Same old hat or lack of meaninful substance.

K

kutch133

Joined
Nov 1, 2000
Messages
557
I have noticed an alarming pattern when I visit BladeForums nowadays that is beginning to bother me. I'm on for 5 min and then I leave in disgust. This thread is not meant to stir the ire of the newer members or start a flame war, but I have noticed that the threads, generally speaking, lack real substance and are generally boring. When I first started surfing BF about two years ago, I was totally fascinated and captivated by the threads on the different forums. It seems like the guys who were so knowledgeable about knives, no longer post here. I'll be the first to admit that when I joined, I had a lot of stupid threads that probably irritated older members, but I was learning, as I'm sure the newer members are. But now the members with more knowledge and seniority than I have seemed to have disappeared, leaving this sea of boring, uninteresting posts. Has BF passed its pinnacle or have I.
 
You seem to be saying that since the more experienced members have left, the new guard, i.e., those who now possess the knowlege, is not stepping up to the plate and sharing their knowlege.
 
It's hard to say...I feel somewhat the same. Not that BF has gotten stale, but perhaps I know too much? Not too brag, but two or three years spending hour upon hour every day reading Bladeforums and all of its archives has a way of giving you a substantial knowledge of knives. I rarely if ever ask questions anymore. If you used search here, 95% of all threads could be answered without asking again. It does get old, there is only soo much to learn. Reminds me of my performing days, once I had studied Illusion for several years it got pretty boring, just so much mechanics. To me, I spend only a few hours a week here, it used to be many, many more. I am sure folks just finding this place are as excited as children to find like minds. I try to remember how I was when I first arrived. I try to pass on what I know. I hope some of the above makes sense, I can't remember what I said already. Probably no knife content. Nothing lasts forever.
 
I'm a newbie here, and I'm spending 6+ hours a day reading through the archives. An excellent place to learn, if one is new to this hobby.

However, when I'm done reading through most of the stuff, of course it will get a bit boring. Interesting posts might come about a few times a day, but it only takes 5 minutes to read them all. Being a veteran of the boards also means that you know a lot. Hence you feel like there's no interesting posts anymore.

Maybe if you take a year-long break from BF and knife-collecting :) Then there'll be lots of posts you haven't read yet! Might get you all fired up and ready to purchase knives again.
 
What Kutch has posted hits on the nail on the head the root
causes are much less obvious.

Everyone has what I call an "Intrest Limit" beyond which they
will not pass. If you become interested in knives or widgets there
will be a point where you have learned all you care to and there
will be nothing new you care to learn. The older members also
tire of answering and then ( unfortunately) defending their response
to the younger more "educated" members that asked the question.
Kinda" "If ya already knew what'd ya ask for?" thing.

I find that I've approched my intrerest limit on knives in that I now
know what I like and why I like them. Call it a maturing of interests.
In general my knife buying has slowed way down and is much more
selective. With the advent of the resrictive laws generated by the terrorist
attack knife ownership in general is on a downturn.

There is also the mindset of the various forums owners to consider.
They set the tempo for their forums via what they will allow or edit.

All things change and nothing is new forever. That is the nature of man.
 
The other posters hit the nail on the head. Basically you've probably changed more than the board. People come and go on any board. Even this post that you wrote happens from time to time. It's all very predictable.

I am much more of a hard core fly fisher than a knife nut. A ffing board that I used to often post on I now rarely visit. Again I'm the one that has changed more than the board.

Maybe you need to refresh yourself with new hobby. Beware, fly fishing, hunting, etc. can make knife collecting seem tame by comparison. $$$$$$$

Bruce
 
I've been considering signing off for a while for several reasons.
I've got to go and do some work :( I'm starting to repeat myself :eek: I've aleady put down a whole lot of my observations and in trying to put an altenative view, or add more, I'm starting to loose focus :o Its takes more time to find something that interests me, though from the quantity of posts I've done recently its hard to believe ;)

Before I hit the forunm I had already settled with a choise of blades chosen from trial and error. There are definitely some new stuff I would love and will check out on my travels. I feel up to date, so its probably time to take a sabbatical and come back refreshed in eight or nine months time. I might have something new/interesting to say.

As forums go its a good'un. I've made some genuine friends. Its been an education with some incredibly well written and researched material posted. Read between the banter and there are, and will continue to be, some gems.

Tightwad has it about right.
 
Along the same line, I was getting burned-out with my obsession for knives, and was ready to take a little "time-off" (a couple days...LOL!!), but after receiving an EXCELLENT Spyderco Chinook in a recent trade (Thanks, Ron!), I have found that the "fires" have been re-lit.:).

Maybe we all need just a little "kick-start" sometimes.:).
 
Not bored (yet), just more selective in which threads I bother to read. (Those 'What's in your pants today?' threads have NEVER had any interest for me. Unless my wife asks that question;) ) This is still the best place in the world for knife knuts to learn, share, and socialize.
 
