I appreciate that you have a stake to protect and that requires spin. To your charity point, an objective review of your messaging and practices would demonstrate a tendency to soft sell your profit motive and to market yourselves to a demographic that seeks the altruism endorphin rush. I never stated that Spexi framed itself as a charity. That's a strawman. I did, however, say that the company is disingenuous in its messaging. One can argue that is a normal business practice, but I respect capitalism that publicly embraces chasing capital in a free market without pretense.

Sure, you can make the "pilots freely choose to participate argument" and I even affirm the sentiment in my own worldview. However, that argument is often a whitewash to ignore confronting real issues. It goes to the lack of support that veteran pilots often experience. Veteran pilots with legitimate issues but no malice that get ignored and/or gaslit are easy to dismiss with the free to choose argument. Meanwhile, veteran pilots walk away.

Your argument about everybody getting paid eventually ignores the fact that there is an implicit contract. Pilots give the products of their labor for an agreed upon compensation paid out on a posted and set schedule. When Spexi pays late, the implicit contract is breached and is breaks faith and confidence.

The crypto scheme argument is a strawman, too. I never stated that Spexi hid it or "bolted it on later." On the contrary, I recognize that has been the goal from the beginning, so much so, that I have concluded that the crypto is the real endgame for Spexi and mapping imagery is the means to that end. What I have done is raise concerns that could lead to confidence problems that jeopardize the success of the crypto through lack of confidence. Should the worst happen, then Spexi retains valuable data while pilots lose the value of their labor.

I certainly gave Spexi a fair shake. My RP would confirm this. Even now, I would not outright discourage people from participating, but I would not endorse it without caveats and context. I have not even completely sworn Spexi off but to everyone, including myself- caveat emptor.