Something Wicked This Way Comes Part 3: "CardLauncher"!

[TGunitedcardists]

No more "accommodate the world" times, it will be US friendly, because more than 60% of backers are from the states - and it will be on a Saturday or a Sunday - even if I have to put it off another full week.

Stopped reading here. Way to be a jerk to 40% of your customer base, what a flat out stupid statement. Cancel my one pledge that actually went through, I'm not giving business to a site with an attitude like this. I would cancel myself but obviously I can't.

Mike, you are continually saying the wrong things. Let me ask you this.... if this launch had happened to either D&D or Jackson, what would you be posting right now? I have a VERY good idea and you are NOT handling this well.

+1 to Strag, from an international customer point of view. I believe it was poorly worded, which is a reflection of what has been a result of a poor alpha/beta test, resulting in a poor launch. Simple is often best. Instead just say it will be on "X date at X time." I don't think the CardLauncher start time was to accommodate international backers, even though it was the early afternoon for me. It was done to represent the earliest possible moment of the launch date (12:01 am).

I was one of those people who registered in advance (after it was suggested on the forum) so there wasn't a mad rush to create accounts, fill in information and pledge at the same time. This was smart, but why didn't this come up before it was mentioned in the forum? Then one of the creators posted about how they had very little time to create their campaign. How can this be? This wasn't smart and wasn't thought out.

This has been mentioned a lot lately, and unfortunately, it seems like people are piling on, but it's somewhat deserved.

Before the CardLauncher problems, there has been a lot of sniping and abuse directed at deck creators and their platforms. Some people just call it criticism or having an opinion. The result? So much of it, it chased one of the biggest deck designers in the card industry off the forum. It was over what was said to the 10% here at UnitedCardists, the way it was said, not responding to what was said and later on shipping prices.

CardLauncher botched everything early. Then there was silence, then the take it on the forum period. Since then, a relaunch and then a backtrack on the re-relaunch to get everything right. The 60% comment was probably made in the same way Jackson said 10% about this forum. Yet, he received the wrath from others, including yourself.

I was on the fence about Lorenzo's Stockholm17 because of the shipping prices. I really, really like the deck, even though version 2 will probably be far superior. I really like the idea of giving decks away as part of the CardLauncher promotion, but didn't like the odds, and was really considering buying one. Then I decided I shouldn't let this opportunity pass, and I should buy a deck, but I really wanted two decks, but originally that wasn't allowed. I went to buy a deck.

Price: $25 USD
International Shipping: $18 USD
Total: $43 USD

Shipping = $18 for one deck

Instant pause.

Then buried in the thread there was a message about loosening the restrictions and that two decks could be purchased, and that you would refund the shipping on the 2nd deck minus $2. This almost got me. I wanted make sure, and to your credit, you answered my email quickly, and that I should get it done by Sunday, because it's going out on Monday. So I had time to think.

I started to do the math.

Price: $25 + $25
International Shipping: $18 + $2 ($16 refunded for 2nd order)
Total: $70 for 2 decks.

$70 for 2 decks.

I'm not rich, but I'm not poor.

Then CardLauncher happened and I, like a lot of people, got caught up in payment hell/liquid errors/pushing F5 more times than I want to admit. I got lucky because I only wasted 30 minutes. Others were more persistent, and also lost out.

Explanations after the delay, whether or not to relaunch...blah, blah, blah.

Then the Stockholm17 decks getting distributed like nothing had happened.

Putting it all together, I've decided not to spend my money until things are sorted, and decide that two decks for $70 internationally shipped is unreasonable, and initially $18 to ship was almost robbery, especially from one of the people who championed REAL SHIPPING PRICES, and criticized Jackson for his shipping prices.

I hope you see the hypocrisy Jackson had to face compared to your statements/actions.

Mike, basically I'm disappointed, like many others. I too believe that many of your public statements have hurt more than they've helped, even with presumably the best of intentions.

I'm now back to being a potential customer with reservations. If/when things change/improve, I might become one of the 40%. Right now, I'm just another person representing lost income for Lotrek and Lorenzo.

