Maker Interviews as a Topic in W&SS

kgd

kgd

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Feb 28, 2007
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I was posting in another sub-forum today and just had this weird little thought. I was comparing, and in a slightly biased (as I'm sometimes prone to) way, writing styles in the blade magazines and forums. For the most part, I tend to think the information on the forums is more timely and accurate but it also lacks some of the finesse and journalistic attribute that professional writing provides.

I then started thinking one of the things I really miss is the the 'maker interview'. This is where a skilled interviewer provides a series of questions to the maker about their motivations around a design, choice of material etc. Now, mind you alot of this is spin, but it also makes for good writing.

Having seen pitdog's top 5 makers thread, I started thinking. Wouldn't it be great to have a series of interviews done with our W&SS makers? We could pair up end users with makers....Maybe make it a bit interesting by having folks who don't own a particular makers models. Might even be a good sticky with the different makers having the interviews all tacked to thread.

I see this as potentially a good thing all around. It provides a bit of spin and coverage for a maker, provides users with background info, provides an honest and equal avenue for makers and participants.

So how would the maker's feel about this kind of thing?

Would W&SS be an appropriate venue or should this be pitched somewhere in the Maker's area. Certainly a subset of the questions can be designed to provide it W&SS specific content. Which users might be willing to do the interviews? My thinking is that this would be best done the traditional way, i.e. somebody arranges with the maker to call them up and talk on the phone and write their responses down instead of e-mail/pm'ing the maker some canned questions.

Thoughts?
 
That is a cool idea. From my stand point as a knife maker it could open some more doors for all of us, and from the end users stand point they stand to learn a lot more about each maker and their products. It could work. Doug
 
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I agree with what Doug said. Bearthedog did a telephone interview with me for the article in S.W.A.T. Magazine, it was fun!
 
I'd have to agree with Doug! There are some elements to knifemaking that just don't flow well into a sales thread, but that it would be nice to share with others.

As to where it would belong, I'd think it would depend on the questions asked. If they're W&SS themed, here would be the place. If they're more general, then the knifemaker's or even the Custom and Handmade forum, though they seem to cater more towards the collectible end of the price spectrum:D Though there may be a few guys in there that could help set up an interview 'gameplan' as it were.
 
I like the idea but think it would be better in a forum dedicated to it rather than in WSS. I think a lot of times there is already to much spamming by knifemakers in this forum.
 
hollowdweller said:
I like the idea but think it would be better in a forum dedicated to it rather than in WSS. I think a lot of times there is already to much spamming by knifemakers in this forum.
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You bring up an interesting point.

Where do you think the line is?

I am interested, because as my production increases, since I will making outdoor oriented knives, I will probably post here. But, I would not want to alienate my prospective customer.

And most of the posts I have seen seem to respect the limit of not doing outright selling on the board...

When does the passive marketing become too much?

Marion
 
Personally I feel that the line is crossed when the post is just- "hey look at this variant in handle materials or finish." If the maker is looking for feedback on a new design, customer request, or is giving the results of testing their own knife then I have no problem with knifemakers showing what they offer to this community- especially as some get started here before they are makers.

That said I too feel that the interview threads would be better suited elsewhere, perhaps as a subforum or sticky in the knifemakers area. It is a good idea though.
 
I have a few thoughts.

First- forums are different from magazines- even online magazines in the basic idea that there's a non-immediate discussion going on. Keeping that is a good thing, I think.

I'm not a huge one for phones, but I do think an email/phone/chat interview process with a given person would be good. Canned or not, it can start out with a basic interview that gets posted, then the forum members can get involved and start asking questions or discussing with the maker, at which point the interview gains a depth that's hard to match in any other media.

Where to put it? I have a few thoughts on that, depending on where things go-

first, if Spark put up a subforum (maybe in maker's forums, or community, or reviews) then things would have a place. That'd be my overall preference if there was a mod type person willing to handle things.

second, an interview is almost always partly commercial in some sense. I'm not sure where to go with that. Should a maker be paid up as a knifemaker member? or at least basic? or an interviewer? I don't like restricting things, myself, but I understand the idea that paid memberships pay for the site.



Overall, I love the idea.
 
I like the idea of maker interviews. The active feedback loop between 'resident' makers and users is one of the best features of this forum.

As regards spamming, it is a fine line, and it sometimes (but not often, in my opinion) gets crossed. But I think it's important to note that there is more dialogue than there is monologue / sales pitch going on here. Many makers adapt their designs based on the reviews and feedback of forum regulars. Outright advertising is a turnoff, especially when it is done on a regular basis. There is a subtle difference between a thread along the lines of "hey guys, after chatting with a bunch of you and reading your posts, I have come up with this new bushcrafter design for my line. What do you think?" and a thread along the lines of "I make hunters and bushcraft knives. Here's a link to my website".

