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—new_ares_digital [2019/01/31 18:30] – [Additional Work] updates w/Indiegogo patches manufactured. Carlos Pedraza
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 +{{::ares2-0.jpg|}}
 +{{TOC}}
 +====== Axanar Launches New Fulfillment Platform ======
 +<wrap lo>//Main article: [[perks|What's Up With the Perks?]]// \\
 +//See also: [[axanar_finances|In Wake of Perk Problems, Peters Claims Axanar is Broke]] and [[terry_mcintosh|Axanar Tech Chief Resigns]]//</wrap>
  
 +<WRAP>
 +//**__ __**// <wrap lo>**By [[user>cpedraza|Carlos Pedraza]]**</wrap>
 +</WRAP>
 +
 +Axanar fulfillment director Diana Kingsbury informed donors that it has launched a software platform it hopes will address its inability to maintain a database enabling the production to ship long-delayed perks to contributors.
 +
 +[{{ ::watters-dianaprime.jpg|**TEAMWORK** Axanar's new chief technologist, Bill Watters (left), and its fulfillment director, Diana Kingsbury. <wrap lo>(//Photo: Axanar website//)</wrap>}}]
 +
 +===== Ares Digital 2.0 =====
 +
 +In a post September 9, 2016, on the Axanar Donors Facebook page, Kingsbury announced:
 +
 +> Everyone here at Axanar Productions is excited to announce the rollout of our all-new digital delivery and account management system, Ares Digital 2.0. Rebuilt from the ground up, Ares Digital 2.0 is a powerful platform, capable of providing you, our donors, with the digital perks your donation level(s) entitle you to. In addition, each donor's information will be stored there … from your contact email and shipping address to detailed listings of donations made and the associated perks which accompany the donation levels.((Diana Kingsbury post to private Facebook group, Axanar Donors, 9/9/16.))
 +
 +The resignation in May 2016 by chief technologist, [[terry_mcintosh|Terry McIntosh]], amid growing donor complaints of its delivery capabilities, left Axanar's perk fulfillment in a state of disarray. Its new technology chief, Bill Watters, stepped in to build a new system to deal with old and error-ridden donor data getting in the way of shipping perks that didn't depend on completion of the long-delayed //Axanar// feature film.
 +
 +==== Dispute Over Ares Digital Name ====
 +
 +On Facebook, [[face>groups/CBSvsAxanar/permalink/1302209003123800/?comment_id=1302412453103455&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R7%22%7D|McIntosh claimed]] he owns the Ares Digital name for the system he designed for Axanar (not as a work for hire), and is considering legal action for its continued use by Axanar Productions: "Attorney is already prepping the lawsuit," McIntosh posted.
 +
 +He said he instructed his attorney, "Sic 'em." In reply, McIntosh added his attorney questioned the intelligence behind Axanar's continued use of the Ares Digital name.(([[face>groups/CBSvsAxanar/permalink/1302209003123800/?comment_id=1302412453103455&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R7%22%7D|Terry Mcintosh post to CBS/Paramount vs. Axanar Facebook page]], 9/9/16.))
 +
 +==== Unlicensed Software? ====
 +
 +McIntosh went on to allege Axanar was using an unlicensed template for the design of its new Ares Digital platform:
 +
 +> Just received an email from the creator of the retail HTML theme that I purchased and modified for Ares Digital's use and the author and his firm have confirmed that they (Axanar, [CTO] Bill [Watters], Alec, or anyone remotely close) did not purchase a license to use it... so there's ANOTHER copyright infringement at play. They say that they'll pursue their interests.(([[face>groups/CBSvsAxanar/permalink/1302209003123800/?comment_id=1302412453103455&reply_comment_id=1302874749723892&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R9%22%7D|Terry McIntosh post to CBS/Paramount vs. Axanar Facebook page]], 9/10/16.))
 +
 +These new developments were just the latest events in the debacle Ares Digital is turning out to be for Axanar.
 +
 +{{section>ares digital update#perk problems}}
 +
 +===== Letter to Donors =====
 +
 +Kingsbury urged donors to set up new passwords and correct old or incorrect data in their profiles. Axanar has an estimated 10,000 donor accounts in its system. Delivery of the [[perks#what_can_t_be_shipped|few available perks]] can't begin for donors until they have updated their shipping information.
 +
 +[{{ ::donor-station.jpg?475|**DONOR STATION?** Without explanation, Axanar began referring to its Donor Store as a Donor Station, where "other … merchandise [is] available for additional donations." However, the word 'store' still appears throughout the 'station.'}}]
 +
 +==== 'Production and Operations' ====
 +
 +In her post on the Axanar Fulfillment Blog, Kingsbury also noted that "100% of your donations always goes towards Axanar’s production and operations" — an apparent change from earlier statements that donations went to production of //Axanar//.
 +
 +<wrap lo>//See also: [[perks#Revenue Clues]]//</wrap>
 +
 +The statement makes pointed the fact that Axanar producer [[Alec Peters]] has for months [[perks#undisclosed_proceeds|refused to account]] for revenue on top of its crowdfunding that it received through the production's merchandise sales, direct donations, and DVD and Blu-ray sales. Estimates pegged revenues in the low six figures.
 +
 +===== Additional Work =====
 +
 +Kingsbury also noted that while the platform has launched it is by no means complete:
 +
 +> Ares Digital 2.0 will still have a few things needing to be added to it with regards to digital perks and other items. So if there are any issues you encounter, give it a little bit of time, then let us know.
 +
 +[{{ :proto-patches.jpg?300|**LONG-DELAYED** patches for Indiegogo donors exist only as prototypes sold through Axanar's Donor Store/Station.}}]
 +
 +Finally, she reassured donors that once they complete their user profiles, "the patches from the Axanar Kickstarter will start shipping!"(([[http://www.axanarproductions.com/drum-roll-please/|"Drum Roll, Please," post by Diana Kingsbury, Axanar Fulfillment Blog]], 9/9/16.)) In June, Kingsbury had [[http://www.axanarproductions.com/mid-summer-update/|advised Indiegogo donors]] that none of the perks from the 2015 [[axanar_indiegogo_details|Indiegogo campaign]] had been manufactured, so none of those donors were likely to see their perks for some time, if ever.
 +
 +<wrap em>UPDATE</wrap> On January 29, 2019, [[production update 3|Peters announced]] the Indiegogo patches had finally been manufactured and would soon be shipped to waiting donors.
 +===== Few Perks =====
 +
 +Even with what donors might consider good news that some of their perks (chiefly patches) might ship in the near future, Axanar's continued production delays, including that from the [[copyright infringement]] [[lawsuit]] brought by CBS and Paramount, [[perks#what_can_t_be_shipped|cast doubt on fulfillment]] of the vast majority of its promised perks, since most depend on the production of the feature film. {{:axamonitor-ico.gif?nolink|}}
 +
 +----
 +**Keywords** {{tag>commercial crowdfunding merchandise}}