[Gareth]

+1 to Strag, from an international customer point of view. I believe it was poorly worded, which is a reflection of what has been a result of a poor alpha/beta test, resulting in a poor launch. Simple is often best. Instead just say it will be on "X date at X time." I don't think the CardLauncher start time was to accommodate international backers, even though it was the early afternoon for me. It was done to represent the earliest possible moment of the launch date (12:01 am).

!00% agree - Whilst it may be more convenient, and popular, to run with times that primarily accommodate US-based customers - the casual disregard of international customers in Mike's quote is somewhat disengaging. I'll give him some benefit of the doubt as he's obviously had a tough few days, and undoubtedly needs some sleep. As an international customer, I'd already given up any hope of having a chance at an EB, or many limited tiers in the future of an operational CL.... at least KS creators have a choice of when their campaigns launch.

Before the CardLauncher problems, there has been a lot of sniping and abuse directed at deck creators and their platforms. Some people just call it criticism or having an opinion. The result? So much of it, it chased one of the biggest deck designers in the card industry off the forum. It was over what was said to the 10% here at UnitedCardists, the way it was said, not responding to what was said and later on shipping prices.

I don't want to rehash that 'discussion' but I felt it was more about the statement that UC only represented 10% of his customers, and therefore the promise didn't matter/was invalid. Whether that was being chased off the forum, or taking your bat and ball and going home is more a matter of perspective I guess.

Does Jackson gain something by not being here? I don't think so. Does UC gain something by Jackson being absent - almost definitely not.

To compare the two - Jacksons dismissal of a undertaking made here, and Mike's 60% = US pledges might be at least a little premature - depending of Mike's handling of being called out on it of course

[montecarlojoe]

There was crticism for other platforms, and not only from Mike. And no worse than any given deck design that gets submitted here. (And to be honest not undeserved)

At the end of the day we can gripe all we want about kickstarter, deck Starter, KWF, CL, but we'll still pledge for a deck if we like it enough.

The timing of the launch is basically an non issue - you CANT stagger a platform launch - it's impossible. Mike did the ONLY thing he could and cater for the majority. After CL is live, those start dates and times sit firmly and exclusively with the project runners. To boycott CL for the launch time is short sighted to say the least.

Shipping costs for the Stockholm 17 deck have literally nothing to do with any shipping rates you see on CL. I believe that they WERE a bit buggy, but once working they are again down to the organiser, though they may be standardised if a project organiser goes with a partner fulfilment centre.

I should make it clear that I live in the UK, so I am in the exact same boat as many international backers. I also have no direct stake in CL. I did put the DR forum together, and do help out with the DR consulting to a point.

I don't necessarily like being an apologist - because the launch was a shambles and none of my pledges got through either, but it does rather feel like we are starting to complain for the complaints' sakes because everyone else is complaining!

[StanKindLee]

Regarding CL relaunch - if the CL folks would like me to review their software specifications document used to create the CL website software and help develop a beta testing plan, it will save you the trouble of having to read and assimilate this (or its equivalent) - http://it-ebooks.info/book/2899/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - it's a free ebook download at any rate, so you can always DIY. Note: you will not find a one week solution to your current problems in there anywhere. Hit me up via email if you want the assistance.

[montecarlojoe]

Testing isn't that complicated, problems arise because in any non trivial system the permutations rise exponentially. The best you can really do is identify key areas and processes, and test by doing in volume. What was needed was a 2-3 month full beta with project dry runs and fully integrated payment solutions using dummy money. Paypal offers this through its API and I cant imagine wepay doesnt...

[StanKindLee]

Testing isn't that complicated...

Actually it is - but everything else you said is spot on.

[Coastal Pete]

Well, I'm ready to give it a beta test, I've had plenty of practice via the U.K.

[Mike Ratledge]

I don't need any anonymous pledges, and since that's the way some people fund their decks, it's going to be transparent on CL - always.

That's just idiotic. At least on KS you can change your "public" name. Think before you make these decisions Mike, not everyone wants all their shit out there.

On CL you can have a screen name as well.

When then clearly what Mike said isn't true. Obviously that's not transparent and is exactly the way all other sites do pledges so why insinuate that it's something different on CL?

Executive summary for those that will say "TL;DR" - skip it, just proceed to the next message...

