Respect for this forum.

I've been reading this thread with interest trying to catch up while working, but I wanted to chime in as a new user. I'm pretty new to this forum, and to knifemaking in general.. but I can understand how the veterans feel about it I think. I hope that I have not contributed to the problem in any way, but please PM me if you think anything I've said/say has.

It seems that I may have missed the forum's hay day with apparently so many top makers leaving.. but even as it is, I think this forum is a great resource and exceedingly useful for those types of questions that only experience can answer. There are many extremely helpful and knowledgeable people on this forum, and they all deserve thanks.

I think the way forums work at their base level makes it easy sometimes to miss important information that has come in weeks/months/years before, especially to people that aren't technology-friendly.. but there really is no excuse for anyone to get angry or rude at people trying to help them. What newcomers don't seem to consider or care about, is that professional help and classes is going to cost hundreds or thousands of dollars in a formal setting.. this type of information is highly specialized and it's a privilege to have access to such helpful people and their years of experience.

I hope that a few bad apples don't ruin the experience for others, and I think it's sad that so many contributing members have left already.

One of the great things about this forum, a forum in general, is that you see so many different opinions and methods to any one question.. and as Tai says it's an amalgamation of many sciences, with a lot of art and heart thrown in.. that's why variety even in opinions is a good thing.. but not when they become hostile. I think the moderators do a great job of keeping on top of it.. It's all I can do to keep up with the flood of new information every day, much less moderate it :)

Thanks to everyone for this forum.. and I very much intend to show my support by being a full member when I can afford it.
 
AVigil said:
I run an airgun forum and it is a rough an tumble speak your mind type of place where there is a ton of information but if you act like a Asshat you will get dogpiled into submission. It does not have a lot of rules but does have one I enforce....."If a question is asked you can do one of 3 things 1. Answer the question 2. Ignore the question 3. Post a link to the answer the question" But never scold or complain about the question being asked. Not every post or thread needs to meet the approval of certain members.

New members are the life blood of a forum and provides growth, discussion and interest. If a forum is mainly a place for Old Timers to hang out and socialize the forum will wither and come to a crawl because you have already said everything there is to be said.

If a newbie asks a question no one wants to answer then on a busy forum like this one it rolls off the first page in a day.

Think of it this way. When you go to church they do not say "Stop asking about Jesus, just read the bible, we have answered and discussed this topic a thousand times" :) People at church are excited to discuss religion because they like to share the good news to poor lost souls :)
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This post summed it up nicely.
 
"and as Tai says it's an amalgamation of many sciences, with a lot of art and heart thrown in.."

I probably woudn't have said anything,... but you all egged me on. :) LOL
 
bladsmth said:
I really wish more people would use the ignore button. If everyone put the two or three main culprits on "Ignore" their threads would just roll away. It is the fact that you all keep it alive that makes the moderation so difficult.
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There is an "Ignore" button. Now see, you learn something everyday:)
 
mgysgthath said:
Thanks to everyone for this forum.. and I very much intend to show my support by being a full member when I can afford it.
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Please do not take offence.... but a Basic Membership at $10/year shouldn't be a matter of whether or not you can afford it... but rather, if you feel it is worthy of support.

Personally, I wouldn't hesitate to spend $10 on an endless resource for something that I love to do. Not to mention all the great folks I have met here(and Sam, too). That's 83cents/month... I lose more change than that in my couch every year.:thumbup::p
 
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I hope I haven't been one of the annoying noobs. I'm in here a lot, but rarely posting (in this subforum), since I know I lack the experience to assist. I did want to say thank you again to those who have helped me, especially Darrin. I'm right now waiting for my order from Aldo to ship so I can continue my education (darrin, I hope you don't mind, but I'd like to keep sending them to you if you're still up for it). I have been very impressed by how welcoming and helpful the makers around here have been.

I'm also not a fan of vague general questions. If you just want someone to hand you the answers on a silver platter (and there are several stickies which basically do just that), how can you take pride in your work? I'm really happy with what I've learned so far, and it's inspiring to pop into the custom knives subforum and see how far I have yet to go. I don't really understand the "exuberance" argument either. If there's one thing that I've learned from the advent of the internet, it's how easy it can be to find something yourself just by a simple google search, or using the search function on a forum. I don't understand what makes it so hard for people to search.

I would be in favor of Tai Goo's proposal to give the experienced makers a bit of limited moderating power. Weeding out some of the repetitive questions would make it a lot easier to find the useful information in here. It's taken me a lot of time to go through the active threads on this forum, and google the terminology I don't understand, and there's been a lot of the same old questions asked.

