I'm also one of those people who first started collecting knives a while ago (about 10 years ago) and for 8 of those 10 years I avoided spyderco entirely. I always thought they looked ugly compared to the beautiful pictures of Benchmades and other brands (I also love Kershaw).
Here's the thing you are missing though if you are just judging by pictures posted here. Spydercos are designed as exact compliments of the human anatomy, you really have to see one with a hand gripping it to appreciate how the knives are constructed so as to fit a human hand perfectly. Many of their knives like the paramilitary 2 if you pick up for the first time you will immediately know where to put your fingers, and not only that there are actually multiple possible grips that are immediately intuitively obvious. I really believe now that all knife pictures on reviews here and elsewhere should include photos of knives in hand. The proliferance of video reviews in the past few years has somewhat helped with this though.
For instance, I originally looked at the famous Spyderhole™ and thought "wow, they are so cheap they just machined an opener into the blade instead of installing thumbstuds." But once you use it you realize: (1) the size of the Spyderhole is exactly right so as to accomodate a human finger and combined with smooth opening works just as well as a thumb stud (and arguably better) and (2) that the spyderhole also serves to give the blade a thumb ramp, a place to securely put your thumb while the blade is open, and on many spyderco knives there is great jimping to give you even more security in your grip. Going back to flat-backed blades like most others now I just feel like my thumb is wobbly and insecure. And the size of the Spyderhole is really important, as many other knives, for instance the Buck Vantage series, have a hole but it's only large enough to get a corner of your thumb in, which makes opening the knife annoying. I can't tell you how often I see knives with small holes now and think "man they just don't get it, you can't scale the hole to an arbitrary size, it's dimensions are dictated by the size of the human finger." Pick up a Tenacious for $30 and you will see what I'm talking about.
I guess I feel like it's a shame to see artistic blades hanging on a wall naked, they should really be set in a marble to-scale human hand or something to show how the design is beautiful as a complement to the user, not as a standalone hunk of metal.
Spyderco's subtle finger choils and smooth opening are just icing on the cake.
You can point to other knives and say they're like that too, but they're not to the same extent that Spyderco's are. Pictures of ZT or Benchmade or other knives online may look beautiful by themselves on a table, but once you get a Spyderco in your hand you realize how beautiful the design really is.
I know you're probably reading this and rolling your eyes, and I was like you too, until I bought a Tenacious a few years back. That knife, while kind of ugly, is just beautiful in hand and everything about it is ergonomic. Lately I've been carrying a Sage 1 and tempted to go back to a Benchmade Griptilian, 943 Osborne, or Kershaw Blur but the Spyderco is simply perfect as a tool.
Here's the thing you are missing though if you are just judging by pictures posted here. Spydercos are designed as exact compliments of the human anatomy, you really have to see one with a hand gripping it to appreciate how the knives are constructed so as to fit a human hand perfectly. Many of their knives like the paramilitary 2 if you pick up for the first time you will immediately know where to put your fingers, and not only that there are actually multiple possible grips that are immediately intuitively obvious. I really believe now that all knife pictures on reviews here and elsewhere should include photos of knives in hand. The proliferance of video reviews in the past few years has somewhat helped with this though.
For instance, I originally looked at the famous Spyderhole™ and thought "wow, they are so cheap they just machined an opener into the blade instead of installing thumbstuds." But once you use it you realize: (1) the size of the Spyderhole is exactly right so as to accomodate a human finger and combined with smooth opening works just as well as a thumb stud (and arguably better) and (2) that the spyderhole also serves to give the blade a thumb ramp, a place to securely put your thumb while the blade is open, and on many spyderco knives there is great jimping to give you even more security in your grip. Going back to flat-backed blades like most others now I just feel like my thumb is wobbly and insecure. And the size of the Spyderhole is really important, as many other knives, for instance the Buck Vantage series, have a hole but it's only large enough to get a corner of your thumb in, which makes opening the knife annoying. I can't tell you how often I see knives with small holes now and think "man they just don't get it, you can't scale the hole to an arbitrary size, it's dimensions are dictated by the size of the human finger." Pick up a Tenacious for $30 and you will see what I'm talking about.
I guess I feel like it's a shame to see artistic blades hanging on a wall naked, they should really be set in a marble to-scale human hand or something to show how the design is beautiful as a complement to the user, not as a standalone hunk of metal.
Spyderco's subtle finger choils and smooth opening are just icing on the cake.
You can point to other knives and say they're like that too, but they're not to the same extent that Spyderco's are. Pictures of ZT or Benchmade or other knives online may look beautiful by themselves on a table, but once you get a Spyderco in your hand you realize how beautiful the design really is.
I know you're probably reading this and rolling your eyes, and I was like you too, until I bought a Tenacious a few years back. That knife, while kind of ugly, is just beautiful in hand and everything about it is ergonomic. Lately I've been carrying a Sage 1 and tempted to go back to a Benchmade Griptilian, 943 Osborne, or Kershaw Blur but the Spyderco is simply perfect as a tool.
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) But when I first flipped out my Tenacious I loved how easy it flew out. Now Im hooked. I love Spyderco, and Kershaw, and now I want to try out a Benchmade. 
It met and exceeded all my expectations and it still works, although no longer an EDC (in time, other Spydies came to fulfill this role) 
Although not visually appealing to anyone, serrations work - just try a serrated blade for some time and see for yoruself.