Strag, please calm down. You think I'm not anxious about all of this? The problem isn't with your screen name, it's with people like D&D doing unethical and downright wrong things by funding decks that never would have funded - not one of those three decks they ran on DeckStarter. It's obvious that we allow you to use "Magic Orthodoxy" or whatever as your screen name. The problem comes when somebody named "Mike Ratledge" clicks that button when he makes a $3500 pledge to insure on the next-to-the-last day that a certain deck gets funded. It's not an issue if you want to use a pseudonym, never has been.

I'll have to admit I was still shell-shocked when I posted yesterday. You would be too if you had sunk more than half a year of your life into this project. I had 4 or 5 hours sleep between Thursday and Saturday. Fortunately, last night I took the wife out for seafood and a good fresh flounder dinner with some hushpuppies, red rice, cole slaw and a decent night's sleep for the first time in 7 months gave me a new lease on life, as they say.

Nobody cares if you are "Strag" here - or there. That's your right to be anonymous from the masses. Being anonymous by choice is a problem on single pledges, only because of what I said above. D&D and Justin Buck (and somebody named "Art of Play Buck" made multiple thousand dollar plus pledges on those first two decks, and when people started calling for their heads they just checked the "I want to be anonymous" box. If you want to be "The Unknown Comic" here or on CL, not an issue. The issue is accountability for the owners and other people with financial interests falsely making a deck appear to be funded when not one single deck ever funded without several thousand ($5000+ in one case) of shady pledges or obviously by the owners, or even the project creators.

Being a member of the National Crowd Funding Association and on the Rules and Regulations committee I know that making a pledge on your own project is not only unethical, it's just illegal. You're inflating the funded amount yourself, which is equivalent to buying it. That's certainly not the point of CrowdFunding in the first place.

I never claimed to know everything about it, nor do I even think I have a clue about how all these things fit together - but I will eventually. We don't need shady things going on there. The software won't allow someone to donate to their own campaign. Victor ("VJose32") pointed out that the 'anonymous' pledge check-box could only lead to finger-pointing. He's right.

I'd like to get my "Mike Ratman" on Facebook changed to "Mike Ratledge" at this point - but guess what? They won't let me! Go figure? I suppose that if I am adamant enough and persistent they will, but I can't do it myself. You used to be able to, but not any more. Why? They had problems with people changing their names and/or being anonymous and with multiple accounts.

We don't allow multiple accounts. There's no reason to have more than one since you can pick multiple rewards and unless it is a quantity-limited tier you can get more than one, but you have to notify the creator of the project. Even that will be fixed, but I had to pick my battles so to speak. We even allows (and the creators know) you to have more than one Early Bird tier, so there is no legitimate reason that I can think of that you would need a second or third or 17th account (I'm not kidding, Erik Mana had one guy buy 17 pairs of his LE / Reserve decks using the identical screen name with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc added). I can think of one reason and we allow it for that: having a separate account for your pledging decks and one for your creator projects. I don't see an issue there, except somebody could possibly pledge their own project, but being a pretty controlled group - as opposed to KS which is run like the wild west, except the marshal never comes to town - we would know that.

Kickstarter encourages it because their model doesn't work well - especially for playing card decks where people almost always want more than one reward. We looked at this and honestly, this whole thing came about from me listening to people here about just how many things were wrong with KS. Do I hate KS? Of course not, I'm "Crew" for Erik's Sybil decks right now, even as I try to get CL straight. Am I a little mystified about how certain people here now are on the other side of the fence from me? I sure am, because when I was calling for a "KickStabber" or similar site to be setup everybody was almost universally behind it. I built CL to be a better place for playing card decks, it's that simple. Am I going to disappear from KS? Of course not, don't be silly. Do I want CL to be a better place for decks? You bet.

As I have said before, there's no way to make everybody. My now tired quote I"ll admit: "You can give away gold bars and somebody will complain they're not platinum". It's like trying to make a deck for cardists, magicians AND collectors. They want different things in a deck.

With respect to shipping costs for those promo decks: is it not letting you pick standard shipping? (because it's supposed to) That's the price for "Priority International" which costs $20, I'm actually eating a few dollars. PayPal has been a bit weird of late, and I setup both "standard" and "express" shipping for Canada and overseas. It sure sounds like it's not giving you any option.

