How noteworthy are Forum members' opinions?

golok

golok

Joined
Oct 20, 2000
Messages
4,453
I sometimes wonder how does the Spyderco top brass assess the opinions of Spyderco enthusiasts?

It is no doublt quite a chore to sieve through the bagfuls of views and opinions of collectors and fans from all over the globe.

Understandably, most opinions would be based on emotions and individual perceptions. But being a collector, one does have the luxury of making all kinds of suggestions without a forethought of its practical considerations.

From the commercial standpoint, an erroneous judgement in deciding on the production of a particular blade can mean substantial losses, and you can't have too many of that.

So what are the signs that the Spyderco head honchos would look for, to ensure that a suggestion or viewpoint, in its practical application, can at least have a 60 per cent chance of being a winner?
 
The best way to improve your chances of getting your idea looked at is to start a thread with it that becomes a hot topic. Over at the Spydie house, we've had threads on forum knives, forum T-shirts, the Spyder-song butterfly knife, a make-your-own-Frankenstein knife thread, and others that have gotten well over 50 posts, and some areat 80 and 90 and still going. Sal reads those threads personally. Any time you have that many people voicing their opinion on one thing, it's worth looking at. In addition, there's Carlos and Ryan, two knowledgable Spyder-people who have Sal's ear when there's a major push for something on these boards.
 
Between here & the Forum on the Spydiesite, there exists a very high concentration of "dedicated" ELUs of Spyderco products. It's a given that Sal & Co. must keep their ears to the ground as per new designs & redesigns on existing SKUs- it stands to reason that part of that research would be reading these Forums. Many companies have existing policies concerning unsolicited design contributions- don't know how the folks in CO are handling that. Can't hurt to try- you may have a winner. Best of luck-
 
Hi Golok. "Top Brass" at Spyderco consists of Jeff (Spyderco VP), Warren (Sales/Mktg), Jack (CFO) and myself.

And yes, we do listen to everyone's opinion. And yes, we sometimes make costly mistakes. The real value of collector ULUs opinions is especially valuable on the smaller details that a novice might not notice or understand.

Certainly much of the input is based on looks and we always consider looks, but not at the expense of performance. It would not be practical to produce a model that nobody wants.

sal
 
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