Finarfin aka Stephen Edwards of Bruce, WI is not a good person. In fact, he's an ass.

Spark

Spark

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Hey guys! Some of you might have read this thread in the Tech Support Forum: Just a friendly reminder: If you get banned, you don't get a refund.

What prompted that thread is a charming individual named Stephen Edwards, who went by the username Finarfin.

Stephen's post history is kind of checkered. He registered, got pretty hot under the collar a few times in various threads, and then apparently went completely crazy. You see, he purchased a Platinum Membership, and then thought that the site rules didn't apply to him! So, within 5 days of going Platinum, he got banned from the site.

What prompted this? Well, a mod sent him the following warning in response to a post he made:
If you wish to give a treatise on knife construction or the points that make a given knife good or not...do so.

What you don't need to do is attribute motives which you are not in a position to pass judgment on...especially without stating it as your personal opinion.

You seem to enjoy creating controversy and stirring it up in the threads you participate in.

We, the moderators, don't really enjoy having to spend our precious time putting out fires started by others who have little regard for the time and effort involved.

So, to be clear, please state you case in future without the hyperbole, invective and "know it all" superiority. You have an opinion, you are entitled to it but it is one amongst many.

There are ways of expressing yourself without being abrasive. If you cannot find a way to do so...it will be a short and unhappy ride.

Thanks for your cooperation.
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Pretty reasonable, right? Most people would read that and chill out.

Not Mr Stephen Edwards of Bruce, Wi. Nope. He got pretty huffy with the mod:
"You can rebate my money anytime you wish! This "warning" for "trolling" is the thinnest skinned interpretation of a post I've ever seen, on any forum site on the www! The truth is, and you know it's the truth, is that someone with a very very thin skin ran to you and tattled on me for simply making a post in which I harmlessly challenged a conclusion with a simple question! Thats not trolling there Mr Mod, thats the simple give & take of forum communications. There was no foul language, there was no name calling, no nothing at all, other than a differing opinion, and yet here you are, threatening me? You know what you can do with your warning, and if somehow I end up banned for standing up to your little intimidation, you can be damn certain that I'll be checking my credit card statement for your full refund of my membership payment! End of story partner"...
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Classy, eh?
The mod in question then decided to issue an infraction for "Mod Sass" because, quite frankly, Finarfin was out of line. Finarfin continued on and got banned.

Normally this would end things, but oh no. Mr Stephen Edwards of Bruce Wi decided that the status quo wasn't satisfactory by a long shot.

So he phoned me, and got pretty belligerent, demanding a refund and saying we were a bunch of thieves for daring to ban him. That went over like you'd expect.

His next course of action was to send me some hilarious emails.
This is in response to a conversation I had with the owner of the above business, and it's spinoff, "Bladeforums.com" which took place on Febuary 1st, 2012. This conversation was relating to the one year platinum level membership that was involuntarily terminated by you, or your staff, after only one week!

I have demanded my money back from you, you have refused, further you have barred me from accessing what I paid for! As a Result you've earned what's coming your way, I intend to make this the most expensive theft you've ever committed! As a consequence of this theft, I will begin an unending labor of destroying your business reputation, the internet is a wonderful tool for hitting back at disreputable businesses, and individuals! I specifically warned you when your moderator took his completely unwarranted action, that you had best refund my money or else!

You should have just given me my money back, the "or else" begins....
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My response:
Thank you for contacting us.

You appear to be upset and are laboring under a false set of impressions. Your membership was not "involuntarily terminated" - you violated the BladeForums.com user agreement, and as a result your access to the site was revoked. The sole blame for your behavior rests on your shoulders.

When you registered for BladeForums.com, (http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/register.php ) you agreed to follow our Subscriber & User Agreement (http://www.bladeforums.com/copyright2.shtml )

We have listed many of the things that will earn you warnings & infractions in the FAQ.( http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/faq.php )

Here is a direct link to the things that can earn you infractions and warnings:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/faq.php?faq=faq_warning_infractions_banning#faq_faq_warnings

There's a reason why we have a graduated system of warnings and infractions prior to bannings; it's so that you can learn from your mistakes and hopefully not repeat them.

Being a paid subscriber does not exempt you from the Subscriber & User Agreement. In fact, you explicitly agreed that you would follow the Subscriber & User Agreement, that you are bound by it, and that your access to BladeForums.com can and will be revoked for violating the terms of service.

