BF Shuts Down The Strider Forum?

Megalobyte

Megalobyte

Joined
Jun 5, 2002
Messages
2,761
Well, apparently the powers that be at BF have decided to shut down the Strider Forum stemming from a disagreement between Spark and Strider, to be fair, it seemed like Strider himself also didnt really want to stay here either. I'm not going to get into who I think was right or wrong, clearly there is some bad blood between them and i dont know enough about the history to take sides. All I want to say is that i think it is truly a shame this came to pass, i really enjoy BF, i found out about Strider through BF, and as a newish Strider fan/junkie, i had recently begun to enjoy visiting that forum here on BF as well, and i suppose I will now have to "follow" the Strider forum wherever it ends up, while continuing to read BF for all other knife-related things. Yes, it wont be that difficult to read the Strider forum wherever it ends up, but, again, its too bad this happened, and for those of you that dont know, what precipitated this chain reaction was nothing more than a troll. He must be laughing his ASS off right about now, knowing he is possibly the most successful troll in the history of BF. A sad day... :grumpy:
 
I agree with you.
Total bummer about loosing the Strider forum, and letting that Troll get what he wanted. :(
 
My understanding is Strider wanted to be able to do certain things is his forum that he normaly couldn't do.

However, afetr having read his forum for the past month or two, I saw the troll, but it takes two to tango as they say.
 
I don't own any Strider knives, nor do I plan on any in the (near) future, but it is sad when a knife-company loses their presence here at BladeForums, like REKAT and Cold Steel did in the past...(At least I THINK I remember Cold Steel having a Fourm here for a short time...).
 
Very sad, indeed.

I suggest people read the Strider forum, and to see what's up, and judge for themselves.

I wish I could comment further, but that is best left to Spark, and Strider himself.
 
Well, apparently the powers that be at BF have decided
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THAT IS NOT TRUE!

It was NOT "the powers that be at BF" that made this decision. I'll ask you please to not say that.

It was the folks at Strider who withdrew at their own initiative.



what precipitated this chain reaction was nothing more than a troll. He must be laughing his ASS off right about now, knowing he is possibly the most successful troll in the history of BF. A sad day...
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Amen!

I have been involved with the internet almost since its inception (and I can tell you that Al Gore wasn't there). I've been involved with every form of online discussion from e-mail list servers to these great web-based forums. And I can tell you one thing: there will be trolls. Please, people, please, I'm begging you, please, ignore the trolls. Take it from someone who, over several decades now, has seen every other approached tried: this is the very best anti-troll plan.

Since I've been online for more years of my life than not, I've grown pretty comfortable in both the "physical world" and the "virtual world." I can tell you that they are two different places with two different sets of rules.

In the physical world, if somebody attacks you, you have to react. You have to block that attack. You may need to counter attack. If you don't, your attacker will be successful and you'll be injured or even killed.

In the virtual world, the rules are different. You must understand that. Your reaction must be different. The physical attacker is after your wallet and watch, physical goals. You need to deny him those things. The troll is a different type of attacker. He doesn't want your wallet or your watch. He wants attention. You have to deny him that.

Please believe me. I have been at this game for decades. I've seen other approaches tried and they don't, in the long run, work.
 
The Strider guys were fun, and they make great knives, but their departure was not their finest hour.

"When you win, say little. When you lose, say less."
 
"the powers that be" didn't decide to shut it down, they just made it look like they did...Mr. Strider wanted it gone just as much. He also showed his integrity by first asking the readers their opinions on whether or not it should be trashed. The other Strider forum feels more friendly to me anyways :).

Steve
 
Yeah, he sure showed his "integrity". I mean, I haven't seen so many "unbiased" opinions & "honest" feelings in quite awhile. :rolleyes:

The Strider forum was shut down because Mick decided he'd be better off acting like a child than bothering to work through any problem, real or perceived. I had no contact with him about any problems. I received no emails or messages of any sort from him. He certainly didn't pick up a phone.

He claims he didn't have moderator powers - I personally checked and his profile has all the same abilities as any other moderator here.

Past that, I have no idea why he was unable to perform any moderator tasks; and he certainly wasn't interested in getting anything fixed. He was "too busy" to bother to learn I'd guess. No other moderators have reported any problems with their abilities. There were *multiple* avenues he could have taken had he really wanted to figure out what's what. Any of the other moderators would have been happy to help him out as well.

Because of his behavior, lack of courtesy, & general attitude, the forum would have been shut down regardless. I don't have time to babysit those who'd rather act out. Besides, I find it humorous that he'd pick SHOT Show weekend as his ultimatum time - it's only the largest industry show in the world... nobody would be off the forums then :rolleyes:

The facts remain that if he really was having "problems" and wanted to solve them he'd have bothered to do something about it. Had he just wanted the forum shut down, he could have done it with class, tact, or anything else. This way, we just got to see what really is there behind the facade - and someone got their jollies by getting stuff stirred up. When in doubt, follow the money, kids.

Best of luck to them in their new, friendly "home".

Kevin
 
Kevin, I can see where you are coming from on this issue, but...
The facts remain that if he really was having "problems" and wanted to solve them he'd have bothered to do something about it.
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We, the folks that read and posted on that forum, were having problems with a troll and it didn't appear that any mechanism was in place or subsequently implemented to deal with it.

Clearly the post(s) where the troll spilled the beans should have been edited or erased RIGHT AWAY rather than being addressed with a locked or moved thread. Can all moderators do this (erase/edit another's post)? Interestingly, in the end it was the troll that edited his own post... how bizarre is that?

