I've lurked this board for a few months now, and until recently, I could not explain the fanatical anti-BFL sentiment around here.
Don't get me wrong, I think BFL has demonstrated some of the worst PR practices I have ever seen in a company. They have consistently over-promised and under-delivered, and that has cost some people a lot of money, time and effort. But none of that explained to me the rage, the hatred, the malevolence of some posters whenever they talked about BFL. I don't want to exaggerate myself, but the feelings expressed by the anti-BFL folks seemed to me to be the kind of hate that you would have for murderers, rapists or even registered Republicans. The name calling, the bloodlust, the angry mobs calling for Josh's head, it just seemed way out of whack for a new company operating in the digital Wild West of 1st gen ASIC manufacturing. There had to be something I was missing, some element to this equation I just wasn't seeing.
Then it came to me while I was on the crapper.
My hunch is that the people on this forum who are complaining the loudest about BFL, the ones constantly talking about ZOMG SCAMMER TAGS, the ones saying that BFL needs to be sued, the ones saying BFL will file for bankruptcy next month, the ones saying BFL is being investigated by the FBI, CIA, the SEC and the BBQ, etc etc, these people all might have one crucial thing in common with one another: they might be HUGE BFL clients with no intents to get refunds, and who sincerely believe BFL will deliver as promised, albeit late and below specifications.
Think about it. Pretend you are a BFL customer, who has dropped say 1k, 2k, 10k, 50k, etc on mining hardware, and you honestly believe it will be delivered eventually. In this situation, you would want to scare away as much potential competition as possible. To accomplish this, you would go on the forums and scream at the top of your lungs BLOODY MURDER and hope that as many potential ASIC investors as possible get scared away from getting in on the same action you are.
So to sum up my arguments:
(1) BFL has done a crude, sloppy, amateurish job so far. And they probably will still deliver, eventually.
(2) It is in the financial interests of large-scale ASIC investors/owners/operators to scare away as much potential competition as possible.
(3) It is possible to simultaneously believe that BFL will deliver sort-of-as-promised AND call BFL scammers, terrible people, etc on public forums in order to accomplish the above.
So the inside joke here is that the biggest BFL "haters" might very well be the biggest believers in, and customers of, BFL.