With regards to a refund, you should pay particular attention to section 10, paragraph C (Subscription Services) which states:

Termination. Either you or BFC may terminate this Agreement at any time. Your only right with respect to any dissatisfaction with
(i) any terms and conditions of this Agreement, or policy or practice of BFC in operating BladeForums.com and/or the Community Areas,
(ii) content available through the Subscription or change therein, or
(iii) amount or type of fees or billing methods, or change therein,
is to terminate this Agreement by sending notice to BladeForums.com Customer Service, 245 North Hubbards Lane, Louisville, KY 40207, or by e-mail sent to our staff. Notice of termination will be effective upon receipt by BFC. Without limiting the foregoing, BFC shall have the right to immediately terminate this Agreement with respect to any user which BFC, in its sole discretion, considers to be unacceptable, or in the event of any breach by you of this Agreement. In the event that your account is terminated or canceled, no refund of any fees, including monthly membership fee, will be granted. The provisions of Sections 5, 6, 7, 8 and this Section 10 shall survive termination of this Agreement. Fees paid for any Subscription are paid in advance and are not refundable in whole or in part, provided, however, that in the event of termination by BFC for any reason other than breach of this Agreement by you or termination by you in accordance with this
subsection C of this Agreement in which you identify the termination as resulting from changed terms, BFC shall make a pro rata refund to you.

Needless to say, your failure to follow the rules of the site does not meet these requirements.

I appreciate your email and phone call, especially the documentation you provided within.

In summation: You joined BladeForums.com. You agreed to follow the terms of the Subscriber & User Agreement (http://www.bladeforums.com/copyright2.shtml ) as well as the rules listed in the FAQ. You violated those terms your account was suspended.

If you feel that you must take further action, be my guest. My sincere advice would be, however, that in future endeavors you exercise restraint before taking action.
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His response:
As I said Mr Schlossberg, welcome to the or else, you will regret having stolen this particular $50.00, and stolen it you have! You are about to find out how vulnerable a thing a reputation happens to be, especiially to a business that essentially sells trinkets over the internet. It will be quite simple to gather up a large collection of disgruntled customers Mr Schlossberg, and turn them loose upon you in a focused action! Yes Mr Schlossberg, very very simple. Please, do keep my correspondence, I've kept your's, and your employee's. Let's discover, you and I, just how far the theft of $50.00 takes us. I anticipate that you are going to "rue the day" you chose to steal from me.
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:eek::eek::eek::eek:

So, today I got an email directing me to ResellerRatings.com and a review he left there.

Apparently, Mr Stephen Edwards of Bruce, WI decided to ding my other business, OneStopKnifeShop.com, for his getting banned from BladeForums.com.

"I had an unsavory experience with the "One Stop Knife Shop" and it's owner Kevin Schlossberg. Schlossberg owns an operates "Bladeforums.com" which is an extension of his knife shop, indeed all billing was collected by his "One Stop Knife Shop" enterprise'

On 1/5/12 I elected to join his bladeforums as a paid member, this was because you were not allowed to post images unless you were a paid member. The "Yearly" fee for a platinum level membership is/was $50,00! I paid it, five days later I was banned from the site, mind you not for anything I said or did on the forums, rather it was because his employee was not happy with my private communications shared between us. A few weeks later I contacted Mr Schlossberg both by phone, and via email, what follows is taken in large part from those conversations.

Regardless, it's the privilege of the forum to revoke membership at they're whim, I understand, and can live with it. However, when I contacted Mr Schlossberg for an immediate refund of my membership fee, he refused, using the banning action as his personal justification for keeping my money, even though the service I had purchased through the "One Stop Knife Shop" was only five days into a "Yearly" charge, frankly I was shocked by his brazen attitude, seriously, he was completely unconcerned, totally indifferent!

I explained to Mr Schlossberg that he would in essence be committing a theft, further that just because he and his employee had banned me, or that they didn't like me, it didn't justify his decision to simply appropriate my money! Nonetheless he remained adamant in his refusal. It was obvious that he felt nothing but contempt for me as a customer, It was such a small amount of money he clearly felt free to indulge his petty spite. I got the impression he was enjoying himself immensely.

Now $50.00 isn't a lot of money, certainly not to me it's not. However, just like anyone else, I don't like being taken advantage of, and I certainly don't like having my money stolen, then have the act flaunted in my face by the very culprit.

