*BLF LT1 Lantern Project) (updated Nov,17,2020)

[saypat]

@DBSAR

After reading what Alex did, (use another BLF member’s name to cheat the group-buy & order two LT1s with the group-buy price) then be sly to wait until his lanterns shipped before posting what he did here I forwarded a message to Barry asking him to immediately stop the group-buy until they fix the loophole issue, I also forwarded the Posts by Alex to sb56637.

thankful there is at least one smart person around who took the bull by the horns……

[BrianK]

Just because it has “shipped” doesn’t mean that it’s out of Sofirns building. My light was 4 days between “shipping” and being picked up by the carrier. Maybe they can find it in the shipment and ship it to a rightful owner. Maybe.

[SIGShooter]

@BrianK

Just because it has “shipped” doesn’t mean that it’s out of Sofirns building. My light was 4 days between “shipping” and being picked up by the carrier. Maybe they can find it in the shipment and ship it to a rightful owner. Maybe.

I don’t think the shipment can be stopped since Sofirn doesn’t know who a legit BLF user is and who isn’t. All they are going on is whether the user name is on the list or not.

[SIGShooter]

@Phlogiston

Fortunately, Sofirn did a 500-unit first run (instead of hammering the full 3000 out in one go), so the maximum damage is limited. The remaining 2500 can still be authenticated using whatever improved system Sofirn come up with.

Even if every single one of the first 500 lanterns had gone to fraudsters, the absolute worst case would be that Sofirn had to make an extra 500 lanterns available at the group buy price.

I suspect that the vast majority of the batch 1 lanterns have gone (or will go) to a legit BLF user. Whether that person is in the first 500 or not is another story.

I’m hopeful that things will go much smoother after batch 1 based on some ideas we’ve been kicking around.

[Lagittaja]

@DBSAR

After reading what Alex did, (use another BLF member’s name to cheat the group-buy & order two LT1s with the group-buy price) then be sly to wait until his lanterns shipped before posting what he did here I forwarded a message to Barry asking him to immediately stop the group-buy until they fix the loophole issue, I also forwarded the Posts by Alex to sb56637.

I think someone said Sofirn would need to associate the username with email address or last name but that is unnecessary.
They’re already associating BLF username with unique Amazon code which they are sending to BLF users as private messages.
So only thing they need to change is the approval method of Ebay and AliExpress purchases.
Instead of user telling them their BLF username, user needs to tell them their unique Amazon code.

And if they want to prevent double dipping then obviously after user completes Ebay or AE purchase they need to deactivate that code on Amazon and mark it as used in their list.

Not perfect but probably good enough for this group buy.

[SIGShooter]

@Lagittaja

@DBSAR

After reading what Alex did, (use another BLF member’s name to cheat the group-buy & order two LT1s with the group-buy price) then be sly to wait until his lanterns shipped before posting what he did here I forwarded a message to Barry asking him to immediately stop the group-buy until they fix the loophole issue, I also forwarded the Posts by Alex to sb56637.

I think someone said Sofirn would need to associate the username with email address or last name but that is unnecessary.
They’re already associating BLF username with unique Amazon code which they are sending to BLF users as private messages.
So only thing they need to change is the approval method of Ebay and AliExpress purchases.
Instead of user telling them their BLF username, user needs to tell them their unique Amazon code.

And if they want to prevent double dipping then obviously after user completes Ebay or AE purchase they need to deactivate that code on Amazon and mark it as used in their list.

Not perfect but probably good enough for this group buy.

Yes, clearly that is one way to control things. A central database would be the most efficient means of doing this but even manual controls would work assuming everyone is in the same location and working off the same lists.

[fluke]

Anyone know what point we are at?

What number are we at for who has and who hasn't been sent codes.

Or who has ebayed or not?

[DBSAR]

@fluke

Anyone know what point we are at?

What number are we at for who has and who hasn’t been sent codes.

Or who has ebayed or not?

Unknown at this time, as Barry or Sofirn has not indicated to us if all of the first batch has been ordered (or codes/messages sent out for all of them) as of yet.

[lionheart_2281]

Just ordered mine with batteries through the Amazon AU store with coupon code, thanks to the team for putting in this massive effort to make undoubtedly the best LED lantern money can buy.

