2021 BF Forum knife vs. Facebook & Flippers

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kamagong said:
Methinks next year's forum knife, if there is one, needs a volunteer background checker/vetter.

I also think you need to change your forum handle, Quiet. You're anything but. 🤣
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Oh! Almost forgot. Any of the old guard Porch members who didn't get a BF Knife this year, remember this. A dirtbag YouBoob "celebrity" got one, and you didn't. Oh, and he got one AFTER he claimed he was going to reach out to Barry and cancel his order after I and others gave him a bunch of flack for having placed an order in the first place. Remember, rules don't matter when you have a YouRube channel. His order was placed at a time he didn't meet the stated requirements, and which would have been caught and rejected if the dealer had done any vetting whatsoever. Proof:

Attention - Q and A re: the BF Spring Street Barlow!! Read carefully!

@Quiet Thanks for bringing this up! BF member since 2009, lurker since well before that, read the traditional forum multiple times every day. Not a member of Facebook, Instagram or anywhere else, and never sell on ebay. Not a joiner, follower, photographer or whiner, so rarely do I feel I have...
bladeforums.com bladeforums.com

I wonder if the order was cancelled? No, no it wasn't:

55NNIeP.jpg


So yeah, it is what it is.
 
kamagong said:
The dealer didn't get paid for this. He was the dealer we used because no one else volunteered.
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Actually… he did get a small commission, by his own admission. I wouldn’t begrudge him that, but to be clear there was some compensation.
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/lets-talk-gec.1081593/post-20568081

I’d be willing to pay someone/people a fair wage to see that the job gets done, and in a proper way. The forum knife is a really cool thing, and we’re too big of a PITA for anyone but the most durable and passionate volunteers.

Edit: looks like the link didn’t work.
Trying again.
 
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kamagong said:
The dealer didn't get paid for this. He was the dealer we used because no one else volunteered. Paying dealer or not, no one else wanted to take on the work.
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You clearly missed the point in that comment.

Edit: and like was said above, and I've said elsewhere, why not pay a proper dealer to handle this thing the right way? Porch members too cheap to throw in an extra $20 per knife? I mean, you get what you pay for. And looks to me like you are only paying for a GEC knife. Because of this fiasco, next year you'll only be able to pay for a GEC knife too, just with no BFC mark because this shit is done.
 
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EngrSorenson said:
Actually… he did get a small commission, by his own admission. I wouldn’t begrudge him that, but to be clear there was some compensation.
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/lets-talk-gec.1081593/post-20568081

I’d be willing to pay someone/people a fair wage to see that the job gets done, and in a proper way. The forum knife is a really cool thing, and we’re too big of a PITA for anyone but the most durable and passionate volunteers.

Edit: looks like the link didn’t work.
Trying again.
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That's even more embarrassing. Members paid for this mess and even had barry throw in a side of guilt trip. What a joke.
 
craytab said:
And looks to me like you are only paying for a GEC knife. Because of this fiasco, next year you'll only be able to pay for a GEC knife too, just with no BFC mark because this shit is done.
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Don't ascribe motivations to others. I've been buying the forum knife since 2010, before GEC got involved. I don't get each one because I don't want each one. Why grab a knife I don't care for if it would be better served going to somebody who'd appreciate it more?
 
craytab said:
That's even more embarrassing. Members paid for this mess and even had barry throw in a side of guilt trip. What a joke.
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Right? "Buy from the little guy", get the smurf outta here. Now, I have to ask, are we talking about the Gunstock Jack's webstore, or are we talking about Barry's eBay store where he sells knives at a huge markup? Which one are we talking about here, so I know how much guilt to feel?
 
kamagong said:
Don't ascribe motivations to others. I've been buying the forum knife since 2010, before GEC got involved. I don't get each one because I don't want each one. Why grab a knife I don't care for if it would be better served going to somebody who'd appreciate it more?
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Don't miss the point so much.
 
I have some ideas for improvements, if there's a next time:

0) decide once and for all if it's a traditional "forum knife" or a "traditional forum" knife and crack down on all of the debating. (Spark, Mods)
1) there needs to be a FAQ stickied and closed that gets updated as events transpire. Questions should be referred to that thread. (1 Volunteer)
2) If there are rules for eligibility they should be well established before the forum knife is announced. (Spark, Mods)
3) The initial interest thread should start a pre-screening process, such that we know 95% of eligibility prior to the ordering. (1-2 Volunteers)
4) The order thread should be open for 14 days, which should be more than enough time for everyone but those in extenuating circumstances. (1 Volunteer)
5) Ordering should be offered to the longest standing Forum Members first; time is at least one thing that's hard to fake. (1 Volunteer)

Add one Distributor and one person to spear head the project and you have 7 people working together to manage this effort. My view of the world says that the volunteers each get a forum knife covered for their efforts and anyone distributing (the grunt work) can make a fair commission.

I think with the above changes we could have a better system.
 
EngrSorenson said:
I have some ideas for improvements, if there's a next time:

0) decide once and for all if it's a traditional "forum knife" or a "traditional forum" knife and crack down on all of the debating. (Spark, Mods)
1) there needs to be a FAQ stickied and closed that gets updated as events transpire. Questions should be referred to that thread. (1 Volunteer)
2) If there are rules for eligibility they should be well established before the forum knife is announced. (Spark, Mods)
3) The initial interest thread should start a pre-screening process, such that we know 95% of eligibility prior to the ordering. (1-2 Volunteers)
4) The order thread should be open for 14 days, which should be more than enough time for everyone but those in extenuating circumstances. (1 Volunteer)
5) Ordering should be offered to the longest standing Forum Members first; time is at least one thing that's hard to fake. (1 Volunteer)

Add one Distributor and one person to spear head the project and you have 7 people working together to manage this effort. My view of the world says that the volunteers each get a forum knife covered for their efforts and anyone distributing (the grunt work) can make a fair commission.

