Comments on the Announcement

[Broome]

@Henk, i support you guys in the general issue. Since there are no actual naming in Ethans update, how can you know itis you that he points a finger at? I have had my dealings with him via email and I could also feel that it was me he was after, but I do not. Have you gotten mails from him particularly stating you as the culprit?

if not, then please take it easy and look at it from a new perspective. Everybody is frustrated and rightly so, but starting to hit on each other are not a good way too move forward. There are some curious statements as to why there is a delay, there are comstant talk about costs and also references to how hard it is too do business in China. There are even indications on people leaving the company and acusing them of stealing their ideas. It is a mess!

But to close down the forum and shut people out from their shared wealth of knowledge is simply put exactly doing what you are being accused of doing. We who posted and helped each other are not to blame and frankly it seems totally unfair to punish your fellow contributors. All the people already owning a rapide printer is unjustly put in an awkward position. So please rethink this position as it is not in any way helping your cause.

[bolsoncerrado]

@Racer no one is punishing anyone here. I'm not hiding anything. What I wont do is "helping" this guy out with FREE support forums to his brand and helping him out fixing HIS issues FOR FREE and at the same time being called names and being owed money, it's quite easy to understand. I invested quite a handful of money in this brand

a) by investing in his crowdfunding
b) by investing in this forum (domain, hosting, security, licenses....)
c) by spending free and spare time helping everyone i could, for free, providing tutorials, help, etc etc etc


@All:
And oh, besides the MicroPhone scam/pattern pointed out so when you call him for attention, he accuses YOU instead, you should realize this as well:
http://www.print3dforum.com/showthre...ll=1#post21740

Everyone knows what a Ponzi scheme is, right?

We'll sit and wait.

SO far, the last update from Ethan contained NOTHING regarding real updates on WHEN your perks are coming and he NEVER mentioned anything regarding the Chinese holidays (concidence!?) halting the production nor being "Out of stock" in parts like he did in the last update but instead attacked US (see the pattern again?). The ball is in HIS court. I sent him an email yesterday. He has the PATH and freedom to choose now.

I'll repeat.

The choice is HIS.

He can do the right thing or the wrong thing. Not me. HIM.

Depending on HIS choice, I (or we)'ll proceed further.

But i'll recover MY (our) money. THat's for sure. Even if i have to invest three, seven or a trillion on the path.

I'm SICK of scammers. Already.

[bolsoncerrado]

...
For those who still think RapideLite is a regular campaign it is also interesting to read the comments on another campaign of Ethan:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/micro-phone-our-amazing-device-is-now-available-with-bluetooth-4-0-ble-tracking

The power of scams is that hope dies last.
Some people still seem to think their goods will be delivered, the issue is that his is not the case.
It is pointless to state that we should all accept to be scammed because some still need to realize that this is a scam.
Blaming people that want to stop this scam for not getting your goods is missing the point completely.
...

Thats EXACTLY what Randy Holgamods did by banning me. LOL

[Broome]

@Bolsoncerrado, Alex please open up the forum again. I understand your frustration, but the only thing you are doing is giving Ethan ammo for justifying his claims. If it is a scam, I will stand by you in every way, but there are still a lot of people with 200 lite printers that are locked out now.

And what jumper where you talking about in the usb trouble shooting post? The one where you drive the board from usb?

[bolsoncerrado]

You are quite a few that repeat the same. Can you please explain how do I help Ethan by "closing the forums"?

[Broome]

Sure, the issue is that someone is blackmailing him, right. Well since you put out the letter and also shut down the forum you are doing exactly what he acused you of. From your point of view you are angry and justly so. But by shutting down the forum you are playing into his hands and using leverege (this forum) to get what you want (money or printer). In his update he stated that someone was trying to hurt him and his products by sabotaging his brand. This is done according to him by registrering and keeping domains, forums associated with the brand and then blackmailing him for money and distribution rights.

i am not at all saying that this is true, it is a matter of apperence and speculation. But you are giving him a justified claim from his point of view.