Also, thanks to those who took the time to write the stickies. I have written several myself on other forums, and I know how much work it is. This noob appreciates it, for sure.
 
None taken at all, you're absolutely right Rick. By afford I just mean I'm literally broke at the moment with some car troubles etc.. but once my balance is in the black I will be. It's not a matter of it's worth to me, as I intend to buy the higher level.. it's a bargain at a much higher price. Also I don't have a credit card so I have to transfer funds into my Paypal account which takes ~8-10 days.

Rick Marchand said:
Please do not take offence.... but a Basic Membership at $10/year shouldn't be a matter of whether or not you can afford it... but rather, if you feel it is worthy of support.

Personally, I wouldn't hesitate to spend $10 on an endless resource for something that I love to do. Not to mention all the great folks I have met here(and Sam, too). That's 83cents/month... I lose more change than that in my couch every year.:thumbup::p
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I think it's worth it,... and then some. You don't get this stuff anywhere else.

Support the hood!
 
when i started out, i admit i did ask some of the usual stupid questions. but in my defense at that point the search feature was for paying members only and the stickys just werent as good as today. but i quickly learned to shut up and just read, if a person just keeps reading then a lot of questions will be answered for the new maker and you will sstart to understand what people are talking about in the threads. i am no expert and do not tend to give much advice, heck i dont even comment much; look at my stats! but i can see how some of the older guys could feel the way they do. i am thankful that most of the folks here treated me well when i started and was bugging the crap out of them with nonsense.

but seriously newbies...................... do your selves a favor and just read for a while

jake
 
New questions and old answers will always be standard here. People that post are different ages and come from various levels of experience and knowledge. BF is a great reference tool for learning about knives, knife making and the history of cutlery. It is like a library for cutting tool lovers and addicts. You could spend many months reading the posts here and still not read them all. Yet all the reading in the world does not substitute for getting out in the wild and USING the tools!

I did meet Chuck Buck once. This was back in the day when Buck called California home and they were on the brink of having to move to Idaho where business costs were more to their liking. He told me that knifemaking was mainly science and that automation was a key to their success in sales. Somehow I don't think his great grandfather would have agreed with that line of reasoning. Then again, different time, another place, a different dispensation. In the end, Buck's 420C does a good job for me and their combined efforts ride in my pocket on a daily basis.
 
"but seriously newbies...................... do your selves a favor and just read for a while"

Read and do, and then read and do some more... and keep asking questions.

Noobs should always feel welcome.
 
I guess I feel a little different than most in that I LIKE that the same old questions get asked often. The questions may be the same but the answers are almost always different. Most guys will only answer the same question a few times before giving up and leaving it for someone else to answer. There is always a new group of different makers answering the questions and giving their perspectives on it.

If the same small group of makers answered all of the questions then we wouldn't get any new viewpoints. A lot of people won't bother to be the twentieth person to post an opinion in a thread, but when the regulars have stopped answering then that twentieth guy might be more inclined to give his opinion and we all benefit from another perspective that might not have been voiced otherwise.

Not to mention that there are always new people joining and giving their input. A lot of new guys around here are not noobs when it comes to knifemaking.
 
i am guilty of some of this, i had no knowledge on 154cm heat treating except what one person told me and turns out the info i was givin was not bad, but a bad idea for knives and i thought that people were bashing me for not knowing. yet again there needs to be a sarcastic text button on forums lol but i learned my lesson and love the info i get now! thanks guys.
 
Jason Magruder said:
I guess I feel a little different than most in that I LIKE that the same old questions get asked often. The questions may be the same but the answers are almost always different. Most guys will only answer the same question a few times before giving up and leaving it for someone else to answer. There is always a new group of different makers answering the questions and giving their perspectives on it.

If the same small group of makers answered all of the questions then we wouldn't get any new viewpoints. A lot of people won't bother to be the twentieth person to post an opinion in a thread, but when the regulars have stopped answering then that twentieth guy might be more inclined to give his opinion and we all benefit from another perspective that might not have been voiced otherwise.

Not to mention that there are always new people joining and giving their input. A lot of new guys around here are not noobs when it comes to knifemaking.
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That reminds me of an old adage:

No one person has the market cornered on good ideas.
 
Thanks for reminding us about the option to Ignore, Stacy. I have done that for one of the most frequent offenders.
 
sunshadow said:
Absolutely.
I am usually not even annoyed about the thousandth "I want to make a knife out of this welding steel I just bought at WalMart how do I heat treat" type newbie thread,
-Page
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:o ok ok guys I can take a hint.

I would just like you guys to know I meant no disrespect by asking stupid questions and love that you have taken the time to answer those stupid questions.
 
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