Re: New Article Posted

Bill,

I understand your concern, as well as your desire to maintain
civility. However, this site is about the free exchange of
information about the related topics. As such, honesty is important
and painting everything grey to eliminate the real and
important "black and white" of any specific situation does a
disservice.

As such, it is important for members to know what is going on here
as all 3 of the discussed vendors are likely to be receiving the
hard-earned dollars from many of us.

My input is based upon actual personal interaction and/or commerce
with key persons of all these vendors. The fact that one of the
three has been generally unsatisfactory is not a reason for
censorship.

The measure of a reputable businessman is not how he treats a
satisfied customer, but how he treats one who needs support AFTER
the sale.

In my case, not only were my polite, legitimate, specific and
clearly written questions unanswered, but the replies spent more
time arguing why they were not being answered than answering itself
would have taken. Then I was price-gouged for replacement parts.
Then I was booted out of the user group for asking about these new
offerings when seeking information on what stepper drives to buy for
my mill.

Next I am reading what are clearly posts suggesting that some of our
most prolific and freely contributing members are to be regarded as
Intellectual Property Thieves without any supporting evidence other
than they chose the same basic chip.

While it may be a difficult topic for the group to "police", it is
simultaneously important that the information people use to
determine what product to buy is not diluted and made worthless out
of political correctness.

In this case, the same party who can be empirically demonstrated to
have provided poor support, engaged in price gouging, routinely
gives less than full disclosure on their product, and acted childish
in response to a legitimate inquiry also cast publically some very
real aspersions towards some very good people who did nothing wrong
but create a competing product. There is no doubt the intent was to
cause others to believe the new competitors were somehow "I.P.
Pirates" in order to harm their business.

As the idea has been spread to this group, it is now proper for Dave
to either prove it or retract it and apologize so nobody is left
with any doubt about the issue and nobody is wrongly accused and
left with it hanging over them.

If any readers here are considering the purchase of a stepper
driving system, they should be able to not only compare the
technical merits of the competing solutions, but also should be
honestly and fully informed of the integrity, conduct and character
of the people they will potentially be dealing with. Both matter.

In the past, Ballendo and I have enjoyed some spirited disagreement
in some different group threads, but the last thing I would ever say
is that he lacks integrity. I'd deal with Ballendo any time without
a single moment of doubt about his honesty or character. I have
great respect for his skills, knowledge, and certainly his
willingness to help out his fellow hobbyists for which his only
reward is their respect. The products he is involved with are a
great evolutionary step for the hobby, like when cell phones went
from "brick" to "flip".

Phil and I have only corresponded a couple times, but I have been
watching his site grow and his willingness and enthusiasm for the
hobby is obvious by the quality and quantity of material he
continues to generate and provide for free, even before readers
become customers. His product is nicely finished, professionally
manufactured, aggressively priced, compact, expandable and it is
apparent he is a personable and enthusiastic asset to our group. I'm
thinking seriously about buying one.

I hope both of them capture a big share of the market. They have
done a great deal of work to take some early designs of a relatively
new chip, addressed known shortcomings and/or common user issues,
and delivered two distinctly different yet absolutely usable
evolutions of the concept.

And finally, I hope Dave takes this new competition as not just a
challenge, or some sort of personal insult but an opportunity to
improve his products,support practices, and business ethics to keep
pace with a growing hobby that is becoming more organized and
demanding as each round of innovation occurs.

In conclusion, while being civil is nice, once the gauntlet is
thrown, as it has been here, it's time to put up or shut up as it's
the only way the subject can be closed without leaving questions
unanswered.

Regards,

Tom

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, wanliker@... wrote:
>
> I am not particularly happy with direction this subjects seems to
be
> heading, it seems to be all about extremely politely attacking the
other fellows
> designs.
>
> Guys, please look within your selves and be sure your posts are
good, for
> the group, and good for those people depending on your help in
building CNC
> machines.
>
> Don't get me wrong, if there is a problem with a design, of course
point it
> out. Valid questions about concerns about operations are OK,
> but...............
>
> But please don't play the GOTCHA GAMES HERE.
>
> Thanks,
> bill
> List Mom
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>