@amiga Statement from David Pleasance regarding Amiga Global Alliance cancelation: https://www.facebook.com/david.j.pleasance/posts/pfbid02jJu84nU2f8nn2JWYjSdarfN8K36aCSn4LTxMDw9yVhW4jCos1PkLTx6fLMCpx55Fl
For those without FB:
Dear Amiga Community,
I hope this message finds you all in good spirits. As many of you know, my name is David John Pleasance, and I was a long term employee at Commodore (the company behind the iconic Amiga computer) at executive level and on a global basis.
After Commodore went bust in 1994 and my and Colin Proudfoot’s attempt to outbid Escom faltered, I totally left the Amiga scene, but luckily I was re-introduced to it in 2015 at the Amiga 30 event in Amsterdam, where the Amiga community embraced me warmly and since then, the C=/Amiga scene has been an integral part of my life. I must say, it has been my absolute privilege to share in your passion, ingenuity, and camaraderie.
With your encouragement I was “enticed” into writing the story of how Commodore (a once $1 billion corporation) went bankrupt. The book was released in 2019 it has been very well received.
Recently, I launched a Kickstarter campaign: Amiga Global Alliance. I had observed some ‘infighting’ between various Amiga sub-communities and seemingly endless court cases between companies. The Alliance was an aim to integrate what appeared to be a somewhat (Geographically speaking) fragmented community and bring everyone together under one umbrella, I appreciate this was an ambitious goal but one I believed I could help with.
The core of this project was to build a sophisticated online resource (by way of a website/portal “AGA.DIRECTORY” which delivered a “global one stop location for everything C=/Amiga related”). This was not meant to be a slight on the already fantastic forums and groups that have existed for many decades in the Amiga community already, I had hoped it would compliment them. The second part of the concept was to reinvest a minimum of 65% of all revenue received, back into the community, by way of “seed funding” any developer who endeavours to bring new software and/or hardware to the market. It seemed to me that many of the former ‘bounty’ sites and endeavours had fallen by the wayside, and I genuinely am not aware of the existence of any entity that delivered this just for the Amiga and C= scene.
Sadly, it appears I did not deliver the message clearly enough, and my lack of clarity led to a complete misunderstanding of my intentions resulting in two or three days of negative feedback. In light of the feedback received from many of you, it has become clear that the campaign did not resonate as I had hoped. Some of you have voiced concerns, disappointment, and frustration, and I want to address this directly:
When I launched this campaign, it was with the best of intentions. The ‘Marketing and Sales Man’ is still very much alive in me and I worked on a plan which I genuinely believed would be of great benefit to and would contribute to a healthy growth of the community. But, I now realise that I may have inadvertently created confusion and mistrust. This was not my intention, and I deeply regret any upset this may have caused. I was trying to find a way to stay relevant and contribute to the community I love so much, not to take ownership or control, or to cause any harm.
The people I test marketed this project on, and to who I asked for support with my initial plan (which initially was not utilising a Kickstarter to raise funds) were seemingly very enthusiastic, to the point where many subscribed immediately at events and shows over the last year. Such was the enthusiasm, I thought running a Kickstarter would be a way of gauging further interest, and give people a simple way to subscribe, and offering it initially in a secure and sophisticated way that Kickstarter well provides, before the directory was set up. Now in hindsight, my friends and community members were maybe ‘too soft’ on me to really challenge some of the plans I had. After all the whole purpose of “ Test Marketing” was to get honest feedback which I believed is what I got.
Therefore, after reflecting on your feedback, I’have cancelled the Kickstarter campaign. Importantly, please be assured that nobody who backed the Kickstarter will be charged. For those who signed up for the campaign in person at events before it became a Kickstarter, I am committed to ensuring that you receive a full refund. This process will commence as soon as possible, and I will provide further information on this in the coming days.
I believe cancelling the campaign is the right thing to do, and it’s my hope that this decision will begin to mend any fractures that have emerged in our community as a result of the campaign. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who has supported me throughout the years, and although some of the comments were not only very personal and hurtful, I want to especially thank those who took the time to share their positive and supportive thoughts about the campaign.
Your passion for the Amiga scene is what makes this community so special, and I’m sorry if my actions have in any way overshadowed that.
I remain as committed as ever to the Amiga community, and I’ll continue to participate and contribute in the ways that I can. I hope we can all learn from this experience and continue to share in our love for C=/Amiga. I welcome any critics to meet up with me at events and I’ll gladly talk to them over a drink or two. We’re never too old to learn.
Thank you for understanding, and once again, I’m truly sorry for any distress caused.
Yours sincerely, David John Pleasance
