Annoying... to some. Troll, no.

I do understand the acoustic benefits, but the company's lack of updates and wildly-incorrect release dates were extremely frustrating to me. And the response to that, here, was generally in the "White Knight" form of "You just don't understand", rather than of "Hmm... yeah, that is pretty bad, what's with that?" or similar.
Owl is correct; I was using the term "club" in the same way I used "White Knight" a few sentences ago... I'm not aware of any blessings and bestowing of swords. My point was this...

Read the entire thread, along with the 976 Anticipation Thread. All of each. The statement in January was "Spring 2017", which initially people (perhaps optimistically) expected to be in middish-Spring.

It's now Autumn. Summer is gone. And there hasn't been much status or updates. Yes, a dribble of perhaps two messages. But nearly nothing. Meanwhile, not Outlaw's problem, but for example, I actually moved in March. So for me "Spring" was a relevant timeframe; waiting through June knowing an end is in-sight is radically different than, more than six months later, still having vague, but unmet, promises.

Now, back to the diehard-loyalist (for which internet shorthand is "fanboy", but to sound more respectful I'll avoid the diminutive) responses, versus, for example, a disappointed and therefore annoyed consumer who was actually waiting to spend the money...
The dominant one was, "This happens all the time in the electronics industry."
I've spent most of my life in that and related fields. No, no it does't. But here's a similar example.
Anova is the dominant start-up sous vide company. Sansaire actually sort-of innovated first, but Anova was almost immediately right there, and kept improving while Sansaire didn't.
In June 2017, Anova started pre-selling the Nano cooker... much like a self-run kickstarter. Pre-orders were expected to begin shipping in October. Last week I received an email that it wouldn't ship this year, with three options, including one of switching to their current flagship model, which is a $30 discount from what Amazon charges and about $60 off their MSRP.
There is a difference, of course. Anova took money. But there's another difference... they did this well before October started. Outlaw updated us well after Spring ended. And then hasn't kept us updated.

If Outlaw really has no idea whether the 976 will ship in a week or in three months, it's hard to put faith in them. If, in May, they had no idea that they were at least two months from shipping, well, ditto. Regular updates wouldn't kill them, and might have kept the excitement alive, but more importantly, I could have time-budgeted and, for example, purchased a cheap throw-away Denon receiver for a few months while waiting. As it is, anyone who has faith that the 976 will ship in, say, six weeks either has inside information or perhaps should speak to a professional... in a non-electronics field.

Should you wait? Hey, I still believe the product will be amazing. If you don't need it, but merely want it, sure. And since you've mentioned repeatedly that you won't buy it, regardless, until near Christmas-time, you already are committed to waiting at least another several months. Heck yeah, get the best unit out then, and if the 976 is out, I'm sure it will spank the Emotiva.

You also, BTW, said six weeks ago... " I believe it will be out very soon." The question is... do you still believe that?