Okay, here's my (oops!) rather long-winded take on it...
I have been pretty shocked (and disappointed) by the culture being generated on the REDUser forum--though I wouldn't necessarily say it's any one person's (or company's) doing. Hard to say, given the complexity of communication dynamics.
Certainly many REDUser posters are extremely protective of Mr. Jannard and waste no opportunity to lavish incredibly personal, gracious praise on his every pronouncement--but they're also people who've been waiting a long time for an amazing tool and are, perhaps understandably, excited about it, even if over-invested in the idea that it will put the grail of good filmmaking in their hands.
The quality of responses is frequently knee-jerk, reactionary and grossly defensive. I'm in the unfortunate position of not really having much to offer that forum (or this one) right now as I transition from a vfx background and more recently still photography and fine art, so mostly I just scan RedUser for interesting info as I wait for my order to come up....
However, one time I did post that I was surprised at the cost of peripheral accessories like handles, base plates, etc. Apparently I didn't bow deeply enough or kiss *ss with quite enough suction, because Jim Jannard and Jarred Land, among others, were outraged that such a question should even be broached, were clearly personally offended and stated that since I had "obviously" never overseen the design and machining of metal parts I had nothing to say on the topic. (As if this is necessary to judge that the pricing of such accessories is where the "democratization of film" breaks down.)
Land even made what was either a not-so-veiled physical threat or just particularly unfortunate frat-boy parlance in threatening to open up a "can of whoopass" on me. Such bullying responses on REDUser are, unfortunately, not uncommon. Maybe I didn't make my initial post as delicately as I should have, but the firestorm it elicited was ridiculously disproportionate. I abandoned the thread until I went back a few weeks later, curious to see how bad it had gotten. Yep! Page after page of excoriating remarks and even more bullying from Jannard and Land...
I must say, however, that while my remarks obviously deeply offended them, the posts were never in any way edited or censored. I may not like their tone or their personality at all, but the RED team has given me little reason to question their integrity. And there are many, far more inflammatory remarks left on those forums by very cynical people, indeed, which remain unaltered and uncensored, for what it's worth.
I tend to edit and re-edit posts before submitting them so it didn't help that some of my posts on the thread showed up way out of sequence, making it look as if I were disputing factual statements, rather than raising questions, but nevertheless I found the response set of these people to be so hopelessly defensive, quick to judge and childishly escalatory that i seriously considered canceling my reservation. You see, I want the girl--just not her dysfunctional family.
As it is now, I'm still looking forward to getting the camera and working with it, but I am not at all enthusiastic about the culture surrounding it, which is unfortunate. I did, at least, learn that an unprecedented level of politesse will be necessary to elicit useful responses on that forum...
I think the camera will be a good tool and I hope it will help me transition into a new career, but I see the culture surrounding the camera--at least SO FAR--as a negative. It has also reduced my enthusiasm and respect for the company and the people behind it.
