foobar2000 mobile fundraiser
Reply #103 – 2014-04-15 08:00:46
I think the most pressing change that the foobar2000 mobile project needs right now for having promise of success is getting a spokesperson with enough available time for the community. Such an ambitious project like this one requires a powerful representative in my opinion, a guy who is able to direct a discussion and to detect when he has to countersteer because the debate goes the wrong way. A person with the ability to communicate the idea of the project, to stir up enthusiasm and to keep it alive. And it is also one of that person's duties to actively clear up things - not only on HA! - as well as to keep in touch with (prospective) pledgers and to keep them up-to-date about the project's current status. A project which shall be funded by pledgers is in the first place an advertising campaign: It needs to be actively promoted, it needs to be pushed and it needs to be brought to mind again and again. Doing this alone is a full-time job. And I am sure that spoon is pressed for time: he had to manage the campaign on kickstarter.com, he is the project's figurehead, he is the project's spokesman, he and kode54 and Peter are already programming for the various mobile platforms, spoon has also his own business and probably a private life. And who knows what else is processed in the background. That's too much for a single person. I agree that the campaign's initial presentation and layout was improvable. But that isn't the biggest danger for the campaign's success from my point of view. The most serious threat for the project is in my eyes spoon's lack of time and his uncommunicativeness resulting from that running out of time. His mostly brief answers, partly in an abrupt style, often enough even simple yes/no-replies - this will not work (reminds me of audioSAFE). Such style let interest rather dying away than to stimulate it. And I am sure I don't need to mention that I would be very glad if the foobar2000 mobile project would succeed! It is a serious matter if pledgers are worried about their money just due to the project's poor policy of disclosure. The project promises an extraordinary player with innovative new abilities. I am trying to motivate my friends to pledge. They ask me: What are these for abilities? I don't know. This is just my very personal private opinion but I think spoon should either get more time on his hands for public relations or he should delegate this job to somebody else.