Hmm, it seems like this fake ICO will compete with our fake ICO (https://initialcornoffering.com) for the same "investors." I guess we need celebrity endorsements to make the front page of HN though?
I too consider every ICO to be an outright scam. That's actually what led me to build (shameless plug) https://initialcornoffering.com, which pokes fun at many of the ICO anti-patterns I've seen.
Thanks for the question! Of course people can donate money (or food) on their own! I'd never tell anyone not to donate to charity if that's what they want.
This project is a satire. Its philosophy is: if you're going to spend your cryptocurrency on a ridiculous ICO because it has jargony language, a whitepaper someone wrote in ten minutes, a countdown timer, and a bunch of gimmicky bonuses, send it to me I'll at least do something good for the world rather than just run off with your money.
(If you don't believe that's what ICOs have become, visit literally any of the hundreds listed on https://www.icoalert.com)
Hi HN! I've been working on this for the past few weeks. Probably the easiest way to think about it is as a satire along the lines of Useless Ethereum Token, except I'll use it as a way to donate (hopefully lots of) food to food banks rather than just pocket everything.
EDIT: And of course I’m fixing a small CSS bug I just noticed I have now crashed the entire app :(
EDIT 2: And now we’re back up! Thank you all for going on this journey with me.