@spike and @darkdesign Agree with both of you. It would be easy to set up an approval process for staff to review any postings to that forum from Beta Testers. Even if it’s just pictures I would love to see what’s being produced from the Beta testers.
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I prefer that the people with the Beta units can post whatever they do freely, because I am quite curious and I would love to be a part of things, even if I don’t have a unit of my own to toy with.
But, the practical side of me says that even if the people reading those posts on this forum understand that these are beta results, and do not reflect on the final product… the more eyes that see the information here, the more people who may potentially share it outside of here. Once you get out of this forum, the chances of someone forgetting it is a beta unit skyrockets.
I have seen so much terrible news treatment of scientific studies, I imagine that a developing project will have it even worse. I understand that news/blog writers need to make headlines and draw readers, I just don’t like how it usually goes down (of course 80% of the issue falls on the readers, not the writers. Even with massive disclaimers all over the article about not being 100%, people walk away from the articles thinking “This is certain!”)
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I only just noticed this, but these forums are publicly visible. The only restrictions are on posting.
I agree that it would be nice if the beta testers were able to share their experiences, but perhaps a forum that only owners can read would be a good idea.
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I have no doubt my GF will be available to me when it’s ready and I’m ready. Life just works out that way when you let life unfold as it is intended instead for forcing your will. Let go. Let life.
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Will these beta units be upgraded to the same level of reliability and functionality as the final production units? Or will you swap them out to final units once everything is dialed in?
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Stay tuned for lots more detail on the beta program. Draft post on that is going through the Friendly Neighborhood Lawyer right now.
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I second (or technically fifth) your proposal.
The boards are set up to provide easy linking to other posts so for anyone who feels up to it linking a question to a thread that already covers it obviously a huge help to people asking the questions but perhaps more importantly also helps keep the threads clean and eliminates the problems that come with having to decide which thread to follow on a specific question.
Hey, this is going to teach me patience. One virtue I do not possess at the moment. At least I will have plenty of time to collect cardboard, leather, wood, and hopefully some focus. There is just too much we can do with the printer.
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Like that first Reddit thread that took so much energy.
Yeah, that would be a solid first hand example.
The moment any beta discussion breaks out of these forums to reddit or to some other laser group’s forums, instead of asking “Does the user understand what he is doing” it will jump straight to “Doom and gloom! We were right all along! OMGWTFBBQ VAPORWAREZ!”
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I laughed at that L33tSP33K. Thanks Jacob.
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Maybe Makers are just generally good/reasonable people? I was actually wondering this exact thing: that the general tone of even disappointment in this forum skews toward the positive. I have seen maybe one badly worded/ unreasonable comment the entire time, and it was very efficiently handled. 
good work people 
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Same here. As excited as I am, I am also very nervous of the outcome. Being a very small business owner, It took a lot for me to just out of pocket, this amount of money. I will add, I have tried and tried to see negative posting, and have seen very few here. Facebook, egh… some people. As this is a new machine, I am extremely curious as to what we can do with it. I will also, chime once feedback or my machine comes in.
it would be a great idea if our profile told us when we purchased. I think we bought on the 1st or 2nd day around the $800K raised but not sure of the date and if that matters in regards to shipment date.
If around $800K it was on the first day, Sept 24th. I bought somewhere in the $700K-$800K range. I received a “Glowforge Purchase Comfirmation” email at 5:48pm Sept 24th Eastern Time. And yes the order of shipment is loosely tied to the purchase order.
You must have forgotten to account for the 3 hour time difference between us. I was going to comment that I already have mine. But then there are those that might believe it.
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I agree on the word loosely…I discovered early on that there were folks with order numbers lower than mine but who ordered after I did. And vice versa. In my case, I sure hope they go by order date and not invoice number.
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While I kind of wanted to help beta the thing, being unemployeed I have plenty of time, but I also need money… and my 4K for a PRO is just sitting there, cannot sell time on it, or work from it for a few months… so pondering canceling…
Are we allowed to in anyway sell or transfer our place in line? (Mine was Oct 15)
If we cancel will those with referrals lose a referral credit?
Just thought if I could sell it, that would kind of work out to be like splitting the difference and then I could put whatever I “gain” from it, towards the glow forge that I purchase later, so I get half a discount later lol.
Just thinking about it, not 100% sure I want too cancel yet…
@trish: That would require effort from people who are spending their time building your Glowforge. : )