If they are preorder customers why have they not gotten a refund and moved on with their life
I support Bitcoin, and it's a principled stance - What is the point in waiting to receive a refund when we've waited this long already for the carrot, and it is so tantalizingly being waved in front of us, so close within reach... for months now...
I agree but I am trying to understand the motivation of a vocal minority that predominates almost every thread. If they are truly still customers of BFL, waiting on a preorder, then there is an interesting dichotomy going on. If one spends hours a day denigrating a company but still retains hope that they will deliver, their is an inherent conflict at work that is fascinating. I would expect that the most vocal of the detractors are not perspective BFL customers and if the case, I am interested in understanding their motivation and the benefit they derive from their activities (an activity they pursue with great vigor)
What you are lacking is a historical perspective. If you go to earlier BFL complaint threads (there are many vintages) you won't find myself and several others in them. It was only recently that anything concrete emerged from BFL that was worth speculating on. From a personal perspective, BFL has been a godsend. They sucked the air out of the ASIC market and delivered nothing in terms of hash rate to the network for months. This has enhanced the profit of every bitcoin miner. From an overall perspective of Bitcoin, it is not good if another scam engulfs the community. Since I am long Bitcoin, I want to provide the skepticism I think is due and appropriate to the get rich quick schemes that abound on these forums.
From my point of view, it is a vocal minority supporting BFL. The same cast of characters (Josh/Inaba, Kano, etc) are attempting to shout down observations, questions, and criticism. Smothie and PuertoLibre have been vocal opponents of BFL for quite some time, but I suspect that is personal due to the personality conflict that exists between Josh/Inaba and a number of people on these forums.
If you want a different cast of characters and some historical perspective, you can read the Kano/Avalon flame war. Here is a post of Kano telling
jgarzik to "fuck off and learn to read".
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=142083.msg1518424#msg1518424That thread also touches on the genesis of Kano's support for BFL.
I have never ordered from BFL, I have no current plans to do so. I obtain my ASIC mining hardware from other sources, but I have no official (or unofficial) ties to an ASIC mining hardware developer/manufacturer.