Even if it’s just a couple sentences each week? Like…how things are going production wise…have some shipped out for testing…etc?
No, but I’ll continue to post here regularly, answer questions, and drop surprises from time to time. I’m not so good at scheduled stuff.
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I have placed my order, some weeks back. I don’t like the attitude that I am seeing put forth by the reps from the GF team. The face you are putting forward is pretty clearly “we have your money, now you are at our mercy”. When you were still trying to get money for your campaign you were putting our videos, and far more active. I know you have things to do…primarily to be sure that you deliver the GlowForge in all of it’s glory. Without a doubt though, saying, “I’m not so good at scheduled stuff.” is a cop out. I am a huge fan of you @dan and of this campaign. We are all your investors. When you invest in a company, that company provides you with reports, regularly, of how the business is going, what they are doing with your money, and of benchmarks, and milestones associated with that investment. I think that is all we are asking for. Saying “I’m not so good at scheduled stuff.” would be like me saying “I’m not so good at paying my gas bill.”…it will work for a month or two, until your heat gets shut off. Give us a break here and reward our faith in this campaign by not only delivering a great product, but by regularly providing structured updates regarding the progress of design, testing, manufacturing, first shipments, feedback, etc. As I said in my response to the YouTube Videos post in this forum…keep us interested…enthusiastic, and keep our money…or you may see a lot of people pulling their investments back…especially with Christmas approaching. My 2 cents. I hope you give it some thought @dan
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I’ve got to admit…when I read your reply Dan, I thought the very same.
I don’t WANT to think that, but your comment came across that way. I support jweaver835’s post.
To be fair though you are not an investor. We are just customers who have preordered a product. Dan doesnt need to give us any more information than he already is - but he’s being very proactive on the forums. Far more than id expect for a company that has over 27 million dollars worth of orders to fulfil in 6 months.
I know i would rather have @dan working on shipping a great product in a reasonable time, and lets be honest…if people pull out its more likely to be for this reason rather than not having weekly updates. So im all for Dan and the main team focusing on bringing the product to market.
However i do think that it takes only a short amount of time for a community manager to drip feed information as milestones are past and i would very much like this to continue.
Anyway i’d just like to say thanks for the great communication so far glowforge - keep it up. And fellow community members… lets try temper our expectations a little.
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@reevesjack85, if our money is being used to fund the development of, and production of the product that we purchased, that makes us investors. If you honestly believe that if we all hadn’t purchased a glowforge, that Dan and his minions would have just gone ahead and produced them in the “hope” that people would change their minds…then you may need to re-evaluate your understanding of the crowd funding model from the ground up (start with Wikipedia and then expand your scope…learn my son). Now, all ribbing aside, we simply disagree on what we expect. Your expectations are very different than mine. I have participated in several crowd funding campaigns on kickstarter and Indiegogo. Each time (including another one that I am currently participating in for the Remix Android computer), there are regular (usually weekly at a very minimum) progress updates. That is what I expect. Go, be satisfied with the lack of information. My expectations are the same as when my credit card was charged for $2500. I expect to be looped in, every step of the way. If not, as I said before, we will see how far my patience extends.
an investor invests time or money with the expectation of financial gain. people who preorder a product simply do just that. they agree to buy a product when it is released in return for a lower price. Investors have safe guards and protections, as well as restrictions. We do not. Simply look at the myriad of kickstarted campaigns that fail and do not return money. They and many other crowd funding sites ask people to pledge money towards an idea.
What you expect doesnt matter. @Dan is the CEO and if he is too busy producing your Glowforge, dealing with real investors, managing his rapidly expanding staff and coraling the media then thats his prerogative - hes the boss - and by preordering you have chosen to trust him with your money. It doesnt buy you a stake.
I think you should cut the team some slack as they’ve been very forthcoming with all my questions, as well as open and honest to yours.
Im sure we will all have many updates in the next 6 months as production begins and testing starts.
