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— | ares_digital_update [2016/09/09 13:18] – [Axanar Scrambles to Ship Perks] correx sentence fragment Carlos Pedraza | ||
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+ | <WRAP box> | ||
+ | {{: | ||
+ | <wrap lo> | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | {{TOC}} | ||
+ | ====== Axanar Scrambles to Ship Perks ====== | ||
+ | <wrap lo>// | ||
+ | //See also: [[axanar_finances|In Wake of Perk Problems, Peters Claims Axanar is Broke]] and [[terry_mcintosh|Terry McIntosh Resigns]]//</ | ||
+ | Under [[perks|increased scrutiny]] for perks ready to ship but stymied by incomplete software, Axanar tried in early June 2016 to reassure donors it's taking steps to shore up its fulfillment operations. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The resignation in May 2016 by chief technologist, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Perk Problems ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | An **AxaMonitor** report, " | ||
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+ | <WRAP right round box 50%> | ||
+ | //**__« People are gonna have the Kickstarter patches, and people are gonna be excited about it. »__**// — //Axanar producer Alec Peters// | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | * [[perks#no perks have shipped|Failure to ship]] any perks to // | ||
+ | * Specific [[perks# | ||
+ | * Spending of [[perks# | ||
+ | * Placing a higher priority on fulfilling new merchandise orders from its online store than old Kickstarter rewards. | ||
+ | * [[perks# | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Acknowledging the Problem ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | In a May 27, 2016, blog post, Axanar spokesman Mike Bawden admitted to the problem in shipping available rewards to Kickstarter backers: | ||
+ | |||
+ | > The timing, the sense of urgency, and the delivery of perks to a backer is a top priority. That’s why we’re so focused on getting this thing working at Axanar. We have GOT to get this problem solved.(([[http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | <WRAP box 500px> | ||
+ | {{http:// | ||
+ | <wrap lo> | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Peters added that development of its fulfillment software by McIntosh fell short: | ||
+ | |||
+ | > Ares Digital just didn’t materialize as fast as we expected it would, and we’ve had all these perks packed up for months, ready to go out. We just needed to generate the thousands of address labels, and we couldn’t because the technology wasn’t finished. It’s been incredibly frustrating to have them trapped in the system, unable to be printed. These patches should have been out last summer!(([[http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== New Solutions, Old Problems ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Peters announced a new chief technology officer had replaced McIntosh in order to complete development of Ares Digital.(([[http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | > He's not wrong in the respect that the hold-up was firmly due to my not having done the queries against the database. But, with that said, this is the first I've heard that they' | ||
+ | |||
+ | [{{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | === Ending Ares Digital? === | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the meantime, Axanar' | ||
+ | |||
+ | > Just a reminder, folks, that while our tech guys are working on building out the new digital database, you will have limited (and eventually no) access to your old Ares Digital accounts, which are being phased out. | ||
+ | |||
+ | == New Donor Concerns == | ||
+ | |||
+ | This brought questions from donors apparently unaware that when McIntosh resigned, he effectively took Ares Digital with him: | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Why the switch-over?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | And Shauny Briggs added, "I must admit all these changes are a bit concerning. I realise that people' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kingsbury reiterated, "ALL I can tell you is that our new tech team is on the job. … But with an estimated 12-14,000 donors, multiple campaigns and platforms, and dozens of levels, this is no small endeavor." | ||
+ | |||
+ | [{{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | == Starting From Scratch == | ||
+ | |||
+ | Indeed, given McIntosh' | ||
+ | |||
+ | > I haven' | ||
+ | |||
+ | == More Than a Mail-Merge == | ||
+ | |||
+ | While many critics have asked why Axanar can't simply do a mail-merge to create shipping labels for waiting donors, McIntosh explained on Facebook that the complexity of the data Axanar has to manage makes fulfillment far more complicated than that: | ||
+ | |||
+ | --> Terry McIntosh Explains ‘More Than a Mail-Merge’# | ||
+ | > There are eight or so spreadsheets that I can remember off of the top of my head -- I've deleted them from my files, since I have no reason to keep them after departing the production -- and that isn't counting live data from things like retro packages and the donor store which evolve over time organically. \\ \\ On top of that there are two years of email and Facebook messages from donors with updates to their info that were manually processed (hundreds of them), such as email and shipping address changes, that have to be factored in, too. \\ \\ And, as the cherry on top, the original spreadsheets are a mess as they were provided to the production from Kickstarter, | ||
+ | |||
+ | <-- | ||
+ | |||
+ | === Shipping Patches === | ||
+ | |||
+ | No matter what, Peters said that shipping donors their patches as quickly as possible was now a high priority: | ||
+ | |||
+ | > People are gonna have the Kickstarter patches, and people are gonna be excited about it. And then we will do the same with the Indiegogo patches.(([[http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | === The Remaining Perks === | ||
+ | |||
+ | Peters said his new goal was to get donors everything they were promised that didn't depend on the completion of //Axanar//. Of course, about 20 of the promised Kickstarter rewards [[perks# | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | **Keywords** {{tag> |