When I subscribed a year ago it took me a while to get the shirt also. At that time he did mention on the site that he was out of shirts and was mailing them out as soon as he got more.

I do agree that he probably should respond to emails quicker but he is pretty much a one-man shop. If you were really hurting after “donating” the $40 perhaps you shouldn’t be donating.

Either way, please stop obsessing about it every few posts in this comment section. It’s getting tiring and old.

Here’s what bothers me about this ripoff John is doing…. he cashed my $40 immediately. He goes fulltime - but what, he doesn’t care to fulfill his side of things?

He shouldn’t be advertising t-shirts if what he’s seeking is donations.

I’d gladly pay him for his writing. Even if I can take a less lazy route and simply read his website instead of being trendy and subscribe to his RSS feeds because I’m a paying member.

But I’m feeling cheated. And with each passing week… no reply, his silent and long-gone cashing of my money… along with his now weekly posting of yet another praise of his stuff….

Yeah. It’s starting to make me feel cheated. And like a schmuck. People, become a member with eyes wide open.

It did take awhile for my t-shirt to arrive. I’ve forwarded the original messages to John so hopefully he can address them personally.

It’s now been 10 weeks and no t-shirts. Not the limited one, not the cool one. I sent two emails - no response.

That’s okay. His writing makes me feel like I’m not a complete fool. After all, we speak from the same side of the table.

Still - I could hope that I’m not being totally ripped off of $40. Shame on him. Such great writing - such suckass membership.

“Apple should do this, Apple should do that…” And I try to explaine why it doesn’t work that way. This is when Grubers writing is so excellent, because he not only “gets it” but he does it way better than me and he manage to explaine it far beyond what I could come up with.

So back in July 2004 when Gruber annonced the membership drive for the first time I immediately signed up for a t-shirt and membership. But not only did I get a t-shirt, I also won in his membership contest! And I won my first pick: a license for BBEdit! I really got more than I paid for.

One thing that Gruber wrote recently was one of those “Aha!” experience for me. He explained that he thought Steve Jobs so-called “RDF” really was just Jobs honnest enthusiasm shining and how Jobs actually is a bad liar:

“Jobs’s extraordinary marketing savvy and famed reality distortion field leave some people with the impression that he’s a talented fabulist. That’s wrong, though — Jobs, in my opinion, is a terrible liar and a poor actor. When he’s able to convince people of things that aren’t true, or that are exaggerations of the truth, it’s because he believes what’s he saying. The reality distortion field isn’t something he projects willfully; it’s an extension of his own certainty.”

And when I read it I thought “why haven’t I thought of it like this before, because he’s absolutely right”. Just one of many such moments.