While I agree that $70 is high for two decks, that's $20 for Express or actually "Priority International" shipping. If you don't want to spend $25 on those decks, there's nobody twisting your arm.

Nobody is "ignoring the needs of International customers". I launched at 12:01 my time that first try because as stated - it's as soon as you can on any certain day - where I live. I listened to several people groaning about that time because it was on a weekday/work day and terribly inconvenient for US-based people. There's NO convenient time for everybody, period. I do the best I can, folks.

[Eoghann]

17 accounts? That's crazy.

[Mike Ratledge]

17 accounts? That's crazy.

Yep, not kidding. Erik has to refund those manually by PayPal and added them back to stock because his decks just sold out. I'm thinking he might have a trick up his sleeve for this last week, but - we'll see.

I do happen to know where the "Void" button is on transactions on CL. At least I can be reached without trying to go through the bureaucracy. It's worse than PayPal's support people. I wouldn't say that unless I had tried and gotten absolutely no response to an inquiry (three times) on one of their 'support' pages. This was four or five months ago.

[Cbkimble]

Nobody is "ignoring the needs of International customers". I launched at 12:01 my time that first try because as stated - it's as soon as you can on any certain day - where I live. I listened to several people groaning about that time because it was on a weekday/work day and terribly inconvenient for US-based people. There's NO convenient time for everybody, period. I do the best I can, folks.

I don't think the problem is the time. The problem you basically said you're not worried about international customers. If you had said you needed to do it during US business hours so the programmers would be available for anymore bugs, you wouldn't be scrutinized nearly as bad. You say you're tired and worn out but you still have to think before you type.

[sinjin7]

I don't necessarily like being an apologist - because the launch was a shambles and none of my pledges got through either, but it does rather feel like we are starting to complain for the complaints' sakes because everyone else is complaining!

I think everyone’s complaining because there was/is good cause to complain. After the CL launch disaster when people were making posts in this thread practically begging Mike to provide information directly to us, he was almost Jack$son like in his avoidance of posting in this thread. Then, he finally decided to poke his head in here and post his (wordy) explanations. I went through every one of his posts in this thread, and despite all that wordy verbosity, do you know what I didn’t find? A sincere, humble apology for the inconvenience to the many he caused!

But do you know what I did find? Comments about how he’s more frustrated than any of us. How dismayed and anxious he is because he spent 6 months on this project. How he’s not been getting sleep. How he feels sorry for the programmers. And he marginalized his international supporters. To top it all off, despite the fact the CL launch is the biggest failure out of all the other playing card crowdfunding sites, he still takes the time to pick at faults of Deck$tarter, KWF, and Kickstarter!

Mike's fond of saying, "You can’t please everybody", and it’s true, no one can make everybody happy. But one should still make the effort to do so and at least try. A good first step after an epic fail like this is something as simple as a sincere apology. Not a half-assed apology, not one buried in passing in a super wordy paragraph about Chromografix, and not an apology where he whines about how he's more frustrated than us. An apology that's just short, to the point, and sincere, that’s all.

[skuphundaku]

Without KS bringing crowdfunding into the headlights, there would be no CL... there wouldn't be even a whiff of an idea of CL, so a little more humility when comparing yourself to KS wouldn't be out of place.

[Mike Ratledge]

Sinjin, I was't avoiding making comment, I had Sher and others doing that for me while I was trying to get the darned thing working.

Sincere apology: I'm sorry about all the crap everyone has had to put up with. Am I still taking potshots at anyone other than Jackson? I thought I had quit? When you're in a glass house, you don't throw stones and all that. Mea culpa. It's all on me. I thought you were taking care of Jackson,other than the comment I made about the tuck prices, which I have to figure not many people actually know. I was basically taking a head break for 24 hours to clear my mind, left the house for the first time in 10 days because I slipped a disc last Tuesday, and actually took Donna out for a seafood dinner. I think it was good for my perspective.

[chach]

Mike I think you should (have) looked into getting a PR person. Even in that "heartfelt" apology you attack others. Have you never read a blanket apology from any actor, politician, sports figure or musician before? You're about as bad as Jack$on with the apologies mate.

[montecarlojoe]

Sinjin, I'm not saying that the complaints are unfounded, but when the same point is continuously laboured it isn't constructive.

