What is SpaceFN and why you should give it a try
The SpaceFN concept - setting up your space key as a layer switch when held - is probably one of the most useful tweaks in the keyboard hobby. Let me explain how it works. My SpaceFN article on kbd.news made some rounds recently - quite surprisingly given the age of this concept. This piece you're reading is a condensed version of the full post. If you're left with unanswered questions, you'll most likely find the info you're looking for in the original write-up. On my imaginary top list of the most useful keyboard features, tweaks and hacks, SpaceFN would deserve a podium finish for sure. But what makes it so special? In short: SpaceFN is easy to implement, easy to learn, costs nothing, can be used with any keyboard, and can improve your productivity instantly. I will list its benefits below, but can state right at this point that the SpaceFN concept, setting up your space key as a layer switch when held, is clearly one of the most useful tweaks in the keyboard hobby....
Apr 30, 2024
Happy to see we've hit the 500 units of the Laser keycaps. I'm super excited to get these in everyone's hands.
With the recent trade tariffs on various trade goods in the news we are making an attempt to get ahead of the unexpected by purchasing additional units with our just completed ALT order.
In order to do this, we did have to charge everyone that's joined so far. Of course, if you want to cancel, that is available in your transactions and you'll be refunded for your purchase.
My apologies for the confusion and getting this message out late tonight.
I will do a better job warning everyone of these things in the future.
I also like that rather than taking a lower margin, massdrop would rather inconvenience their customers....
Last, what do you mean, "sorry for getting the message out late" - like this was a surprise decision you made in a couple hours? Who is running your organization?
Although @jscrub is sounding like a broken record. The one point he makes that does resonate with me now is the timing of this drop in relation to the ALT order. Now @YanboWu just seems to have completely confirmed that, stating that the first 500 Laser ALT keyboard orders were placed with the recently completed ALT drop.
This all leaves a very bad taste in my mouth and I have cancelled my order.
"After drop ends, payment will be collected..." This reads as if it is business as usual.
"...order will be submitted to the vendor up front..." What? This seems like the opposite of the beginning of the sentence. Which is it, pay now or pay at the end?
"...making all sales final." When are sales final? Up front, or at the end of the drop?
"Check the discussion page for updates on your order." A lot of people neither look at the discussion page nor read the fine print at the bottom of the overview. Make this procedure change impossible to miss. For example:
These are just my suggestions to minimize the negative impact of this sudden change.
That being said, people who have "bills to pay" and having funds locked up like this impacting your life expenses need to take a step back at the situation instead of blaming Massdrop. Yes, they should have notified those a lot earlier so they could cancel and avoid the charge. That they are wrong at. But also as a consumer, if having a couple hundred bucks tied up is a make or break life expense choice, wait until the drop is near the end. Nobody should be putting their hand up to buy without accounting (no pun intended) that they have the funds to back it up. Clicking "join drop" is a group buy is a commitment of your money.
Basically, you acted like you are cool, "man," then said you hear what we are saying, no shit it is all over the forum, and you are going to evaluate the process? What fucking process? It was a process to click a few buttons and collect before drop end? How about the process of notifying people a few hours before you change your mind.
Is massdrop insolvent? Do you not have the money in your organization that you have to collect the funds for every drop before you submit your PO to the vendor? That doesn't make sense, how many extra are you planning to order for the add-ons that join after this date of collection?
How do tariffs work? Are they even applied to the date of purchase? Aren't they applied by the carrier during the process of delivery? How does submitting a purchase order early help by any means? If you were collecting early to submit an early PO to get early delivery, hypothetically before the tariffs went into place, how much money are you even going to save compared to the amount of stress you just created for the 500+ people in the drop?
Did you split the drop just to sell more hype? I do not understand why massdrop would prioritize profit over their customer.
Why was this drop split from the Alt if massdrop collected funds early to submit the buy for the two separate projects together?
They did split the drop for hype, yes. Many of us (especially those of us who missed out on Laser) are super excited to have a chance to grab these keys, and I really hope they keep doing collabs like this. Not everyone wants to get a whole keyboard themed around a single colourway, which is why you had the chance to get the original Alt.
@YanboWu made a mistake by not making it clear when funds would be collected and I trust that it won't happen in the future. It sucks for those who were relying on it being at the end of the drop.
@YanboWu screwed up by not being clear about when funds would be collected. He acknowledged it. It's done.
No doubt @MiTo worked hard, if you had the same opportunity he has in his hands, you would work hard too. The community has enabled his success, we give him our money, he owes more to us than to sell out and use cheap marketing to maximize profit on what amounts to dollars worth of plastic and aluminum and pressurized sand.
No doubt, machining aluminum costs money, setup isn't cheap. The PCBs are costly too, especially with hotswappable pogos, however, at the quantities and the cheap Chinese labor, I think there would be greater savings over time, as massdrop has made the commitment to manufacture this board as a reoccurring item.
Anodizing is dirt cheap. Sending a few extra cases out to have them turned purple and pairing them with a keycap set should not mean they do not share common items with the original ALT. If you are going to commit to making this a reoccurring drop, buy and hold stock, pass the savings to the consumer.
Second, if you have a specific issue with Massdrop support, then take it up with support. This isn't the venue. Once the drop has shipped and if you have an issue with your order, you're welcome to discuss it here. My personal experience with Massdrop support has met expectations, and certainly exceeded what I've gotten from sites like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or independent group buys.
Every post since you insulted @MiTo has been about something else trying to justify your own asshole behaviour. Stop being a brat.
Second, I took up my issue with massdrop support. And you get better delivery than kickstarter because they are promising vaporware, massdrop is an actual company who is delivering real product. If massdrop took your money and did not deliver the product it would be theft.
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However, if you did PayPal as a payment prior, you NEED to cancel your order. I went through this with one of the keycap-recap sales a while ago. The odd way it works with PayPal is that it sort of "reserves" that price to charge and if at the end of the drop the charge value differs from what you initiated, it will flag it as invalid payment. So for PayPal orders, you need to cancel and re-submit your order to make sure you don't get a payment error at the end.
Cancel existing order for $X Resubmit new order for $X+$Y for revision Charged $X+$Y if they are still doing instant charges Refund for $X from first order cancel If the charge isn't instant, then you get charged for $X+$Y once the drop ends
Overall, you only get charged once but you're juggling in there an extra charge and refund.
But honestly, your best bet is to just try to talk to Massdrop customer service and they can walk you through your options. That's what I did with the PayPal questions I had on the keycap recap and they told me all the options I had to adjust my order.
If yes then I'm absolutely sure you'll receive two coupons.