If you're a small time investors with less than 1 BTC then it's usually better to wait and see how it all plays out. Remember, you can always buy the same coin on the exchange later on.
If you are a big time investor with 100 BTC or more then ICOs are a dream come true. It gives you a chance to actually get into a coin at a set price.
ICO is similar to VC investing. You take on huge risk with the possibility of huge returns. You have to do your due diligence and that can take a really long time.
I've done extremely well with ICOs. I don't buy many though. I've a background in software development which helps me out. The only ICOs that I put significant money into were $ETH, $SJCX, $BCY, $AMP and $FCT. I could easily tell that those projects were good ideas and the people involved were quality. I find a lot of the ICOs lately to be mediocre and do not buy them. I instead don't put in as much money and only pick them up for cheap on the exchanges like I did with $SNGLS, $WAVES, $RISE, $STRAT, $VOX, $DGD and others.
So if you have a decent amount of money to burn, you should just give it to some random anon dude in exchange for some pretty pictures and empty promises.
I'm sorry but that's possibly the dumbest advice I have ever read not just about ICOs, but in general on this forum.
How Not To Be Scammed By an Initial Coin Offering #ICO #crypto
Simple, don't buy into them.
The temptation is to high to resist,but if you are going to buy this Ico ,always remember to only invest what you can afford to lose.And you should always comfortable with the coin you're investing.
While I fail to see the tempation, I do agree with the second part of your sentence. But the same advice stands true for gambling - which is exactly what ICOs are - except when it comes to gambling the rules are clear.