And look at TGunitedcardists post above. His shipping gripe is for the promotional deck presale done directly through custom paypal buttons and has precisely zip to do with CL, its management or its coding. Adding tangential complaints is not helpful - quite the opposite.

You're never going to get a concise answer from Mike - we all know this. He would absolutely benefit from a PR Editor on the staff - perhaps that's something that will come in the future.

I'd also re-iterate that the marginalisation of internationals is a NON ISSUE. I live all of 300 miles from Strag, and through a fluke of British border law pay MORE than he does when customs fees are considered and seriously don't understand the problem. It's always 3 AM somewhere and there's nothing to be done about it.

Re apparent hypocrisy when commenting on other platforms; on the face of it I agree it doesn't look great. HOWEVER comments on the other platforms have, for the vast majority, been about their ethical use or lack thereof (and Mike has not been alone in expressing such opinions). That's not really comparable with technical stability or fitness for purpose.

[Gemini]

As an 'international backer' I do not mind too much when the next attempt to launch is, I would suggest less of your current batch of Mormons (is that code?) do the programming for you because they do not seem very good at it and do it at the start of the week, you then have a full weeks support if it goes spectacularly wrong (again) unlike a Saturday where you will have two days of, well this.

[Mike Ratledge]

OK, I/we/it screwed up/is screwd, I am terribly sorry for the inconveniences I have caused every single person, for the disappointment people have experienced and the time wasted by everybody involved.

[chach]

OK, I/we/it screwed up/is screwd, I am terribly sorry for the inconveniences I have caused every single person, for the disappointment people have experienced and the time wasted by everybody involved.

There we go. Apology accepted here.

[Gemini]

lol - no need for an apology, just get it set up right and reap the reward while we get our hands on the shinies!

[Mike Ratledge]

As an 'international backer' I do not mind too much when the next attempt to launch is, I would suggest less of your current batch of Mormons (is that code?) do the programming for you because they do not seem very good at it and do it at the start of the week, you then have a full weeks support if it goes spectacularly wrong (again) unlike a Saturday where you will have two days of, well this.

While I agree, and no - it's not code, Mormons are what many people call "Seventh Day Adventists" that worship on Saturdays. I would say Monday noon would be better, but I can assure you - if it's not working 110% by Friday, it won't see the light of day until it is, and every other attempt has been at making it convenient for the backers, international backers, myself or otherwise. If it's not ready for Sunday, it likely will be the next possible weekday at noon NYC time, in spite of the fact that I'm usually sitting in my office at that time and won't be able to do anything but watch (and pray to the stars that guide me).

I think I've already been down the road that no matter what time I pick or even what day, it's inconvenient for somebody. The optimal time - with full tech support from CrowdEngine - is noon on a weekday because it's only 10AM in Salt Lake City Utah where they are - fortunately too far away for me to catch a plane or I'd be sitting on their doorstep right now. After being out of work with my spinal injury since Tuesday a week ago, I figure it's likely I drag my aching arse into work on Tuesday after I see the doctor at 9:30, it I like getting paid, and at this point - I'm not quitting my day job any time soon.

Again, if that is too soon after my sincere apology, but I read it right after I wrote that. In any case, I am contrite, I am willing to shoulder the responsibility, and no - I wasn't 'hiding', I was airing out my head after a very difficult couple of days. I don't need to repeat myself about how disappointed I am, I hope. I'm sure there are people that are more disappointed, but I don't see how.

The problems are being worked on as we tap-tap-tap, I will not even think about reopening for real until it is perfect - beyond anything less than an atom bomb, and frankly - being on Amazon Cloud Services it should be resistant to that (I think - who knows?).

[Eoghann]

Did an apology really make things any better? Are you so petty that something as inessential as an apology is enough to make everything alright? I'd much rather prefer a "Yep. I screwed up big time but I'm working to fix this". Which was being conveyed in the informational, albeit extensively and exhaustively worded emails. Should it have contained all the personal information about how tired and frustrated he was? Probably not but we're all goddamn humans. We were all tired, and frustrated and just wanted everything to run smoothly. But it didn't. And it's being worked on. That should have been more than enough. But nooooo....you wanted him to crawl and kiss your feet.