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@reevesjack85…again, what I expect DOES matter. To myself, and to many other people who have purchased these items. Secondly, I am not trying to argue with you…we all realize we are at the mercy of the people we gave our money to. We all want this to succeed and to get a great product, however, we are also human, and we all want what we paid for…but until we get it, or get fed up with waiting for it, I (we, as I am not (not nearly) the first person on this forum to voice this same opinion) would like to see the same level of effort (videos, Q&A, showing off features, etc) in trying to hold our interest, as we saw from the team trying to catch our eye. It is a simple request, and the garbage answer “I’m not so good at scheduled stuff”…like delivering products on schedule…is frankly, alarming. Again, not arguing…I know they are all busy…but nobody cut my wallet any slack (I mean seriously, get real here, we all know this is basically $800 worth or parts right?..and that we all paid for a piece of software with features that don’t exist yet?)…so I would be remiss if I didn’t voice my expectations and then asked for a refund 3 months from now when we are still hearing “No, but I’ll continue to post here regularly, answer questions, and drop surprises from time to time. I’m not so good at scheduled stuff.” My opinion is out there now @reevesjack85. I feel better. Don’t you? 
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I am not going to engage on the subject of how frequently we “deserve” information from Glowforge on their progress, but something about the way you are writing sets my teeth on edge. The phrase “Dan and his minions” is incredibly insulting to a group of individuals who are all working very hard to bring a new product to market. I have personally met many of them at their open house, and I don’t think they deserve your condescension. If you feel you deserve something you are not getting, then by all means let them know. But please try to be human about it, it might just work better.
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@jkopel You may have missed the part a few posts back where I explained that I am " I am a huge fan of you @dan and of this campaign." I am not sure why you choose to be offended by the phrase “Dan and his minions”, or why you would feel it was “insulting” in any way. It wasn’t intended that way…also to accuse me of being condescending, for voicing my opinion…it what I thought was a very playful and good natured way, is silly…and I think that you @jkopel and @reevesjack85 are either intentionally, or out of blind misguidance, derailing and hijacking an otherwise very constructive thread requesting some accountability to the supporters of this campaign. So lets stay on topic, or you two gents could just start your own warm fuzzy thread about togetherness and trust? (that seems like the best solution at this point) Gnite mates. Hopefully you read this and can see past the end of your own noses.
This subject has just been about drama ever since jweaver835 did not get the answer he wanted and seems to be going about it in a slightly hostile way. Be patient and have a great day.
I agree with @jkopel and @reevesjack85 posts on the subject.
Great work @dan will be waiting for future updates and appreciate the effort you and your team put in.
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You’re not an investor. You’re a consumer. If you don’t like the product or the service then take your money elsewhere.
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Regular updates will calm fears that features promised in already released videos that have further been explained as, it will do, but can’t do now (passthrough, greyscale, software features) will either not happen, or in order to happen ship dates will have to be pushed back much farther than anticipated (4-9 months?). The truth is, in development, you many times will not have much progress week to week and @dan really doesn’t owe the community members information that one would expect in a staff meeting update week to week. Keep up the laser Thursdays, and hopefully we will start seeing some of those features being implemented and shown off!
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The issue is this item is NOT in “development”. This is a product that is supposed to be in production now, with ship dates of December 2015…per their site.
Without any updates on what is happening, and what “seems” like a shift in attitude since the pre-order completed, one can’t be faulted for feeling “slightly” concerned. I’m not jumping off a bridge here, I just feel some kind of weekly update would have been nice. It’s not like we all put up $100 for a tchotchke or something.
Disagree. But I HONESTLY want to be helpful in response so PLEASE read it that way. Most of the S/W is still being written and debuged, H/W designs as of a few weeks ago were still being refined. Plastic molds were not final and power supplies had not been approved. The production line has not started. I can only assume that means the units are in “development”. The Sept 24th GF website said the first units will be shipped in December 2015 with the bulk of the pre-orders over the next few quarters. Some folks read that to mean final production in Dec. So Bailey updated the FAQ “When will my Glowforge ship?” to be very clear. Feel free to comment on my original post Realistic Expectations Thanks.
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@rpegg … That is great information! Where did you find that info (H/W designs still being refined etc)? Thanks for the post.
Great original post @rpegg. Says what I wish I had originally answered to this one. Thanks for including it and thanks for the contribution to the forum.
Jack