- Joined
- Oct 2, 1998
- Messages
- 5,461
BladeForums.Com is only 8 months old and we are the world's busiest knife related web site, period. With over 150,000 hits a day, 68,000 + posts, 29 forums & nearly 2,400 members, we have a lot of good things going on.
With all the good things going on we feel from time to time we must look back and remember what our focus here is.
BladeForums is a resource, free for all to use as a communication link for the entire industry. You now have direct access to the manufacturers, distributors, dealers, collectors & writers. The most important part that makes this whole equation work is the consumer (ELU). By far, the make up of the on-line knife community is the consumer looking for information. You, the member, make this site possible and we all thank you.
This site excels at welcoming newcomers and I thank each of you for making the effort to welcome them with open arms. All are welcome here and whether your a lurker or contributing member this place is like a refuge in the sea of confusion we call the internet.
We all share a common interest and this site is dedicated to bringing the knife community together.
My promise to the members:
This site will be managed properly and you are welcome to post without fear of being attacked by any member of this site. Should a flame start it will be quickly extinguished.
What is a flame?
A flame a strong message containing some form of criticism directed at another members comments, not respecting that members right to an opinion. Every member has the right to express themselves as long as they are not attacking another member. Should a flame start please contact either myself or the moderator of that forum. Try not to enter into a confrontation with another member. Also if you check the profile and see that the attacking member only has one post you can probably be safe to assume he is a troll.
What is a Troll?
A troll is an attempt to start a prolonged flame war, a fierce argument with rude, personal insults. Usually, a troll is a post that is so outrageous, insulting and stupid that you feel you have to reply. You can often recognize it because it is cross posted to several forums. If it is posted by someone you never saw posts from before (especially if they are using an anonymous account ie moron@Hotmail.com), that's a good sign of a troll. Often, it will flagrantly violate basic netiquette. If you see a troll, don't post an angry reply. If you do, the troller will have succeeded. It's better to ignore the troll. (A humorous put down is another option, but one that might backfire.)
We have not had any major problems with trolls but as we grow you will see them from time to time so please use the advise above and let us handle it.
My Promise to Manufacturers:
BladeForums is a professionally run site and we promise to maintain a professional atmosphere for you to conduct your business in. If you have a forum here you are welcome to run it as you choose. All we ask is that you actively participate in your forum and help your customers and or members in answering questions and addressing their concerns in regards to your products. To date we have had a exemplary track record with the manufacturers forums and we applaud your help here. We also hope that BladeForums has been a positive experience to your organizations.
Suggestions to manufacturers:
If you have a forum here you may want to provide a link to your forum in your email replies to customer questions or a link on your web site. This way you will eliminate much of the repetitive questions you get via phone calls, email and such that become tedious during each day. Simply tell your customers, via return email or an auto responder, that their question has been received and will be answered shortly and include that their question may have already been asked and subsequently answered here at BladeForums. Over time you should see a reduction of repetitive questioning which I am sure your customer service departments will love to see
What is coming to BladeForums?
Over the next few months BladeForums will slowly become a full fledge on-line magazine. We do not and will not want to compete with the magazines already in existence. In fact we want just the opposite. We would like the support from the magazines and in return will offer them banners here and help them increase subscriptions. We will have articles here which will include testing, reviews and promotion of new technologies and virtual tours of knife factories! This portion of the web site will need to have some sort of revenue and help from the manufacturers will be necessary to make it happen, if not we will need to charge a subscription to this service. Either way, it will happen, and as we grow or get more advertising revenue we could keep it FREE as well.
This should happen by August (I Hope)
Last BladeForums is a non-profit organization. I personal have paid all the bills and used the profits from the BladeForums store to help out. Your support by purchasing items through the store is greatly appreciated. We also understand that we can not have to many items available at the store for several reasons.
1) We do not want to appear to be competing with dealers.
2) You can only afford so many knives and we do not want you to feel obligated to buy each BF special knife we come out with.
So how can you help?
BladeForums will have an operating cost of nearly $24,000 it's first year. This is derived by the bandwidth usage, a portion of Sparks salary that I pay while he preforms BF duties, software costs and various other incidentals.
For us to remain on-line we must have revenue to offset the costs of this site. You can help by purchasing items from the BF Store. Items like accessories from Sentry Solutions, Spyderco and items I have donated are a big help. The BF Native is our major source of revenue so if your looking for a great knife this would be a good choice. The T-Shirts have not sold well so far so we could use your help in at least getting a shirt or two to help out.
Visit the store and see what we have available www.bladeforums.com/store/
Items not listed in the store like the Kershaw Talons are <a href="http://www.abc-direct.com/bladeforums/kershaw-special.htm">here</a> and are below dealer cost!
Also we still have several <a href="http://www.abc-direct.com/bladeforums/mission.htm">Mission MPUs</a>
As always, if you know of anything we can do to make your experience here better please let us know.
Thanks for your time and JOIN AKTI TODAY!
