That is correct - there's however also a lot of commits regarding build system which indicate there is genuine work going into this in order to get the project up to date and workable - but it's definitely thin (not a full-time developer). The only changes to blockchain logic (wallet and miner) also seem - as you correctly point out - only related to donations. However, I don't see that it would be necessary for there to be more changes to this part of the code in order to rule out a scam. To me it doesn't look like scam - rather like a developer having taken over a project of someone else and stuff turns out to be a bit more tricky and take longer than expected (I agree that he probably also over-exaggerated in terms of how much time he invested into this code so far, but that also doesn't make it a scam automatically).


Interesting, why not just share it?



If you do have this kind of insight, I guess you could do the community a great favour by sharing your knowledge and being more specific in terms of what has been done (technically) off-repository and how.
I do have to agree with gunner833 and preshpr1nce that those voices defending the project only resort to claiming that it is a good project and on track and that they have insider knowledge supporting this, but they don't share any supporting information and fail to specifically address the valid concerns that are presented quite clearly.

I want to give Kudos to OP for showing some actual evidence for his claims (something that the "this-is-not-a-scam" voices fail to do!). It's rational, well written and credible!

HOWEVER: After taking a look at the repository myself, I do find the OP's claims to be exaggerated (while not baseless). I wrote down my more detailed analysis here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3065979.0

Hello!

First of all, full disclosure:
- This is my very first post here
- I did buy a small amount of XSPEC (800) right before writing this post (that doesn't mean I have massive confidence in it though, read below why I did)
- I'm new to cryptocurrencies, currently seeking to invest around 30k in different currencies
- While I'm new to cryptocurrencies, I am an experienced software developer, owning a software consultancy and having worked as contractor for large corporations such as Google, so I can assess code and repository quality

I took a look at XSPEC because I saw in my coin stats app that it had dropped in value significantly over the last 24 hours and I wanted to take a closer look to see if the market may have been just overreacting to some bad news, here's what I found:

There are currently (at least I suppose) two convincing threads on bitcointalk that hint at something being off with XSPEC.

1st: Why I chose not to invest in SpectreCoin (XSPEC) now
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2839833.0

2nd: PROOF that XSPEC is a SCAM
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3055715.0

The first thread was started by gunner833 giving plausible evidence (apparently also confirmed and responded to by lead developer JBG) that there were some false claims regarding experience, credibility and capacity of the developer(s). Personally I found the pro-scam arguments and voices more rational and convincing with the exception of post #48 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2839833.msg30868099#msg30868099) that contains a copy of JBGs response to the OP's allegations and JBGs response sounds honest and credible.
What surprises me is that everyone seems to make a secret of the real name of JBG, which can be found through a quick web search for his github username, which yields this 6 months old thread https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/6weajl/why_i_have_decided_to_invest_in_spectrecoin_xspec/ (ironically bearing the same title as gunner833s thread, just negated) where he is named as Jansen Garrick. I don't think he should and has reason to hide.

The second thread provides even stronger evidence that this project is just a scam with nothing real behind it and at first I just wanted to give the OP preshpr1nce kudos for being one of the few voices to produce actual evidence for his arguments (while everyone denying that XSPEC is a scam is just making empty claims that everything is alright as well as rude FUD-accusations without producing any proof or linking to references). However, before doing so I took a look at the github repository (https://github.com/XSPECOfficial/spectre) myself and I have to say now that while it's true that the commit volume is too thin for a full-time developer, it's nowhere as bad as preshpr1nce's thread makes it seem.

Even if you're not a technical person, you can look through the commit history here: https://github.com/XSPECOfficial/spectre/commits/master which shows that at least between december and january the repository was quite active (if you click on a commit, red means code removed and green means code added). It's true that it's a lot of library updating, but it's not like the developer only changed a handful of simple codelines, which preshpr1nce's thread makes it sound like.

The negative aspects for me when looking at the git repository are two things:
1. The developer is not good at commenting his commits, and even though the codebase was forked, he should also get better at commenting the code changes he makes
2. There were no commits after January 30st

However, the activity shown in the repository between December and January seems to show genuine efforts by a busy developer and the claims by preshpr1nce's post, while not being inherently wrong, seem to be largely exaggerated.

This is why I bought a few XSPEC now, but I wouldn't risk a lot on it. While I don't have massive confidence in the project (to me it seems the lead developer Jansen Garrick is a great programmer but probably not very experienced in leading projects and getting them to the finish line), I don't sense any fraudulent intentions after taking a look at the code repository and commit history, so I bought a small amount.

I hope that is useful to someone.