I'd rather have him tucked away, working his butt off to get the site up and running than wasting time begging for forgiveness for the inconvenience he has caused anybody. And I'm happy to know that's exactly what he was trying to do. Should he have done things differently? Absolutely. Should he have tested much more thoroughly? You bet!

While there are excellent, genuine complaints/bug reports/concerns here, I think what Joe was trying to get at was the trivial sludge that was being thrown.

"I'll see you in the aftermarket!" - No you won't. Nobody is crazy and stubborn enough to wait to buy their stuff at inflated prices while the opportunity to get them cheaper and arguably faster is at hand. Well maybe Jay and sinjin but these guys are hardcore revolutionaries we're talking about.

"Screw Cardlauncher! I'm out!" - No you're not! You'll be right here, just like the rest of us at every stumble and fall Cardlauncher takes until it finally learns to walk. That's how addicted we are to collecting. Even at its worst we were pounding away at it relentlessly trying to get our precious early birds.

An apology. Jesus Christ you guys.

And I don't mean this just for Mike. This goes for Jackson, the Bucks and every other "foolish, stubborn, selfish, money grubbing, deck pimping card monger" we so vehemently complain about who declines to bow down and kiss our self entitled rings. I've said it before: I think the one smart move Jackson did was ditching this place. As much as I've abhorred his cheap tactics to make something common into a super duper exclusive mega premium limited edition...I don't matter...you guys don't matter. There will ALWAYS be someone to take those things off the shelves. They have absolutely no reason or duty to come kiss our feet and beg for our forgiveness for things we deem unsavory.

[Sparkz]

And I don't mean this just for Mike. This goes for Jackson, the Bucks and every other "foolish, stubborn, selfish, money grubbing, deck pimping card monger" we so vehemently complain about who declines to bow down and kiss our self entitled rings. I've said it before: I think the one smart move Jackson did was ditching this place. As much as I've abhorred his cheap tactics to make something common into a super duper exclusive mega premium limited edition...I don't matter...you guys don't matter. There will ALWAYS be someone to take those things off the shelves. They have absolutely no reason or duty to come kiss our feet and beg for our forgiveness for things we deem unsavory.

I've bitten my tongue a lot lately, but this is spot on Eoghann.

[Mike Ratledge]

ooo - Eoghann got a BAN WARNING! That's f'd up... I'm going to have to write him up! LMAO... I can be as contrite as can be, and not everyone is going to accept it unless I get down and grovel on the floor.

That's not happening, folks. I prefer to use my time working on the solution rather than the problem. Arguably marketing people tell me that bad press is the same as good press, but I just don't buy that. I want something other than "you are so lame!" from my efforts, and I have to admit that the next five days are 'crunch time' for certain. If you are already registered "over there", you're welcome to beta test. I suspect it will be Tuesday until Friday, but it's possible I might not get the "All Clear" sign and whack on it enough myself to be satisfied this time that the software vendor is correct. I did - after all - introduce a whole lot of change into their system, and I paid for it. First in cash, now it's being scalded out of my butt.

So what's the real problem? The software obviously was not tested as well as it should be, and the vendor was still working on fixes at the last minute. We found a lot of bugs, we tested for six weeks, but nothing like a rabid dedicated group of people like we have here can thoroughly test every single thing until it's squeaky clean. The 400+ people that signed up Friday & Saturday in spite of the mess and 150+ pledges made for those first four decks are getting apologies in the way of goodies, it's not a bribe, it's a thank you for putting up with this mess. It would be different if I thought nobody cared, I would like to see everybody whack on the code until it belches decks for free - maybe not quite THAT good, but you get the idea. I figure if 200 of those people that were hardy enough souls to stick it out the other night show up and bring ball-peen hammers, swords, grenade launchers, poison darts (I will not be standing still) or whatever are beating on it as hard as they can, it will either work or the problems will show up.

Anyone that's not already registered (I already heard from several people that have big hammers) just let me know. Other than most of the day yesterday while I was actually breathing and taking a little time off with my wife - I am almost always available or close by. I was just a little busy from 12:01AM until I finally succumbed to sleep around 4AM. I could have gone longer, but it wouldn't have done any good.

(nice to see you here, Tony!)

