11 hours ago, BruceMcF said:
Seriously, the point of crowdfunding is to let the "crowd" of willing customers help with funding the development of a project starting at some stage in its development. It also gives the most accurate real world indicator of whether to do the development, in terms of whether it hits its minimum funding requirement.
I agree *but* there is an ever increasing number of people in these communities that do not look at Kickstarter et al as a proposition with inherent risk. They look at it as a pre-order and they look at dates as inviolate contracts. Those of us who've backed a kickstarter that never materialized know better, but it stings to know you just blew $X on something that never happened. Like the Super Screen Kickstarter that took $2.5M and never released *anything*.
Then there is the Ultimate Hacking Keyboard that did ship, but it took about 4 to 4.5 years for me to get everything I paid for (and I bear them no ill will, because they were communicative).
David has spent a lot of time building a reputation that he clearly does not want to see disappear. Even if people are in the wrong for believing they are being guaranteed anything, the harm to his reputation is just as real whether or not they are being rational and reasonable.
I am often asked "how long will it take to accomplish X" at work. I hate to answer that question because of the the "unknown unknowns". Usually people understand if it doesn't come in at the exact time estimated. Sometimes people expected a rock solid answer when they asked for an estimate. Either way, if I miss it, I feel bad for not being better at my job.
