So all this (alleged) re-machining of (hopefully existing) cases isn't to fit the pcb they we sold with, but for other 3rd-party ones?
That is the current information I have. So much so that no major refactoring of the original PCB was needed, only component replacements which did not need redesign.
Given that, plus the fact no pcbs has been ordered and that he's not communicating with you.. it's far fetched to draw the conclusion there is/were no intention to use your design. That though assumes hes intentions are to fulfill the gb which also can be questioned at this stage.
We picked up communication since my little rant. Things seem to be moving. I'll give more updates as I have them, but nothing worth noting for now
We were told that things were moving along a year ago, and that we could look forward to Rukia shipping before Thanksgiving, and then Christmas, and then it just kept shifting to the right. Gondo, do you trust jaxx to fulfill this GB? I've been patiently waiting for over a year, and it's incredibly frustrating to receive second or even third hand updates and not know what to make of them. The first hand updates I received were either:
- full of promises that have fallen through (weekly updates?)
- filled with things that didn't add up (150 vs 300 boards on the boat, which batch was on the boat? How many boards were damaged?)
- later proven to be false(shipping out in December but PCBs never ordered)
I have so many more questions about what's going on that I never expect to get answered. I'm reluctant to even join any more GBs after what happened here.
Bottom line is, I don't trust jaxx, and I don't trust his mods. It's starting to seem like the only person I trust to give honest updates here is you, and that's not fair to either of us.
You know, I completely resonate with your sentiment here. I know that situations like these are deeply frustrating and it does make you think twice before entering a GB ever again. I take much pride in stating that I am a "unique" designer in that I am very active in the community; due to the high number of messages, questions, (and some harassment here and there), designers will generally disable their DMs and do their thing, which is admirable and I wanted to be like that... But I need the human element. I need... this. Talking. Instead of a designer that participates in the community, I like to think myself as a community member that designs. I know how a frustrated GB feels like, and I know that you guys could be either enjoying a nice Rukia right now or not participated and spend that money in an RTX GPU right now.
That being said, it still is weird to be
in this side of the community. I can't make judgement calls, as it's deeply unprofessional. The extent of my action is what I was hired to do, and reporting on that. Is that "fair"? Fairness is generally not something I care about in my day to day life, as it is quite often that someone pays a price they should not in order to make or at least help get a collective objective forward. Today, that is me, and I will gladly be that person to update people. Niezsche spent an entire lifetime writing his books about how morals and ego are the bane of the existence. Is this fair to me? Maybe not, maybe it is, but if it gets this Group Buy going I will take it either way.
I do think Jaxx is committed to delivering his GB. Not only has he stated that multiple times, but last week when I demanded payment in this very thread he contacted me and I manifested I feel very uneasy about this because what good does it do me to put effort into a sinking boat for free? He then told me he would understand if I jumped out and proceeded to transfer me half of the commission money. So it seems his money is definitely where his mouth is.
The reasons that keep him from delivering the group buy and giving rather questionable updates are none of my business, and from his updates might involve personal and family issues, so I really don't want to engage in that discussion. For that matter, I will play devil's advocate here and say: it takes huge cojones to publicly say you failed. I am currently running a GB for my signature PCB, the Lasgweloth, and it has been an year and a half and I was not able to deliver it -- MCU shortage, DHL losing units, plates came scuffed, Murphy's Law took a huge dump on my GB -- and for the life of me, every time I have to give people bad news I feel a void inside. I spent 500+ USD more than people paid for them and I still don't have them delivered. It sucks to admit failure, it makes you feel like a pile of poopoo coming out of the behinds of the most pest-ridden street dog you can find, and yet I have to bring myself to tell them... I have failed. I did my best, it was not enough. I was not enough. Which is the reason I leave the updates to late night so that I can just fall asleep and don't think much about how I suck.
Is Jaxx ill-intended? I don't think so, no. In my opinion, he'd have poofed out completely a long time ago. Could he have done a better job? Probably but "could" and "would" are no good in situations like these.