TextBladeDenied

WayTools_Support said:

The first folks to post were you, tbd, and Rolanbek, all of whom repeated the same kind of criticisms which unjustly impugn our work.

100% False.

I was the 165th post on this thread. Many former customers and critical customers and banned-from-your-forum customers preceded my first comment.

WayTools_Support said:

We didn’t initiate, we only responded.  

Weasel words. You do not give direct answers to any questions. You ignore every specific inquiry directed towards you. The only other type of comment remaining is criticism, and your responses to your critics leave much to be desired. After 4 years, you have not realized what you are doing wrong in the communication department. It is ridiculous and unprofessional and unethical behavior and there is no defending it.

WayTools_Support said:

It would be really nice for everyone if there we’re no attacks to answer.

Yeah that sounds like a sweet plan. You want to keep the money, and silence all the critics.

That is not going to happen.

There would be no attacks if you refunded all the money to the people who paid you for a product you have not shipped for 4 years. People would not be mad if you were not playing this carrot and stick game of holding money + offering gift + stating ship date + missing ship date (for 4 years). People would simply forget you exist. And then if you ever finally released a product, they would consider whether or not to purchase again.

Refund all the money. Finish your product. Offer it for sale. Simple. Ethical. Responsible. Try it.

WayTools_Support said:

A deceiver’s only work-product is false words, and only identity is anonymous. We won’t swallow that bait. We won’t refute each false point.  

Why don't you represent yourself as who you are if you are so concerned about anonymity? Is your name "Waytools_Support" or "Mark Knighton"?

I find it distracting and annoying that you complain about anonymity but speak the way you do here using a screen name and writing in the first-person-plural form. I do not believe anyone who claims you are more than one person behind the screen name. Only one person writes as you do. So if you hate anonymity, post with your real name, as Mark Knighton, CEO of Waytools.

The only reason your critics prefer anonymity is so you cannot force cancel their orders. You banned them from your forum and canceled their orders. What do you expect people to do when you treat them so poorly?

WayTools_Support said:

It is hard to see any sincerity in a message that claims to apologize, laments repetition, and then proceeds to repeat it all profusely.

It is hard to see any sincerity in the responses of a CEO that lies to its customers about ship dates, takes the money, and refuses to ship a product for 4+ years. This is a point you consistently avoid acknowledging, thus here we go again in circles. Are you not repeating yourself profusely as well?

The consistency of these messages, here, and across the internet, over years of sustained targeting, betrays an underlying economic impetus.

No matter how carefully you try to phrase it, there it is again: a paranoid and totally unsubstantiated accusation that all of the critics are part of a mystical 'Oppo-PR' campaign (your term), rather than being your legitimately frustrated customers.

You started accusing your customers of being part of the Oppo-PR illuminati as far back as March 2015 (link:   http://alturl.com/3qyj5  ), just a couple months after the product was announced. I cant remember how 'officially' late you were at that point, but it obviously was not 4 years. A few weeks or a month perhaps? All the people on that thread had valid criticisms and valid questions, and rather than acknowledge any of them sincerely, you attacked them, and set the tone for all that has followed.

Four years later, where are you? You are in the exact same place. You have not evolved. No product shipped. Same defensive bickering in every reply. Same patronizing antagonistic aggressive attitude towards your customers.

See - this is the thing that has to be repeated for clarity every time you obfuscate it. Anytime you read criticism of Waytools and Mark Knighton, you have got to read it in the context of how incredibly long this has been going on, and how they have behaved so consistently for so long. You can go back in time 4 years, and read every post on their forum where they stated a time frame when they would ship, or when they accused frustrated customers of being paid shills, etc. It is all of the same stuff that you see in this thread. Here we are 4 years later! Waytools still has the money, and still no product shipped!

That is valid stuff to comment on and criticize!  I do not believe it is a violation of forum rules (so long as I keep my temper in check) to hammer these points home each time you reply with more obfuscation, or each time you avoid answering any direct question posed by your customers. I am commenting entirely within the scope of the subject matter of the article that preceded all of these comments. The article was about Waytools, and the Textblade, and Mark Knighton, and Mark Knighton is right here, right now, posting in these comments, bickering with people, slandering them with accusations of being 'paid opposition', and making debatable statements about his company and his product, thus inviting critical feedback.