I advised Mr Schlossberg that it was in his best interest to simply refund my money in full, that if he continued down this course, that I'd take proactive measures, here, on the www against him. I told him the truth, that the www is an awfully powerful equalizer in 2012 America, I told him that he would rue the day he chose to arrogantly appropriate my money, as though he were handing out some sort of fine.

As you can ascertain, Mr Schlossberg elected to not return my money, and make no mistake, thats theft! It's theft to refuse refund of a "Yearly" membership fee just five-days into it no matter what stretch of reason is applied, makes no difference whether it was a knife, or a service, it was a product that he was selling, he owed a refund!

I find it very hard to believe that Mr Schlossberg can be accredited through the BBB, especially in the face of such overwhelming public dissatisfaction with him, and his business ventures, "One Stop Knife Shop/Bladeforums.com." Clearly the reason is because the vast majority of his business is with young males(teenagers)he is able to slide by, these youngsters are very unlikely to do much more then rant at him, certainly not proceed ahead with a complaint, and pursue it to completion, as I am of a mind to do.

While it's only $50.00, it's still theft, and Mr Schlossberg remains extrordinarily dishonest. I will post my account all over the www, I will also be filing a formal complaint with the BBB against him, and his business ventures.

It's my sincere hope that you folks spread the word, the best way to impact this type of disreputable business practice, is to cut it off at it's source, spend your money elsewhere folks, if he's willing to boost my $50.00 over such nonsense, what's he willing to do if you drop a few hundreds?"
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I go out of my way to keep OneStopKnifeShop.com separate from BladeForums.com - I'd wager that 99% of the membership here would have zero idea that one is affiliated with the other, even when they see the charges for their memberships on their bank statements. So, when someone goes after 1SKS because they got banned here... that's not cool.

It takes a special kind of person to do this sort of thing, so I figure I'd let you guys know about this, should anyone want to do business with him in the future, say on another website.

Now, I'm not one to tell you guys to go spam ResellerRatings.com with positive reviews for BladeForums.com (and by extension, OneStopKnifeShop.com) because that would be kinda unethical. Lord knows, I couldn't stop you from taking your transaction number from your automated membership receipt, and putting in a positive review for BladeForums.com, if you really wanted to do that. But that said, this was pretty friggin underhanded of him and not at all justified. So do yourself a favor and watch out for this guy.

So, if you should run into a buyer with any of this contact information:
Stephen Edwards
W10965 US Hwy 8, #15
Bruce, WI 54819
US
Chris60566@hotmail.com
651-343-6331

I'd really suggest you think twice. He seems pretty irrational and potentially unstable.
 
Spark,I sell,so thanks for the heads up. His name sounds familiar,Stephen of Bruce.Or was that from BraveHeart
 
Wow... That dude is truly messed up. The threats he makes, sound like something a 15 year old punk would make.

If I don't get my way, your going to regret it. Seriously ? It really is crappy, and juvenile, to take a cheap shot at your business.
 
Dangit, you almost tricked me into posting like it was W&C or the cove. Putting platinum on order.
 
Stuff like this is always interesting to me. I mean, how does someone actually believe that they can say or do anything they want on property that belongs to someone else. It's like if I walked into someones house, told them their wife was ugly, urinated on the rug, and broke some dinnerware then insisted that they treat me to a beer and a popsickle. I mean...really? What goes thru someones mind when they do that?

To be fair, I don't know all of the details here. Personally, I'd probably let the initial statement (about CS that is) go but I can see how someone may challenge it. Afterward is where, IMHO, it heads downhill; there isn't any real excuse for this guys actions after that. I love lurking GBU as its a great study in human psychology.
 
f you get banned from LA Fitness because you were pissing on the equipment, do you get your membership dues back?

If you get kicked out of Disney World because you punched Goofy in the nuts, do you get your entrance pass charge returned?

If you get ejected from a baseball game for jumping on the field and running the bases nekkid, do you get your ticket price refunded?

If you get tossed out of a skin bar because you couldn't keep your hands to yourself, do you get your cover charge back?
 
Planterz said:
f you get banned from LA Fitness because you were pissing on the equipment, do you get your membership dues back?

If you get kicked out of Disney World because you punched Goofy in the nuts, do you get your entrance pass charge returned?

