Any Thoughts For Non Forum Buyers?

[jaycee900]

No trolling or whinging here (well not much!), but has anyone (well Craig & co really) spared any thoughts to any of the pre-orderer's who don't visit the forum (yes there is some!) but i've check my email box and can't recall an email going out since 1st October last year, feel free to tell me otherwise but i can't find one, but anyway, the only way to find out whats going on is here or the unofficial blog, surely an official email to everyone to let people who have paid good money know what the official stance of the Pandora is...I'm getting to the point again with more delays and now wi-fi problems of maybe cancelling, perhaps official news will calm people and let people who dont visit here know more info, surely that's not too much too ask?

 

[crade]

When I did my pre-order, I was told to check here both before ordering (so I knew what I was getting int), and for updates.

 

[wermy]

When I did my pre-order, I was told to check here both before ordering (so I knew what I was getting int), and for updates.

When did you pre-order? I didn't get anything like this. It's probably a good thing that they are doing it now, though.

 

[WizardStan]

Why do you think anyone who doesn't visit the forum or blogs (both official and un) actually cares about what's going on? A coworker of mine ordered one as well, and she occasionally checks the blog to see if they've shipped (in case she missed it) but otherwise doesn't actually care about the details. I'm one to think that the general public are like her, if they aren't seeking out the information, they don't care about it, and if you tell it to them, it's more likely to upset them and trigger a cancellation than anything else.
An official blog post is forthcoming, so ED has said, but they want to make sure they know what they're talking about before posting it. This is a very delicate time for them, with the wifi issue and all. It would do absolutely no good to officially announce "wifi is broken", have a flood of cancellations, and then find out it was simply a software issue.
You might like to know whether something is broken or not, but OpenPandora IS still a company that is hoping to make money so they can keep doing this for us, and they need to be careful about what they tell the public at large that may not be so understanding.

 

[crade]

When I did my pre-order, I was told to check here both before ordering (so I knew what I was getting int), and for updates.

When did you pre-order? I didn't get anything like this. It's probably a good thing that they are doing it now, though.

I ordered back in feb. Actually, I am just refering to the warning on the "where to buy" link from the open-pandora.org. I suppose it doesn't actually tell you to look here for updates, but it tells you to look here before you pre-order (and once you do, you should know where to find updates)

 

[jaycee900]

Why do you think anyone who doesn't visit the forum or blogs (both official and un) actually cares about what's going on? A coworker of mine ordered one as well, and she occasionally checks the blog to see if they've shipped (in case she missed it) but otherwise doesn't actually care about the details. I'm one to think that the general public are like her, if they aren't seeking out the information, they don't care about it, and if you tell it to them, it's more likely to upset them and trigger a cancellation than anything else.
An official blog post is forthcoming, so ED has said, but they want to make sure they know what they're talking about before posting it. This is a very delicate time for them, with the wifi issue and all. It would do absolutely no good to officially announce "wifi is broken", have a flood of cancellations, and then find out it was simply a software issue.
You might like to know whether something is broken or not, but OpenPandora IS still a company that is hoping to make money so they can keep doing this for us, and they need to be careful about what they tell the public at large that may not be so understanding.

Umm because they have spent £200+ on a product they are still waiting for! I would expect and would want to know WITHOUT having to go seeking for news on a product that should inform its customers of its whereabouts....

 

[WizardStan]

Umm because they have spent £200+ on a product they are still waiting for! I would expect and would want to know WITHOUT having to go seeking for news on a product that should inform its customers of its whereabouts....

You. YOU expect to be informed. That's about 3500 other people you are trying to speak for, and I feel I gave a good reason why not all of them would want to be informed. Those that even remember they're getting one may only be casually interested in whether it has shipped or not and don't want to be bothered with details. There are some that may have completely forgotten they even ordered it, and for those, when it arrives, will be a wondrous surprise. Or you can remind them, give them a chance to reconsider, engage buyers remorse, and cancel.
And it's not like they're hiding the information. The wifi issues have been posted to the unofficial blog, with an official blog post forthcoming just as soon as they determine for certain whether it is a hardware or software issue. You don't need to go looking for it through the forums, it's right there on the blog for all to see.

 

[jaycee900]

Umm because they have spent £200+ on a product they are still waiting for! I would expect and would want to know WITHOUT having to go seeking for news on a product that should inform its customers of its whereabouts....

You. YOU expect to be informed. That's about 3500 other people you are trying to speak for, and I feel I gave a good reason why not all of them would want to be informed. Those that even remember they're getting one may only be casually interested in whether it has shipped or not and don't want to be bothered with details. There are some that may have completely forgotten they even ordered it, and for those, when it arrives, will be a wondrous surprise. Or you can remind them, give them a chance to reconsider, engage buyers remorse, and cancel.
And it's not like they're hiding the information. The wifi issues have been posted to the unofficial blog, with an official blog post forthcoming just as soon as they determine for certain whether it is a hardware or software issue. You don't need to go looking for it through the forums, it's right there on the blog for all to see.

lol stop being so defensive...it's like you are the spokeperson for the masses! Your opinion counts and thats the end...i don't think so....and yes i DO expect to be informed along with ~100 people that dont want to check same old news day in and day out like you do, why shouldn't WE be? I monthly/bimonthly updated email would be better then one every 6+months....
I'm not interested about what was posted where on the blog, as i stated before its not whats posted on the forum or blog, its official update from a email to the buyers.
Plus i don't think its likely many people have ordered and totally forgot that they ordered in the first place! Thats about as likely as you getting off your high horse everytime someone even questions the whereabouts and lack of news of the Pandora....

