No Bark River Knives forum?

T

true north

Joined
Dec 27, 2014
Messages
52
Hey, guys -
I see dozens of forums for dozens of makers, some I have never heard of and many that are well known, but I see no forum for Bark River Knives.

I have to ask: What gives?? Why no Bark River forum??

Thanks...
 
Between their shoddy quality control and the many reports and threads of Mike Stewart's poor business practices I think it would turn into huge drama fest. There have been many threads about him and the company on this site and others that have turned into just that.
 
All wrong answers. Search the FAQ for "manufacturer" anf find this:

Manufacturers Forums

BladeForums.com is proud to offer industry Manufacturers the ability to have live interaction with their customer base. Our sole requirement for this service is that the manufacturer provide official company representation. We also encourage that the manufacturers* help contribute to the community by providing products for our support giveaways & auctions.

BladeForums.com provides a powerful tool in the customer service world, and can be a tremendous boost to your company's public image. With proper customer service personnel & a willingness to interact with your end user base, you will not be disappointed in the results.

I don't see [Company X] represented, why not?

We do not provide "unofficial" company or "fan" forums for any*manufacturer. In order for there to be a dedicated forum for any specific company, they must show the willingness to take part in the discussion.

If you do not see your favorite manufacturer listed here, visit their website and contact them by phone or email, and request that they join in. If enough of their customers have a demand for it, they will come.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
All wrong answers.
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Well, technically, sure...without providing a representative, they cannot have a dedicated subforum.

But why have they not supplied a representative?

I'll stick with my original reason...because they have a dedicated forum someplace else. If it ain't broke, dont fix it! :D
 
Tachead7075 said:
Between their shoddy quality control and the many reports and threads of Mike Stewart's poor business practices I think it would turn into huge drama fest. There have been many threads about him and the company on this site and others that have turned into just that.
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Simplistic and insulting, both to the manufacturer and to our membership.

Not long ago, Cold Steel was in the same position. In fact, they even started a forum here, but shut it down in the face of exactly that childish intolerance. Then they tried again. This time, well, look for yourself. They have become one of the more active and popular forums here.

"Eliminate the negative,
Accentuate the positive ..."
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Simplistic and insulting, both to the manufacturer and to our membership.

Not long ago, Cold Steel was in the same position. In fact, they even started a forum here, but shut it down in the face of exactly that childish intolerance. Then they tried again. This time, well, look for yourself. They have become one of the more active and popular forums here.

"Eliminate the negative,
Accentuate the positive ..."
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I didnt say anything that didnt actually happen. These are facts. I know from reading on here and other sites for years. There have been literally dozens of threads on this topic(bark River and MS) over the years. I am sorry to be negative but, I wouldnt give MS a penny of my money and I think others should know about his reputation before they chose to as well. I will refrain from further negativity. Sorry, its a bit of a raw spot for me.
 
Of all the threads where people recommend or are looking at BRK, this is the very first thread where I've read that BRK has haphazard quality control. Strange how that doesn't come out when people are getting ready to buy a knife, in my experience.

Kershaw is another super popular brand that apparently didn't mix well with BF. Yet KAI and ZT are more complimented than not here.
 
Humans and their works are inherently complex. This is the weak point of both fanboys and haters. To take an absolutist attitude toward a manufacturer because of (anything) misses a lot, especially with a prolific or controversial owner or designer involved.

This is typical of Bark River discussions. Or Strider discussions. Or even some Kershaw / ZT discussions. Mention the company and the haters link to the history books. How about responding to current comments by satisfied customers without trashing the thread by bringing up once upon a time?

If you have a personal experience to share, start your own thread, or refute a specific point. Don't link to an old thread. Live in the present.
 
I think Bark River makes fine knives and I would love to see a sponsored forum here. But as others have said, BR seems to be pretty dominant in another knife forum. MS seems to have a very good handle on what the market will bear. I personally think that is good business. The past.... well, we all have pasts. I like to deal with the present.
 
22-rimfire said:
I think Bark River makes fine knives and I would love to see a sponsored forum here. But as others have said, BR seems to be pretty dominant in another knife forum. MS seems to have a very good handle on what the market will bear. I personally think that is good business. The past.... well, we all have pasts. I like to deal with the present.
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Well. Say what you will about Stewart personally, or about the quality of their knives, or about their fans (which I wont, its been done to death), but Stewart is a very, very shrewd businessman. Probably the shrewdest in the business. Long, long time ago, I spent a lot of time talking with the guy.

