If you are a Knifemaker....then be a Knifemaker

The grass on the other side of the (proverbial) fence is greener, but that is because it comes with more potent fertilizer. Usually.
 
Those makers who no longer post here because of the $75 fee they did not want to pay to be able to share their work and knowledge obviously did not need Bladeforums to advertise...because if they did then they would have paid the $75, but instead they just took their knowledge and left.

I miss those guys...Fellholeter, Dave Sharp, Tai Goo and many more. They are doing fine without BF but BF is less of a resource without them.

So BF does not get their $75 nor their valuable information.

The information these top makers have value....I guess it is just not $75 worth to Blade forum.

But rules are rules and until the rule maker changes the rules nothing changes
 
AVigil said:
Those makers who no longer post here because of the $75 fee they did not want to pay to be able to share their work and knowledge obviously did not need Bladeforums to advertise...because if they did then they would have paid the $75, but instead they just took their knowledge and left.

I miss those guys...Fellholeter, Dave Sharp, Tai Goo and many more. They are doing fine without BF but BF is less of a resource without them.

So BF does not get their $75 nor their valuable information.

The information these top makers have value....I guess it is just not $75 worth to Blade forum.

But rules are rules and until the rule maker changes the rules nothing changes
Click to expand...

:thumbup:
 
AVigil said:
Those makers who no longer post here because of the $75 fee they did not want to pay to be able to share their work and knowledge obviously did not need Bladeforums to advertise...because if they did then they would have paid the $75, but instead they just took their knowledge and left.

I miss those giuys...Fellholeter, Dave Sharp, Tai Goo and many more. They are doing fine without BF but BF is less of a resource without them.
Click to expand...

No disrespect at all towards you, however it could also be said that if they wanted to "share" knowledge or experience then they could have stayed and done just that. But they left instead.

Tai Goo makes awesome stuff. I don't think he left over the fee. Nor do I think the acknowledged vacum is the result of the fee to be a knife maker, in all cases. I still believe its multifaceted. They all had their own reasons.
 
ron_m80 said:
No disrespect at all towards you, however it could also be said that if they wanted to "share" knowledge or experience then they could have stayed and done just that. But they left instead.

Tai Goo makes awesome stuff. I don't think he left over the fee. Nor do I think the acknowledged vacum is the result of the fee to be a knife maker, in all cases. I still believe its multifaceted. They all had their own reasons.
Click to expand...

If they did not not have a "Knifemakers membership" they were told they could not post pictures of their work and they were told very specifically to "Stop being a freeloader" Tai Goo posted a link to an information blog and was banned for it because he did not have a knifemakers membership.

I am not making a guess here.... I have told by several of those who left...why they left

But hey...this place has rules and they should be kept.

But that does not mean all the rules make it better
 
Tai Goo didn't leave of his own accord, he was banned. Rightfully so.

From my humble POV, he was not banned for posting links, he was banned for being a contentious ne'er-do-well and an unrepentant troll. He embarked on a weird campaign of purposely fouling-up every thread he could find, and eventually people got sick of it. He pushed the mods' patience as far as he possibly could, on purpose, and they finally said "Screw it, this guy is not doing anything but causing trouble".

Sadly, a lot of other serious makers left voluntarily around that same time, because they were also tired of the personality conflicts and BS and answering the same questions over and over.

Don't take my word for it, look it up yourself; it's all still archived here.
 
Like I said he was banned.

And yes he posted a link to his blog after being told not to post links or pictures without a knifemakers membership.

Rules are the rules...

You break them and there are consequences.

You may of thought him a troll but that does not diminish him being a legend in the knifemaking community
 
james terrio said:
Tai Goo didn't leave of his own accord, he was banned. Rightfully so.

From my humble POV, he was not banned for posting links, he was banned for being a contentious ne'er-do-well and an unrepentant troll. He embarked on a weird campaign of purposely fouling-up every thread he could find, and eventually people got sick of it. He pushed the mods' patience as far as he possibly could, on purpose, and they finally said "Screw it, this guy is not doing anything but causing trouble".

Sadly, a lot of other serious makers left voluntarily around that same time, because they were also tired of the personality conflicts and BS and answering the same questions over and over.

Don't take my word for it, look it up yourself; it's all still archived here.
Click to expand...

