Question for members. Please all respond.

M

Mike Turber

Joined
Oct 2, 1998
Messages
5,461
We are thinking of having a BladeForums Blade of the Month club.

Each month you ( the BladeForums.Com member ) would vote, using our survey software, on the Blades of the month. There would be 3 categories to select from:

Folders
Fixed Blades
MultiTools

Then the winning items will be offered to our members through the BFC Store! We could do this each month if there is enough interest.

How it would work.
Each month we would start a thread allowing you to nominate that months knife for each category. The knives must be readily available factory knives. Then we will select the top five candidates for each category and place them in the survey. The winner from each category will then be placed for sale to our members at a special price for about 30 days ending on the first of the following month. The knives ordered from the BFC Store will then be ordered for our members.

Then we do it all again!

What knives should be in the survey?
Well basically that is up to you.
We are looking for what's new, What's Hot and What is an old standby.

People come in here all the time looking for knives to buy. They also email us (Spark and Myself) asking which knife they should get. By using the survey our members can vote not only on which knife they want but which knife they like the best for each category. A person looking for a knife can use this info to help them decide which knife they should buy plus get a sweet deal at the same time!

We just need to know what you guys think about the idea.

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Best Regards,
Mike Turber
BladeForums Site Owner and Administrator
Do it! Do it right! Do it right NOW!
www.wowinc.com



[This message has been edited by Spark (edited 08 September 1999).]
 
A most excellent idea. I'm up for it although the bank account is gonna take a serious beatin
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This is a great idea, but will BladeForums take a beating, ala the BF Native? It`s one thing to vote, that doesn`t cost anything.

Just make sure it doesn`t take resources away from mantaining the forum. (I hope that this will somehow support the forum. I hope that`s the plan!)
 
I guess it would depend on how special that price is, to be frank.
wink.gif
But it sounds like a good idea to me. Count me in.

Can I vote first?
For the folder, how about a SpeedTech w/our choice of blade, handle, & color.
If not an option, how about a Dalton Serpent?
Out of those?, then a Dalton WarHawk/plain edge.

For a fixed blade, that big exotic blade Kelt designed. Oh, that's right. Its got to be production.
A 27" Dragon Khukri

For a multipurpose tool:
A 20" Salyon Khukri

There's my 2 cents. Although I think it will cost a bit more than that.
Pick these and a good price = I'm a happy camper!
smile.gif

 
The idea (as I understand it) is to order only the amount that you guys want, no more, no less, and do it at one time.

There are still more than a few details to work out.

Spark

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Kevin Jon Schlossberg
SysOp and Administrator for BladeForums.com

Insert witty quip here
 
In principle I like the idea. I think it would be great to see which knives people like that aren't always talked about.

I share some concern with those above about Bladeforums taking a hit. It's very easy to vote for something you think is cool, but wouldn't actually end up buying. I don't know if there's really a way to regulate this except for asking folks to vote for lower (<$100) price knives most of the time.

I also think there should be some kind of archive (possibly in the faq's) of past winners, so we can refer newcomers to them to see what we all like.


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JP Bullivant
 
I like the idea of knowing what people are interested in. I also share some concern about possilbe sales. Will people vote on a particular knife because they already own it and are pleased with it? Perhaps keeping stock levels low will ensure inventory is moved out.

Dave R
 
Cool idea!

The survey is separate from the purchase, and BladeForums only orders as many as members commit to. Seems pretty sound. Since these are production knives, they come off the shelf to BladeForums and then on to those who order them at the end of the survey.

Survey away.
smile.gif
 
I am not so sure this will work on a month-by-month basis. I think a more realistic timetable would be a quarterly knife selection.

Also, what happens if the same knife is chosen each time? I think you should like get a list of knives each month, then have us choose from that pre-existing list.

You know that if you start selling knives through the BFStore, other sites will get pissed at you. It doesn't make it right, but I think that it will happen. It happened with the introduction of the auctions. Wy don't you make it via an actual online retailer, then offer a discount. Just a thought.

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Robert Joseph Ansbro

If it can be written, or thought, it can be filmed. -Stanley Kubrick, 1928-1999

www.Cinematopia.com

I am the moderator on the forum "The Balcony" located at Cinematopia, please come support this brand new site
 
Yep good idea. Just like the others I think every month might be a little to much. What about doing this 4 times a year. Give us some time to save a $ or two. Also the sale could be a little longer like hold them for 2 months.
 
Sounds good to me, but how does it affect your "we don't compete with dealers" rule?

