Kershaw has requested closure of this forum.

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MDQBox said:
WTF? Why? Are they trying to control content or what is being discussed about them? You would think an active forum discussing/praising/critiquing your product would be a GOOD thing?
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You'd think. Lots more going on than we see. The timing here is very unfortunate due to the emergence of the Elmax controversy, which can really hurt Kai in practically no time if it's not addressed with aggressive openness. The impression left is not doing them any good, so I hope they get "down on all fours" about this issue in the general forum.
 
I'm not too surprised, or overly disappointed. I would've been, a while back, but not anymore. This subforum wasn't being moderated very well. Not even going into the complete intolerance for any sort of criticism...the general environment here actively fostered the creation of fanboys, which is something that affects all of Bladeforums. (Look at any of the KAI-related topics in General.)
KAICorp really should've tried to learn from Sal Glesser. The Spyderco forum is everything that the Kershaw forum wasn't. Constructive criticism is listened to, learned from, and occasionally acted upon, rather than suppressed. (If a problem was discovered with Spyderco's Elmax, I can assure you, it would have been handled in a drastically different manner than what was seen here. They've recalled products based on forum feedback before.) And because of that attitude towards criticism, although there are tons of Spyderco fans here, there aren't too many fanboys.

... too bad things turned out this way. I would've preferred for a different moderation style to be adopted, but better that the forum be shut down than continue the way it is now.
 
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To me, this feels like a slap in the face from KAI to the those of us who have been avid and loyal Kershaw and ZT collectors. This forum is the main conduit for users to interface with the company in something other than a sales/customer service setting. Their decision to close their sub forum is like saying 'We really don't care to get involved with those who buy our products'. While I'm sure that the members of Blade Forums accounts for only a tiny percentage of their sales overall, many of us buy A LOT of their knives. I just counted, and I currently have 43 Kershaw or ZT knives. At this point, I see that number getting drastically smaller.

It doesn't take all that much moderating to keep a sub forum like this running. For the most part it runs itself, so it can't be that it's just 'Too much work' for a couple of folks at KAI to pop in on occasion. And closing the forum due to a few troll users is VERY thin skinned. If they believe in their product, they should be able to take the bad reviews with the good. From what I've seen, most of the members take care of slapping down the trolls anyway.

All in all, it just seems like very bad form on the part of KAI to shut down the whole sub forum.
 
MDQBox said:
WTF? Why? Are they trying to control content or what is being discussed about them? You would think an active forum discussing/praising/critiquing your product would be a GOOD thing?
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And even more ridiculous is that they get free advertising. 100% free. They have a platform already set up and get a ridiculous amount of exposure on here. Most niche hobbies have a forum. There's usually one forum for any given hobby that dwarfs the other forums for that hobby. BFC is the largest knife forum on the internet. This is the best place for a knife company to advertise, and KAI is walking away again. Can they not find a suitable customer service rep to handle the very light subforum moderating duties? It's really not difficult to remove spambots and ask people to stay on topic when things get heated. I've been a moderator on other forums and I know exactly what happens when moderators get overzealous and try to micromanage. It causes drama and butthurt ensues. What I take from this is that KAI was trying to censor people and is walking away because they realize they can't do that.

5.56 said:
Jog off, dude.

There no need for this crap here. Show some respect to a righteous company.
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A righteous company wouldn't get butthurt over mild criticism and wouldn't pack up and leave the largest forum that caters to their hobby simply because they can't micromanage comments and silence people. A righteous company would let people criticize, do some investigation to see if the points raised are actually legitimate, and report findings. This behavior is indicative of a company that doesn't understand how to respond to criticism, and that's not a good thing.

I really wish KAI would find 1 customer service rep who understands how to moderate a subforum and place that person in charge instead of whoever was in charge before. I'm not trying to criticize KAI as a company or their products, rather their actions on here. I like several KAI products, but the way the company handles itself on here has been less than ideal. I can't see myself buying any more of their products knowing this is how they behave.
 
