Addressing the GB. Mistakes were made and that’s fine. Mistakes are the best way to learn and improve. The GB runner just need to address the suggestions on this thread and finally start to provide meaningful updates.
Update saying there are no updates is better that no update at all. A paragraph or two will suffice. It will take literally 15 minutes weekly to draft it and send here.
* Updates: Geekhack thread + mailing list (something like a trello board for currently worked on items will do wonders as well)
* Support: mail (maybe zendesk if GB runner is feeling fancy)
* Chatter: Discord server which is 100% ignored by the GB runner. Just make it clear that Discord is for customers to discuss and share. Not for updates. Not for support.
I get that managing things may be challenging especially when you get overwhelmed with a large order quantity etc. But above would take a day to setup at most while addressing the majority of constructive criticism at this point.
“it is still better the other group buys” -> “my original estimate was indeed overly optimistic and I apologize for this. The current rough ETA is X because of A,B and C”
“currently I’m communicating with multiple vendors regarding X. I should have a reply from them by Y. That will unblock A,B,C but D is still blocked on Z.”
We've been asking for that since October, and the answer we've had is "what I'm doing is in line with other GB's, I don't understand why everyone is so mad, I'm not going to do updates every two weeks that's crazy".
Plastik needs to acknowledge that we aren't mad because we think he's running away with our money, or because of delays. We are mad because there is a lack of
MEANINGFUL communication, and because the apparent cause of delays seems to be procrastination. Maybe it's not, but we don't have any updates to tell us it's not, all we know is that it isn't covid and that renting a space is a problem, and some solutions offered by the community (doing it in batches) have been ignored. There might be a very good reason why that's not a viable option, but please tell us! You don't have to address every question from everyone, and certainly not as a direct reply to each question, but addressing the most commonly asked questions is not unreasonable and can be done in a single post that would take as little as 20 minutes to write.
We're halfway into the Q4 estimate, and we haven't been told yet that the Q4 estimate, which was meant to be a "sure thing" is no longer feasible, but with the info we currently have it is obvious that this board will be delayed to 2021, and at this point Q2 2021 seems more likely than Q1.
Answering the following questions would help a ton with the vitriol from the community that this GB has been experiencing in the last few days:
What steps are being taken to resolve the issues that are stopping this group buy from going forward? Any news on the two places you were looking to rent? Were you able to find a manufacturer that will pack the screws and small components for you? If it took you 7 months to rent a space and find a screw manufacturer, how are you expecting to QC 1100+ boards and even more PCBs on your own before summer? Has production started (besides the PCBs)? If not, when and how long do you think it will take? Do you need help from the members of the community for anything?
I don't understand how this group buy became so secretive after such an open IC.
For what it's worth, I think that some of what happened in the Discord server was extremely rude and mean-spirited. It is best to ignore those who spend half of their day spewing hate at the project without contributing to a meaningful conversation, but to do so without addressing the constructive criticism and the solutions proposed by the more reasonable participants comes off as tone-deaf and is why the anger has carried on over here as well.
As one of those who has participated in the early bird funding of this project back in January, I still have faith in the runner and the project, but I wish there was more transparency, even in the "no updates" updates (ex: "still waiting on a place before manufacturing starts, the price of the places I was waiting was too high" or "still negotiating for the rental" or "made an offer, still waiting for answer" or "started manufacturing the first 200 boards" etc).
Good luck with everything Plastik, I can't wait to get my hands on my HMKB-80!