Let's start with the obvious here. This deal didn't happen here but on eBay, rickinFL is also not a paid knifemaker/craftsman on here so there is that element to deal with. If there was a problem with this deal from the get go, it should have been taken directly to the doorstep of eBay. Lately it seems that Bladeforums is the place to come to settle disputes from all over the 4 corners of the internet. That isn't working out well for the folks here, that buy/sell/trade here, and that invest their time here.
Ideally speaking, a heads up about a maker that has less than adequate business practices, is always appreciated, but it needs to be accompanied and backed up by clear and to the point facts, from the very first post. Once that is made clear, there should be an effort to allow the other person to clear their name or respond, again in a calm manner. Common sense should dictate that if a person cannot offer the services they are charging for in the time frame within the specific price range offered there is a problem. Regardless of whether it is their life's work or hobby.
These rapid-fire posts do nothing that one or even two well thought out posts couldn't do. Anytime someone says "I can post # many pages of emails/text messages/Facebook/Instagram comments" makes every one shudder. There is far too much emotion and not enough factual information being exchanged here. The result is everyone that reads and posts here gets whipped up and frothy-mouthed and it damages the overall calm of this place.
Having to wade through walls of text to try and find out what really happened, going back and forth like a ping-pong match sucks, for everyone that stumbles across this thread. Dealing on Bladeforums is built on trust and being able to honor your word, we can't really sit by and open the flood gates and allow everyone with a bitch or gripe to start a multiple page thread about something that happened somewhere else. I hope this is clear to people reading this far down into this mess.