A few thoughts

[Lomic]

OK, it's been quite a little while since I have been at this forum and apparently I have misses a lot, especially all the hubbub between Spark and TAD.

Probably not my place here, but I would like to express a few thoughts, that hopefully, will not get me banned (again) from BFC.

First off, I don't know whether or not Josh meant to imply and Naziism towards Kevin in his post, but I can see how it would be taken that way. But I also know that I have myself accused people of being Nazi-like when they act very controlling, and I do it in Jest.

I think the implication if any was of ruling with an iron fist, not of putting people in death camps.

I myself and half German, have complete remorse about anything that happened in WWII, and to this day won't buy a German car, even though half the Jews I know drive BMW's or Mercedes, go figure.

But if someone accuses me of acting like a Nazi or calls me a dirty Kraut, I'm not going to fly off the handle on them either.

I know that these forums are privately owned and operated, and I think they are a great place for people to get information and expres their views. HOWEVER, even though the moderators have the power to ban people and lock down threads, I think the more that power is utilized, the less people become expressive of the views they feel they can post for feer of being banned.

I once was banned from this forum (and I probably deserved it)
I had spoken a few choice words about KS in regards to bad dealing with 1SKS. My bad dealings had been in the Turber Days (whom I still refer to affectionaly as Turder) and apparently it was Mike who had lied to and swindled me. As Kevin now runs the show, apparently things are different.

Well, Kevin and I exchanged a few choice words over e-mail after I had been banned, and I was prepared to write off BF.C for good, but somehow felt compelled to call Kevin and tell him on the phone where I was coming from.

Well, we worked things out and by the end of the call, he was re-instating me and had given me a gold membership as a way to apologize for the bad service I had previously recieve in the Turder days.

The point here is this. I do think Kevin should take things said here a little more lightly, but it is his forum, not mine. I think if he did let thing go though, he might ENJOY his own forums more, and isn't that what we all collect knives for anyway?

Now I don't know if KS, PM and JL will ever be able to work thing out on a personal level, but I do hope that TAD will be allowed to come back to the forums, as I believe the have a lot to offer to the knife community. I won't try to cover up the fact that I have met both PM and JL, have bought many a knife from them, and consider them friends in the knife industry. They have always been good to me as a customer and have provided me with nothing short of great service.

I think permanently removing them from a place so actively visited by collectors of fine knives would be doing a disservice to those people who are just starting to collect, and are trying to find some new cool stuff.

I started as a collector of MicroTechs, but have had my horizons expanded to other knives such as Strider, Snody, and Harris to name a few, all due to TAD. There are a lot of Internet knife dealers out there, but few with the consistent flow of new and exciting high-end products that TAD has to offer. They really fill a whole different niche.

i conclusion (yes, I rant, so sue me) Anything Josh may have said honestly isn't half as bad as the crap I said here months ago, and here I am again. Personal may be personal, but business is business, and I think any dealer willing to pay the dealer fee should be allowed to post here. Anything innapropriate can easily be edited or locked down without the need for banning.

Sincerely,

MM

 

[Lomic]

Well, since this is the strider forum, I feel compelled to mention some good stuff about strider following my tirade above.

Duane: That D-9 Custom in Desert Tan you did is probably the most bad-ass looking fixed blade tactical knife I've ever seen. AWESOME grind lines. I wish I had had the cash to snatch it up when it came out. Hope you do more like it.

PS - Desert tan is definately my fav color scheme you guys do.

 

[Duane Dwyer]

Thanks, I hope to do many more of these and plan on keeping this blade around a while.
Duane Dwyer

 

[KnifeBomber]

Just make sure that I didn't do the kydex on the knife you get.

 

[Spark]

Lomic - like I said, most of this could have been cleared up with a simple phone call. I made the effort by calling TAD at 0900 their time, and left a message. I got no response back from them until they posted here 2 days later. That speaks for itself.

When someone goes out of their way to attack you, on a consistent basis, even though they need your services, you have to make a decision as to what you are going to do. The decision I made was not done lightly.

I'm fully aware that TAD did a great job promoting Strider products. Unfortunately, I'm not willing to trade that information for their past record of attacks and unwillingness to follow the rules here. When they made the decision that they needed a Dealer Subscription, I'd honestly hoped that everything could be put behind us. After all - I'd already emailed Patrick months earlier telling him I had no problems with him, his business, or anything else. Clearly his "contempt" for me indicates that this is not reciprocated.

It wasn't until I read that post that I'd decided it wasn't worth the effort. I have better things to do than waste my time taking potshots from someone who needs my business. So, I refunded their money, and bid them a hearty adieu.

Lomic, you and I have talked on the phone. You know I am a reasonable man. But even reasonable men have their limits.

Strider Knives does not need a specific dealer to promote their products here. You Strider Fans, from the operators, to the office workers are the ones that put the meat on the bones Mick and Duane grind out. Keep that in mind.

Kevin