Quoted from ForceFlow:

After every meltdown, a thread like this appears.
Then the next shiny new bauble surfaces and everyone ogles it and throws piles of money at it, and completely forgets what happened the last time.
Rinse, repeat.

Quoted from j_m_:

those with the morals that we were all brought up with (machines, mods, add-ons, etc...) will continue to develop on their own dime and offer up the goods only and only when they are ready for market, taking no money until the finished product is complete and ready to ship.

Quoted from AlbanyTim:

I know this is not a scientific poll and it is merely a means to start a discussion, but by creating two "no" options and one "yes" option, you are splitting the "no" votes and virtually guaranteeing that "yes" will have the most responses in a close race.
Source: I live in a hyper-political city and organizations do this all the time.

Quoted from beelzeboob:

Well...I prepaid you for the game I bought. Had to wait a whole week to get it. So I guess the model is still alive and well.

Quoted from 27dnast:

There is only one company that would fetch my money in a pre-order scenario (meaning, game announced, but not completely designed, not in production):
Stern.

Lawlor's supposed game is all over my radar and would love to see it shown in final physical form this summer (that might get my pre-order $$). I think bringing game #3 to the public in the same form as Stern typically does (announce...two weeks later, show....1 month later, begin shipping) would make them jump way up in my realm of trust with pre-order money.

Quoted from roc-noc:

This survey is flawed. I voted yes to the topic but it should have been no to the question. The topic and the question contradict each other.

Quoted from RobT:

You do realize that people could vote "no" in the poll even if they have zero intent of ever pre-ordering a pin, right?

Quoted from RobT:

I was referring to your statement about PD Barnum. It doesn't really apply since the poll doesn't ask people if they will pre-order a pin. It asks if "pre-pay is still viable." Technically you could have every single person who voted that prepay is not dead be people who would never preorder a pin under any circumstances, but they think *other* people will.
Also, I noticed that your poll question is all f'ed up, because the title question is the complete opposite of the poll question.
I bet half the people who voted didn't realize which way they were actually voting.
I.e., "Is the pre-order/prepay model finally dead?" is very different than "Is prepay still viable in the pinball community?"
I'd vote yes to one of those questions and no to the other.