It was a VERY cool thing that Cliff did for me. And the thing that makes it cooler than anything is that I did not do anything special for Fractal and I am not a celebrity or someone special (you know, like Solo-Act).
Oh! Got me!! One of my gigs is a chili's too in a
mall...LOL...so please don't be offended if find that comment funny
Despite all of the conspiracy theories and all those who have nothing better to do but get on here and be negative or look for ways to bash people...
To put this in context, Dana came here to say he was honored to receive something the forum has been lusting after since the announcement. Then he failed to provide any details on how that came to be...obviously forum members would be very curious to know that.
Regarding "all the conspiracy theories", the "be negatives" and the "looking for ways to bash people", that's an overblown statement. Dana was literally flooded with congratulations for seven pages before I inquired about details, lamented the lack of info, and predicted Dana wouldn't be a regular forum contributor.
No, that's not politically correct behavior, and I should've congratulated him and thanked Fractal for their generosity. But given a worldwide countdown to zero shipping, weeks of randomly posted availability info and a forever frothing forum, I figured I'd step in and say what perhaps some were feeling. 'Course, maybe I was the only one feeling that way, but I doubt it.
Since there were zero details, I proceeded to work with I had: photos and posts that revealed a guy with money for two Ultras, an MFC, two Diezels, a $3k PRS, and enough left over for an Axe-FXII. No offense intended or ill feelings for Dana's prosperity. Given that prosperity, I assumed Dana was a day-job, bedroom player. Again, no offense intended, just calling it as I saw it -- hell, he probably plays circles around me. I also went with a hunch that he's not going to be a regular contributor to the forum. I could be completely wrong though...
this was just a very cool thing to do, plain and simple...and I am extremely grateful for it and happy about it.
Of course you are! You're the 1st pre-sale, production axe-II owner! -- are we implying you're feeling anything less? Far from it. And if the urge hits Fractal to randomly select someone calling for a drive-by ogling as the 1st pre-sale buyer of a II, then GREAT! That's an awesome santa-clause, christmas good-cheer type of story. And now I'm guessing that was your original intention.
But that isn't how it came across. To me -- it was presented as "look at me, I'm a dude with money to burn (in this economy) who isn't part of the forum and I was really lucky that Cliff really took care of me...but I won't tell you why".
So, in the spirit of contribution vs condemnation, and based on Dana's writing and what he's been implying, it sounds like he simply called Fractal on a weekend and asked if he could drop by. Most likely when he dropped by, he offered to buy one on the spot.
Since he said he did nothing special for Fractal, it follows that he likely didn't bring cash and that he paid $2199 +tax.
Mattman did edit his post, but if those are all the details, then Dana lucked out and I'm really happy: both that he was in the right place at the right time, and that Cliff wanted to take care of him.
Sincere and honest.