crowdfunding for personal stuff

I often see stuff on YouTube, where people are trying to get crowdfunded for something that is not necessarily for the greater good. It seems that some just want others to buy them things that they can't afford to buy for themselves. They have a business idea but, but they don't have any money.

Have you ever seen this type of campaign become successful?

I was looking at one of those microfinance sites. Many of the people looking for money are farmers. There were some sensible things that received financing. A good cart to get things to market, money for seeds, fingerlings to start a fish farm. But there were also things that I would never give a penny to. Many of them needed money for pesticides, and got it. One guy in Haiti, was loaned money so that he could increase the stock in his small liquor store. Stuff like that, makes me not trust the system.

It would be nice if there was a way that potential investors could give a thumbs up or down to the product or idea that is being presented for funding.

I have seen people get funded for personal stuff.   And I don't understand it.  

I feel like I understand kickstarter quite well:  you want to go into business offering a product; rather than getting a loan from a bank, people pre-buy the product.  

It looks like there are different kinds of crowdfunding sites.  I like kickstarter as their focus is on projects that have something to give back.  

Publishing a book?  Use kickstarter to pre-sell the books.  I like that idea.