Slate Q&A is Getting a Bad Rap

[danielt1263]

I have seen several comments about people not liking Chris Barman's Q&A video, and I think these comments are unfair.

Slate received thousands of questions; expecting Chris to give serious and considered answers to all of them, especially in a YouTube video, is incredibly unrealistic. Expecting Chris to cover your particular question is also unrealistic, especially those of us who had esoteric questions.

That said, most complaints have been about the tone of the video in general. It was light-hearted and, yea, dismissive of some of the sillier questions. However, if they had given even the first question the kind of detail required for a "serious" video, that would have easily taken all the time they had and then some, and would have taken a Veritasium type team quite a while to produce. It just wasn't in the cards and not the sort of thing they should devote resources to.

What hasn't been considered, they are answering the questions, and with as much detail as they can give without bugging the engineers too much, and understandably, without pinning themselves down to hard dates. If you haven't gotten an email yet with answers to your questions, look for it soon.

About the only thing I think they should be faulted for is not saying, in the video, that said emails would get sent. Maybe they were worried about getting pinned down on that.

In general, I think they should be lauded for avoiding direct answers rather than making promises that they don't know if they can keep... unlike some car companies.

 

[Sandman614]

Yeah here's a fun exercise for all the Maverick boys and the Q&A poopooers:
Go email Ford asking about the universal EV platform they've been hyping. Ask something really specific and niche like I'm sure a lot of people asked Slate. Then come back here and let me know if they give a very specific and detailed answer, or if you get a personal follow up email answer, or if you get a response at all.
Maybe then you'll appreciate what Slate did with the Q&A.

 

[ElectricShitbox]

I have somewhat mixed feelings on the Q&A. I like Chris, the CEO, and I like the way it was filmed, and I even like some of the playful non-answers to questions they're not ready to answer. But it seems like a lot of effort to go through when they're clearly not ready to answer new questions. Even the email responses that some are getting are very thin on real details.

So I think they should have held off on the Q&A until they were ready with some new info to release. It would be a perfect opportunity to mix in clarification on some old questions and start to release some technical info or specific plans. Instead it feels like a video update to the FAQ.

 

[Sandman614]

But it seems like a lot of effort to go through when they're clearly not ready to answer new questions.

That's one perspective. Or you can view it as they went through a lot of effort to show they are listening to the community and want to give the information they can, rather than hiding in the dark and going quiet from now until deliveries.

 

[ElectricShitbox]

That's one perspective. Or you can view it as they went through a lot of effort to show they are listening to the community and want to give the information they can, rather than hiding in the dark and going quiet from now until deliveries.

That's why I said "mixed feelings".
But if they hid in the dark and went quiet until deliveries, no reasonable person would or should give them their money. I'll throw $50 at a cool idea, but I'm not spending $25k+ without some real answers.

 

[danielt1263]

Something to think about from Slate's perspective...
They sent a mass email to some 150k+ people who ponied up $50 dollars asking for questions. They got 4000 questions. That's about 2.7% (although some people, like me, likely submitted multiple questions).

I don't know what that really means, but I think that gives them something their analytics people can chew on.

 

[danielt1263]

Yeah here's a fun exercise for all the Maverick boys and the Q&A poopooers:
Go email Ford asking about the universal EV platform they've been hyping. Ask something really specific and niche like I'm sure a lot of people asked Slate. Then come back here and let me know if they give a very specific and detailed answer, or if you get a personal follow up email answer, or if you get a response at all.
Maybe then you'll appreciate what Slate did with the Q&A.

I can't help but wonder; maybe somebody here knows. When Ford announced the Lightning and took pre-orders, did they ever send an email to those people explicitly asking for questions?

 

[cadblu]

“Slate Q&A is Getting a Bad Wrap”

Better that the Q&A gets a bad wrap than my truck. 🧐

 

[danielt1263]

“Slate Q&A is Getting a Bad Wrap”

Better that the Q&A gets a bad wrap than my truck. 🧐

True... I fixed it now so neither will get a bad wrap (hopefully).

 

[jmcarter]

I had mixed reactions as well, as true of any car company I had too lofty expectations. And yes, I’m one of the “Maverick boys” but at least my truck hasn’t offered to randomly become a brick like my ID.4 did. Sad fact is our trucks are now $7500 more expensive and I’m a little wary of the value proposition.

 

[Paul]

I have seen several comments about people not liking Chris Barman's Q&A video, and I think these comments are unfair.

Slate received thousands of questions; expecting Chris to give serious and considered answers to all of them, especially in a YouTube video, is incredibly unrealistic. Expecting Chris to cover your particular question is also unrealistic, especially those of us who had esoteric questions.

That said, most complaints have been about the tone of the video in general. It was light-hearted and, yea, dismissive of some of the sillier questions. However, if they had given even the first question the kind of detail required for a "serious" video, that would have easily taken all the time they had and then some, and would have taken a Veritasium type team quite a while to produce. It just wasn't in the cards and not the sort of thing they should devote resources to.

What hasn't been considered, they are answering the questions, and with as much detail as they can give without bugging the engineers too much, and understandably, without pinning themselves down to hard dates. If you haven't gotten an email yet with answers to your questions, look for it soon.

About the only thing I think they should be faulted for is not saying, in the video, that said emails would get sent. Maybe they were worried about getting pinned down on that.

In general, I think they should be lauded for avoiding direct answers rather than making promises that they don't know if they can keep... unlike some car companies.

I'd rather have vague answers than a man standing up there and giving hard dates that are never met and hyping just to push up a stock price. A new product launch is going to be fluid. I'd rather they get it right than have the worst year of recalls ever.

 

[ElectricShitbox]

I'd rather have vague answers than a man standing up there and giving hard dates that are never met and hyping just to push up a stock price. A new product launch is going to be fluid. I'd rather they get it right than have the worst year of recalls ever.

Yeah, the lack of typical "startup bullshit" from Slate is something that gives me a lot of hope for them.

 

[Letas]

Slate put themselves in a bit of a weird position, committing to radical transparency, but they aren't ready to be transparent yet.

Their marketing team needs to keep putting out content to keep interest high, but maybe they just weren't ready for a material Q+A. While they did give some good answers, they lost me right away at the first question. (Q: "How will it do in the cold?" A: "Our app will direct you to a charging station") Don't lead with such a non-answer.

 

[ScooterAsheville]

"Maverick boys". Wow, I've been objectified and categorized and cancelled. I guess that's part of the world we live in. You don't like what somebody is saying. No biggie. Label them and cancel them.

 

[sodamo]

Ok, maybe 1% disappointed we didn’t get detailed answers to our most burning questions, but 99% appreciative of the effort and what we did get. Kudos to Chris and team. In the past couple days I also got email replies to my questions. Nothing that would add to anything posted here though. Got the regional delivery answer same day someone else posted. and no better answer on topper option. I am confident better answers will come with time, as promised.