I can certainly understand why Appleinsider might say they have had enough of the whole debacle and lock the thread, but I believe I am using the platform they provide in good faith, commenting sincerely, and trying to stay on topic.

WayTools_Support said:

As is a signature of these messages, all of the bad doings are then claimed to be the fault of the target.

That is correct. I do sincerely believe that your behavior - taking money from people, stating that a product was ready and shipping within weeks, missing 4 years of ship dates, while bickering with and slandering your customers as paid opposition - is entirely the fault of Waytools.

Who else do you think could be held responsible for all of that?

WayTools_Support said:

If someone plans a scam, they don’t use their real names, nor make verifiably good work-product.

No one in the world understands why you have done all that you have done. It does not make sense to most people, hence all the drama.

That said, what you stated is actually quite false. Scammers use their real identities and real names and real credentials and real reputations all the time to rip people off. It is one of the central tenets of many styles of  'long con'. Bernie Madoff used his real name. He made a 'verifiably good' investment product. Anybody who got in early made millions! Until it all collapsed, his name and reputation were his primary weapon to scam more people out of their money.

Do I think you rise to the same level of mischief as Bernie Madoff? No. Do I think you are potentially of the same mindset? Yes. I believe if you were an ethical and legit business, you would not do as you have done.

I believe you could salvage your reputation by refunding everyone until the product is legitimately ready to ship, and I challenge you to do so.

My signature line was repetitious so I'll stop pasting it.

Mike Wuerthele said:

Okay, everybody stop. Go read the commenting guidelines. Don't post again until you do, and comply with what you read.

I just read them, and I apologize for where I went out of bounds.

There is one person on this thread who claims not to work for the company in question, but trolls every single person who criticizes Waytools to any degree. A much better conversation could be had by all if:

1) Waytools_Support (Mark Knighton) responded to direct questions from customers
2) Kahuna refrained from answering questions on behalf of Waytools_Support

Unfortunately, neither seems likely to happen. Kahuna will likely respond to this by trolling me further, and Waytools_Support will respond off topic or not at all.

The conundrum was that Appleinsider published this article seemingly unaware of the extent of ill will this company has shown towards its customers and generated towards itself. I am not blaming Appleinsider for not knowing the degree of animosity that existed here, although a bit of digging through Macrumors, Reddit, or the Waytools forum probably might have exposed it if a reporter was interested in looking.

The criticism of Waytools and Mark Knighton that has been expressed here was sincere, and necessary. My criticism, and certainly others as well, elicited the kind of bizarre and paranoid responses we have received for years from Mark Knighton, and I believe that engaging him here helped to illuminate the character of the individual and thus the company. Readers can now make a more informed decision about whether to give this company their money or not.

I stand by my principled position, that Mark Knighton sought publicity through this Appleinsider article in pursuit of additional revenue, as in the past such as with Macrumors, but does not have (and will not admit that he does not have) the financial or technical resources required to ship a finished product to everyone who ordered over the past 4 years, and thus deserves strong public criticism and condemnation for his unethical business tactics.

Beyond that, I know all of this has become repetitious and unproductive. It would be great if we could just ask Mark Knighton simple questions and get direct answers, but that seems futile.

WayTools_Support said:

Wow, it’s hard to imagine a psychiatrist speaking with such belittling taunts. 

Wow, its hard to imagine the CEO of a company that is 4+ years behind schedule on the release date of its only product wasting his time posting such flippant observations on the internet when he should be working on getting the job done and meeting his obligations to thousands of customers who paid him. 

dabigkahuna said:

TextBladeDenied said:

> the elaboration amounted to backing away from the unqualified 'Yes'

Let me know when you can deal with the example I gave for how such things are not really unqualified.

That part of your argument is just blatantly dishonest and I am not going to engage you on it anymore. This is why you are often called a shill. You argue in bad faith. You are a liar. No one is interested in finding common ground with someone who is perpetually insincere.