Law Of the Sharks, Rules, Tips, and Tricks

bear71 said:
I just took the KE Bushie on KSF as a gift for my wife. I'm not keen on the scales but she'll love it. Guess there are deals to be had. Wonder I she'll ever get to use it?
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No wonder it wasn't there when I went to look. Another bear71 attack. I hope she likes it. I have tried to get my wife interested in several hobbies of mine, but there just is not much interest on her side. She does enjoy the fact that I have replaced the food processor and am more than willing to cut anything that needs cutting.
 
Haha Walt. My wife loves my Fiddlebacks but I restrict her to bark river. This one will be for her alone, maybe.....
 
Thanks but I couldn't stand the scales on that one so I opted for the KPH the other day instead, curious as to how slicey it is. If I didn't already have a nice Woodchuck though I would love that scandi one.
 
bonafide said:
I'm not being uncivil .. but you chastising me for voicing my opinion certainly is.

I stand by my previously stated opinion. If you do not like how things are done .. find a different means to the item, crying about it doesn't solve problems.
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I see, just to clarify, You chastising people for having an opinion on what they want is ok as long as no one does it to you when you have an opinion. Noted.
 
Skystorm said:
I see, just to clarify, You chastising people for having an opinion on what they want is ok as long as no one does it to you when you have an opinion. Noted.
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AND you're still being uncivil. Maybe you should mind you're own behavior and stop trying to proctor mine.
 
mistwalker said:
Your making me want to turn on some stones here. But interestingly enough, it is apropos. The evening I gave up on gettng any Bushcrafter at all. and so made a deal for KE Bushie which I will use for the one year project anyway, because it will be here in time. Well, that evening I got an email offering a trade for the exact, and I do mean EXACT Bushcrafter I wanted. Tapered 5/32 O-1, high-but-not-full grind, OD scales over natural, with an orange pinstripe. It was THE knife I pictured in my mind every time I thought about the project. So, of course I couldn't let that go and had to figure out a way to cover both deals. I am very thankful for both, as oddly enough, I do actually need both. That said, if I ever meet this Mr. Murphy, I hope I am still young enough to kick his @$$ :)
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Mist, I'm so happy that you were able to get the Bushcrafter you've been looking for! I can't wait to see the article on it down the road.
 
bear71 said:
I'm sitting here with a beer listening to exile on Main Street and toasting you Mist. I'm very happy you found what you were looking for - the god of spalted steel is indeed omnipotent!
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Cheers Bear, I'll drink to that! Great album by the way!
 
thurin said:
Mist, I'm so happy that you were able to get the Bushcrafter you've been looking for! I can't wait to see the article on it down the road.
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You may want to pick up a copy of the May/June issue, #20, of SRI that will come out the first week of May ;)
 
To my Friends & FF Forum Members,

Since it was my post last Friday that led to four pages of responses and comments here, I want to take the time to debrief you on what led to my strategy. I also want to respond to your collective comments, concerns, and assumptions as follows:

1) Personal Background: I have been on this sub-forum for about six months after receiving my 1st Fiddleback (an older used Bushfinger) in a trade deal. I fumbled around on Fridays for a couple of months trying to learn the buying process. I watched what happened and read every post, description, and picture that I could to learn about the knives and decide which models that I was interested in. I finally settled on Shadetree burlap handled knives as my theme, with an occasional venture into other synthetics. I anticipate topping out at twelve knives eventually, unless Andy ventures into making bigger kitchen knives. I have seven Fiddleback knives so far prior to last Friday. I am in the collector/user category that mistwalker described. With rare exceptions, I don’t buy and keep multiples of any model of knife.

2) My Strategy Last Friday: My remaining wish list going into Friday included finding any of the following five knives (in order of priority) with Shadetree burlap scales: Woodsman, Camp Nessmuk, Camp Knife, Nessmuk, and a thicker-handled Bushfinger.

