Think of an ICO as a startup, and buyers of the tokens are early-stage investors.
Early stage investing is the riskiest type of investment out there. People who invest in such projects typically spend a long time researching the company, the people, and even getting to personally know and interview the founders.
There is currently so much hype about cryptocurrency that people throw lots of money at ICOs that they don't know much about. Do your own research, make sure you really know what you're buying. Otherwise, you'll lose money and have no one to blame but yourself.

I spend a lot of time researching before investing in ICOs. I always have a list of promising projects that I'm looking into and study in depth before buying.

My top 3 right now are:

www.waxtoken.com
Online virtual asset exchange secured by blockchain technology

www.filecoin.io
Cryptocurrency incentivized and secured, distributed cloud storage

www.MindSports.IO
Online games such as Chess, Poker, Shogi, Go, etc. Playing, spectating, and betting. All transactions secured on a blockchain.

Absolutely!
Altcoins are trading for a HUGE discount right now since lots of media hype and forks have given bitcoin the spotlight. Loading up on Alts so when the hype cycles back over the Alts I can cash out.
That said, I do a HUGE amoung of research before buying: 90% of alts are blatant scams.
Therefore, I feel like sticking with industries that I'm knowledgeable about really helps sort the good from the bad.
I'm currently really into online gaming projects. Here are a few that I'm really optimistic about right now:

My current list is:
www.enjincoin.io
www.MindSports.IO
www.waxtoken.com
www.playkey.io

There's really no absolute way to check if something is a scam. This is a very new industry and isn't regulated like many traditional investment vehicles.
Really, participating in an ICO is like being an early-stage investor in a start-up. You absolutely MUST do a LOT of due diligence. Study the founders, study the whitepaper, study the target market.

People are irrationally exuberant about crypto right now and it is going to bite them hard. Right now, cryptocurrency is where the internet was in 1997. Everyone thought that throwing money at any stock that had a ".com" in the name was a guarantee to make money. And it was... until it wasn't...

So you need a strategy that you are personally confident in. Personally, I stick with an industry I'm competent in. That way I already know the big players, the industry, and have a better "nose" for sorting the good from the bad. I'm an avid online gamer and computer game nerd. So, I follow a lot of projects in that space. After studying them A LOT, I have a running list of projects that I'm interested in.
My current list is:
www.enjincoin.io
www.MindSports.IO
www.waxtoken.com
www.playkey.io

I came by that list with a LOT of hard work, and continue working very hard to add to that list as I have time and energy to dive into the research. If you just go off half-cocked and start investing in ideas after an hour of research, you'll lose your shirt.
Best of luck!

Online gaming is a huge industry and contains a wide variety of opportunities for blockchain applications. As an avid gamer, I'm following these developments closely. Here is this week's analysis on projects that I feel are poised to become major leaders in the space.

Virtual goods transactions:

www.waxtoken.com/

www.enjincoin.io

These two are in a similar in concept but with quite different approaches. Enjin is a well established gaming community creation platform with Minecraft as one of their main focuses. WAX is being built by the founders of OpSkins, a huge marketplace for purchasing virtual goods, especially weapons and other items for Steam games. Both promise to greatly improve commerce of virtual game items by reducing transaction costs and risks of fraud. Because of their different focuses, they won't be directly competing until they both grow considerably.

Online Intellectual Games

www.MindSports.IO

There are a couple of blockchain projects in development for playing certain games online, but this one stands out. MindSports will feature playing, spectating, and betting on games, as well as robust user-generated content. They plan to support 10+ games including poker, chess, Go, shogi, xiangqi, backgammon, and more.

Gaming on the Cloud

www.playkey.io

A lot of people have a hard time keeping their computers up-to-date enough to play high-end games. There are some services which allow streaming of these high performance games to users, but they are generally quite expensive. This project will bring cloud gaming into the blockchain, allowing participants with powerful computers to host high end games and stream them to players. Players will be able to play high end games on machines that would otherwise be incapable of running them while paying a minimal fee in cryptocurrency to the host.

Would love to hear more ideas in this space! What's your favorite?

Definitely do your own research. Nobody has your best interests in mind than YOU.
One article that I've found helpful in evaluating ICOs is this:
https://www.coindesk.com/moon-bust-questions-ask-evaluating-icos/

Also, I tend to stick with industries that I'm passionate and knowledgeable about. That really helps in spotting the scams from the quality projects.
As an avid gamer, I tend to focus on various projects in that space.
Here are a couple of examples:

www.MindSports.IO
www.waxtoken.com
www.playkey.io

"Everyone has lost money"
LOL
My portfolio is up 600% this year and only that low because I royally screwed up a few trades.
Now that altcoins are all super cheap is the time to be loading up on them again not selling.
Selling time was earlier this summer. If you didn't sell then, well, that's your own fault.

I've looked into DMarket and honestly, I'm not nearly as impressed. It is certainly possible that they could turn into a successful company. However, WAX and Enjin both do similar things, but already have reputable, established businesses. This makes them a much lower risk, in my opinion.

Actually, the fact that they are an existing business lends them a certain degree of credibility. It's not one of those anonymous groups we know nothing about who will likely raise money in an ICO and the disappear forever.
These folks run a reputable, successful business already and want to expand. That puts them ahead of the crowd in my opinion.

Regarding your question of "why would they want to raise money since they are already making money?"
Businesses do that all the time! Starting a business, proving it can make money, showing that it could make even more money with some additional funding for expansion, and raising another round of venture capital is common practice.

The final reason for them to do this is that it allows cryptocurrency/smart contracts for sales. This allows things like safe, peer-to-peer transactions, reduced transaction costs, etc. I think any online marketplace would benefit greatly from a well thought-out strategy for leveraging cryptocurrencies.

