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Comment by rollschild | Hacker News Reader

This reminds me of Tim McNamara's course Implement RougeDB, a Redis clone from outer space (https://learning.accelerant.dev/view/courses/implement-rouge...). I paid somewhere around $100 for this course (through some coupon code, I remember the original prices was $200-ish). It was supposed to be completed by Aug 2023, yet almost one year and a half later, it's still incomplete. I almost gave up at this point.

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I'm extremely sorry about this. It's been such a huge wait for everyone who supported me. Thank you so much for holding on so long.

I finally have time to complete the material and updates will start appearing in the next few weeks.

Also, I am more than happy to issue well warranted refunds.

Your feedback is really appreciated, Tim!

Hope you'll keep the promise :) and in the next few weeks we'll get the content updated.

The whole scope as you layed out in the toc looks great!

Wow, and their current "pre-sales" price is $280. No wonder they don't have any dates on that page, or link to the Github repo that hasn't been updated in over a year.

https://github.com/accelerant-dev/implement-rougedb

Never pay for future promises. Looking at Tesla, the games industry, RougeDB.

Every single time it ends in failure and disaster.

Learned that lesson in 2018 when I gave 500 EUR to Tesla (Spain) as a deposit for a Powerwall. Never heard another word from them. Been sending an email ~once a year to try to claim it back but not once I have got an reply. Never again.

Next step is to go to small claims court, but who has the time/energy to deal with bureaucracy... Future project :)

For 500 bucks I sure do have that time

Have you reached out to Tim? I know him and I believe he wouldn't do that intentionally. Maybe he is busy with something else or just lost track of the schedule.

Of course I did. I DM'ed him on Twitter with no response. Then I commented under one of his tweets and he did respond. He mentioned it would be complete by Aug 2023 (this was before Aug 2023). Some time this year I commented under one of his linkedin posts asking for update - no response. There are multiple comments from other users on that web page I linked above - most of them had no replies.

Of course he's been busy. Everyone is busy. But charging $200 (or $100 with coupon) for a course which is delayed for more than 1.5 years and still has no sign of completion is another story.

Did you ask for a refund? If you were refused, you can proceed with a chargeback procedure with your bank.

Not yet. I'm willing to pay for stuff like this. I was reading Tim's Rust in Action at that time and I liked the book so when he announced that he was starting such a course I immediately singed up, although the price was a bit crazy. I got the coupon code from a guy on Reddit so that's pure luck. I am really willing to pay for other peoples IP. I am still hoping that one day he could complete the project but before that I've got some other projects to work on.

Side note: I've finished Build your own Redis in C/C++ (https://leanpub.com/build_your_own_redis) and it's pretty decent. The title of the book is a bit weird since it's almost 100% C++ so I don't know why they put "C" in there. But it's a pretty decent book (and reasonably priced).

Sorry for the huge delays and also for missing the LinkedIn message.

Your support for creators is very much appreciated. There is now light at the end of the tunnel. More info here. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41907594

Ah, so you are the author of Rust in Action. Thanks for the great book! Despite not liking Rust, the book was really engaging and enjoyable.

One thing I want to add is, it's _not_ my job to reach out to him asking for an update. It's his job. If he could maintain a monthly (or even quarterly) email list with all the updates it would be a way better communication strategy.

This kind of (ahem) "business model" has become rampant. We easily call out crypto scams, but the "buy now, I'll finish it whenever" strategy has been rotting away at the core of the internet since Kickstarter became a thing.

I mean, Tim McNamara's course is literally a scam. You paid full price (minus the coupon) for a product that was never delivered (and likely never will be), sold to you based on hype and Twitter clout. What the actual fuck? How many people were defrauded, but were just like "meh, what's a few hundred bucks?"

Well, like I mentioned in my other comment, I really liked his book Rust in Action so I signed up for his course, despite the price. But yeah, maybe it _is_ a scam at the end of the day.

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