scott sent. @:-)

And I say that as someone who is currently on a paid trip to Maldives at a resort that is not attainable by miles or points, so you'd think I'd be his target market.

Instead, from the KS list, it appears to be loads of fellow millenials.

Kids these days!

Last edited by kokonutz; May 8, 2014 at 10:32 pm
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Old May 9, 2014, 1:09 am
  #65  
 
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Big surprise that a few bloggers/reviewers are his biggest cheerleaders here.

Even if he doesn't get it, he is getting tons of exposure and will likely reap the rewards in his own earnings. He might have done it just as a publicity stunt, and it seems to have worked wonders if that was his goal. Like or hate his blog, he has done well with his marketing efforts.
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Old May 9, 2014, 1:39 am
  #66  
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Think of the good that $25k could do on Kiva
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Old May 9, 2014, 2:20 am
  #67  
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Originally Posted by Jenbel
Think of the good that $25k could do on Kiva
That is not a fair comparison though unless you can persuade me that people are reducing their charity donations to fund this instead, which I severely doubt!

Rather like saying that I should have taken my kids to a Holiday Inn Express last weekend rather than the Four Seasons and sent the extra money to 'the poor' instead.

You should be annoyed by the fact that Ben earns as much in a month as the average American earns in a year yet is still doing this.
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Old May 9, 2014, 2:24 am
  #68  
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Originally Posted by Raffles
That is not a fair comparison though unless you can persuade me that people are reducing their charity donations to fund this instead, which I severely doubt!

Rather like saying that I should have taken my kids to a Holiday Inn Express last weekend rather than the Four Seasons and sent the extra money to 'the poor' instead.

You should be annoyed by the fact that Ben earns as much in a month as the average American earns in a year yet is still doing this.
In this analogy is Lucky our collective over-entitled kid who has a good paying job but still wants mom and dad to put him up at the Four Seasons!?
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Old May 9, 2014, 7:21 am
  #69  
 
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This seems dangerously close to "fund my lifestyle/hobby", but I suppose that's the nature of professional blogging.

This is a particularly interesting case to me, as Ben and I are the same age, but he threw himself into this hobby fully. I've thought about blogging in the past (never cared for the incessant and shameless photography needed for top-notch travel pieces), but I never got into it. Also, I could never keep up with his rate of travel paying cash. 2013 was a watershed year for me, but it cost a fortune. I couldn't compete with someone who must have had rich parents/trust fund as initial backers.
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Old May 9, 2014, 11:53 am
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Originally Posted by ingy
Best of luck Ben. And thanks for all your help with the Chicago Seminars every year.
Do you have a pseudonym Rick? Cause I don't see a Rick on the backers list. Or an Ingy.
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Old May 9, 2014, 12:00 pm
  #71  
 
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Originally Posted by kokonutz

Instead, from the KS list, it appears to be loads of fellow millenials.
Noticed as well. I was shocked at how many of his backers are very experienced kickers (or whatever they call themselves). For the majority, this was not their first project to fund. I would have thought that Lucky's crowd didn't intersect with the Kickstarter crowd, and thus he was driving a whole new segment of the population (frequent flyers) to KS. And that would be hard to do, because he has to overcome inertia -- even if I wanted to fund this, I'm probably too lazy to setup an account! But no, the guys funding him appear to do this type of thing on a regular basis, so it's pretty easy for them to log in and toss him $10.

I just sat through an HR talk yesterday about 'working with millenials'. I guess I'm getting old.
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Old May 9, 2014, 12:54 pm
  #72  
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Originally Posted by hobo13
Do you have a pseudonym Rick? Cause I don't see a Rick on the backers list. Or an Ingy.
I know, it didn't come through? I'm trying again as Rick I.

Update: It just worked and I doubled my donation to a hundred. If it works I'll start a kickstarter to buy out Tabloid Blogger Buzz

Still trying to buy you that dinner

Last edited by ingy; May 9, 2014 at 1:00 pm
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Old May 9, 2014, 1:01 pm
  #73  
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Originally Posted by hobo13
Noticed as well. I was shocked at how many of his backers are very experienced kickers (or whatever they call themselves). For the majority, this was not their first project to fund. I would have thought that Lucky's crowd didn't intersect with the Kickstarter crowd, and thus he was driving a whole new segment of the population (frequent flyers) to KS. And that would be hard to do, because he has to overcome inertia -- even if I wanted to fund this, I'm probably too lazy to setup an account! But no, the guys funding him appear to do this type of thing on a regular basis, so it's pretty easy for them to log in and toss him $10.

I just sat through an HR talk yesterday about 'working with millenials'. I guess I'm getting old.
They seem to treat kickstarter the way I treat Kiva: toss a few bucks when I think about it. But supposedly I get that money BACK.

I wonder how many of them are carrying revolving credit card debt as they burn Hamiltons that way. I wonder how many are maxing out their 401ks before tossing Hamiltons at 'sticking it to the man.'

I suppose I am officially old. And at so young an age. Alas.
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Old May 9, 2014, 2:04 pm
  #74  
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Originally Posted by Raffles
That is not a fair comparison though unless you can persuade me that people are reducing their charity donations to fund this instead, which I severely doubt!

Rather like saying that I should have taken my kids to a Holiday Inn Express last weekend rather than the Four Seasons and sent the extra money to 'the poor' instead.

You should be annoyed by the fact that Ben earns as much in a month as the average American earns in a year yet is still doing this.
Not really. You got a break out of your weekend away with your family.

Lucky is doing this for the sake of travel, but is unashamedly soliciting donations to do so.

I've been involved in a charity for so long, and I know the effort it takes our volunteers to raise even 1k. To have someone soliciting donations to experience pure conspicuous consumption is rather sickening To see it on this scale is worse. I do see a moral difference between your example and this one.
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Old May 9, 2014, 2:48 pm
  #75  
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I just watched part of the video on Kickstarter and he says:
Originally Posted by Ben Sclappig Kickstarter video
It's insane, I can't even begin to imagine how expensive the ticket is, and it's just, it's absolutely nuts what they're charging
People are giving him money based on that type of comment?
Originally Posted by Raffles
You should be annoyed by the fact that Ben earns as much in a month as the average American earns in a year yet is still doing this.
This may not be the right thread for this discussion, but I personally believe that some of the numbers and comments I've seen thrown around for what bloggers "earn" is over-estimated by some, and this would be an example of that.
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