Hopefully the drama in the last few days won’t affect my order.

[Dutcheee]

Will the second batch be different than the first?
I already ordered 1 (of 2 on the list#193&#361) trough ebay (is in shipping) but also have another code for amazon.de. But I would like to purchase a green colored version 2 for the groupbuy price and have someone above #500 get theirs sooner. Is that an option?

[jmbow24]

I got my code but it doesn’t work

[amishbill]

@jmbow24

I got my code but it doesn’t work

If your code has a “x” in it, try typing it out - sometimes the “x” is problemattic in a copy-paste.

[gottawearshades]

Good idea.

@Lagittaja

@DBSAR

After reading what Alex did, (use another BLF member’s name to cheat the group-buy & order two LT1s with the group-buy price) then be sly to wait until his lanterns shipped before posting what he did here I forwarded a message to Barry asking him to immediately stop the group-buy until they fix the loophole issue, I also forwarded the Posts by Alex to sb56637.

I think someone said Sofirn would need to associate the username with email address or last name but that is unnecessary.
They’re already associating BLF username with unique Amazon code which they are sending to BLF users as private messages.
So only thing they need to change is the approval method of Ebay and AliExpress purchases.
Instead of user telling them their BLF username, user needs to tell them their unique Amazon code.

And if they want to prevent double dipping then obviously after user completes Ebay or AE purchase they need to deactivate that code on Amazon and mark it as used in their list.

Not perfect but probably good enough for this group buy.

[gadabout]

If we are still under 3000 I’d like to be added for two more units please. Total of 4.
Thanks.

[jmbow24]

@amishbill

@jmbow24

I got my code but it doesn’t work

If your code has a “x” in it, try typing it out - sometimes the “x” is problemattic in a copy-paste.

It works thank you

[SIGShooter]

@gadabout

If we are still under 3000 I’d like to be added for two more units please. Total of 4.
Thanks.

I added you and the interest list is currently at 2,903.

Even though we’ve had some unfortunately things happen in the batch 1 buy I’d be really really surprised if everyone didn’t get the lanterns they signed up for.

[lionheart_2281]

@lionheart_2281

Just ordered mine with batteries through the Amazon AU store with coupon code, thanks to the team for putting in this massive effort to make undoubtedly the best LED lantern money can buy.

Hopefully the drama in the last few days won’t affect my order.

annnnnnnnnnnnnd 4 hours later I get shipping notice :+1:

[rizky_p]

so i just wait for the second batch and wait PM from Sofirn and then make the purchase on AE? still confuse here. #980.

[koalaenergy]

Would like to buy 1 lantern when available.

[leftdisconnected]

As I said in an earlier post, people that use eBay or AliExpress should have to provide the Amazon discount link/code that they received in their PM in order to receive the discount for each LT1. A few of us did try to warn about cheaters.

I don’t understand why so much focus has been placed upon deleting Alex’ posts and quotes of said posts, as surely everyone immediately sees how to do what he did. I’ve gone back to one of my earlier posts to delete my own mention, as apparently we should not discuss the entirely obvious flaws in the prior system. Surely anyone here can figure out how to game a system with a public GB list and no confirmation codes.

Our only hope here was honesty and it worked quite well for the most part; there are always a few buttholes that have nothing better to do than to lie, cheat, and steal.

I don’t understand how deleting a user’s entire post history and all descriptions of his cheat is helpful at all. You can’t, and shouldn’t, hide information. Leave the cheater’s posts for everyone to see, block the cheater’s account (which he can easily replace and thus reappear under a different name), and, most importantly, improve the system that was so easily thwarted.

With all of that said, it’s hard to believe that this person openly admitted his cheat as he was obviously taking other people’s lanterns and seemed to know it. The audacity of “I didn’t want to wait in line, so I cheated” is incredible. Why would anyone be so selfish?

I sincerely hope that this person’s LT1’s get crushed flat during transit, if he gets them at all. There will always be a few worthless a**holes in any group this large. In ancient times, folks like this probably wound up as lion bait .

And to those who are worried that the Group Buy is threatened or ruined, please take a deep breath. There are many people both here and at Sofirn who are committed to making this work, so grab your towel and…

Thanks again to everyone who is still working hard to pull this off! Your volunteer effort is appreciated!