Well...It's Friday...

Comprehensivist said:
I have something else to say that is best said before the 3:00 EST unlock. Win or lose today, this will be my last appearance on a Fiddleback Friday sales thread. After 3-1/2 years and 175 or so Fiddleback Fridays, I have completely burned out on this process as an attempted buying method. Many many hours invested in scouting, strategizing, copying, adjusting computer setting, F5'ing, praying the internet connection is good, pasting, posting, etc. Then wait for the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat. In all those Fridays, I have experienced some of the former and much of the latter. I don't regret the past, but I have come to realize that I have invested all the hours of my life I want to spend on a process with a limited chance of success. The bottom line is that I find no joy in the process, so I will spend that time on something more productive like maybe a knife review.

I want to be clear that I am not done with Fiddlebacks, just done with Fiddleback Friday as a means to buy one. I am sure that others have felt this way in the past and just quietly faded away. I have always been very direct here about what I see, observe, and feel on this forum, so I thought that I should be clear on this subject too.

Happy New Year and best wishes to everyone in 2017.
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Thanks for all you've written out, here.

I am still new to all of this-- if now about 16 weeks in-- but from the get-go have felt conflicted about the methodology of the Friday sales, the timing and mechanism of which is at odds with the deliberate steps I've been taking to reduce stress in my thinking and life-- and in is in fact incongruous with the sentiments and 'rightness' engendered by the Fiddleback knives themselves, once they're here. The process just isn't for me, and you've captured a lot of the why, from a far broader perspective-- all that expended energy....

The previous 16 weeks' offerings notwithstanding ;), there's still a chance that something I really, truly want will finally appear in a Friday thread, at which point I will be all kinds of tied up-- at work, or at home with my modest internet connection, and most of all internally! I would have to rely on the goodwill of others, at the expense of those who are doing their best to secure a knife for themselves. This does not yet sit as well as I'd like it to, even if the outcome is favorable to me. [If I were some of these Sharkly Others, I would look into hiring out as "Friday Sales Concierges" :D].

On the other hand? I love what just happened specific to your hopes for the navy blue Ladyfinger, how many jumped at the chance to secure it for you. A marvelous unfolding, that. :)

So, I will continue to watch and ponder (and maybe BEG FOR HELP), but I entirely understand what you've written above.

I continue to gain greatly from your contributions here, including in this.

Happy New Year. :)

~ P.
 
I actually really like the format... yes you have to be prepared and has a little stress to the process but it's pretty much par for the course... kinda like when knives ship free or dlt releases knives.. it's just the way to go for mass releases one of kind knives..

most of the time I get what I want and I'm posting from my phone most of the time... the only one that I didn't get that kinda stung was the tuxedo sylvrfalcen which was then offered to me by the winner.. for me it's even more difficult to get the knife I want from fiddleback outpost ... the nice ones there get sharked insanely fast


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I wasn't going to jump in on this, but something occurred to me. I won't comment specifically on the format or business model. But I've got to say the unanticipated result of the system has been that I've made at least a dozen really great friends on here, and multiple more solid acquaintances. Much like what happened for Phil this past Friday, I've had so many members jump in to help me, starting way back when I first joined and Abe volunteered to give me a hand. I think I still owe him a promised bottle of quality bourbon. Members have claimed knives and volunteered them over to me when I've expressed admiration or regret at missing out. And I'm privileged to live close enough to the action to have met some of this group, and made fast friends of many of them.

I say this not to deny the time or stress involved in the format, even though I'm still at a place where I actually love it. Might be the gambler in me, but I take a thrill out of the whole thing. I still get a laugh out of the madness of the epic Friday months back when I got that ironwood Ladyfinger (Peter, I still owe you that drink!). Probably sent my blood pressure to aneurism alert levels, but damn it was fun!

Finally, this. When I started it was about the knives. It occurs to me it stopped being about that for me long ago - even though I'm still spending the mortgage every month on here. I come on here to exchange electronic "good mornings" with all of you, laugh, share pics, and collect some steel here or there. I realized this too when considering going to Blade; last year it was about the knives I could get. Now, the knives are second to how much I look forward to hanging out with the gang.