Bearing this in mind, I still think that maker interviews would make for great reading - BUT - to fit with the theme of the W&SS forum, they would have to feature plenty of discussion of knife use, wilderness-inspired design features, knife-related skills, and so on. Knowing our regular makers, this sort of dialogue would probably develop naturally anyway.

Just my $0.02 CDN,

All the best,

- Mike

Edited to add:

I do think that it would be proper etiquette for interviewees to have knifemaker memberships.

Is there any reason for this process to be formalized? I would be happy to see the occasional interview between a maker and a member pop up, and I trust that people would try to keep things relevant and interesting without making overt infomercials.

Just a thought - a broader "W&SS Interview" posts would be interesting. I would love to read quality interviews with our local makers. But I would also like to read interviews with some of our survival instructors, wilderness EMTs, animal and plant experts, etc.
 
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broader WSS interview threads are a great idea. There's plenty I'd like to see there.


Formalizing things is something I'm honestly iffy on. The idea of having a seperate forum space for intervews came to me because I think that there are some makers that blur the lines with regard to WSS topicality- and some that just aren't WSS fodder. But I'd like to see interviews with other makers, too. That's all
 
Most of the knifemakers in W&SS are a bunch of blowhards and douchebags anyway, so I don't see this as a good idea.:p
 
I like the idea for the interview. However, I am not sure this is the place where one would go about it being. If it was about WS&S knives, and contained WS&S content, than here would be a fine place for it. However, there is a lot that could be asked, and it could end up in quite a few different places on BF.

Albeit, I am most active here, I would still read it if it was elsewhere.
 
Stomper said:
I agree with what Doug said. Bearthedog did a telephone interview with me for the article in S.W.A.T. Magazine, it was fun!
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Yes it was fun, I hope to do it again!

This is a great idea for the maker and most importantly for the people. I feel I know a lot of the custom makers here (by phone and email) but don't always get to share their personalities with everyone. So much is lost when we are reduced to words on a page.

Great idea KGD!

-RB
 
There are some good points raised. The idea of overstepping the commercial barrier is something that would have to be avoided but as I see it so can easily be done by requiring a realm of questions that are W&SS orientated.

This isn't intended to be comprehensive but a list of some possible questions E.g.

-As a maker of outdoor tools, what kind of outdoor activities do you regularly engage in?

-Would you say you have extensive experience in such activity? If so, how have these experiences influenced how you design your equipment?

-Have you ever participated, as a student or trainer, in any type of survival courses for professional or recreational purposes? What lessons did you take home from this training?

-Would you say that you are a minimalist or gear junky? Why?

-How do you design your knives to function in the field? Are there particular environments where you think your equipment excels at? Why and what attributes make them so?

-How do you define a survival knife, a bushcraft knife or a camping tool? Do you distinguish between these? If yes, what attributes do you think are best associated with each type of tool? When do you think a compromise in performance is too much?

-What do you consider knife abuse and how do you contextualize this into the types of activities you might reasonably expect to use your product in the outdoors. If you had to list 10 things you regularly do with your outdoor knife, what are the 3 most potentially damaging types of activities?

-Based on your answers above, how do you test your knives before hand to ensure they will survive regular use while at the same time maintaining high functionality at cutting or slicing chores?

-How do you, or do you communicate with your client aspects of what is and what isn't knife abuse and/or expected use patterns of your blades?

-Who inspired you to design outdoor equipment? If you were able to talk to your wilderness hero about your products what kinds of things would you ask of them?

--What kind of feedback are you most interested regarding the real world use of your knives?

--Can you provide me with examples where such feedback influenced your decision in subsequent models?

--What do you think are the biggest knife misconceptions from the perspective of users that are out there?

.....

Just some examples....The way I see it, the interview should be essentially a W&SS interview. It is a chance to talk to the knife maker about their philosophy more so than what ever model X widget they are hocking at the moment.

Okay back to more discussion on this...We seem to be hearing more from knife makers (maybe cause that is their day job :D) than users so far....
 
We could potentially draw up a list of interviewers (interested in doing so) and interviewees (knife makers). Somebody mentioned qualification - a knifemaker status- which should be discussed as a criteria to be the in the 2nd pool. Of course both interviewer and interviewee should be agreeable to being subject to this experiment.

After we have those lists, then we can play some fun. Maybe use a randomization process to match up folks. Maybe be strategic about it - e.g. purposely pair up non-clients with a given maker (some of us would end up with a pretty limited pool in that case ;)). Again - just throwing up some ideas.
 
I think it's a fascinating idea. kgd, your sample questions provide a lot to think about. Thanks!

I don't post in here much lately, but I lurk a lot. I've learned a great deal from you fellows about design and functionality.
 
I think the idea has merit, could stickies be used in some way? On the spamming issue, I also don't have any problem with knifemakers posting their blades in WS&S.. I like looking at blades, most of the makers that post here are "our people". The forum would lose a lot if the makers felt uncomfortable about keeping us up-to-date on their new projects.. Ultimately, that's what we have mods for...
 
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