...Thank you for your well thought out posting, and I for one appreciate your candor, and well intended comments.
Agreed, this should not become a 'Bash Jack' free-for-all, and not many of us want that...hopefully none of us.
That being said, there are some 'issues' here, and in no set priority...
1. "Is Jack Alvarez a knife dealer?" I've bought from Jack, sold to Jack, and traded with Jack...IMNSHO, Jack is NOT a dealer. There are those that would disagree. There are those that have personal agenda's. I'm not one of those people.
Did Jack write those ad lib pieces linked above? Obviously not, he doesn't possess the grammatical skills to write them. Did he have them written for him, 'Ghost written' if you will? Sure he did, he told me so on the phone.
Is this hearsay? You bet, and it means nothing, says nothing.
So, is Jack Alvarez a knife dealer? I said no above, and I'll clarify...Jack buys knives because he likes knives. He sells knives to buy other knives. He doesn't buy and sell knives to pay his bills, at least based on a years worth of deals, emails, and phone calls I've had with Jack...he never once mentioned how much 'profit' he made, or where the money went...other than to buy other knives.
Again, IMNSHO, Jack is not a knife dealer...a 'wheeler dealer' sure, but making income from his knife transactions, income used to support his financial obligations? No, I think not,and I stand by that until proven otherwise.
Should it, on the other hand, turn out that Jack is 'Wheeling and dealing' for a profit, and that said W&D is specifically profit driven, then by all means, Jack should ante up his $850. That is only fair to the other folks here that are in business, trying to make a buck off a knife. Nothing more, nothing less.
The question arises though...how many bucks need to be made before a person becomes a dealer? I bought 3 Marbles knives, and 4 Gerber knives at one swap meet for $35 per knife...and I sold them on ebay over the next week. I made about $500 when it was all done and said. I bought the knives because I knew I could 'turn' then at a profit...I then used that profit to buy more RMK's...does that make me a dealer?
It was a one time deal, not a trend or pattern...but where do you draw the line? (Has Jack figured this part out? Sure he has...have you?)
*note: I don't want this to misconstrued to be a defense of Jack either...I'm so freaking pissed at Jack for his poor behavior here that I could just about spit...so, I'll try to keep this posting germaine to the issues at hand.
Question #2. "Should Jack Alvarez get banned from BFC?" For what? Being a snot nosed brat? If so, then ban about 20 more of us too...you know the names, there are a bunch of us pricks here...Jack just happens to be the worst...and that's only because he doesn't know when to stop, he doesn't type well, and he's an open book.
This isn't a witch hunt folks...and just because Jack pissed you off doesn't mean he gets an automatic ban...censored, yes, a ban...no.
What do I mean by censored? A one month ban, to give the 'offender' some time to think things through...and a 'pep' talk, explaining the 'whys' behind the temporary ban...this wouldn't be a 'hall of shame' public announcement, just a private explanation that the offending behavior was disruptive, and that a second ban would be permanent!
Here's an example...we took a co-worker and his 10-year-old son shooting this last weekend. It was our second time shooting together. I rewarded the boy with a Swiss Army 'Tinker' knife and an author signed copy of the 'Swiss Army Knife Society' book for his 'adult' behavior during our last shoot.
Towards the end of our shoot on Saturday, he violated a safety rule, and took a shot he shouldn't have...after I blew the whistle, signaling him not to fire. I had to tell him that his day was done...he had to sit out the rest of the day.
10 years old, and the kid not only apologized, thanked me for the day, and the lesson learned...he wrote me a letter apologizing, stating that it wouldn't happen again...I received it in the mail today!!! Now, that's adult behavior, and a response based on gentle discipline. It works, and everyone wins.
Sharps, we're not trying to 'hurt' Jack...no one here wants to hurt the guy, we just want him to play nice, play fair, and to think before he speaks, er types.
This is OUR forum...not yours, not mine, and not Jack's...it's OURS, all of US. And yes, we do need to discipline our own...that's the way it works in the real world, that's the way it works here.
Jack? Jack's an ass...but he's our ass, and it's our job to help him become a more productive member of OUR forum...
The bottom line? There are just as many pleased BFC members here that have dealt with Jack as there are pissed off members. Paraphrased, "You pays yer money, and you takes yer chances"
Only YOU can decide if going into a deal with Jack to buy/sell/trade a knife is worth the abuse/pressure/bullsh*t that you MAY receive in return...
It's your nickel folks, you may get a diamond...you may get a lump of coal...
--More later, my two typing fingers are getting tired--
Mel