I've won and lost more knives than I can count. I can't even remember many of them. I can't begin to account for the hours. But I remember the help that Australian dude gave me when I was a complete rookie, Andy, Jerry, Gus, Bill, Sergio, Swo, Jim, Phil, Peter, Nathan (x2), Douglas, Bob, Justin, Jarrett, Chris, Brian, Carl, etc,...countless hours in Rick's shop, pancakes in a log cabin in Georgia, and apple juice by the fire with that Vance dude. I'm positive I'd share none of this if it weren't for the madness and pressure and stress and wins and losses of the 8:30 Wednesdays and 3:00 Fridays. Ya'll would just be unknown "Sold" or "Out of Stock" flags on the websites.

My 2 cents. And no, brevity is not a gift I count among my few qualities.

T.
 
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I couldn't say it any better Tony. I would add that if I had all the knives I wanted and missed out on I'd be living alone in a house made out of Fiddleback/Surls knives so the format works well for me.
 
The reality is that Friday sales are a win for the company. keeps people coming back, reduces costs and third parties, and creates a point of intersection for new and old customers. I don't see that changing anytime soon. But I do understand the sentiments and individual decisions to acquire through different channels. On a personal note, I quite enjoy Friday sales and it gives me something to look forward to every week.
 
Well said Tony. This community is what makes the Fiddleback blades even nicer ( if that were even possible ) to own.

Probably the best little corner in the World Wide Web.

Lots of great people here and the folk at the forge are passionate about what they do.

BTW you give me more credit than is due.
 
Don't forget the old days when a batch would pop up on Thursday morning, or Monday afternoon, or maybe it was a single one on Wednesday evening. The Friday thing evolved as a sense of fairness and giving everyone a chance as well as having things happen in a predictable and out in the open manner.
 
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Good points, y'all. I hope I made the 'for me' part of the Friday stressalations clear. :D I, too, love seeing y'all step up on one another's behalf.

Luca917 said:
But I've got to say the unanticipated result of the system has been that I've made at least a dozen really great friends on here, and multiple more solid acquaintances. Much like what happened for Phil this past Friday, I've had so many members jump in to help me....

I'm positive I'd share none of this if it weren't for the madness and pressure and stress and wins and losses of the 8:30 Wednesdays and 3:00 Fridays. Ya'll would just be unknown "Sold" or "Out of Stock" flags on the websites.
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I love that last line-- so true!

swonut said:
Don't forget the old days when a batch would pop up on Thursday morning, or Monday afternoon, or maybe it was a single one on Wednesday evening.
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:eek:

Panthera tigris said:
The reality is that Friday sales are a win for the company. keeps people coming back, reduces costs and third parties, and creates a point of intersection for new and old customers. I don't see that changing anytime soon. But I do understand the sentiments and individual decisions to acquire through different channels. On a personal note, I quite enjoy Friday sales and it gives me something to look forward to every week.
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All good!


... Friday, and here I am on the edge of my seat again, poised to peek.

cantlook-1.gif~original



I cain't... not... loooooook.....


I shall attempt this approach:

free-party-smileys-799.gif~original



But we all know if that a certain color/combination appears, I'm sunk.

prettycolors.gif~original




whistle.gif~original




:D


~ P.
 
Luca917 said:
I never could count so good...
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Hey Tony, since you're word policing Andy over in the other thread, I just wanted to point out that I think you meant to say that you could never count so well. LOL


Happy Friday all ya'll !! (proper plural of ya'll in Texas).


allen456 said:
Shout out!
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Hey Allen buddy ol' pal, where's the preview??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgW5FL37Lqg

[video=youtube;FgW5FL37Lqg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgW5FL37Lqg[/video]
 
Jerry,

Just to be proper, we say "Yu'uns" over here. But it's permitted to mix "Ya'll" in there without raising an eyebrow.
 
allen456 said:
Preview will go up around 1pm eastern
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Allen, by 1 pm you guys way up north may be buried in .001 inches of snow. Ya'll be careful and don't get yourselves caught in Snowmageddon 2017. Speaking for everyone here we do appreciate your dedication.

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Luca917 said:
Jerry,

Just to be proper, we say "Yu'uns" over here. But it's permitted to mix "Ya'll" in there without raising an eyebrow.
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First lesson I received when I moved to tx 13 yrs ago was the proper conjugations of you all and you... is all y'all and y'all ... yuuns is new for me... will have to add that one to the vocabulary


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Awesome batch! The new burlap is interesting... Highlights for me are the starry HB, the OD Shaman, the OS Lady, and the Woodsman. :thumbup: Good luck sharks!
 
Damn I wish I knew the models better. There are two or three that look really nice.


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