Also, I think it might be good to have some direction imposed on each month's voting, like selecting from a list that varies each month. That way we don't have guy A requesting a MT Nemesis and guy B requesting a CRKT K.I.S.S., etc. What I'm saying is that if you take 1000 votes and the most popular single knife is only suggested by 50 people (because folks vote for anything and everything), does this really represent a "most desired" item? So maybe one month make the knife list all "military patterns" the next month all "hunters" then "neck knives," then "machetes, kukris and big bowies," etc. This could get more votes concentrated on one selection and expose the rest of us to deals on items we might not have been thinking of.

-Drew
 
I don’t think that a monthly blanket survey would really help anyone decide what knife to purchase. Deciding your needs, researching the options, and searching for informed opinions will. The forums are already set up for that. And we have enough informal polling.

Commercially it could be a disaster. For example, if the CR Sebenza, WH Lancet or just about any MT wins as best folder, how will you offer it at a discount without causing major duress to the on-line dealers who sell these items but do not discount them due to the sales policies of the producers?

I understand the need to raise revenue. Perhaps an adaptation of the current monthly giveaway? If it were turned into a monthly raffle with members electronically buying “tickets” through a commercial server you could have a very high profit potential, and some lucky winner would get a bargain.


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James
 
Fantastic idea - I bet on occasions a custom maker might want to participate. Say a string of 15 or 20 knives, if a ridiculous number were ordered we could put our names in a hat. We would have to be patient though. Yeah that might work out every once in a while too (the more I think about it the more I like it). Now who could we sucker into being our first victim
smile.gif
 
Hmm, the idea is interesting. The polls would be entertaining. But I wonder a bit about whether this would put the BladeForums Store into direct competition against other dealers? I thought that was one of the founding ideas, that BF was impartial, and wasn't going to tread on dealer's toes.

I fear a problem where, say, everyone decides the Carnivour (or the Starmate, or...) is the hot knife this month, everyone buys it from BladeForums, and no one (no one who hangs around here, anyway) buys it from the various other dealers, many of whom hang out here and share their knowledge with us
frown.gif
.

The flip side is that it gets BF more money to stay up and running, without the effort involved in sending Spark to everyone's house to install the quarter slot on their monitor. But I'd sooner just send in ten or twenty bucks a year than risk driving friends out of business...

If you can find a way to do this that doesn't incur the ire of our dealer friends, then I'd be happy to support it.

Then again, there's the problem of ending up just direct-depositing my paycheck into the BladeForums store; yeah, it'd be simpler, but...

My $0.02,
-- Carl
 
I think it's a wonderful idea... provided you can work out the details so that it's a win/win for everyone.

AJ
 
I like the idea, but I think a quarterly poll would be more likely to succeed. And as long as i keep my kjob, I really like the idea of being able to buy nice knives and support my favorite internet site! Just don't do it if the site will take a hit, because I really don't want to see that happen.
 
I think it's a great idea.

I ALSO think it might lead to problems with the dealers. If you can avoid that, then do it!



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Clay G.
www.balisongxtreme.com


 
Just what I need, you guys dangling more carrots in front of me... I had to sell my firstborn to pay for that SIFU.
smile.gif
It is a good idea and would give some structure to all the various knife opinions. But you and Spark will still get e-mails asking which one to buy. "What should I get, May's center-folder or July's?"
smile.gif


jeff
 
Mike,

I'm with Mercury. Go with a quarterly interval plain and simple as the logistics of a monthly round would be quite problematic for all concerned. If nothing else we give forumites a chance for their wallets and purses to heal and obviate regret that offerings had to be passed on.

Additionally I too am concerned about the Native episode. I voted yes and bought one plus a sheath. It is outstanding. But you have folks that initially voted yes but then because of misunderstandings about price or second thoughts about color changed their minds. And that's okay. The deal you want it as close to a one to one ratio of "yeahs" to buys. How to optimize this is the challenge. My thoughts in the first paragraph were intended to help in that regard too.

I'll give things some more thought and post later if warranted.


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-=[Bob]=-

I did NOT escape from the institution! They gave me a day pass!

BFC member since 3 Oct 98
AKTI membership pending
VHA and NRA member


PS Just to be upfront, I also initially indicated I'd pop for a BFC special edition Rekat Carnivore. But when a Talonite(r) version was offered in the marketplace, I couldn't turn that down and as a result had to, with regrets, cancel my intents with you guys. I don't know how this type of situation can be avoided.

[This message has been edited by bald1 (edited 08 September 1999).]
 
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