Controversial analogies - I heard that the Telegram ICO is going to collect some fantastic sums already at the privat sale stage.
As far as I know Durov does not comment on this ICO, it's probably just a PR move to attract more money! Personally, I do not like this idea very much, practice shows that projects with smaller amounts are much better implemented in the future!
I agree with you, I like projects that are developed at the expense of users themselves, and not at the expense of PR and people who have nothing to do with crypto-currencies.