That's a good list, except I would change the ranking.
Depending on how willing and able a team is to exaggerate or be dishonest, they can make "Team Composition" seem better than it really is. There are many projects that have stacked the team with many people that have little experience or skill related to cryptos, technology or the business that the project wants to enter.
Depending on how willing and able a team is to exaggerate or be dishonest, they can build more hype than others Or, they can create fake users and therefore make the community seem more active than justified.
The following should be much more important:
5 – What do they need the token for? Is the blockchain necessary?
Everyone is trying to launch an ICO, and they'll try to put anything and everything onto a blockchain. Most ICOs' ideas do not need to be on a blockchain. One ICO is trying to hook up locals with visitors to enhance the travel experience. Really? This is a joke.
The following can be misleading:
9 – Quality of the code – Meet Githhub
You'll never know if the code is original or copied. You'll never know if the team can write software, unless they have software that you can run or use. Never invest in an ICO that doesn't have software that you can run. It takes way more skill, work and time to write software than to stack the team, answer questions, hype up the community, creating a video or even writing the white paper.
I totally agree with you! This is a really good comment.
I would add that it's not really easy to check out the software's code if you don't have IT skills. And as you said, the code may be wonderful but just copied/pasted.
As I said in another thread, ICOs are a way to get money so easily and there is such a keen interest in the blockchain that it's enough to say the magical word "decentralized" to attract investors. Even if the project is not innovative at all. Even if the blockchain is not needed.