When the fotki photos popped-up, I discovered three of the five I wanted were available in the same week. There are a lot of very fast posters here. I knew that the competition would be very fierce, especially for the Camp Knife and the Woodsman. I didn’t expect to be the first responder given the level of competition lately. I wanted to up my odds of scoring at least one of the three and my fear was that going after them one post at a time would lead to three misses. That was when I had the thought to combine all of my requests into one post and “cast a wide net” to score at least one, and maybe two, if things really went my way. I really did not go into the day with the hope or illusion of scoring all three. That was what actually happened because I got lucky enough to be the first post. I had a once-in-a-blue moon lucky Hat Trick result this week.

3) My Best Tip to Share: This is what I have learned since my original tips post that Andy quoted at the start of this thread.

a) Use Andy’s “fotki” photo hosting site to pre-shop the week’s offerings. Decide specifically what knife or knives you are interested in buying. The photos are typically up for 30 minutes to 2 hours before the FF ad gets posted.
b) Open a blank Word document and type out your “I’ll take it” message along with the exact description (as close as possible) of the knife or knives you want to buy. When you are done writing, save it and right-click to copy the reply.
c) Go back to the Fiddleback sub-forum to wait for the ad to be posted. Have your mouse positioned at the spot where the ad is going to come up so you are ready to left-click (or double-click) right away when the ad appears.
d) Refresh, refresh, refresh, refresh,…………………………………………………………………….etc. I cannot overemphasize the importance of being focused and disciplined with this step if you want to be successful.
e) When the ad hits the forum, left-click (or double-click) to open it, then position the mouse over the scroll bar on the right hand side and drag it all the way down to the “post-quick reply” box.
f) Paste you’re your pre-copied reply from step “b” above and then hit “submit reply.”
g) Refresh after submitting your reply to see how you did.

4) Deep Pockets: I work as a mid-level manager in a small manufacturing company. I make a good wage, but I am not a Wall Street investment banker looking to corner the Fiddleback market. The thing that worked out for me last week was finding out on Tuesday that my tax return was going to be bigger than I expected. For one week, that windfall allowed me the confidence to know that I could cover my all-in bet so to speak.

5) Dealer/Re-Sellers/Secondary Market: I am not a Dealer. I am not a bulk buyer looking to profit from re-selling at scalper prices. I agree that I don’t want to see this forum degenerate into something like the Busse forum re-sale model.

What limited selling and trading that I have done (or will do) here is for one of two reasons: a) Something about the exact knife I received just didn’t “do it” for me, such as the handle thickness or balance. b) I have a chance to upgrade a certain model to a configuration that I like better.

6) “Superior Computer Skills”: I reject this notion completely as it pertains to me. Most 10 year olds these days have more computer skills than me. I am proficient enough to do my job, but that is about it. My co-workers mock me because I still type with just my two index fingers. I do not have Paypal, Twitter, Facebook, or any other whiz-bang social media accounts. I am not a programmer or a “gamer.” I am old fashioned enough to still read paper books and send Andy a personal check for my purchases.
I think that the one thing that I did that gave the illusion that I have some secret voodoo skills was that I copied the fotki photos and pasted them into my reply. I did this to make it crystal clear which knives I was interested in. Andy said that this added confusion to the process, so I won’t do it again.
The one area where I see an inherent disadvantage for some members is that they are operating on a wireless smartphone or tablet with less function options versus a tradition computer connected to a router. Everyone here is free to choose the best tool for them to use on Fridays.

7) “Fairness”: I think that I have demonstrated the willingness to share what I know to help others and even the playing field. This thread started with Andy quoting my “Tips for Sharks” post to help all the new members. Several newbies replied how helpful that was for them. Including what I just added in #3 above, I have shared every tip or trick that I know. Have you?
I am going to state something here that will probably be perceived as controversial. Please read it and reflect on it for 24 hours before you fire off an angry reply. I think that “fairness” has become the politically correct code word to cover the real message of “I didn’t get what I wanted and I am mad about that.” It is human nature that we all come into Fridays with some personal expectations for a good outcome. If our expectations are not met, we are disappointed or possibly mad because someone got creative and/or lucky enough to out-shark you this time. If that happens, the battle cry is raised to add or change real or perceived rules in the name of “fairness”, which translated means; “I want a better chance of having my expectations met next week.” I agree that we should have an even-playing field for all. I will support and abide by any rules that Andy makes because this is his virtual business store.