I think it has alot to do with your growing knowledge base.
When one first starts out...it's all new. As you learn more, you'll notice the same information being repeated, and less new 'stuff' to learn.
This is especially true in the magazine format.
At least here there is a genuine cast of characters to keep up with ;)
What does Rob Simonich say?
"As the knife grinds" ???
 
Heh. I found that this is a phenomenon with online forums. I used to spend a lot of time hanging at a computer-related forum, but after a while I found that it's not as interesting because I learned all I wanted to know.
Take some time off and you'll probably feel better. With the new stuff coming out you'll start asking more question :)
 
I've been feeling this way myself. I find myself posting less and browsing a lot less. I don't know if I would call it burn out or a maturing of interests. If I have an answer to a quetion or some small piece of advice to give, I'm more than willing to help someone out. I have learned to ignore the trolls and lame threads that pop up from time to time.
I have checked out "the other" cutlery related forums and can honestly say that BFC is still the best source of information. There's some damn good people here, and some damn good people who don't seem to be around anymore.

Paul
 
Gentlemen, I have been there. After a while you simply know everything you want to know, or even everything there is to know about a number of the subjects we have here. Then it gets harder and harder to generate the energy to continue to respond to the same questions over and over again. Sooner or later we are tempted to post something like; "use the darn search function - we have thousands of posts on that subject you $#$@%@^."

When that happens the time has come to move on. Fortunately, the forums are diverse enough that we can usually keep ourselves interested by simply hanging out on another part of the Bladeforums. Sooner, or later things move on and there will be new subjects coming up your old haunts. But, for now, just move on to something else. None have mastered every subject covered in these forums, and hopefully none of us ever will.

n2s
 
The old guard are less evident, but look at all the knifemakers here! Also excellent people like Will and Sal! So there are more new guys... This is still a good place to be even if mommy has bought some 12 year olds a computer to play with...:rolleyes:
 
You get out of it what you put into it.

If you find yourself growing bored, expand your horizons and look at a new section. Take the time to help a newbie. Check out a custom maker.

As your tastes grow more refined and you learn more, it's only natural to find that you are no longer in awe as when you first stopped by.

Kevin
 
Spark: If you find yourself growing bored, expand your horizons and look at a new section.

glockman99: Maybe we all need just a little "kick-start" sometimes.

I think these guys said it all. We do get bored with the same old routine, but there are a lot of variations on the routine. A while back, I had enough of "what steel ... how's customer service ... where can I buy ..." so I looked in on the Community forums, and had a lot of fun with what else knife knuts were thinking about.

Then I decided that if I knew enough about knives to be bored reading about them, maybe I should go back to what got me started here -- playing with them. So I got into the Exchange forums, buying up a lot of different levels of quality and types of knives, and a few other toys, besides.

Maybe that's tapering off now (Blade Show in less than a month!!!) so here I am back on the Blade Discussion Forum. OK, newbies, whaddaya wanna know ??? :D
 
For most of us, when we first join a forum we are like a sponge. We are trying to absorb all that we can. We take part in threads to gain knowledge, but sometimes also just so we can feel like part of the community. As time passes we become far more selective in the threads that we find interesting.

I still find many threads that hold great interest to me and almost every day that I spend on bladeforums is a learning experience for me. The knowledge that I have gained is not just about knives. I have also learned more about the proper etiquette to use when dealing with others.

Maybe some people do need to take a break from the forums so that they can come back with a renewed enthusiasm. I think though that when they do return they will find that the same old questions will still be being asked by the new members that are just tying to fit in.

As you can tell by the number of posts that I have, I really enjoy my time on this forum. It has become a place for me to not only gain knowledge, but also to socialize with friends. Sometimes I remember the long time members that took an interest in my intial questions, enen though they may have found them boring. The fact that these members took the time to answer my question without getting condescending is what made me feel like this place was a community that I wanted to be part of. That is why I will sometimes take part in threads that ask a question that has been asked a few dozen times before.

I guess it all depends on why you take part in BladeForums. If it is just to gain knowledge about knives, then I agree that after a while you are going to reach a point where you think you have learned all that you care to. You probably have much more that could be learned, but this added knowledge is not something that you feel you require. If the reason that you are here is not only to gain knowledge, but to be an active member of a community that that you have come to hold a great deal of regard for, then you will probably not find that BladeForums gets boring at all. You will always be able to find a thread like this one that will keep you thoroughly enjoying this place.
 
You could check out BRL's Forum, where everything old is new again:). There's always something cool there.

Honestly I've been skipping over a lot of post too, simply because the answer could be found if they used the search engine, but sometime's it just feels good to help someone:).
 
yeah, when i first discovered this place, it was as everyone said, you wanna aquire as much information as possible. After a while you start seeing the same threads over and over again and it gets a little tiresome. I think i need a new knife. it's been way too long. Anyways, i've been spending more time on gadgets and gear and on candlepowerforums.com and i just recently have been spending more time here. I do find that it's good to be back, and second the advise about spending time in other forums as well. So i guess my take on this is that if you find yourself getting bored go explore some other parts of the forums or get into a different kind of knives. And then come back here and tell us what got you interested again :D.

- Pete
 
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