If you get ejected from a baseball game for jumping on the field and running the bases nekkid, do you get your ticket price refunded?

If you get tossed out of a skin bar because you couldn't keep your hands to yourself, do you get your cover charge back?
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OMGLMFAO

I was literally thinking about 3 out of 4 of those. THank you for posting what I was thinking.
 
As I said Mr Schlossberg, welcome to the or else, you will regret having stolen this particular $50.00, and stolen it you have! You are about to find out how vulnerable a thing a reputation happens to be, especiially to a business that essentially sells trinkets over the internet. It will be quite simple to gather up a large collection of disgruntled customers Mr Schlossberg, and turn them loose upon you in a focused action! Yes Mr Schlossberg, very very simple. Please, do keep my correspondence, I've kept your's, and your employee's. Let's discover, you and I, just how far the theft of $50.00 takes us. I anticipate that you are going to "rue the day" you chose to steal from me.
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Is it just me who reads this like it's being said by a cheesy James Bond villain?

"Yes, Mr. Schlossberg, you WILL pay! I have a plan, Mr. Schlossberg. An evil, evil plan!"

I picture him stroking a white cat...
 
I propose that when a BF user takes the plunge and pays for a subscription to BF,
and then proceeds to get his silly ass banned shortly there after, be called "Getting Finned".

Leadfoot
 
Perhaps it would be a good Idea for Mr. Stephen Edwards to get his little nose outta the J.R.R. Tolkein books long enough to seek professional help for his feelings of Narcissistic Entitlement and Delusions of Granduer.
 
On a more serious note, I think it'd be really useful if the mods posted up a "this is the kind of stuff that gets you banned thread" where guys like Fin and others (don't want to name names) can made example of. For example, there'd a be a link to this guy and a brief explanation of "don't sass the mods or you will be banned" (or something to that effect.)
 
Planterz said:
f you get banned from LA Fitness because you were pissing on the equipment, do you get your membership dues back?

If you get kicked out of Disney World because you punched Goofy in the nuts, do you get your entrance pass charge returned?

If you get ejected from a baseball game for jumping on the field and running the bases nekkid, do you get your ticket price refunded?

Wow, you lead an interesting life! Congrats on that Goofy ball shot though, the annoying dog-thing had it coming.

If you get tossed out of a skin bar because you couldn't keep your hands to yourself, do you get your cover charge back?
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Wow, you lead an interesting life! Congrats on that Goofy ball shot though, the annoying dog-thing had it coming.
 
It should also be pointed out that the mods of BFC aren't employees of Spark's or 1SKS, nor are they compensated in any way for their time spent moderating the forums.
 
While Finarfin sounds like sort of a b@stard, and apparently a sort of diligent stalker-esc one as i personally had no idea you owned/operated onestopknifeshop.com, the inital mod response was quite confrontational. Im not saying it was wrong and am not taking sides, in fact if the end goal was to get him banned it worked quite well, but maybe tone down the responses a little so you dont have crazy people going after you web-being and/or businesses.

Also now that i know about your business, Do you have the new Condor 2012 line in stock? Im especially interested in the Engineer Bolo.
 
Planterz said:
f you get banned from LA Fitness because you were pissing on the equipment, do you get your membership dues back?

If you get kicked out of Disney World because you punched Goofy in the nuts, do you get your entrance pass charge returned?

If you get ejected from a baseball game for jumping on the field and running the bases nekkid, do you get your ticket price refunded?

If you get tossed out of a skin bar because you couldn't keep your hands to yourself, do you get your cover charge back?
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Goofy has nuts? Wait what?
 
This guy was a problem child from day one. He came on with a supercilious attitude, even when some moderation was done to an early thread he had participated in to keep it from getting out of hand.

Then after he was advised to tone down his act, he came back with his haughty reply deflecting any personal responsibility and challenging me to a pissing contest.

When he got dinged for the "sass" and was provided an explanation as to why, (which did not put him "overboard" since the point total was still below the threshold), his reply was simply to send me the "jerkit" emoticon.

That plunged him into the shark infested waters.

So, bottom line is that he had the opportunity to stay and participate, (even if he wasn't destined to be Mr. Popularity by any stretch), but he decided that he'd rather be hoist with his own petard, as it were. He made his choice and fully deserves his comeuppance imho.
 
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