8) Conclusion: I am very sorry that I have angered so many of you this week. That was not my intent. I apologize for causing so many hard feelings among the loyal visitors to Andy’s place of business.

Even though there is no rule against multiple purchases in a single post or a single week, I will personally commit to never using the “cast a wide net” strategy again. I will also commit to only buying one knife per week going forward. I willingly make this commitment because I value the friendships and sense of community here much more than scoring multiple knives in a week.

Thanks for reading my lengthy reply.

Best regards,

Phil
 
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Phil, thanks for your response, I for one hope you don't feel as if there was any malice directed at you personally. I reckon I was happier before I knew about the 'Fotki Factor", when i waited for the thread on a friday not knowing what would be available, the sense of frustration at not getting a knife I wanted was less acute. This is for sure an Andy decision, but if there was a way to make the Fotki folder private until the thread was posted, it would eradicate any claims of unfair advantage. The same knives would still be available and the same interested parties could still stake a claim but nobody would go into the frenzy with a decision on what knife they wanted already made. Just a thought..
 
bear71 said:
Phil, thanks for your response, I for one hope you don't feel as if there was any malice directed at you personally. I reckon I was happier before I knew about the 'Fotki Factor", when i waited for the thread on a friday not knowing what would be available, the sense of frustration at not getting a knife I wanted was less acute. This is for sure an Andy decision, but if there was a way to make the Fotki folder private until the thread was posted, it would eradicate any claims of unfair advantage. The same knives would still be available and the same interested parties could still stake a claim but nobody would go into the frenzy with a decision on what knife they wanted already made. Just a thought..
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Julian,

I think that your suggestion some real merit. We'll see what develops in the coming weeks,

Best regards,

Phil
 
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Phil,
I agree with Jules; good response and no need to justify yourself. I would second the thought that I hope there is no malcontent over all of this -- your strategy was an honest one and it paid off. Until Andy establishes or provides further guidance for the shark tank, we all will need to stay the course and continue murdering our F5 keys every Friday! :D

As a supplement to one of your above talking points and for everyone else's info -- ...from a networking perspective there are no "short cuts" or secrets to effective sharking (again from a network performance perspective)... in fact our weekly frenzies actually work against us. I have mentioned this in a previous post, but will bring it to light again for everyone's consideration. If anyone is not familiar with a DDOS attack, look here:

(http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial-of-service_attack)

In layman's terms, DDOS (distributed denial of Service) attacks occur when a host server sees a massive influx of traffic from numerous external sources converge on a single page or site resource. The server (depending on configuration) will do one of a few things; attempt to block the incoming connections, re-route them, or just "take it on the chin". Options 1&3 are far more labor intensive than option 2, and since this is an open, semi-public forum that wants external traffic, the servers used to host the forum/sub-forum are more than likely configured to just keep chugging along despite the enormous uptick in traffic. Now in a true DDOS, inevitably, the target server cannot keep up with the exponentially mounting traffic or service requests and either slows to a grinding halt or crashes/fails all together...

So what does all of this mean? Well think of it like this, every time every single one of us press F5 on friday, you are asking the BF servers to re-serve you our sub-forum homepage. Now on average from 12PM EST - 5PM EST there are on average 85-100 members on the site. Lets now take that number and do some basic math...

- 100 users press F5 every 60 seconds (I'm being very generous here)
- That equates to 100 requests for the BF servers to re-serve the page every minute
- This in turn means that best-case scenario, the BF server is re-serving the site no less than 6,000 times per hour.
- The sub-forum home page size is 311kb; per hour this equates to 1.8TB of data the BF servers are re-sending (globally) every hour (in theory) to the sharks in waiting
- Typical Friday frenzies last about 3-4 hours before the event actually goes down, so at that rate the sharks have forced the BF servers to serve up a theoretical 6.95TB of data just handling site refreshes. This does not account for folks trolling the flea market, performing searches, etc.
- I'm going somewhere with this I promise!
- Because BF provides managed hosting to Andy and other dealers, most of the above-stated digital leg-work is being carried out by virtual machines residing on racks and racks of blade servers.
- Now, if the FBF sub-forum were say a bank or other operations critical website, there would be some guarantee of site continuity despite a DDOS like occurrence... i.e. we can guarantee 1,000 simultaneous connections at XXMBps... unfortunately this is not the case.
- So, to bring this all together, despite our best efforts to obtain our grail fiddlebacks, we are all in essence DDOS'ing ourselves every Friday afternoon, with the byproduct being sitewide latency and even crashes. I can't tell you how many times I've seen BF throw a 503 database error and just go down on a Friday due to several similar sub-forums all swimming with knife-hungry Friday sharks.

