The behavior on this thread really does astound me. In fact, its why I have finally signed up for an account here after more than a year and a half of lurking and avoiding it. I even waited out the newbie period for it.

I've read all the pages and pages of posts, and the only conclusion I can really come to is that the vast majority of people here are greedy, disturbed and nasty individuals. The attacks on each other have been at a very personal level which I would expect of an IRC channel filled with angry teenagers.

Do I understand that people are upset about not having their mining gear? Yes. I am one of those people. Do I feel opportunity has been lost? Sure! Do I wish things were different? Definitely.

That said, I also understand the real world, and how business works. Deadlines are not always met. Estimates can be over optimistic. Customers can get upset, money can be lost. That is the reality of this world, it isn't nice or fair. I posted a very long blog post over on the BFL forums outlining what I believe has gone wrong and why things have taken so long for BFL to get products moving out the door. I'm not going to repost it here so if you want to read it, go there and do so.

What I do find very disturbing is the way everyone is acting. I am increasingly finding it hard to have any sympathy for the people bleating and whining about how BFL is awful/scam/fraud/terrible/whatever. Have none of you ever worked in a customer focused role? I have worked on IT helpdesks before and I've dealt with nasty customers who do stupid things and then like to blame you for their mistakes and problems. Truth is, when you deal with it day in, day out, it starts to take its toll on you. You become jaded, short tempered and often quite nasty when pushed even a little bit. I've been lucky to almost never have had to deal with people who take the insults beyond a professional level apart from one fat unhappy girl who decided to say how hopeless I was to a colleague while I was working on her machine, right next to her.
I ended up reminding her I was right next to her, and my body language got the hint across the rest of the way. Had she persisted, I would have said "Fix it yourself", then gone and reported her to my manager.

I do have sympathy for Josh/Inaba, because day after day he has had to cope with all of your vitriol, nastiness and personal attacks. What is abundantly clear from the Garr situation is that he, like all of us, is actually human and can be pushed too far. You all claim his behavior is unprofessional, that he is a horrible person. Honestly, what do you all expect after what you do here?

If you don't like BFL. Simple. Don't buy from them. Get refunds if you have. It will make a lot of people a lot happier and calmer as a result.

Maybe before you go posting another thing, start thinking about how you would feel to be on the receiving end. Then multiply it by a few hundred. Then reconsider your post.

Amusingly enough, in my country it is considered a crime to use a carriage service to menace, harrass or cause offence. If convicted I believe the penalty can be up to three years in jail. I'm not in China, and I suspect similar laws exist where most of you are from. Those of you screaming lawsuit might want to consider what could be brought to bear on yourselves too were threads from this forum submitted as evidence of your behavior. I suspect any judge would look rather dimly on abusive behavior, threats, sock puppet accounts being used for fraud, etc. Just something to consider.

PS: Before you go calling BFL Shill, I'm not. I'm not even in the same country as BFL and am just a customer waiting on two Jalapenos. If you want to talk to me, you'll find me on Freenode IRC under the same or a very similar name.