favoritism

W

walleyeguy7

Joined
Feb 2, 2008
Messages
716
there sure seems to be a lot of favoritism in general discussion. i think its a good thing, because the companies who deserve it get promoted more....plus, its unavoidable, especially because almost every topic is asking for your opinion. what brands have you noticed are heavily promoted? off the top of my head, i see the most die-hard support here in general for kershaw/zt, crk, and rat.

edit: an example of what i define as 'favoritism' is when someone posts any topic asking about fixed blades. 90% of the posts will mention the izula or the rc 3 or something, some will mention bark river or becker, and only a few will mention a few options and include some valuable information beyond "its one heck of a knife!"
 
Last edited:
Tiny86 said:
I think that Spyderco should be on that list also.
Click to expand...

I believe it may have been earlier prior to his edit, also I believe walleyeguy7 is being a little hypocritical, but this is not the time nor the correct sub forum for what I want to say.
 
Unless you see a pattern with a specific individual, you can't jump to the conclusion that one is promoting a particular brand just because they say that a knife is cool or awesome. They may very well like the design and quality of the knife. And if someone asks what people think of a particular knife, people would be giving an appropriate answer if they say something along the lines of "its one heck of a knife!" Not very helpful if someone is looking for specifics, but that statement addresses the original question.

I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing if someone has found so much satisfaction in the products that he/she has purchased from a particular company, that he/she would want to spread the news about their positive experiences with said company. This doesn't mean that I like the whole "fanboy" attitude. I personally will give my opinion on a knife model based on my experience with it rather than my opinion of the company that made it.
 
yeah i shortened the giant list to just the three i see the most often, not that it is a bad thing to support those companies heavily, because theyre fantastic. just like everybody else, i do my best not to be a hypocrite. we all at one time or another have been impressed with some new item we aquired and blabbered on about how much we loved it. when i see any post along the lines of "tell me what i should buy" i tend to tell it like it is. this ones this knife, that ones that knife, you should try to see it in person before you buy, maybe heres something you might not know, its up to you. i guess i find it hard to overlook it when someones asking for a 3in ultra-light edc and someone starts talking about how great the g10 tyrade is.
 
I think Bladeforums as a whole is guilty of this, not necessarily just general discussion

Spyderco, RAT, and Busse are the most noticeable to me.

All three have huge cultish followings, and depending on the subforum and the question, your chances of having one of these 3 brands suggested to you are VERY high.


Not saying there's anything wrong with that, but just my observation.
 
I think people read wrong.


When asked: "What should I buy?"

They tend to read: "What did you buy that you really like?"

Which is actually the correct question in most cases. Unfortunately a lot of people only buy a few brands so they can give very little answers.
 
Yay I'm in a cult!

But seriously... I've noticed brand loyalty, favoritism, fan boys, w/e you want to call it. When someone is asking for an "opinion" on a knife I'll give the best opinion I can. Nothing against product placement from members, but when there are pages of members going at it fighting about which brand is better it's a bit much (I've seen this mainly between Kershaw and Spyderco enthusiasts).

In the end, it's a public forum where opinions are stated and there will always be favoritism. You'll just have to do some research to see the reasoning behind all of it. You buy what you like, if someone is going to flame you for not liking a certain brand then all the power to them.
 
The vast majority of us forum goers haven't spent tens of thousands of dollars building up our collections and in such an opinion-driven hobby, having fanboys it's pretty much unavoidable. I don't think they are necessarily a bad thing, though. They have obviously found something that covers most, if not all of their needs... a "why fix what isn't broke" situation, if you will. What worries me is when I begin seeing "The Church of the Heavenly Kershaw" groups starting up -- people trying to forcibly push their opinions onto the rest of us.


Certain brands just don't appeal to certain people for any number of reasons. Using myself as an example, I will likely never own a Spyderco. I'm sure they make fantastic knives, but I've never been a fan of lockback folders and their designs just don't do it for me. The rare few I would consider purchasing always seem to fall well outside of what I would be willing to pay for them because of a material choices.


Honestly, if you come here and post a "what should I buy?" post and then blindly buy whatever is recommended most often... you're doing it all wrong. Use that information as a starting point for your research and then see where it takes you. :thumbup:
 
walleyeguy7 said:
there sure seems to be a lot of favoritism in general discussion. i think its a good thing, because the companies who deserve it get promoted more....plus, its unavoidable, especially because almost every topic is asking for your opinion. what brands have you noticed are heavily promoted? off the top of my head, i see the most die-hard support here in general for kershaw/zt, crk, and rat.

edit: an example of what i define as 'favoritism' is when someone posts any topic asking about fixed blades. 90% of the posts will mention the izula or the rc 3 or something, some will mention bark river or becker, and only a few will mention a few options and include some valuable information beyond "its one heck of a knife!"
Click to expand...

Along with favoritism is cronyism and fanboyism ; )
 
I see nothing wrong with brand loyalty etc... I am loyal to several brands myself. But sometimes people find this as an excuse for act aggressively against however they think is thread to their favorite brand. Pattern is pretty simple - if you are not worship whatever they worship at the same level of worshipness - it is valid reason to attack.

