The Archive of all archives!

B

Blilious

Joined
Dec 30, 1999
Messages
1,587
To those not in the know, there is a huge archiving project dedicated to keepimg the "old" web alive.

It contains 100 Tera Bites worth of old web pages...

For perspective only - the congressional library contains 20 Tera bites...

The quality is somewhat different though...

Anyway - I neutrally searched for the Blade Forums...

This is the result page:

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://bladeforums.com

So good to remember...
 
From February 1999 (when I registered:

"75000+ hits per day,
1200+ members,
One big family"

I miss the good ole days.
 
LOL!
Oh YEAH!
Here's what the front page looked like that month, Burke.
http://web.archive.org/web/19990208011750/http://www.bladeforums.com/

Man, I wanted that Simonich Cetan Tanto so bad, and the odds were so much better back then!
I remember being just massively impressed with Spark's way cool intro graphics.

Just look how proud BFC was, bragging about those "1,200+ Members!":eek:

We all thought it was such a huge deal when membership finally hit 2,000 and we wondered if BFC was going to get so big that it became cold and impersonal.:rolleyes:

Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane, Blilious!
:D
 
Did anyone else notice how many names you don't see posting here any more? Did they just lose interest, did BFC get too big, or is there just a saturation point when the threads seem too repetitious? Reading some of those old threads they were more interesting back then.

Has BladeForums lost it's edge? :confused:
 
That's definitely something I've been thinking about some Phil...I think it's a little bit of all the above. I remember when you used to see people's names and know who they were. Hell, I even remember when guys like Rob Simonich and Jerry Hossom didn't have waiting lists, and nobody'd heard of some cobalt-based stuff called "talonite".
On the other hand, I think Bladeforums has gained something with increased membership. A greater diversity of viewpoint (diversity isn't always an ugly word), and a larger knowledge base from which to draw (though sometimes it seems like there's the same amount of knowledge, just spread out a little thinner).
I've started hanging out in Community forums more the past month or so, and there's something of the same sense of knowing who people are you used to get, "back in the day." Oh well. Nostalgia don't take long on the 'net.
 
Pretty mellow back then. James set a wonderful tone of patience and respect.
 
I still remember how we were all wondering what will happen to the server and what a milestone it was going to be when we hit 3000 members!:eek: Walt Welch was on our front line keeping the taly on when it would happen. Gotta agree with PhilL, it was more interesting back then. :(
 
Yes- like many other I too have become less excited about the BF.

It has to do with many reasons and only some of them have anything at all to do with the way the BF looks today. I work harder. I have a new baby daughter...that kind of things...

But I do think the repetition is getting very tidies and that far too many of the new members never bother looking anything up - and I for one have gotten tired of addressing them at the old threads (I used to dig them out for them...)

I think we need to start an OTBF (old timers BF...) where the entrance will be to members that have over a set amount of posts and a certain time frame...

Or is it just the way things are? When a forum like that grows beyond a certain point - it becomes less personal and less professional?

OTOH - so many new people have learned their first lesson about knives here - this sure can't be bad...

So...

BTW - thanks for all the kind words.

It is a magical place- where one can find almost anything that used to be and is gone.
 
....for the link...really nice of you to post it!



"Hunters seek what they [WANT].., Seekers hunt what they [NEED]"
 
Holy cow! I just searched for www.chaicutlery.com and found James' wonderful site! Pictures and all! (Well, most of them at least - I can't seem to get to the Spyderco page) I've got to get up for work in less than 5 hours so I'll have to explore further some other time. Thanks for the link Blilious - this site has some major potential!
 
I too find this site and the man behind it one of the greatest losses...

Right after his untimely passing, one of the BF members saved his entire site to his HD.

He was kind enough to send me a zipped copy on a CD.

I still look at it from time to time.

Heres to JKM. May his sole rest in peace.
 
Hello "old timers",

I for one am glad that you are here. While reading the archives and doing searches has taught me much, many of the experiences and perspectives that you share on knives do have an impact - perhaps not on each other, but at least on those of us getting into cutlery.

James Mattis sold me my first decent knife - Spyderco Delica ATS 55 before I even knew of this forum. Man, I thought that thing was way too much money! He put up with my several phone calls pestering him for information about what is now my toolbox knife. Great guy.

Hang in there. The BF may be getting more impersonal and a little bit diluted, but new blood isn't always a bad thing.

Geode;)
 
Check out Benchmade's old site and forum from 1996. Ahh the days when Mark McWillis moderated, and Les actually cared enough to post. Lots of great posts from James Mattis there too.

We could really punish ourselves and read the entire recdotknives Josh P.V.K.T. VS. Mike T. fiasco! Some things are best forgotten.
 
I just searched bladeforums.com, selected a year, then I clicked on a date and chose a "screenshot". It worked for me, although some dates took me to weird places. Once it took me to something that was in all Spanish, but I eventually made it back in time and viewed bladeforums 15 years ago.
Thanks for resurrecting this thread. I had never heard of that archive site before.
 
I had to have that REKAT SIFU, then.
Sold it later. :(
Thanks for the timetrip.
red mag
 
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