Basically correct James.
Tai Goo was banned for being abrasive. Insulting a moderator and ignoring a direct warning from Spark.
Fellhoelter still stops in.... to be insulting, but basically left after repeatedly being asked to remove advertising as a registered user.
Moderators aren't here to babysit people.

AVigil said:
But hey...this place has rules and they should be kept.
Click to expand...

The rules are pretty simple and fair. They should be followed. Noone has the right to be buttsore if they repeatedly break or ignore them and are called on it.

Spark said:
Just to hop in on this:

We have very simple rules; if you don't help keep the site open with a paid subscription, you don't get to advertise here.

A Knifemaker's membership is $75 a year. $6.25 a month. The prices were just raised a month or two ago from $60 a year after being that rate for around a decade.

Now, in comparison, if you want to advertise in a knife magazine, a 1/3rd page vertical ad on ONE PAGE will run you around $700 or so each month (depending on the magazine) if you commit to a 12 month contract. Do the math.

Hell, for the price of a three year knifemaker's membership I will even set you up with your own personal knifemaker's forum AND you still get the whole three years membership.

I've talked with various makers and a number of other industry professionals and they all agree that a membership here is the best advertising dollars they've ever spent.

Why is this so difficult for some people to understand?
Click to expand...
 
AVigil said:
You may of thought him a troll but that does not diminish him being a legend in the knifemaking community
Click to expand...

I very much do think he was acting the fool, on purpose towards the end of his participation here. To wit, a troll. As I said before, don't take my word for it, look up his posts for yourself. It's pretty dang clear that he was only trying to alienate people and be disruptive. I don't give a hoot in heck how good a maker is, I don't respect that kind of behavior.

Whether or not he's a "legend" depends upon whom you ask.

I might point out that Tai is one of very few people who's been banned for their conduct in ST over the last several years... what does that tell you? It tells me that the folks who run this particular wing of the asylum are pretty laid-back, and you really have go out of your way to set them off.

Spark said:
I've talked with various makers and a number of other industry professionals and they all agree that a membership here is the best advertising dollars they've ever spent.

Why is this so difficult for some people to understand?
Click to expand...

I agree with that (not that it matters; it's Sparks forum and he can run it any dang way he dang well pleases).

I'm very comfortable with the rules here, even though I'm not a guy who generally takes well to "rules". I learned a good deal of what I know about knifemaking here over the last several years. My participation in, and membership with BladeForums, goes a long way to paying my mortgage. No one here has ever held me back from pursuing that; quite the contrary.

I sincerely do not understand the "problem" here.

I have an appointment for a phone convo with someone I respect very much tomorrow. Hopefully he will help enlighten me about whatever it is that I'm missing about this "controversy".
 
Last edited:
Just for the record, Tai asked to be banned in a tirade he posted to the mods. Even though we had issues on the forums, he and I kept in touch for a long time after he was gone. He would be welcome to come back and participate if he follows the rules.
 
Rules are the Rules and are here for a reason. NOONE, no matter your name or how much knowledge they could share should be gifted a membership just to come and post here.
If they are doing so great for themselves then the Knifemaker Dues should not be that much of a burden to them. If they have so much knowledge to share they should be willing to share just to share and give back without expecting something in return. Just because you have the ability to sell a lot of knives at high prices does mean you should get special treatment. There is still a lot of info to be gained from this site with or without these makers that are not here anymore, you just have to know the right questions to ask or the right phrases to search for.
 
bladsmth said:
Just for the record, Tai asked to be banned in a tirade he posted to the mods. Even though we had issues on the forums, he and I kept in touch for a long time after he was gone. He would be welcome to come back and participate if he follows the rules.
Click to expand...
I can back Stacy on this one. Tai was a huge influence on me and even though he could be a crazy-assed bastard at times(hi Tai!), he was brilliant on many occasions. We had as much in common as we didn't, if that makes sense. As I said a few times when things got ugly... Tai Goo, brought out the best and worst of Shop Talk.
 
I miss many of the great makers who felt they were pushed away from BF. There were many different reasons... some I agree with, others I don't and there are many I don't have an opinion on due to lack of background info. I want to sympathize with the latest rash of folks who have a problem with BF rules, but at the same time, I'm pretty sure I could get along just fine with a Registered User membership. I don't see the issue. Again, I don't know the details of personal conversations, either.
 