Sometimes it is just ridiqulous - like I was huge Kershaw supporter from the begining, when Thomas just came here. But then somehow after "Kershaw Mafia" erected on their subforum it became quite uncomfortable for me to go there and discuss almost anything (and not only for me), because if it is not complete and ultimate love to Kershaw - it is not welcomed, very aggressively not welcomed, I should note... Now they do not even have subforum anymore...

Problem here is I guess in many cases luck of everything but loyalty. People can not contribute anything else but their loyalty and doing their best to the very end. Not too many can discuss steel and sharpening and design, but everyone can talk about how much they love this or that brand or play detective resolving conspiracy plot or their_brand_haters. For some it is only way to get noticed.

In result, any problem with brand product can not be discussed - loyal customers consider this as a conspiracy and act accordingly. Even before manufacturer able to answer something reasonable - it is too late, because full scale fight going on, started by guardians of Brand. And not even problem - sometimes simple and neutral question can turn into battle.

Thanks, Vassili.

P.S. Especially it turns ugly if you do some cross bran testing...
 
I don't see much fanboy stuff going on here on BF. Most all people will have there favorites, wheather its knife brands, car brands, etc...

Me and most others I have got to know here have/use/collect all types off knives, not just one type. I've got more Case knives than anything, along with plenty of Busse's, Randalls, handmades(cheap to fancy D'Holders), and have a few from many other manufactures such as CRK, WH, spyderco, and benchmade.
Love them all, but post more often in the Busse or Spyderco room since they have enough traffic to discuss, and I do like there knives alot.

I do read more from this room than any other. A very all around informative room:thumbup:
 
A lot of fanboyerism here.

One of the funnier ones: some guy was asking recommendations for a fixed blade survival knife, a Chris Reeve fanboi comes out of nowhere and suggest a small sebenza. lol That's a bit too far.

But I think supporting a brand is good, it means you have had good experience with it and that says something.
 
Favoritism is indicative of buying from a company and being satisfied with your purchases over a period of time. Of course people will recommend knives from a manufacturer that continually produces quality knives, backed-up with excellent customer service. I think everyone leans in this direction with any product category.

Fanboyism is a blind allegiance to a certain brand without recognizing flaws and limitations of that brand - i.e. they get recommended without taking into consideration what the OP wants [the Sebenza example above]. Fanboy's suck. These people tend to be less objective in recommendations and less likely to go outside their favorite brands, because, you know, that wouldn't be cool. Pick a knife that fits the criteria, not a certain image.

The only way to discern between the 2 is to look at post histories and ignore the fanboy's.
 
Reading this thread made me think of CRKT as an example. I haven't seen anyone go out of their way to recommend their products but I have seen several folks make a passing remark that they own/have owned at least one CRKT blade and state it's a "decent knife" or a "good knife."
 
I come to BF because of all the years of knowledge from all the posters. I want to hear their opinions. I will evaluate who's opinion I hold of value, and who's I will throw away. There is much value in expressed opinions such as; bias, loyalty, love and hatred toward manufacturers, their products, their values, and their marketing. If there is a dominance of certain brands, it is probably well deserved or at least well marketed through the internet. I have never experienced any moderator put down anyone's opinion (objective opinion) of a product. I have seen/read a Moderator shutting down a poster who is wrongfully criticizing subjectively a product. If a spring breaks on a folder because of batoning, well, it is not the malfunction of the batonee, it is the unwise choice of the batoner. I like to see people step up and objectively chime in. We all have our passions, and BF helps me be more knowledgeable about them. Just do not insult my dog!:mad::D
 
Fascion said:
The vast majority of us forum goers haven't spent tens of thousands of dollars building up our collections and in such an opinion-driven hobby, having fanboys it's pretty much unavoidable. I don't think they are necessarily a bad thing, though. They have obviously found something that covers most, if not all of their needs... a "why fix what isn't broke" situation, if you will. What worries me is when I begin seeing "The Church of the Heavenly Kershaw" groups starting up -- people trying to forcibly push their opinions onto the rest of us.
Click to expand...


I feel this happens alot, like you said....not a bad thing. It just happens. Certain questions lend themselves to being answered certain ways. If you say "whats the best chopper?" your going to get a big list but one that certainly contains certain names over and over. And this lends to favoritism or fanboyism so to speak. You ask "whats the best chopper?" then you get 10 answers saying Busse! But then you say "but I only have 100 dollars?" well thats a horse of a different color and helps narrow down the answer the poster REALLY wants.

Sometimes I see a question posted and it takes several posts to really figure out what the Poster is trying to get at. Many times they arent very specific so the thread ends up going into a bunch of different directions and turns into a hodgepodge so to speak. It would really help if instead of saying "Whats the best folder?" ask "I am looking for a folder" then in the post say what you are looking to spend, and what TYPES of knives appeal to you and whatever info would help US help YOU. That way alot of unecessary posts dont occur and the Poster gets a more accurate response. If they come right out and say they are not a Fan of the Spydy hole or not really into kershaws designs that would keep the post a bit more on track......and the fanboys at bay at times.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top