Homerowco (or keebs) has run a group buy for an acrylic Alice clone, which hasn’t shipped yet. I am planning on running this group buy, but he wants to run his group buy first, so he plans on running his interest check and group buy in the next two weeks.
I have three things to say to this:
Anyone can make a prototype. That doesn’t guarantee rights to the group buy first.
homerowco told me about the “unspoken rules”, but I have a few things to say to this. I don’t think it’s right to run an interest check and a group buy for the same exact thing before I run mine, because I put out the IC first. Everyone knows very well that sales for this would be utterly cannibalized if homerowco ran his first.
“The strength of the dollar” isn’t a good enough reason to try to one-up my group buy. The same can be said about me, what incentive will there be for me to run a GB if the dollar is “weak”?
I recognize the idea isn’t mine, nor is it yours. Neither of us have a monopoly on it, yutski and Zambumon (partially) do. The design is open sourced. But running back to back group buys for the same keyboard in different configurations and crushing the competition for a quick buck seems unethical to me.
In light of some incidents being brought to my attention (thanks ____, you know who you are), I am going to be accelerating the timeline of this project. The group buy will be held in the next 1-2 weeks, and production will be 2-3 months (at the maximum, likely much less).
Nothing in this post is meant to be scathing or rude, just my opinion and the next steps for this group buy.
I’m logging off for tonight, will reply to other questions tomorrow.
Thanks to everyone who is supporting this project!
Dear Sir,
In order to summarize your argument for your right to run the GB, you are claiming these points:
1. Priority of posting IC before HomeRowCo
2. Priority of obtaining prototype by HomeRowCo is not valid since anyone can make a prototype
The same could be said that anyone could post an IC with renders (in fact, it is easier to make renders than to make actual prototypes). I have seen a fair share of ICe that did not take off to GBs, and I have seen a fair share of prototypes made without a commitment for a definite GB as well. But for the sake of argument, lets say that both arguments by both parties are equally valid.
3. Strength of dollar is not a valid argument since it goes both ways for both parties
4. Since Alice is open-sourced, it cannot be claimed exclusively by other parties.
Given your arguments that “unspoken rules” can be disregarded,
That means to say HomeRowCo is allowed to run his GB independently of yours right?
I would like to ask the respected elders and moderators in the community if his arguments are in the best interests of the community if vendors are allowed to cannibalize each other’s sales and if a peaceful solution can be met between both vendors in the interest of the community.
First off, thank you for expressing your opinion here.
The arguments you made are valid, but you are ignoring a key point.
You specifically mentioned that "if we disregard the unspoken rules" but this is a key part of the argument.
First, he came to my IC thread and started telling me about ethics and "unspoken rules". I deeply appologized, and thought we could privately come to a solution. I left my Discord name and urged him to contact me. I hoped we could work something out, possibly even work together, giving the community a higher quality product. He completely ignored that request and proceeded to announce on his discord and on my IC thread that he is running his GB for the same thing in two weeks.
If a POM Alice is really what everyone wants, then you and I know very well that sales for this are going to be utterly cannibalized by his GB.
That's not what really irks me though; he comes to MY interest check thread, lectures me about morals and "unspoken rules" while doing that same thing himself.
He hasn't even furfilled all the orders from his previous group buy, and he is already thinking of starting another one.
It's pretty clear to me that he's doing this for a quick buck. A keyboard business is based on the idea of helping the community with limited, high quality products, while a money-making business is based on supply and demand. It's pretty clear to me what his intentions are. I don't see how he intends to deliver a high quality product while planning two group buys simultaneously.
You are correct in saying that no one has a monopoly on the design, and we can run our buys independently of each other. But scolding me about morals and then plugging his own GB in my IC thread is just inexcusable.
Again thanks for your comment, and this is just my opinion.
Nothing here is meant to be scathing, I just think it's time someone is honest with the community.
TLDR: Hypocrisy is real.
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