What made #Comicsgate a successful scam:
1. Vague enemy that can't objectively be debunked. "Comic shops are closing! It's likely for a number of reasons and there's no way to ID the leading cause, but we can assert it's because of SJW politics because nobody can prove it's not."
1. Vague enemy that can't objectively be debunked. "Comic shops are closing! It's likely for a number of reasons and there's no way to ID the leading cause, but we can assert it's because of SJW politics because nobody can prove it's not."
2. Harnessing existing anger. People are dumb animals, we act when we feel scared, threatened or angry. There's already a large faction of angry right wingers online, it was just a matter of assembling them and convincing them that "SJWs" are what they're really angry at.
3. Call to heroism. "Comics are dying and SJWs are to blame, but you can save them and send a message to the big two by giving me $35!" Nevermind that giving $ to a guy on IGG does nothing to help your LCS and money raised via political posturing is meaningless data to Marvel/DC.
#3 also has no objective measure of success. Comics will never be declared "saved"--there will just be another 4-5 IndieGoGo campaigns each month that need your money to "save comics" and "send a message to Marvel and stick it to the SJWs".
Meanwhile, Marvel/DC will continue to ignore useless IGG data because "people donating $35 for a comic because political anger!" isn't even the same market they operate in. CG will use Marvel/DC indifference as proof they need more money because the message isn't getting through!
In summary, it's a great scam because it's emotion-based, it's harnessing existing anger that the scammers didn't have to do much work to stoke and it has no concrete goals or end game. It's self-reinforcing money farm that will only end when the marks run out of cash.
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