And to close this thing down on national knife and on my birthday is a real slap in the face.:p
I do believe this forum is very good PR even with few bad eggs that push the mods into a fight from time to time. You will be missed.
KrisOK said:
To me, this feels like a slap in the face from KAI to the those of us who have been avid and loyal Kershaw and ZT collectors. This forum is the main conduit for users to interface with the company in something other than a sales/customer service setting. Their decision to close their sub forum is like saying 'We really don't care to get involved with those who buy our products'. While I'm sure that the members of Blade Forums accounts for only a tiny percentage of their sales overall, many of us buy A LOT of their knives. I just counted, and I currently have 43 Kershaw or ZT knives. At this point, I see that number getting drastically smaller.

It doesn't take all that much moderating to keep a sub forum like this running. For the most part it runs itself, so it can't be that it's just 'Too much work' for a couple of folks at KAI to pop in on occasion. And closing the forum due to a few troll users is VERY thin skinned. If they believe in their product, they should be able to take the bad reviews with the good. From what I've seen, most of the members take care of slapping down the trolls anyway.

All in all, it just seems like very bad form on the part of KAI to shut down the whole sub forum.
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I was amazed at how personally the moderator(s) seemed to take criticism. Probably better for them to shut it down if that's the best they could do.
 
Fanglekai said:
A righteous company wouldn't get butthurt over mild criticism and wouldn't pack up and leave the largest forum that caters to their hobby simply because they can't micromanage comments and silence people. A righteous company would let people criticize, do some investigation to see if the points raised are actually legitimate, and report findings. This behavior is indicative of a company that doesn't understand how to respond to criticism, and that's not a good thing.

I really wish KAI would find 1 customer service rep who understands how to moderate a subforum and place that person in charge instead of whoever was in charge before. I'm not trying to criticize KAI as a company or their products, rather their actions on here. I like several KAI products, but the way the company handles itself on here has been less than ideal. I can't see myself buying any more of their products knowing this is how they behave.
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I agree with everything written here, except for that last bolded sentence. KAI makes good (and some great) knives, and supports those knives with excellent customer service. And, as far as I know, they've never screwed anyone over. That makes them alright by me... I'll continue to buy whatever of theirs appeals to me.
It's true, though, that the actions of their chosen moderator (and their previous chosen moderator :rolleyes:, though I do think Thomas W was slightly better,) don't reflect well on them.
 
Dan57 said:
I'm not too surprised, or overly disappointed. I would've been, a while back, but not anymore. This subforum wasn't being moderated very well. Not even going into the complete intolerance for any sort of criticism...the general environment here actively fostered the creation of fanboys, which is something that affects all of Bladeforums. (Look at any of the KAI-related topics in General.)
KAICorp really should've tried to learn from Sal Glesser. The Spyderco forum is everything that the Kershaw forum wasn't. Constructive criticism is listened to, learned from, and occasionally acted upon, rather than suppressed. (If a problem was discovered with Spyderco's Elmax, I can assure you, it would have been handled in a drastically different manner than what was seen here. They've recalled products based on forum feedback before.) And because of that attitude towards criticism, although there are tons of Spyderco fans here, there aren't too many fanboys.

... too bad things turned out this way. I would've preferred for a different moderation style to be adopted, but better that the forum be shut down than continue the way it is now.
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I agree strongly with this post. I don't do much posting at all on the forums, just reading, but I think KAI would have benefited from taking a different approach to the criticism.
 
Dan57 said:
I'm not too surprised, or overly disappointed. I would've been, a while back, but not anymore. This subforum wasn't being moderated very well. Not even going into the complete intolerance for any sort of criticism...the general environment here actively fostered the creation of fanboys, which is something that affects all of Bladeforums. (Look at any of the KAI-related topics in General.)
KAICorp really should've tried to learn from Sal Glesser. The Spyderco forum is everything that the Kershaw forum wasn't. Constructive criticism is listened to, learned from, and occasionally acted upon, rather than suppressed. (If a problem was discovered with Spyderco's Elmax, I can assure you, it would have been handled in a drastically different manner than what was seen here. They've recalled products based on forum feedback before.) And because of that attitude towards criticism, although there are tons of Spyderco fans here, there aren't too many fanboys.