Definitely do your own research. Nobody has your best interests in mind than YOU.
One article that I've found helpful in evaluating ICOs is this:
https://www.coindesk.com/moon-bust-questions-ask-evaluating-icos/

Also, I tend to stick with industries that I'm passionate and knowledgeable about. That really helps in spotting the scams from the quality projects.
As an avid gamer, I tend to focus on various projects in that space.
Here are a couple of examples:

www.MindSports.IO
www.waxtoken.com
www.playkey.io

Blockchain technology provides the opportunity for several significant improvements in online marketplaces, especially online marketplaces dealing with virtual goods such as in the online gaming industry.

1. Greatly reduced transaction costs.
Dealing with fiat currencies, credit cards, etc, is very expensive. Whether the customer sees that cost directly, or experiences it indirectly in the form of increased prices, it adds friction and loss to the system.
2. Opportunity for peer-to-peer transactions without fraud
Purchasing virtual goods from a reputable website has always been relatively easy. Peer-to-peer transactions, however, has been difficult and fraught with danger. If a player wants to purchase an account, character, or virtual item from another player, preventing fraud is extremely difficult. Traditionally, online marketplaces had to act as a mediator and escrow, another difficult and expensive process when dealing entirely with virtual property and individuals over the internet. By recording ownership and transactions on the blockchain, fraud becomes nearly impossible.
3. Many individuals live in countries where buying things online at all is very difficult. For them, it will still somewhat difficult to get fiat money into a cryptocurrency but, once that's accomplished, individuals can exchange them for any cryptocurrency they need and buy and sell property online safely and cheaply. They can even start by earning cryptocurrency and operating entirely without fiat for those kinds of transactions.

I look at the team and the project.
My two key questions are:
1. What is the unique value proposition of this project? What problem does it solve?
2. Who is in charge of this project? Reputable, competent people are very important.

I also tend to stick with industries that I know a lot about. I'm really into online gaming, so that's an area of focus for me.
Here are a couple of projects that I'm following closely.

www.MindSports.IO
www.waxtoken.com
www.playkey.io

Online gaming is a huge industry and contains a wide variety of opportunities for blockchain applications. As an avid gamer, I'm following these developments closely. Here are some thoughts on projects that I feel are poised to become major leaders in the space. I'd love to hear more ideas!
Virtual goods transactions:
www.waxtoken.com
www.enjincoin.io
These two are in a similar in concept but with quite different approaches. Enjin is a well-established gaming community creation platform with Minecraft as one of their main focuses. WAX is being built by the founders of OpSkins, a huge marketplace for purchasing virtual goods, especially weapons and other items for Steam games. Both promise to greatly improve commerce of virtual game items by reducing transaction costs and risks of fraud. Because of their different focuses, they won't be directly competing until they both grow considerably.
Online Intellectual Games:
www.MindSports.IO
There are a couple of blockchain projects in development for playing certain games online, but this one stands out. MindSports will feature playing, spectating, and betting on games, as well as robust user-generated content. They plan to support 10+ games including poker, chess, Go, shogi, xiangqi, backgammon, and more.
Gaming on the Cloud:
www.playkey.io
A lot of people have a hard time keeping their computers up-to-date enough to play high-end games. There are some services which allow streaming of these high-performance games to users, but they are generally quite expensive. This project will bring cloud gaming into the blockchain, allowing participants with powerful computers to host high-end games and stream them to players. Players will be able to play high-end games on machines that would otherwise be incapable of running them while paying a minimal fee in cryptocurrency to the host.
As always, I'm on the lookout for more great projects. Post your ideas and feedback below!

Always do your own research. There are a LOT of scam coins and people on these forums trying to pump up the scam coins. The only person on this forum with your best interest truly at heart... is YOU.
Here's an article on evaluating cryptos that I've found really helpful:
https://www.coindesk.com/moon-bust-questions-ask-evaluating-icos/

I tend to focus on niche projects within industries that I know about. It helps sort the good from the bad.
I'm an avid computer geek and online gamer.
Here's a few of the most promising gaming projects imo.

www.MindSports.IO
www.waxtoken.com
www.playkey.io

I like following niche projects in industries I'm interested in. It makes it easier to sort the scams from the solid projects.
As an avid online gamer, I tend toward those projects. Here are some of the top projects in the online gaming space:

www.MindSports.IO
www.waxtoken.com
www.playkey.io

I like niche projects that solve specific needs in industries I'm familiar with. Makes it easier to sort the scams from the legit projects.
I'm really into online gaming, so here are a few of the top projects in that space that I'm following:
www.MindSports.IO
www.waxtoken.com
www.enjincoin.io

I think this industry will need to get way more mature before that becomes a realistic option.
Too many scammers and fuzzy laws right now.

The only one on that list that I'd even consider is CVC. The rest are very questionable imo.
But that said I don't usually HODL. I've gotten much better returns by trading.

Dude...
*Bump* isn't how you get people interested.
If you have an idea for a cool project you need to inspire confidence, competence, and describe a little about the project so people will know that it's interesting enough to participate in.

Write up a post with a general idea of what the business/product is and what the value proposition is like. Give people a reason to care.
Don't ask for talking further in a PM.
A proposal like yours says that you are either a blatant scammer or are too lazy to be worth dealing with.

Oh me too! I have a big project. huge returns. Give me yur bitcoins and I'll make you rich! trust me...

Here's a great article on points to consider when considering participating in any ICO.
https://www.coindesk.com/moon-bust-questions-ask-evaluating-icos/

That said, here are a few that pass my screening:
www.waxtoken.com
www.filecoin.io
www.MindSports.IO