Complain before you get the grade?

I recently completed a class.  Well, I say recently, it was early August.  I still don't have the grade for the class.  Neither do my classmates.  There is alot of grumbling about this situation among the class.  So where is the game theory in this?

Well, the game theory is this.  Our choices are to complain, or not to complain directly to the professor.  If we complain, we can have a result of a negative impact on the grade or no impact on our grade.  If we don't complain, then presumably there is no impact on the grade (at least from the complaining).

If we trust that the professor will honor the complaint as that of concerned students and that we trust there is no impact on the grade, then we would have that conversation.  If there is even the most remote chance of a negative impact on the grade, we shouldn't complain.

There is only 1 negative outcome, and it occurs as the result of only 1 action.  So, we avoide that action.  All this presumes that there is no other price paid.

We should perhaps question if we are letting our principles take a back seat to a perceived threat to our grades.  If we are, then we are paying some price for remaining quiet.

Now, to set the record straight.  I have no reason to believe that the professor would negatively impact a student's grade for approaching them.  This person seems by both reputation and by personal experience to have the highest of integrity.  It is still interesting to see.  The question really seems to be, what level of cost, however tabulated, will cause a student to approach the professor.