If he felt there would be a financial advantage to having more of a presence here too....he would be here. Bank on it.

Its not a personal insult or slight to anybody here. Just business.
 
I know nothing of Stewart or Bark Rivers qc problems in the past... What I do know is i just bought my first one and it is outstanding in quality, fit and function... Close to the Survive! I just bought but not quite, regardless I feel lucky to have these manufacturers that give me so many choices of great products!
 
Having been on both sides of this table, a company needs 3 things to successfully engage with the public via forums.

1) They need a person with an unflappable or at least Teflon personality. That person needs to be the public face of the company on the forum and they need the sort of personality that can see something positive in even the most horrible public comments. They need to be incredibly well skilled in written communication and in forum communication in particular. They need to also be incredibly knowledgeable and at the same time, confident to say, "I don't know but I'll track that down for you." These people are rare.

2) The company has to be structured to let this person engage with the public on forums as a full time or near full time basis. Bury the job under other tasking and either it won't happen or it will happen under time pressure. Both are paths to disaster. These business conditions are also rare.

3) The company needs to be structured to give this person a fighting chance to help customers out. Otherwise, they're left swinging in the wind saying something that amounts to "Sorry our product was defective. We intend to leave you hanging on this one."

ATMO [1], it's wrong to blame childish customers. Newsflash. The general public is childish. We've known this since the endless September of AOL. Some forum moderation postures (this varies forum to forum) permit some level of childishness and it's not the manufacturer's job to moderate the list (not really) unless they own the servers. There's only 2 fixes for the drama factor. Either the vendor needs to find a better public face who has the personality and skill to minimize drama or the hosting moderators need to up their game in banning churlish posters. [Note, the last statement isn't a dig at Bladeforums. Just an observation of forum involvement dating back to the Usenet days.]

If a vendor isn't participating, there's too much drama. Either they don't have the personnel to do it well or they perceive the setting to be too hostile for what they can manage.

[1] - Obligatory Richards Sachs reference.
 
pinnah said:
Having been on both sides of this table, a company needs 3 things to successfully engage with the public via forums.

1) They need ....
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Wow. Really nicely put. :thumbup:

Hey...you...if you haven't read that post in its entirety...then read it.
 
I think it has a lot to do with scale and kind-of free speech, or what I like to call free stupid (it's nearly cost-less to talk, so sometimes people just say stuff without much thought or pretext).

Bark River is a larger company with a large marketing footprint and history. They're large enough to see and feel and the quantity of product they've put out over the years is large. That means the probability of something, as in any kind of perceived slight, increases. It doesn't matter how good your stuff is in totality; humans love to go bonkers on perceived slights, fear of loss, and the 1 error out of 300 non errors. Then there is the speech side and the open format of a forum. One small mistake can turn into a huge pile-on real fast. Those same humans will soon herd around 1 small mistake and blow it out of proportion. It happens all the time around here.

I agree with the above poster. Bark River is large enough they would need to moderate the forum, which costs. It costs a lot less to let users go onto youtube and do free reviews. It's also a lot more cost effective to have a grind-in once or twice a year and open your doors to the public; that's low cost PR amongst other benefits of such events.

I’m not real big into personalities and who-said-what-whos-side-should-I-be-on. I’m more into data and material analysis. So I don't know why anyone would nag on Bark River? Their product is a good value. They use nice materials, their fabrication seems fine to me, and their distribution model is inexpensive. On top of all that, users talk about their stuff all the time on BF. They don't really need their own sub-forum.

Full disclosure... I only own 1 Bark River knife. I like it. It's a nice knife.
 
alfred mcdougal said:
I agree with the above poster. Bark River is large enough they would need to moderate the forum, which costs. ....On top of all that, users talk about their stuff all the time on BF. They don't really need their own sub-forum.
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Ding ding ding. Smart business.
 
Bark River made the Clax.
The Clax is awesome.
Got one for me, my brother and my dad, because it is just that amazingly awesome.
(well, actually my wife bought the Clax for me...)
Having brought the Clax into the world, they could make the rest of their knives out of old soup cans and I'd still say they made a valuable contribution to the world. :D
 
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