I think with the above changes we could have a better system.
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Here , here . ^
 
Quiet said:
Right? "Buy from the little guy", get the smurf outta here. Now, I have to ask, are we talking about the Gunstock Jack's webstore, or are we talking about Barry's eBay store where he sells knives at a huge markup? Which one are we talking about here, so I know how much guilt to feel?
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Umm, not just the eBay store. His site itself has massive markups over other dealers to “keep the flippers away”… I try to wrap my head around that occasionally and pass out
 
EngrSorenson said:
I have some ideas for improvements, if there's a next time:

0) decide once and for all if it's a traditional "forum knife" or a "traditional forum" knife and crack down on all of the debating. (Spark, Mods)
1) there needs to be a FAQ stickied and closed that gets updated as events transpire. Questions should be referred to that thread. (1 Volunteer)
2) If there are rules for eligibility they should be well established before the forum knife is announced. (Spark, Mods)
3) The initial interest thread should start a pre-screening process, such that we know 95% of eligibility prior to the ordering. (1-2 Volunteers)
4) The order thread should be open for 14 days, which should be more than enough time for everyone but those in extenuating circumstances. (1 Volunteer)
5) Ordering should be offered to the longest standing Forum Members first; time is at least one thing that's hard to fake. (1 Volunteer)

Add one Distributor and one person to spear head the project and you have 7 people working together to manage this effort. My view of the world says that the volunteers each get a forum knife covered for their efforts and anyone distributing (the grunt work) can make a fair commission.

I think with the above changes we could have a better system.
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The 2018 process run by Stephen and the mods was pretty similar to this. It was a joy to be a part of, and a fairly well-oiled machine from all appearances as a participant. I’m sure there was a lot of work done by the aforementioned chaperones, but it made it smooth at the end.

This year was a fiasco, because those in charge did not want help, and did not share information, plan, or even respond to real concerns voiced along the way. There was absolutely no process in place, to the point that I’d be willing to bet only one person actually knows how many knives were/will actually be distributed. Add to that the knife was a GEC and it was a recipe for chaos.

It really shouldn’t be that complicated, but somebody without a vested interest (mods) has to be involved in the process.
 
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akaMatt said:
The 2018 process run by Stephen and the mods was pretty similar to this. It was a joy to be a part of, and a fairly well-oiled machine from all appearances as a participant. I’m sure there was a lot of work done by the aforementioned chaperones, but it made it smooth at the end.
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I agree 100% with this - and to be fair, Mike's efforts in the following years were quite productive and pleasant as well, despite some of the heat brought on by the 2019 GEC. If our forum knife process cannot be like it was in 2018, then I have a hard time justifying any future forum knife endeavors.
 
Quiet said:
I did indeed miss it, and so if that member takes you up on it, good for them, and good on you for moving the knife to someone who understands the meaning behind it other than "Just another collectible GEC knife". Good deal. :thumbsup:
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I really needed time to think on this for a while. You have no idea what this knife means to me personally, even though I wrote it's just a knife. I have multiple BF knives and they are cherished by me because they are a reminder of the friends I had made here and the learning experience I have had reading this forum and gaining perspective from a world wide body of participants. But in the end, to me , personally, things are just things. I mean no disrespect to you, and frankly, I do admire your tenacity in policing the threads sorting out folks who were trying to just slide in. Not my cup of tea but yes, someone has to do it. And the fact that your efforts weren't welcomed seems a bit off to me. Hopefully with time things will cool down and the perceived stings and barbs from this years fiasco will heal.
 
Quiet said:
That's because those of us who ordered in a timely fashion when the code dropped were penalized because taking a stack of printed paper/stickers and TURNING! IT! OVER! is apparently super hard, and the guy who did it just didn't have time to really do any of that. Super busy and all, you know how it goes. So, all of the people who ordered last (like most of the padded postcount FB gang) ended up getting their knives first. This abject laziness is a thing that the dealer handling the sales openly admitted to in the thread, incidentally.
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I'm not sure this is strictly correct.

I did not order until well after 2 PM EDT on the day in question, and my knife has not yet been shipped. FWIW, I never got an order confirmation email, either. But I got a PP receipt and a notification that a shipping label was created a little over two weeks ago.
 
sitflyer said:
And the fact that your efforts weren't welcomed seems a bit off to me.
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Well with all due respect to Quiet Quiet , his methods have the subtlety of Yosemite Sam. I was getting such a kick out of it I couldn’t stop reading the behind-the-scenes in W&C… but I could imagine from a Moderator perspective there might be some desire to tone that down when the fires are raging.

Trespassers beware- Quiet isn’t as much a “person”, persay… more like something that is unleashed upon you, like a natural disaster.
 
EngrSorenson said:
Well with all due respect to Quiet Quiet , his methods have the subtlety of Yosemite Sam. I was getting such a kick out of it I couldn’t stop reading the behind-the-scenes in W&C… but I could imagine from a Moderator perspective there might be some desire to tone that down when the fires are raging.

Trespassers beware- Quiet isn’t as much a “person”, persay… more like something that is unleashed upon you, like a natural disaster.
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You have the subtlety of a sledge hammer in your prose.
 
EngrSorenson said:
Well with all due respect to Quiet Quiet , his methods have the subtlety of Yosemite Sam. I was getting such a kick out of it I couldn’t stop reading the behind-the-scenes in W&C… but I could imagine from a Moderator perspective there might be some desire to tone that down when the fires are raging.

Trespassers beware- Quiet isn’t as much a “person”, persay… more like something that is unleashed upon you, like a natural disaster.
Click to expand...
 
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