Who cares? Why collect links to old Kickstarter projects?
Because it's important to learn from the past. For aspiring crowdfunders, there's much to learn from past campaigns, both successes and failures.
As Scott Steinberg writes in The Crowdfunding Bible:
Whatever your approach to crowdfunding, your first order of business is to take a hard, analytical look at projects that have succeeded, as well as ventures that have failed. Your goal: To observe and learn how successful projects work, and to understand the subtle nuances and tactics that determine why some triumph while others don't.
Unfortunately, Kickstarter makes it difficult to find examples of "ventures that have failed." That's why this site exists.
How far back does the archive go?
Not far. The KickBack Machine started collecting Kickstarter projects in June 2012. Because of the way Kickstarter's website displays information, we can't accurately capture projects from before then. That said, new projects are being added to the archive every day.
Are you affiliated in any way with Kickstarter, Inc.?
Absolutely not.
What's with the name?
It's like the Wayback Machine (and to a lesser degree, the WABAC Machine), except it's for Kickstarter projects. Kind of. Sorta. Get it?
How did you make this?
The KickBack Machine was written in Python and runs on Google App Engine. The layout is based on Twitter Bootstrap with the Spacelab Bootswatch. This site uses jQuery and jQuery UI. Also, Ben Davies's PagedQuery, Paul Irish's Infinite Scroll, Addy Osmani's jQuery UI Bootstrap, and some other stuff.
Who is that fellow on the front page?
Gordon.