[SBurk49]

With Eoghann's post at first I was all like...


But then I was like...


Tired of seeing all the crybabies.

[Cbkimble]

Big question. When PayPal and Amazon payments are in place, how many bugs will those cause?

[Mike Ratledge]

Big question. When PayPal and Amazon payments are in place, how many bugs will those cause?

Nope. We had one when we had PayPal turned on the first night and it is fixed. If you didn't pick either one, it would give an error, now it remembers what you picked last and at first just picks whichever one is listed first.

[ecNate]

2 problems with the 2 'projects' listed:

The first one contradicts itself, are you reopening on the 23rd or 24th? This is from the browse page as the project itself doesn't seem to show this issue.

WE ARE CLOSED - ANTICIPATED OPENING SUNDAY (August 24th) @ 3EDT
For now we are closed, and we anticipate that we will be reopening on Sunday, the 23rd at 3PM EDT / NYC time - subject to change. Watch your inbox for a MailChimp announcement with more details.

I wasn't clear at first if you really were still 'closed' seeing this listed as available and nothing to indicate it's a TEST project. When I went to pledge it failed again, which if it's a test project that's fine, but anybody with the link or not paying attention browsing will not be pleased and may not return. Change the title and images to make it clear it's for TEST.
https://www.cardlauncher.com/en/projects/8043-Good-Deck

[sinjin7]

Did an apology really make things any better? Are you so petty that something as inessential as an apology is enough to make everything alright? I'd much rather prefer a "Yep. I screwed up big time but I'm working to fix this". Which was being conveyed in the informational, albeit extensively and exhaustively worded emails....That should have been more than enough. But nooooo....you wanted him to crawl and kiss your feet.

An apology. Jesus Christ you guys.

And I don't mean this just for Mike. This goes for Jackson, the Bucks and every other "foolish, stubborn, selfish, money grubbing, deck pimping card monger" we so vehemently complain about who declines to bow down and kiss our self entitled rings. I've said it before: I think the one smart move Jackson did was ditching this place. As much as I've abhorred his cheap tactics to make something common into a super duper exclusive mega premium limited edition...I don't matter...you guys don't matter. There will ALWAYS be someone to take those things off the shelves. They have absolutely no reason or duty to come kiss our feet and beg for our forgiveness for things we deem unsavory.

Yes, Mike's apology DID make things better for me. Why? Because it was needed. Mike is running a business, and sometimes things don't always go smoothly. It's during these times of stress that the true character of a person or organization shows through. Its about being professional. Period. Why can't Mike put his head down to fix the problems with CL and do the right thing by offering an apology to those he inconvenienced at the same time? He's a capable guy and can multitask. Why can't we strive for higher and better standards?

We NEVER required Mike to grovel or get on his hands and knees and beg, that's YOUR inference, and a mistaken one at that. Re-read every damn post before making an inflammatory statement like that. What I asked for was a short and sincere apology, because he hadn't done it yet. It was something that was warranted after the whole fiasco. Its the professional thing to do. And Mike did it, to his credit, although his subsequent comments indicate he might be retracting it.

Your statement clearly shows your disdain for something that's an essential social and professional courtesy such as an apology. You obviously don't value apologies, and I suspect your rarely offer them, either, because apparently you think it's beneath you and you don't get on your knees to crawl, because that's what an apology means for you. If Mike did this right from the start, he would have averted a lot of the crap thrown his way.

And don't be too sure about Jack$on's continued success in the light of his arrogance and poor business practices, either. He's not the golden boy he used to be because of his actions. The space of custom playing cards is getting more crowded by the day and he's not the only game in town anymore. The Hive deck is still not sold out. Of course its going to eventually sell out, but the fact its still around shows the market is correcting. Look at the stance Randy Butterfield is taking with the Draconian deck and you're seeing evidence of the market changing. You are part of that market, I am part of that market, and UC is part of that market. But you're basically saying we don't matter. And you're a mod here at UC. Unbelievable. . .

[Mike Ratledge]

Nothing I said changes a thing. I just want to get back to doing things that I should have in the first place.

Oh, and Sunday is still the 24th. I put the W the We are Closed up just so people wouldn't try to pledge with no reward tiers. Why would anyone pledge for a campaign with no rewards?