I understand what anecdotal evidence is. If you would read my previous posts that is why I said it could be this or it could be that "I don't know." However when many people start complaining about similar problems, namely Spyderco's bearing systems, then more weight should be placed on those anecdotes. I'm not telling you what to believe. All I am saying is that there are several reports from people experiencing problems with bearings in Spyderco knives other than the Advocate. I said so myself that could be people messing up their own knives.
Take the evidence as you want it. Clearly Sal puts some weight in these reports as his latest post on the topic states they are now suspending production of all their flippers on bearings.
Please read his latest post. It's near the bottom. https://www.spyderco.com/forumII/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=74118&start=20
Got a kick out of this quote from noted knife-designer, guru, mechanical engineer and youtube reviewer Rob Bixby, a/k/a by his youtube moniker ApostleP. via http://knifenews.com/spyderco-withdraws-advocate-from-the-market-over-pivot-issues/
Bixby tells us that the Advocates strong lock bar tension, overall thinness, and the delicacy of its ball bearings combine to pose a seemingly insurmountable [emphasis added] engineering challenge. Im a bit skeptical, given the small material thickness of the Ti scales, that Spyderco can engineer a ball bearing pivot system that is robust enough to make a solid knife, Bixby says. I would prefer to see a phosphor bronze washer pivot, and maybe even in a non-flipper version of the Advocate, similar in construction to a Sage 2 or Slysz Bowie. Well keep our fingers crossed!
Thanks Rob for your comments. Im sure Spyderco will be awaiting your engineering analysis, design blueprints and input on the revision of the Advocate to overcome these "insurmountable" problems.