View Single Post
Posts: 285 | Thanked: 1,900 times | Joined on Feb 2010
#1534
Originally Posted by MartinK View Post
That might work for a normal commercial product - in such case you should generally only announce any dates only when you are really sure you can meet them. Or post factum: "Hey, we released X!"

On the other hand - we are talking crowdfunding. For crowdfunding such behavior wont do. Anything other than frequent updates and maximal openness won't do - especially when you hit any unexpected delays. Backers will generally be quite okay even with severe delays as long as you regularly keep them up to date. And you risk making them very angry if you keep them in the dark even for small delays.
IMO you are damned if you do and damned if you don't. If you announce targeted delivery time, it will be taken like Gods word to his people and delays will make supporters angry. If there are difficulties and you need to postpone even further you will make supporters even angrier and after that the negativity will be having it's own life that cannot be controlled with any amount of communication. Openness is not one way road, it requires something from the audience also (ie. understanding and good will), otherwise it will only result negativity. This is why I don't believe in openness-ideology anymore. And that's why Sailifish-venture will be my last take on anything community related.