Was the collector named Paul, Lorien? There are politics in everything. When you have 3 or more people involved in something, politics are already there. Something to remember.
I had already been actively involved in the knife community for about 15 years when I came across BladeForums.
At first, it was a great place to pick up knives that I wanted at fair prices.
I signed up and started posting because of the "kumbaya" attitude in Customs....it seemed like a lot of people were missing the point about "discussion"(that means you don't always have something nice to say, and it can be every bit as valuable if not more so than the "high fivin' yer awesomes!"). So I became a participating member....whose screen name is the year I started training in JSA....and who always signs his name, and owns what he writes. The anonymity that many Forumites hide behind is lame, imo. Be who you are, be proud of it.
I love that I have met many Forumites, and some have become friends...first Peter Gill, then later Roger Pinnock, Stephen Foster, Kevin Jones, Joe Paranee Martin Reingold, David Sharp, Mike Quesenberry....the list goes on...that's very cool, because, while I had been collecting so much longer, really didn't know that many fellow collectors. Makers up the kazoo, and a few collectors, but even though I had a retail store, been a collector for that period and attended about 6 shows a year, I have made more real friends by knowing people through this place in a relatively short period of time than all the other time.
It's beautiful that people CAN have an opinion and share it, even though many don't for whatever reason. The web in general and BFC in specifics is awesome because it does mix the seasoned veterans and newbies all in the same pot, and it is the quality of what you post that you are judged on....it's also part of the suck, because you cannot force people to learn or think, and some refuse, no matter what is put in front of them.
A really close friend asked me what I was trying to accomplish on BFC, when there was so much hostility presented to what I write, and he felt it was rather pointless. Well, to me, as a knife person, the responsibility remains to put the information out there, to share what you know. Part of it is stubbornness, part of it is respect. I spent over 10 years learning JSA and Japanese terminology and aesthetics, and am certainly not going to let ignorance that passes for knowledge go without correction, it is disrespect to an art that is over 400 years old. The standards and ideas of Western custom knives has become something over the course of 30+ years, and if I am the only one holding up the ideas of fit/finish/designs/aesthetics like a beacon, like a busker on a soapbox in the village square....fine...it's ok, because you all have the same ability....to refute, to agree, to remain neutral, to say something or to say nothing.
Nobody on BladeForums takes away your voice.
The only thing that I would change on BFC is that people get thicker skins and be prepared to defend when challenged.
Best Regards,
STeven Garsson
