That is a misrepresentation of what I said. I think it’s perfectly reasonable to criticize things that you are not happy about; however, incessant complaining about the same things over and over again is not productive.
I have not seen this to be true. I have seen that there are folks in the community that have been called cheerleaders for pushing back about the tone of certain posts, or for posts that duplicate complaints that have been debated over and over again.
I personally don’t see how you can reconcile this belief. If I think a company is deceptive, I am not giving them my money. Do I think @dan or GF has been perfect? No. I think they have made quite a few mistakes. This has been true for every single crowd-funding campaign that I have been a part of, as well as each of the start-ups that I have worked for in the past. Constructive criticism about those mistakes helps GF and the community grow. Throwing around accusations of dishonesty and deception is not constructive.
I considered canceling; often. I risked money that I could afford to lose if GF failed, but that doesn’t mean I wanted to lose that money. I have said before that one of the reasons I stuck around was because of this community. And, frankly, the fact that @dan has allowed criticism of himself and GF in the forums speaks to his credibility, in my opinion.
This I agree with; and, it is similar to some of my motivation for sticking around through the last delay.
Were you one of the 100 that they referred to earlier who got priority before everyone else?
How awesome was that! Thanks for sharing, now we have an idea of what to expect,
MOST appreciated for the screencaps, Jacob
EDIT: Adding smilies so no one thinks I am upset or have an attitude!
None of my business, but if you’re looking for more transparency maybe try being nicer when people take the time to provide it for you.
Several people got units early. This is totally consistent with an advanced external beta program, and it isn’t unusual for a company that is shipping a complicated hardware and software product. (I can pretty much guarantee you that none of those people sent it back because it had a scratch too.)
I absolutely realize your frustration, I want my perfect machine yesterday too, but I feel like you’re shooting the messenger here.
No, I liked his post, I thanked him for sharing, please keep your impression of a bad attitude to yourself, I was not being rude to him, you read too much into this hot thread.
You monitor your children and don’t need to monitor me, thank you Have a great day!
Why would you be talking about the children of people you don’t know? How strange. Consider that your tone might not match your intent on the internet. I will hope that’s the case and wish you a good day as well.
I also agree. I really love the Glowforge project, but a lot of information isn’t being released to let everyone make an informed decision. I don’t know why people see asking questions that are sometimes tough for the company to answer as negative.
For those of you looking for information, see this post about features which have been promised/delivered.
Naw. Asking the original question and early follow up comments were fine and even welcome. Started to devolve about the 6th post in when it got to be speculative complaining.
You may not consciously be aware of which set of machines you are comparing them to, but you ARE comparing them to something. Your statement of expected value “I paid a few thousand dollars, it better be pretty” implies this assumption.
To take it to ludicrous extremes: If you bought an aircraft carrier for a few thousand dollars… you would expect that it is so rusted out you cannot even make use of the metal as scrap. But if you bought a bicycle for a few thousand dollars, you would expect the top of the line performance part at every step of the construction.
Expecting what was seen in the promotional video is fairly realistic, though not completely fair. Promotional material is always jazzed up in the modern world. Absolutely no fast food product looks anything like what is in the commercial. Models and actors look nothing like their photo shoots, and many other cases in the world around us where what you see in advertisement has nothing to do with the actual results at all.
I doubt they would take the time to create custom wording for 100 or so out of 10,000 orders. Chosen applies even if the method of choosing is because it is your turn. And it sounds better, making the person reading it continue on their high of “I am finally getting my unit!” So why not use that wording?
They did change the email when they were sending E mails out to customers with PRO’s saying their BASIC’s were ready, would it be that hard? It just looks like you were part of a special group per the wording, chosen, which might refer to that group that @dan was talking about once, the 100 who were somehow chosen ahead of everyone else. I can’t be bothered to look for that post, but I remember a mention about that.
Like I said, I just want the line to MOOOOOOOOOOOOVE!
Irrelevant to me personally if youve seen it to be true since im an example of it. And thats no different than the countless times people have called people naysayers, whiners for questioning glowforge actions. The cheerleader comment even came afterwards as a way of characterizing pushback on negative assessments.
I don’t think so. And as I’ve said in the past, it may not be useful or productive to YOU, but that doesn’t mean it’s not productive. At its bare minimum, it illustrates that a problem with their actions is still present. That glowforge hasn’t addressed much of the concerns. That is useful to people weighing whether or not to stay.
It makes no difference to me if you understand how I reconcile it. I don’t think it’s a difficult concept. I think dishonesty is clear in multiple examples. You don’t have to see it that way. Frankly it doesnt matter to me. Pointing out dishonesty is constructive for people that want to consider all the variables.
I don’t know about replacements units and cosmetic defects but my production unit is the fifth Glowforge I got to see up close and personal and use. (3 at Maker Faire). My feeling is that it is solid and perfect. Lid is firm to close. All is even. Case and tube pristine. Lens perfect. Works great. Accurate. This is one data point.
No it doesnt. I said thousands because it is thousands of dollars. Expectations are cominserately higher when cost goes up. You’re misreading or thinking of someone else’s comment anyways since I litterally never said ‘pretty’. I don’t even think it needs to look 'nice per se. I just expect what I was sold. You’re infering some expectation of beauty that I never implied.
Yes… I understand the premise. I disagree that it applies to my assessment.
We’re not talking jazzing up, were talking actual damage to the product. I expect a company to use photographers and good lighting etc. I don’t expect a marred product. Fast food is a sub $10 purchase, not a multi-thousand dollar one. And as i said earlier, the more expensive the product the higher the expectations of quality. Not even close to a relevant comparison.
Actors are not a purchase and its part of their job to distort perceptions of themselves.
I expect the glowforge to look and function the way it did in their marketing. Nothing more, nothing less.
Mine was spot on too. Thinking most of the alignment and crack problems seems to be the difference between FedEx delivering in one day and UPS delivering by mule.
Yes. All five were good looking machines. My early PRU had one scratch on the upper glass of right side. Most likely causes in shipping when the loose worm drive exhaust clamp got loose and rattles around. Packaging has improved. Zatoichi is counted as a production unit. Even though the three at Maker Faire were all straight from the factory and for all intents and purposes production.
haha I did the same thing when I got my email… but I refrained from sharing because… well… just more fuel for some certain people.
I did post the screenshot of the section about cosmetic defects to the Glowforge Users Group on facebook though, just to clarify that GF was pretty up front about that.