However, if you're still reading, there is hope. Although we cannot mitigate the human factor in all of this (I don't believe any of us will cease in our incessant F5 mashing), it is possible to guarantee some continuity on our end of things to ensure that we have the best possible chance of success. Aside from all of the other planning-type tips in this thread, I submit the following:

1. USE A HARDWIRED CONNECTION IF AT ALL POSSIBLE!!!! Even of you have 802.11N or better, there is latency. Treat it like online gaming; winners consistently frag because they are plugged in -- losers are playing on their mom's DSL wi-fi :D

2. Run your browser in incognito, that way every time you hard refresh, nothing is cached -- ensuring a fresh page is served

3. Blade forum sets its own unique cookies and cache space (dunno why); rule of thumb, once the pics are posted, log out and log back in! Then hard refresh as often as needed. I've seen this forum in particular do some pretty odd stuff due to the way VBB is designed.

4. Be patient, and try not to refresh every minute / 30sec / 10sec. etc... I say this because per the above scenario, you are causing latency for yourself and the site. If you are mashing F5 every chance you get, you may actually causing yourself (and others) a delay in the page serving itself.

So, food for thought... and note, this was a very brown bag description of the implication of F5-driven sharking. :)
 
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Just a note... before Fiddleback Friday posts of just model names (I'll take the Bushfinger) and posts of numbers (004), and the such, it seemed there was around a minute lag time where people quilckly perused the posting.
 
Thank goodness for the fiddleback flea market. Sharks will be sharks...

If I had the money, I would have done the same thing Comp'.
 
Wow, love the CSI-like analysis of the shark tank. I feel like I just stepped out of organic chemistry class back in college! :)

I second the Dude's notion. Comp - I if had identified 3 knives in fotki that I really wanted, and had the cash on hand, I'd have tried to do the same thing. Probably would have been unsuccessful, but would have tried none the less. No worries on that.

I haven't really responded to this debate yet, as I don't really have strong feelings either way. I kind of think it's funny, and entertaining, how competitive it is. I'm glad there is such demand for Andy's products.
 
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Phil

While I appreciate your reply, I personally had no one person in mind when I made my comments. I've been in a unique situation the last few weeks as I have been out of the market and sitting back watching the feeding frenzy. It gives one a unique perspective when just observing.

My comments are based on watching the progression of Fridays over the years. As always with growth there comes change and growing pains. Some changes and pains for the good and some IMO not so good. I enjoy the thrill of Fridays and excitement that builds leading up to them. I look forward to the comradery each week and I sincerely enjoy watching my fellow forum members obtain a piece of Andy's amazing work.

I was simply suggesting that I'd like to see the buying format kept simple. A format that works for both old and new buyers. I'm not real big on the idea of new members (or old) having to learn multiple steps on how to beat the system. I absolutely appreciate and understand the competitive edge it gives (hell I laughed at your precision) but IMO it takes away from the simplicity of the Friday frenzy that I've always enjoyed. I'm probably in the minority but I really like the idea that you post for the knife you want. (your priority knife) If you have a 2nd choice then simply post again for it. It's that simple. If you don't get your 2nd choice then obviously that knife was more important to someone else as it was there "1st choice".


I'm not saying this is the only way. I'm fine with it going "as is" especially if it's the preferred way. I'm simply making a suggestion. Again I love to see the growth Andy is experiencing! I was here for the early years and this is a bonus for all of us! I feel he grew because of a superior product and a unique buying experience. It has worked very well all of these years as seen in his growth, before the new buying short cuts and instruction manuals for Fridays. I love the excitement and fun competitions on Fridays but to me simply beating the competition on Fridays isn't "all" that Fridays are about.
 
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