First of all, Id like to point out that what I wrote where verifiable facts (granted "astonishing" is kinda subjective). There is a very large number of newbie (~2 weeks or less) posters in this thread and the vast majority of them came almost directly to this thread, are posting almost nowhere else and they make up almost all of the "confirmed" orders. Is this in dispute? I didnt think so. Does this mean I accuse every newbie poster or any particular poster of being a paid shill ? Only if you cant read or think.
Now, what conclusions you can draw from this observation is up to you. It could be coincidence. It could be that AMT is paying people to post in their thread (wouldnt exactly be the first time), it could be fake aliases to promote a scam. Its however telling that no one is coming up with non conspiratorial explanations, even though there could be some. Isnt it deeply ironic that from the stated observation, you all seem to draw the very conclusion that you accuse me of making?
As for the connection with Bitmine; considering how light on facts the statement by bitmine is, there could be a gazillion explanations. AMT signing a check (if that) or signing a contract with bitmine, doesnt exactly guarantee its customers will receive what they expected and when they expected it. Note that their Russian distributor is/was 50BTC. Good luck if you place your order there.
The things you mentioned are reasonable considerations. I decided to remove doubt about myself by attempting to post a picture of my orders on the AMT website, and then had trouble posting the picture, at which point I realized it would do little to help because I am only one of the many questioned, and once I validated my claims, then it would viewed that I have merely been had like so many others.
One thing that I think needs to be understood however. When I was waiting on my Butterfly Labs order, I was constantly going to "Jody's blog" to check on the status of shipments. I was there all the time looking for every little bit of information like a thirsty deer panting for water. After I got my miners, I never went back to the blog....I didn't care about that anymore.
I think people reading this blog are much the same. WE WANT INFORMATION SO BADLY. Once we have our stuff, many won't want to bother with the forum anymore. Now that's not supplying anything to prove against a scam, however, that does go a long way to explaining why people getting their stuff may not be motivated to supply us deer with water.