Here is my response to the thread along with feedback from one person that submitted comments:
http://www.everydaycommentary.com/2016/09/survive-knives-and-criticisms-of-small.html
First, instead of quoting replies you simply wrote a response pulling words out of context. Why is that?
Second, could someone point me to the posts in this thread where folk did the following?
ad hominem attacks, personal insults, demeaning comments, claims of my infantile behavior ... because I was the person criticize what they like
Third, and this seems to be very important to Mr. EverydayCommentary, WHERE in my post about "libel" did I specify some sort of legal action???
Libel:
a published false statement that is damaging to a person's reputation; a written defamation
Is that definition not clear? When an individual publishes a false statement damaging to someone's reputation, that individual has committed "libel" as defined above. It is irrelevant to me whether legal action will be taken against the individual or not, just as it is irrelevant to me whether the IP violator is prosecuted or not when he steals the design of another individual/company. In the latter case, I'm not buying the copy and will proclaim it to be a "fake" far and wide. Similarly, I point out "libel" regardless of action taken against the unabashed perpetrator. "Libel" is a word with meaning, it does not get that meaning from any action, legal or otherwise, that takes place in response to it.Like the definitions of words, honor still means something to me, even if it does not mean much to various internet personalities and otherwise. I gather that Mr.EverydayCommentary wanted to mount an early legal defense for his case... That tells me something.
Fourth, in my reply about dishonesty and libel, I deliberately used the words, "Those who do any of the above..." My response was NOT a direct response to any specific thing Mr. EverydayCommentary posted, I could have gone to the website and posted such direct comments there. Rather, they were intentionally
general. If Mr. EverydayCommentary notices that he himself is guilty of any of those, then YES they apply to him. For example, and this brings us to...
Fifth:
vaporware:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporware
is a product, typically computer hardware or software, that is announced to the general public but is never actually manufactured nor officially cancelled
...It is generally used to describe a hardware or software product that has been announced, but that the developer has no intention of releasing any time soon, if ever..
Is my post clearer now, since I have presented the actual definition of the word, which Mr.EverydayCommentary apparently uses without full understanding?
As yet, S!K has never announced the production of something that it did not actually produce. The definition of "vaporware" is that it is "never actually manufactured", i.e. it is imaginary. To sell people on an idea, even an idea with a CAD, does not qualify as "vaporware" if you actually produce it AND it may be noted that Survive! has
no history whatsoever of failing to realize the products it advertises. To apply the term to Survive! requires violence to the language OR requires libel (see above for definition if confused)
Sixth: Why is it so hard for some people to buy a Survive! knife, yet I have been able to acquire as many as I desired to afford? Am I just a genius?? I don't think so, since there are evidently THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of other owners out there... *shrug*
Seventh: It is mentioned in the post that "upfront payment" is not the custom in the knife world... I am confused, I own more knives than I should but have, in every case of purchase, sent the funds in advance of receipt of the knife. NEVER YET has anyone sent me the knife first and waited for the funds to arrive afterward... Is this really very common?
Or is the intended meaning of the author that he sends the funds and then receives the shipment notification almost immediately? If not immediately, how long is the wait, usually? I ordered a knife from Bill Davis (he died July 2015, may he rest in peace), was told that it would be 6 months before the knife arrived. I called 6 months later and was told that it would be yet another 6 months. When the knife was finally ready, I sent the money, and a couple of weeks later I received my knife. Some makers require a non-refundable deposit = payment up-front (though not full), and the knife may be years out...
I guess I am skeptical of the assertion that payment-up-front is all that unusual. I think this author's world is just small. Especially small since S!K only offered pre-order (the month-long kind) because it was demanded, but doesn't require it.
It does sound like this particular customer got an "in stock" indication for a knife that wasn't really "in stock" since it wasn't sharpened, built, and boxed-up ready to ship, which is what he expects. *shrug* Easy fix for Survive! :thumbup: Hopefully they will implement this suggestion for future sales. It does seem like the author took an awfully long route to suggesting this, but that's because he is an internet personality and thinks he can run the business better *shrug*
Eighth, and here I will actually quote the post:
Third, and most critically, Randall Made Knives have generations of reliable production to count on and reassure customers...
I agree, this is indeed a "critical" difference between Randall and Survive!,
age and size. If you cannot see this, you have failed to grasp the basics of how a business works. Survive! does not have "generations of reliable production" since they remain an infant company - you cannot have "generations" until you get beyond the first. Then again, if you want to assess them based on the "generations" that each knife model has undergone, that would still be only 2 or 3 revisions for certain models, but those are indeed consistently reliable products :thumbup: which would be a similarity, not a difference.
There follow comparisons to other companies, many of which I have not heard of and know nothing of their production numbers. How many thousands or products is each of the small companies producing? Without that information,
what exactly is being compared? Just physical
size??? That is NOT what we mean when we talk about how small Survive! is. Mention is made of Spyderco, declaring "has consistently made great knives for more than twenty years. They do this with a staff of around 30 people". Where does one come up with the notion that Spyderco builds all of its knives with a staff of only 30 people??? Moki knives of Japan, Sanrenmu of China, Lion Steel of Italy - THESE are the companies making the lion's share of Spyderco's products. Those 30 people, do you know what they actually DO?
Chris Reeve is mentioned, but the author clearly has NO IDEA about Mr. Reeve's struggles trying to establish his business - poor quality, missed deadlines,
the complete collapse of one company - before his name became synonymous with "quality". Oh, and he started work when?
1984 CRK has been around 32 years now, which is ~
6X longer than S!K. Ask Chris about his production numbers during those first few years. Ask him about business struggles. Get real.
Mike Stewart is mentioned, and I already replied to this, but here it is again: Mr Stewart also started in 1984 (again, 6X older) and
participated in the bankruptcy of both BlackJack and Marbles and was investigated for fraud after bilking $500,000 from investors and leaving workers unpaid for their service. He later tried to bilk some $16,000 from an investor
here on bladefoums. His company BRKT performs very similar processes with regard to the knives that Survive! performs and employs how many people? And BRKT knives have been noted on MANY occasions failing in quality and performance. This is really a very poor comparison.
Sal Glesser is a genius... one that got his first knife made in
1981 (he has been around longer than CR and MS) and has most of his knives produced (completely, every aspect of production) at contract knife companies. If the Spyderco factory in Golden employs 30 people (which, it should be remembered, is still 6X more than S!K and as recently as a year ago was
10X more), you should wonder what those people do.
AGE and SIZE, with "size" including an assessment of just how much product is being produced by how many people. If you ignore these aspects of S!K when equating to other companies, then you are not actually comparing them at all, you are creating
a farce to serve a narrative.
Survive! is small. Survive! is young. Survive! needs to wait to list items as "in stock" until said item is actually stocked and ready to ship (i.e. is already sharpened, best-case it is already built and boxed for shipment). This seems to be the gist of the authors problems. *shrug* *yawn*
Keep at it, Guy! No doubt, had the internet been a "thing" back in the days of CRK's infancy, or even Randall's, they'd have faced similar criticisms. Get better, but
only get better, please! Those who respect the quality and performance have the patience to see it through. :thumbup:
So far, no one from the company itself has said anything that has really upset me other than giving poor delivery estimates, and they've eventually delivered every single time, so i still have faith. *shrug*