... too bad things turned out this way. I would've preferred for a different moderation style to be adopted, but better that the forum be shut down than continue the way it is now.
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+1. I don't need to add a thing
 
I cooled off to KAI a little when Thomas stopped participating. Like Sal, he was different then your typical company mods. I could tell he was stressed and I sympathized with him and knew he needed a break from us. People like to complain and bust b__s. Thats the nature of the internet and frankly it can be very entertaining at times. Since Kershaw is probably a top three knife manufacturer, I think this forum is an additional form of customer service that should be provided to KIA's loyal customers. I could care less if a company representative participates or not. If I am having trouble with my Leek or Blur I want to talk to Kershaw sub-forum members, not general members.
I know it's a free country, and I know this forum has business policies that are followed. Nonetheless I think KAI made a bad financial decision. I am going to excercise my right as a consumer to show my displeasure.
 
Goodness, such a diverse amount of opinions. We're good, bad, suck, great, best wishes, good riddance. I don't know who/what we are now. :)

We're just shutting down the sub-forum people. There will still be participation from the company, it will just be on a smaller level.

Relax, as everything is going to be ok, promise.
 
Kai Corp. said:
Goodness, such a diverse amount of opinions. We're good, bad, suck, great, best wishes, good riddance. I don't know who/what we are now. :)

We're just shutting down the sub-forum people. There will still be participation from the company, it will just be on a smaller level.

Relax, as everything is going to be ok, promise.
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Which is exactly what you should expect.....

:)
 
Kai Corp. said:
Goodness, such a diverse amount of opinions. We're good, bad, suck, great, best wishes, good riddance. I don't know who/what we are now. :)

We're just shutting down the sub-forum people. There will still be participation from the company, it will just be on a smaller level.

Relax, as everything is going to be ok, promise.
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Thin skinned till the bitter end. :jerkit:
 
Dan57 said:
I'm not too surprised, or overly disappointed. I would've been, a while back, but not anymore. This subforum wasn't being moderated very well. Not even going into the complete intolerance for any sort of criticism...the general environment here actively fostered the creation of fanboys, which is something that affects all of Bladeforums. (Look at any of the KAI-related topics in General.)
KAICorp really should've tried to learn from Sal Glesser. The Spyderco forum is everything that the Kershaw forum wasn't. Constructive criticism is listened to, learned from, and occasionally acted upon, rather than suppressed. (If a problem was discovered with Spyderco's Elmax, I can assure you, it would have been handled in a drastically different manner than what was seen here. They've recalled products based on forum feedback before.) And because of that attitude towards criticism, although there are tons of Spyderco fans here, there aren't too many fanboys.

... too bad things turned out this way. I would've preferred for a different moderation style to be adopted, but better that the forum be shut down than continue the way it is now.
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Couldn't have said it better myself.
 
Dan57 said:
I'm not too surprised, or overly disappointed. I would've been, a while back, but not anymore. This subforum wasn't being moderated very well. Not even going into the complete intolerance for any sort of criticism...the general environment here actively fostered the creation of fanboys, which is something that affects all of Bladeforums. (Look at any of the KAI-related topics in General.)
KAICorp really should've tried to learn from Sal Glesser. The Spyderco forum is everything that the Kershaw forum wasn't. Constructive criticism is listened to, learned from, and occasionally acted upon, rather than suppressed. (If a problem was discovered with Spyderco's Elmax, I can assure you, it would have been handled in a drastically different manner than what was seen here. They've recalled products based on forum feedback before.) And because of that attitude towards criticism, although there are tons of Spyderco fans here, there aren't too many fanboys.

... too bad things turned out this way. I would've preferred for a different moderation style to be adopted, but better that the forum be shut down than continue the way it is now.
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I agree with you 100%
 
Kai Corp. said:
Goodness, such a diverse amount of opinions. We're good, bad, suck, great, best wishes, good riddance. I don't know who/what we are now. :)

We're just shutting down the sub-forum people. There will still be participation from the company, it will just be on a smaller level.

Relax, as everything is going to be ok, promise.
Click to expand...

Like they say, opinions are like... elbows, I guess. Everyone has a couple, they're all a little bit different, and most of them really aren't all that bad when you think about it.
 
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