It's because of these incompatible goals that projects will keep going to low and keep posting eulogies on HN.
I am trying to think of a way to allow project originators the freedom to set reasonable goals (a million, whatever) without fear of this one number becoming a drag on their campaign despite the fact that they are actually being honest about what it will take to deliver a quality product.
Yes, it's a problem, though not like IndieGoGo's flexible funding. But I don't take it in isolation - determined creators can make a lot happen with a little money, I know.
I look more closely at the level of detail of what has been done and what needs to be done, and judge whether I think these people have few enough unknowns to complete it. But that's not a metric that most people are able to judge themselves, which is why it's a problem, and also where the Kickstarter community of other backers should kick in.