AVigil said:
If they did not not have a "Knifemakers membership" they were told they could not post pictures of their work and they were told very specifically to "Stop being a freeloader" Tai Goo posted a link to an information blog and was banned for it because he did not have a knifemakers membership.

I am not making a guess here.... I have told by several of those who left...why they left
Click to expand...

It has already been said but I'll reiterate. The reasons you've stated as to why Tai Goo was banned are incorrect. I banned Tai Goo for none of the reasons you've mentioned. Karda is correct as Tai Goo basically banned himself with his not so clever nastiness towards other members here AND ignoring a straight forward warning from the site owner.
 
People leave for lots of reasons. I just read a Buck forum thread where one of the good guys said he's taking a break. To make a Break ...

In the thread, another member posted a link to advice he wrote up on POSTING WITH CIVILITY.

I was glad to read that right after I had caught up on this discussion. I think the very different situations actually have a lot in common.
 
People leave for lots of reasons. I just read a Buck forum thread where one of the good guys said he's taking a break. To make a Break ...

In the thread, another member posted a link to advice he wrote up on POSTING WITH CIVILITY.

I was glad to read that right after I had caught up on this discussion. I think the very different situations actually have a lot in common.
 
Morrow said:
It has already been said but I'll reiterate. The reasons you've stated as to why Tai Goo was banned are incorrect. I banned Tai Goo for none of the reasons you've mentioned. Karda is correct as Tai Goo basically banned himself with his not so clever nastiness towards other members here AND ignoring a straight forward warning from the site owner.
Click to expand...

Oh Ok...


It was not the only reason but did lead up to his banning and was the second to the last post he made.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/983161-Educational-Blog-Ring

Hey he broke the rules and got banned for it, thanks for explaining the other reasons for it as well.
 
For me, and for many, the dues are a great value and I think that bladeforums is a very well run site. Quality content is what makes a site like this financially viable and I personally (if it was my decision to make) would at the very least provide my top quality content providers free membership, even just to show them I appreciate their contribution. Does anyone REALLY think that Stacy or Nick Wheeler or several others, that have provided a tremendous amount of original quality content to the site for years should have to "pay to play" the same as someone who just uses the site to advertise and sell their product?
 
james terrio said:
They wouldn't need a CC, just an e-mail and a registered (free) account. Running a maker's subforum gives one the privilege to edit out frivolous or troublesome posts. My name shows up in red only because I have my own subforum, so I can clean things up there if need be; I have no "moderator powers" anywhere but there.



Neither Stacy nor the SuperMods who oversee the entire forum have ever said that anyone couldn't share their knowledge and techniques here, and/or show finished work or WIPs, regardless of membership level or expertise. They've explained that over and over and over again . The rules just say you can't advertise or sell without the proper membership. It's really quite simple, and I think it's plenty fair.

I have no idea why that "controversy" keeps coming up, or why someone would need to be "bribed" with a free maker's membership in order to contribute. :confused: As just one example, Kevin Cashen was "merely" a registered member here for years and years, and wrote scads of very useful threads and replies. I for one learned a great deal from his input here and if I'm not mistaken a lot of it is still in the stickies.

There's nothing but themselves stopping anyone from contributing whatever knowledge or guidance they want here ... as it should be. If dumb questions and misinformed "answers" annoy you, either reply to them with correct information or simply scroll past them.
Click to expand...


There was a short time were the rules were interpreted as any photo from any maker without a paid membership was considered advertising.

That has since been cleared up, but it put off some that have never come back



I believe that Kevin is gone from here because TG chased after him like a dog after a stick.
It's a litte ironic now that they have both moved to Knife dogs

Once their gone I don't know what you would have to do to get them back.
 
Last edited:
12345678910 said:
There was a short time were the rules were interpreted as any photo from any maker without a paid membership was considered advertising.

That has since been cleared up, but it put off some that have never come back



I believe that Kevin is gone from here because TG chased after him like a dog after a stick.
It's a litte ironic now that they have both moved to Knife dogs

Once their gone I don't know what you would have to do to get them back.
Click to expand...

Here is that thread where Kevin without a membership posted a pict and "Wild Rose" jumped all over it http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/961759-A-Blade-Show-sneak-preview

I was lucky enough to see the pict before it was removed. It would be great if makers like Kevin did not have to pay to have him show us his work here simply because it benefits the forum so much to have him participate.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top