In this rather peculiar and specialised marketplace, normal rules don't apply. If you do away with all companies that start up with pre-order money, then you'll be left with a few that have past revenues to sustain their future development.
Thats not so. You can use clear terms and investment rather than pre-order nonsense. With transparency and equity in the business things would be much better off.
Just remember that buying is a choice, no one is forced to do it ... That's not to say you can't make a reasonable return from a reasonable investment, especially if the chip/rig vendors stop being so greedy.
Right and I hope with this thread to advance people's understanding and thereby improve the whole market place. If miner hardware charlatans cannot exist without miner buyer rubes. I've never bought mining hardware with grand plans of making a lot of money, I've bought hardware with the intention of supporting the network and hopefully not losing (a bunch) on the process, maybe make enough to pay for the effort. I'm a little irritated that it's become hard to do that and to sort out all the fraud because too many people are willing victims.