Public apology to Parallax and retraction of all recent messages.
Oldbitcollector (Jeff)
Posts: 8,091
My messages have raised concerns from Parallax. My criticism is being
seen as an attack on the company and not as constructive, so I'm retracting the entire message of all of my recent
posts. I may also consider resigning from the forums completely, but
I'm not a fan of "heat of the moment decisions", so I'll leave things
alone for now. I have decided to "roll" with all of this for now, it's a good habit and exercise in patience which clearly I need.
I had hoped my concerns would be seen as a constructive criticism and challenge to Parallax to be great like I know they are. They haven't not been received as such and so I'm taking a moment to publicly apologize.
I've not erased the messages, as that would be "silence" them in a way that would not be healthy. I've used "strikeout" and added a new header to each one.
My discouragement comes from being a very long time supporter, customer, and promoter of the Propeller. I've invested much of my time into this and as such it is very close to my heart. It's a bit like being angry with the child you dearly love, but you see is going the wrong direction. If I didn't care as much as I do, I probably would have done what some have done and simply said, "Goodbye" and not returned.
Edit: My discouragement is the same, my concerns are unchanged, my opinions are unchanged. I simply will no longer post them here for public consumption. There are not my forums, they belong to Parallax, and I am a guest. As such, I have no license to post my personal opinions here.
Again, I sincerely apologize.
Jeff
seen as an attack on the company and not as constructive, so I'm retracting the entire message of all of my recent
posts. I may also consider resigning from the forums completely, but
I'm not a fan of "heat of the moment decisions", so I'll leave things
alone for now. I have decided to "roll" with all of this for now, it's a good habit and exercise in patience which clearly I need.
I had hoped my concerns would be seen as a constructive criticism and challenge to Parallax to be great like I know they are. They haven't not been received as such and so I'm taking a moment to publicly apologize.
I've not erased the messages, as that would be "silence" them in a way that would not be healthy. I've used "strikeout" and added a new header to each one.
My discouragement comes from being a very long time supporter, customer, and promoter of the Propeller. I've invested much of my time into this and as such it is very close to my heart. It's a bit like being angry with the child you dearly love, but you see is going the wrong direction. If I didn't care as much as I do, I probably would have done what some have done and simply said, "Goodbye" and not returned.
Edit: My discouragement is the same, my concerns are unchanged, my opinions are unchanged. I simply will no longer post them here for public consumption. There are not my forums, they belong to Parallax, and I am a guest. As such, I have no license to post my personal opinions here.
Again, I sincerely apologize.
Jeff
Comments
Ltech
I don't think you need to feel any shame for whatever outrage might have caused you to post. Emotions run high in situations like this among those of us that want Parallax to prosper.
Thanks for all your contributions.
What on Earth is going on here? I cannot imagine you saying anything that would deserve a reprimand. I certainly have not read anything unreasonable by you here.
I had to dig around for a struck out post by you and I found one. Heck it's on a thread I started where a lot of criticism is thrown at this disastrous forum and it's roll out. Your comment only agrees with what everyone else is feeling and saying there!
Are we all on a warning now? !
I don't think you need to feel any shame for whatever outrage might have caused you to post. Emotions run high in situations like this among those of us that want Parallax to prosper.
Thanks for all your contributions.
I'll second that Jeff, you are one of the most passionate Propeller heads out there, please don't change!
My history with Parallax goes back almost a decade now.
Again, if I didn't care so deeply, and find myself so invested in this amazing product, company, and hopefully one day the successor, I would have simply vanished without a word.
I have faith and hope that Parallax will find success in their future endeavours, but I doubt that they will ever be at the level of focus and attention in my own life that they have in the past. There are so many wonderful challenges out there and life is too short to fret over what isn't.
Complaints about our decisions and how we function are common lately, especially with the lack of communication around Propeller 2 and the release of these new forums which many people have already rejected. You will notice that we don't edit these comments or moderate them in any way.
