>Kickstarter reserves the right to reject, cancel, interrupt, remove, or suspend a campaign at any time and for any reason. Kickstarter is not liable for any damages as a result of any of those actions. Kickstarter’s policy is not to comment on the reasons for any of those actions. //
This is the get-out-of-jail-free card [that's a Monopoly board game reference]. They can cut off pledgers or project creators for any reason and don't have to tell you what it is; of course the law [which?] still applies.
There is an interesting glitch in the T&C. Kickstarter make a distinction between refunding a pledge and cancelling a pledge. The meaning of "cancel" is thus unclear, it doesn't appear to mean refunding money as that's what "refund" means. This is shown in the phrase "Project Creators may cancel or refund a Backer’s pledge at any time and for any reason". If a project creator receives the money then 'cancels' the pledge it appears they're in the clear WRT the terms and conditions ...?
But the T&C sets up the relationship between the people running the campaign and Kickstarter themselves. The project creators and the contributors still have a direct relationship with each other, irrespective of Kickstarter as an organization - the fact that Kickstarter's website is their medium of interaction doesn't necessarily make the Kickstarter organization a party to their agreement.
If the project creators promise to deliver a particular product to a contributor when certain conditions are met, and those conditions are subsequently met, wouldn't that constitute a contract? Sure, if the Kickstarter admins terminate the project before it's funded, then the conditions of the contract can never be met; but once they are met - i.e. once the project has reached its funding goal - then no action on the part of Kickstarter admins - who are not themselves a party to the contract - can invalidate the contract.
By way of analogy, if you and I arrive at an agreement via a conversation on HN, and PG comes along and decides for whatever reason to delete the thread containing our discussion, the agreement is still valid.
This is the get-out-of-jail-free card [that's a Monopoly board game reference]. They can cut off pledgers or project creators for any reason and don't have to tell you what it is; of course the law [which?] still applies.
There is an interesting glitch in the T&C. Kickstarter make a distinction between refunding a pledge and cancelling a pledge. The meaning of "cancel" is thus unclear, it doesn't appear to mean refunding money as that's what "refund" means. This is shown in the phrase "Project Creators may cancel or refund a Backer’s pledge at any time and for any reason". If a project creator receives the money then 'cancels' the pledge it appears they're in the clear WRT the terms and conditions ...?