That “paid dealer money” helps to keep this site up and running, without it you wouldn’t have this community.
Not trying to pick a fight but some of us support this forum by purchasing memberships as well. There could be a better way to support the retailers that support this forum rather than complete censorship of those that don't. I say that constructively but don't have an idea at the moment on what a better way might look like.
The bottom line is that Boru13 is correct, if you happen to believe in the charter and the mission of this community based Site. I'm not patronizing Boru13 but something that I myself have been grappling with and concisely struggling when I come across it. I'll expound:
I mostly dwell in another subforum where it's known that those forumites really look after one another. That said, I have learnt to refrain directing traffic to an outside vendor who in no way, shape or form happens to "bother" even registering on this Site and then there's the problem of some who are registered, not willing to contribute whether monetarily by selecting the correct membership level (
after all, the darn Site has rules and charters!) or other forms of contribution such as WIPs, idea sharing and other forms of input (
I get it, businesses are busy but still there's always room to engage and to contribute).
Where I really start to get conflicted is when I know that there are some forumites who are trying to make inroads as craftsmen and such, follow all the rules and apply correct membership levels but unfortunately their level of craft and work do not measure up to their so-called competition who invariably do not engage on BF.com. The latter not only do not support the Site but also do not care to support the said makers. This has been a real struggle for me because the personal benefit of ending up with a superior product conflicts with the notion of being a faithful part of a collective
The fix ain't too difficult, i.e, $75 in most cases to sign up in here and then taking the time to drop in once in a while just to say "Hi". There could very well be cases of knife-community based "politics", tribal rivalries and other issues but going there will be like going down the rabbit hole! At this end, maybe just refraining from placing orders because vendors eventually feel it when their bottom line suffers.