In this case, PropellerPowered is a Parallax distributor. I recognize the same as all of the posters above - that Jeff has contributed more to the Propeller community than perhaps anybody.
Distributors are an extension of our company message from Parallax. We already understand our corporate mistakes without our network of insiders working in an opposite direction.
I'm also writing it like I see it, right or wrong. Ultimately, all I've got to trust is my good or bad intuition.
Thank you for your post, Jeff. I also apologize for the disruption I contributed to yesterday. This weekend I've got three Propeller projects that I look forward to starting!
Ken Gracey
I believe we are all friends here and I appreciate that you are allowing differences of opinion. I'm sure the point of view from anyone has a lot to do with how things look when wearing their shoes. Since I can only guess how your shoes fit and vis-versa it's good that we can still find much common agreement.
As we do in the gym... <fist bump> -- Looking forward to seeing some very "PARALLAX" experiences in the new future. You have set the bar high!
I am glad to know you are here and pulling hard for good times like most of us are.
Frankly, a change like this, unmanaged, demonstrates the outcome we are experiencing more often than not. My own comments on community management were not nice either.
After some thought, and thankfully I didn't post up a train wreck and almost did, I realize I value people and the open nature and great intent so often demonstrated here a lot more than the pile of quibbles.
Your train wreck image is what triggered those thoughts, so it's not all bad!
I went back to the Embedded interview with Chip. The struggles he put here are in that piece, and aside from some recent details, was a lot of the update people needed. It was on my phone with some other podcasts I wanted to catch up on.
I sure didn't notice. I should have.
And we want the win. Chip has articulated some things we crave, and Parallax wants everyone building, learning, happy and successful too.
I did have the advantage of going out of Internet range for a few days. That is when I listened to the Interview and did some thinking about it all. Nature has a way of clearing the mind.
(And it got hot. Dogs broke down, and we packed it up back to town)
Funny, I logged in and just carried on a lot more aware of what is worth what.
We all get there in different ways. It is most important that we get there. The journey can be forgotten.
seen as an attack on the company and not as constructive,
Again, I sincerely apologize.
Jeff
With all due respect, that bull-oney.
While things are going good, we're all one big happy Parallax family.
But, the truth of it is the same as with any/most company's apparently. When the company screws up, it doesn't matter a whit how loyal or patriotic a supporter you were, its all about sit down and shut up, or else you can leave.
You've had a couple of days to complain, now its time to get with the program or pack your bags. You're all a bunch of whiny graybeards afraid of change, and that simply won't do. You''ll be replaced in a heartbeat by the legions of young, fresh-faced whipper snappers that have been joining the forums like crazy..... oh wait a minute.....
OBC, it'd be a shame to see you go. I don't see where anyone here has any call to put you down or try to force an apology. Apparently some animals are more equal than others.
EDIT- Just read further down the thread. Sounds like you aren't a large enough 'customer' of Parallax that they felt the need to come down on you. That there was felt a need to manipulate like that is sad.
So what does "distributor" mean? Is there some contractual relationship? As far as I can see Propeller Powered does not distribute Parallax products exactly. Rather it sells it's own products that happen to use a Propeller as a major component. That seems to make Propeller Powered a customer and as such someone whose complaints should be heard. And where better place to complain than the forum, like all us other customers.
Contrast with say, owning a McDonald's franchise or a BMW dealership. Surely there bad-mouthing the brand might well lead to loss of lively hood or legal action for violating contractual agreements.
Of course there may be more to this than I will ever know. I will understand if no one wants to elaborate on business that is not mine.
I get that exact same impression, customer not distributor.
McD's and BMW are franchises, not distributors really. Think of Digi-key or Mouser.
If they were disties with any income from Parallax, I still doubt any sort of 'discussion' would have taken place. Get smart with a Distie and they can simply cut you off.
With a small Dev, I guess the option is to take it, or consider other controllers.