[Broome]

I have also read all of the different accusations surrounding campaigns associated with Ethan Hunt and I must say that a pattern are emerging. However it seems to me that he is just a very bad entrepreneur and seems to have ideas but not much organisational skills to pull them off and actually make a factory and a distribution network working. I seriously doubt that he is capeble of doing a elaborate ponzi scam.

that being said I think that the brand is just self dying and he tries as he alwyas seem to do to blame others for his own short comings.

Alex as I understand it you have three Rapide lite printers and are invested in the brand more then me. All the better reason to get the forum up again and at least let us migrate the posts to a different forum if you do not want to be in charge anymore.

[Solice]

For the most part, I agree with Broome. When we think about who is actually hurt much when a resource is cut off, I think the users are hurt more than the Rapide team when this forum is unavailable. At the very least, they can find and solve issues together. Assuming it's actually possible to eventually get my promised widgets in the mail one day, it would be nice to have solutions to defects already worked out by users while I try to contribute to discussions.

In light of this, I propose the following. Open the discussions back up, but make it clear in some fashion (maybe using the announcement widget or a sticky?) that you protest and disagree with the current situation, and that this site is to help the people affected by the campaign and to provide what engineering shortcomings the Rapide team.

[Henk]

Some people wonder why I feel directly targeted.

From the details it is clear Ethan has specific people in mind. Which in my case is no wonder given my messages on the campaign board and because I complained with IndieGoGo. Suggesting criminal conduct although more in general is crossing the line and I want to react on that and be very clear on this. Also Indiegogo is crossing a line by publishing this content. I have been closed off from IndieGoGo and cannot post messages. I did not recieve any communication by Indiegogo on this matter beyond a confirmation of the original complaint. I do not receive an acknowledgment of reception on further mails to Indiegogo.

So it is not hard to feel adressed. But then again the personal attack is not so important, the general attitude is what matters. The fact that it is by now fully clear that the Ethan story is a repeating story makes it also easier to absorb. If you read a little in the campaign messages he runs and add the article that was pointed to earlier, then it is a clear case. That is why Indiegogo should stop this campaign or are willingly complicit to fraud, it is too obvious that this is a scam.

FYI.
I have also backed the MH370 campaign. Without going into further detail I think it is below any standard of morality to take advantage of a situation like that. If people can find by Googling that a person is a fraudster why then can Indiegogo not find this. There are some well understood risks involved in crowdfunding, fraude is not one of them.


Yesterday I did send this to the Indiego mail account that I received the acknowledgement of complaint from:

>>For your information.
A business partner of mine has been approached by Ethan for distribution in Europe but declined.
The paranoid story Ethan is putting on the site now has nothing to do with reality.
Also we are not trying to take his business.
All we want is prevent other people from being taken advantage off.
This is not an action by a few people or a orchestrated action.

Also it is clear that there are many people complaining for a long time now and Ethan did not react for a long time.
At least he now reacts.


This morning I did send these two mails to IndieGoGo:


Dear xxxxxx,

Please read this post:
https://pando.com/2013/06/30/thieves...-crowdfunding/

Regards,



Hi xxxxx,

I also advise you to read the comments on another Indiegogo campaign by Mr Hunt:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/micro-phone-our-amazing-device-is-now-available-with-bluetooth-4-0-ble-tracking

You have now closed me off, but that will not change much since a lot of people are angry and other people have started a specific thread on print3dforums:http://www.print3dforum.com/forumdis...ES-MONEY-Forum

The campaigns by Mr. Hunt are a clear scam and you are hurting the Indiegogo brandname by the actions that have been taken and not taken.
Also I think it is unacceptable to be taken of the message board without having received any message on the issue directly from Indiegogo.

Regards,

[haxed]

Thank you for doing this. Everyone who backed Rapide One had given up hope, especially after empty promises of refunds, unanswered emails, and when updates on that campaign completely stopped.