AskHN: Is lack of status updates for plans announced by firms a common problem?

[dsushant]

Recently (July 2012), I encountered a problem while researching web services providing POI data sets. I came across some companies which had announced plans to provide access to their data. In one instance, there was a two year old announcement. However, there was no further update regarding the status of these plans. As a result, I had to correspond with the company to seek updates regarding their announcements. Obviously, this led to a series of email's being exchanged, along with expected delays in communication. I found this process to be quite redundant & unpredictable.

Now, imagine others in this situation having to follow a similar protracted process to find the same information. Is there a way to optimize this process, thereby saving time & effort for both the company & the prospective customer? After analyzing the situation, a collaborative solution seemed to be the best option.

I'm not sure how many people face this situation. While I have set up a wiki (http://statusnow.wikispot.org), its utility is completely dependent upon updates about specific organizations based on similar personal experiences of other people. Do you think this is a problem worth solving?