 

[Alpha2]

On the other hand a lot of people get their information second hand from other websites that occasionally refernce the Pandora when something new pops up. I'm sure there are a lot of people who ordered and just lurk and a lot of people who just silently cancel and are replaced by people who are still eagerly awaiting it or just find out about it recently expecting it to just suddenly become available despite the delays.

 

[clippa]

Yes, I've often wondered about that myself. Maybe just mass-emailing the current status thing on the official blog once every few months with the explanation that "everything is liable to change, this is just to keep you informed and show how things are progressing". It wouldn't take long and it would do no harm. I can't think of a reason not to do it.

 

[WizardStan]

lol stop being so defensive...it's like you are the spokeperson for the masses! Your opinion counts and thats the end...i don't think so....and yes i DO expect to be informed along with ~100 people that dont want to check same old news day in and day out like you do, why shouldn't WE be? I monthly/bimonthly updated email would be better then one every 6+months....
I'm not interested about what was posted where on the blog, as i stated before its not whats posted on the forum or blog at its official update from a email to the buyers.
Plus i don't think its likely many people have ordered and totally forgot that they ordered in the first place! Thats about as likely as you getting off your high horse everytime someone even questions the whereabouts and lack of news of the Pandora....

Am I really in such a bad mood?
You effectively say "3500 people demand to be informed by email", I say "I don't think all 3500 of them want to be informed like that" and I'm the one who's the spokesperson for the masses sitting on a high horse?

 

[rabidpoobear]

lol stop being so defensive...it's like you are the spokeperson for the masses! Your opinion counts and thats the end...i don't think so....and yes i DO expect to be informed along with ~100 people that dont want to check same old news day in and day out like you do, why shouldn't WE be? I monthly/bimonthly updated email would be better then one every 6+months....
I'm not interested about what was posted where on the blog, as i stated before its not whats posted on the forum or blog at its official update from a email to the buyers.
Plus i don't think its likely many people have ordered and totally forgot that they ordered in the first place! Thats about as likely as you getting off your high horse everytime someone even questions the whereabouts and lack of news of the Pandora....

Am I really in such a bad mood?
You effectively say "3500 people demand to be informed by email", I say "I don't think all 3500 of them want to be informed like that" and I'm the one who's the spokesperson for the masses sitting on a high horse?

WizardStan I agree with you.
Don't give them any information except "we've shipped x units already, you're x in the queue and your unit will arrive soon" or "here is your tracking number."
Information is already easily accessible with both blogs. No reason to remind them about the Pandora when it's still in production, especially with news that is less than stellar.

 

[paddy]

To be honest i don't think you fully understand what you have bought into ,it's an open project and without the forum members and the constant activity on these boards there wouldn't really be much of a Pandora for anyone.I really thought that this device was a hardcore device for the select few that show real interest in all things opensource and that like the vast abilities it offers in creativity terms.

To really get the whole Pandora thing properly i think you actuly need to be part of these forums and get stuck in ,thats what i think is unique about the device in general and reading all the news,ups and downs and following the project to it's final release to me is all part of the whole Pandora dream.

I really find it hard to beleve some people will simply order a Pandora from over a year ago and not look at anything in regards to it's progress ,kinda strange to me and really if you wanted news or an update or infact any info or details about your purchase or progress via email instead of looking on these forums or that big front page with constant updates then you could have simply writen via your favorite email client and asked all the questions you want and unlike most very large companies you would have recieved an in deph detailed friendly email in return rather promptly.

 

[LuvClub]

I think emailing customers every couple of months to update them on the current progress of the project seems to me to be plain common sense. To me, not doing so just shows disdain to those customers who have paid in advance, but do not have time to seek out the information. Even if these customers do not care about the progress of the project or have plain forgotten about it it would just seem "polite" to do a courtesy email every now and again.

 

[crackerjacker]

You. YOU expect to be informed.

It's a fair request Stan. You really need to chill out dude. Your giving this board a bad name.

 

[gruso]

I think pretty much all buyers are following it. Important progress reports on Pandorapress get well over 3000 unique hits. There are also people who don't read Pandorapress, because they're happy checking the forums, or the official site, or they just follow the non-English sites. If you added everyone up, I'm sure you'd count almost every buyer as a regular follower of the project.

There may be a very a small number of people who don't care, or have just forgotten about it. IMO I don't think an email would benefit them, they're better off just getting it in the mail one day.

 

[crackerjacker]

IMO I don't think an email would benefit them, they're better off just getting it in the mail one day.

It may not benefit them, but it could benefit the Pandora project. This is supposed to be an Open Source community driven project, not just community funded. Transparency would seem to be a key ingredient of being Open. It does not cost anything at all to send email, so why not send email? If it makes the people happy and costs nothing, do it. You never know, one of those people might have a solution that they can contribute.

 

[zevdawg]

You guys forgot to mention that there's always IRC as well

 

[WizardStan]

It's a fair request Stan. You really need to chill out dude. Your giving this board a bad name.

Dude, you promised to do better next time. If you can't keep your promises, don't make them.

 

[WizardStan]

Not trying to troll here, but last update on Current Status was on Feb 24th!!! I understand OP team has lots to do, real jobs and stuff, but maybe it might have costed them a few customers... Wi-fi issue, if openly discussed on the forums, could be solved quite earlier, just a thought
Anyway, i'm still supporting the project as long as it takes.

It was openly discussed on the forum. We've known that they were having problems with the wifi for a long, long time now, and they thought they knew where the problem was. No one on the board leapt to help solve the problem.
It is only now, with the release imminent (again) that they took a look and realized that they don't actually know what the problem is. They didn't hide the problem, it was just not the problem they thought it was.