------------------
Best Regards,
Mike Turber
BladeForums Site Owner and Administrator
Do it! Do it right! Do it right NOW!
www.wowinc.com
[This message has been edited by Mike Turber (edited 19 June 1999).]
With all the good things going on we feel from time to time we must look back and remember what our focus here is.
BladeForums is a resource, free for all to use as a communication link for the entire industry. You now have direct access to the manufacturers, distributors, dealers, collectors & writers. The most important part that makes this whole equation work is the consumer (ELU). By far, the make up of the on-line knife community is the consumer looking for information. You, the member, make this site possible and we all thank you.
This site excels at welcoming newcomers and I thank each of you for making the effort to welcome them with open arms. All are welcome here and whether your a lurker or contributing member this place is like a refuge in the sea of confusion we call the internet.
We all share a common interest and this site is dedicated to bringing the knife community together.
My promise to the members:
This site will be managed properly and you are welcome to post without fear of being attacked by any member of this site. Should a flame start it will be quickly extinguished.
What is a flame?
A flame a strong message containing some form of criticism directed at another members comments, not respecting that members right to an opinion. Every member has the right to express themselves as long as they are not attacking another member. Should a flame start please contact either myself or the moderator of that forum. Try not to enter into a confrontation with another member. Also if you check the profile and see that the attacking member only has one post you can probably be safe to assume he is a troll.
What is a Troll?
A troll is an attempt to start a prolonged flame war, a fierce argument with rude, personal insults. Usually, a troll is a post that is so outrageous, insulting and stupid that you feel you have to reply. You can often recognize it because it is cross posted to several forums. If it is posted by someone you never saw posts from before (especially if they are using an anonymous account ie moron@Hotmail.com), that's a good sign of a troll. Often, it will flagrantly violate basic netiquette. If you see a troll, don't post an angry reply. If you do, the troller will have succeeded. It's better to ignore the troll. (A humorous put down is another option, but one that might backfire.)
We have not had any major problems with trolls but as we grow you will see them from time to time so please use the advise above and let us handle it.
My Promise to Manufacturers:
BladeForums is a professionally run site and we promise to maintain a professional atmosphere for you to conduct your business in. If you have a forum here you are welcome to run it as you choose. All we ask is that you actively participate in your forum and help your customers and or members in answering questions and addressing their concerns in regards to your products. To date we have had a exemplary track record with the manufacturers forums and we applaud your help here. We also hope that BladeForums has been a positive experience to your organizations.
Suggestions to manufacturers:
If you have a forum here you may want to provide a link to your forum in your email replies to customer questions or a link on your web site. This way you will eliminate much of the repetitive questions you get via phone calls, email and such that become tedious during each day. Simply tell your customers, via return email or an auto responder, that their question has been received and will be answered shortly and include that their question may have already been asked and subsequently answered here at BladeForums. Over time you should see a reduction of repetitive questioning which I am sure your customer service departments will love to see
What is coming to BladeForums?
Over the next few months BladeForums will slowly become a full fledge on-line magazine. We do not and will not want to compete with the magazines already in existence. In fact we want just the opposite. We would like the support from the magazines and in return will offer them banners here and help them increase subscriptions. We will have articles here which will include testing, reviews and promotion of new technologies and virtual tours of knife factories! This portion of the web site will need to have some sort of revenue and help from the manufacturers will be necessary to make it happen, if not we will need to charge a subscription to this service. Either way, it will happen, and as we grow or get more advertising revenue we could keep it FREE as well.
This should happen by August (I Hope)
Last BladeForums is a non-profit organization. I personal have paid all the bills and used the profits from the BladeForums store to help out. Your support by purchasing items through the store is greatly appreciated. We also understand that we can not have to many items available at the store for several reasons.
1) We do not want to appear to be competing with dealers.
2) You can only afford so many knives and we do not want you to feel obligated to buy each BF special knife we come out with.
So how can you help?
BladeForums will have an operating cost of nearly $24,000 it's first year. This is derived by the bandwidth usage, a portion of Sparks salary that I pay while he preforms BF duties, software costs and various other incidentals.
For us to remain on-line we must have revenue to offset the costs of this site. You can help by purchasing items from the BF Store. Items like accessories from Sentry Solutions, Spyderco and items I have donated are a big help. The BF Native is our major source of revenue so if your looking for a great knife this would be a good choice. The T-Shirts have not sold well so far so we could use your help in at least getting a shirt or two to help out.
Visit the store and see what we have available www.bladeforums.com/store/
Items not listed in the store like the Kershaw Talons are <a href="http://www.abc-direct.com/bladeforums/kershaw-special.htm">here</a> and are below dealer cost!
Also we still have several <a href="http://www.abc-direct.com/bladeforums/mission.htm">Mission MPUs</a>
As always, if you know of anything we can do to make your experience here better please let us know.
Thanks for your time and JOIN AKTI TODAY!
------------------
Best Regards,
Mike Turber
BladeForums Site Owner and Administrator
Do it! Do it right! Do it right NOW!
www.wowinc.com
[This message has been edited by Mike Turber (edited 19 June 1999).]