Here is my review of working with @copperpanther ; I will point out I wasn't incentivized in any way to produce this.
I tried to hire him to work on a special project for me. He was willing, I sent advance payment (nothing big, two figures), he proceeded but we discovered problems along the way -- absolutely in no way his fault, just, the lay of the land. This is why you even do special projects in the first place, to discover by doing what you can't discover by just thinking about it theoretically, because in theory there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice...
So we pivoted into a different angle (also nothing huge to start). We spent days working together to hammer out the details, during which process
@copperpanther was more than helpful -- looking back through my inbox there's like 70 emails back and forth, almost enough copy to start a PBN site lool.
Anyway, in the end and in spite of our many attempts we couldn't get this to go ; and he has offered to refund this second (and larger) upfront payment. I did not ask for it, he offered himself.
I am going to accept the refund, but I also must point out this indeed is, in my experience, a seller who truly goes above and beyond, not one extra inning but one extra mile.
I will definitely hit him up again in the future if I need anything in his line.