Even after the verbal exchanges, I didn't read once how you would address a similar troll problem in the future. And I honestly might have missed that and I apologize if I did. All of the focus appeared to be on the messenger and the manner in which the message was delivered and not the problem that started the fiasco to begin with.

cheers,
Erik
 
I'll address this in sections

We, the folks that read and posted on that forum, were having problems with a troll and it didn't appear that any mechanism was in place or subsequently implemented to deal with it.

Both Mick and Duane had full moderator powers over that forum. That included the locking of threads, editing of threads / posts, and moving said threads to other locations. Should something needed to be deleted, they could have edited the content of the post in question. Outright deletion of posts / threads was eliminated for all moderators a long time ago after it was abused... however, items could be moved "out of sight" but kept handy should they need to be produced later.

As far as a reporting mechanism went, there was the 'report to moderator' function which would alert both Mick and Duane (since they were listed as moderators. At any time, they could have added additional moderators to their forum as long as they were authorized to speak "on behalf" of Strider Knives.

It was their responsibility to learn to use the software - any of the moderators (including myself) would have been happy to discuss with them the in's and out's at any time.

Clearly the post(s) where the troll spilled the beans should have been edited or erased RIGHT AWAY rather than being addressed with a locked or moved thread. Can all moderators do this (erase/edit another's post)? Interestingly, in the end it was the troll that edited his own post... how bizarre is that?

BladeForums.com policy is *not* to delete posts unless absolutely neccessary. Trolling is one thing, uncomfortable questions are something else entirely. The nice thing about forums are that once a question has been answered, you can always point back to it - past that, short of porn & such, there's very little *need* to delete anything. Most people will recognize a troll as such.

As stated above, no moderators can delete, and it's worked well for years.

Even after the verbal exchanges, I didn't read once how you would address a similar troll problem in the future.

That's pretty simple - I let the moderators of the given forum handle it. They have moderator powers, and there is a mechanism in place where any moderator can ask for assistance from someone with 'more power' should the need arise - but that is few and far between.

All of the focus appeared to be on the messenger and the manner in which the message was delivered and not the problem that started the fiasco to begin with.

The message appeared to be to me, "This forum sucks" and to paraphrase, I'm not interested in figuring anything out, I'm more interested in tossing insults. That's a pretty clear message. It wasn't a cry for help, it was a tantrum.

Plenty of help was offered, it just had to be taken advantage of. Sitting back and waiting for someone else to do the work that they should have learned to do is a poor excuse. Calling names and such just reveals the true depth of character of those involved.

Kevin
 
I think it's a little unusual that 1sks stopped taking orders for Strider knives before we saw this come to a head on the forums. Ban me if you wish...slam me if you must but I feel I have a right to speak my mind.
 
1SKS stopped taking orders for Strider knives months ago. This was because we could not get a straight answer out of Strider Knives as to when our orders would be filled. I personally called Strider Knives almost every day for 2 months, and each time was blown off.

It was only after we posted on our store that we were suspending orders on Strider Products that there was any response - Duane stating on the several forum sites that we'd been cut off for dishonest business practices or some such - something completely untrue. After yet another phone call, it turned out that it was because Strider Knives had been discounted on our site by $5 (which had been immediately resolved with Mick more than a month previous) and that we carried another brand that Strider didn't like, namely Extrema Ratio. :rolleyes:

Despite the illegality of price fixing, and irrational demands that I drop product lines, things seemed to work out on the phone. After much talking (about 2+ hours worth), Duane stated our orders would be reinstated around Oct / Nov, and I would receive product shortly thereafter. Nothing ever happened, and I never heard from Strider again.

Keep in mind, I'd placed orders for $25,000 worth of Strider product. I was willing to pay 50% up front, and wait 6 months for product - as long as I could get a solid answer on ETA's so my military customers would be squared away. Also keep in mind that I repeatedly asked for even samples / "onesies-twosies" of the product so I could get ads into Tactical Knives, Blade, Soldier of Fortune, Guns & Weapons for Military / Law Enforcement, SWAT magazine, etc. Each time, I was blown off. To this date, I see no other Strider "dealer" doing this, but I guess good intentions don't count either.

Basically, I'm not entirely suprised by what happened, but what's new?

Kevin
 
Dan,

Speaking your mind is one thing, intentionally stirring the pot for kicks is another. And that is exactly what you are doing. I think your posts says more for Spark and 1sks then you intended. Spark and Strider have had words and a falling out in the past. 1sks stopped selling Strider, while continuing to foot the bill to allow Strider to have a forum here. Spark had no desire to lock down the forum until Mick asked him to do so. Spark letting Strider have a free ride on his dime after a falling out certainily does say a lot about character. Bottom line, Mick through a whining crying 2 year old style tantrum because he was too lazy to figure out how to moderate his own forum. Had I been Spark, I would have gladly locked it down as well. Spark is a forum administrator, not a baby sitter.

JR
 
I think it's a little unusual that 1sks stopped taking orders for Strider knives before we saw this come to a head on the forums. Ban me if you wish...slam me if you must but I feel I have a right to speak my mind.
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The neat thing about bf.c is that you CAN say that and NOT be banned.
 
Spark,

I'm friends with both you and the Strider guys. With all due respect, your continuing this publicly is no better than what you accuse them of doing. It's just getting repetitive and pointless. Please let it go.

It doesn't become you or the Strider guys to keep complaining about each other publicly. Everyone who supports them, and everyone who supports you are not going to change those opinions no matter who says what, so why keep saying it? it's over -- let's move on, eh?

Let bygones be bygones.

Respectfully,

Brian.
 
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