yeah getting updates from discord is pretty common practice for group buys around here. Remember that the group buy runner is literally one person, with a full time job and his own life. This isn't a company with a ton of resources and paid labor. We have gotten updates and pics proving that things are moving, but group buys are not a race, and typically take awhile. You'll be okay, be patient lol.
I've seen this argument come up a lot, and I would agree that it's not unheard of, but I don't know if I would call it common.
After all, why even mention the group buy or interest check at all on a forum in the first place? Because there are more people browsing for these things here than on Discord.
I have always maintained, (and always shall do so) that the majority of updates should be on the medium or service where the majority of buyers found/bought it.
I agree, it can be a lot of work for one person organizing it all - but all that person has to do is just keep the main info source updated. (Such as this thread.)
It's not the buyer's responsibility to chase down this information all over the hills. We know long stretches of time will pass with nothing to report, that's part of the process. But we also want reassurances that the person running the show hasn't run off with our money, never to be heard from again. (A worse case scenario, and its happened to me on Kickstarter.) And all it takes for that reassurance I speak of is for the show runner to just pop in once in awhile, and chime in with a status update.
I'm not singling out this group buy at all, I've seen others better at communication but others worse by far. This is just the standard I would hold to myself if I was the person running a similar project.