Where Is Everybody?

Lorien said:
rhetorically speaking, I wonder how many knife makers can credit BF with helping get their careers started
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No doubt dozens if not hundreds of really good makers got their careers started here. But are any of em still here? And has BF launched any careers the last couple of years? Those the questions that should be asked.
 
How many people who made it from Great Britain to America started on the Titanic?
 
I'll add that I was into customs way before joining this forum, but this had a huge impact on my collecting habits and I learned a TON!

I also hope it can make a comeback regardless of the other social media.
 
Aidenag said:
longer conversations. That's where BF thrives, but the powers that be here have made essentially every effort to discourage that very thing from occurring.
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I've seen no evidence of this, can you cite any examples?
 
Lorien said:
I've seen no evidence of this, can you cite any examples?
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For a good while there, a lot of the guys who were the most prolific WIP, how to, or straight posting their newest knives posters were gettin hounded for not having knifemaker memberships, even if it just lapsed, and or told they couldnt post this or that type of things as it was "advertising". Haven't seen that done to anyone in a long time now, but also haven't seen those guys back, or much user generated, solid content either.

Edit: Just lookin at around when all that was going down, soo many of the forums best vanished within a VERY short timeframe(all within 6 months). Scott Mcghee, Mike Quesenberry, David Lisch, Sam Lurquin, NickWheeler, Cas-brothers, Don Nguyen, Adam/Haley Derosiers. No doubt many more.
 
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I’ve been a member for about 2-3 years now. Being part time and posting here rarely cause I don’t make that many knives a year, I probably couldn’t add to the conversation of getting my start on BF. But when I learned people made custom knives and thought
It would be cool to try out, I found BF immediately. I have currently never learned from another Smith (yet) but I have read probably over a thousand threads and looked up hundreds and hundreds of questions and techniques and anything to further my knowledge. I’m not sure I can say the exposure here jump started my career but BF as a learning tool is definitely the reason I Progressed at the rate I have on my own.
 
Social media has conditioned us to have a constantly hyper active mind making calm reasoned contemplative thought a thing of the past. The simple nature of the beast allows you to engage very little of your mind while scrolling aimlessly for hours, an extremely shallow experience that lets you avoid all the hard work of thinking. Its just one big happy distraction with all your favorite vices in one convenient app.

I remember back when knife guys would still use the term sheeple, now it seems the sheepdogs have been herded into the sheep pen.
 
Lorien said:
rhetorically speaking, I wonder how many knife makers can credit BF with helping get their careers started
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BF really helped me to get started, and, I'm still here, going on ten years and 4700 posts now. I got a kick out of one of the fellas here saying I was one of the "newer" makers. Even posted a few WIPS. I remember getting roughed up here when I first started out and it was good for me and my career.

I still post my spec knives in both the For Sale and Custom & Handmade Knives threads because it's still exposure along with my website and IG.
 
Jon Brand said:
I am not a member of USN but based on their show and "the gathering", and open presence of members on instagram, I'd assume that forum is very busy still, even though there is a decline of participation all over aside from this forum..
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Jon, I looked in over there a few times awhile back & it seemed mighty slow.
 
TK Steingass said:
BF really helped me to get started, and, I'm still here, going on ten years and 4700 posts now. I got a kick out of one of the fellas here saying I was one of the "newer" makers. Even posted a few WIPS. I remember getting roughed up here when I first started out and it was good for me and my career.

I still post my spec knives in both the For Sale and Custom & Handmade Knives threads because it's still exposure along with my website and IG.
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I love this rabbit hole, it was where the craziness began, and I would never abandon it to set sail solely on the newer social medias, though they can be a nice add-on for quick and easy exposure, and a good way to easily keep watchers updated on your work, and have some internet fun.

But in the end, if someone out there searches the internet for titanium swords, forged titanium alloy blades, or anything like that, you know what they find? A ton of detailed content on Bladeforums... and virtually nothing on Facebook or Instagram, etc, no matter how much gets posted there. That's not what those types of social media are about.

This place is a searchable historical log of everything blades, an exchange of ideas going back in time, with a legendary role call of knife makers and personalities. It's also a place where one gets to know others, friends are made, nemeses identified, shit is talked, and a mountain of LoLs are had. Jerry Fisk himself even went into Whine & Cheese once and dropped a hilarious burn on some forum yahoo, to the delight of all.

Those who are not participating on Bladeforums are missing out, big time.
 
Moderation selectively enforcing the rules has been my biggest issue. Not in this subforum for me personally, but in others it’s atrocious. I actually got banned for calling out a moderator with a clear substance abuse problem trolling members.
 
There's real content here.

I know people have complained about rules enforcement variability, but it's mostly seemed rather predictable to me.

Easy image hosting would definitely improve site usability. FB and IG have that nailed. But it's INCREDIBLY expensive. Those platforms have the power of huge data center businesses behind them. Hosting everybody's images indefinitely is a constantly growing indefinite expense. Dunno how to get around that. I host all my own images on a server shared with a friend (for both BF and my website). That's an unreasonable hoop for technical muggles.

On those platforms, you are the product, sold to advertisers and anybody else who wants to mine that data for good or evil. Here we pay to not be the product. Yeah, it's limiting. I don't have a good answer.
 
daizee said:
On those platforms, you are the product, sold to advertisers and anybody else who wants to mine that data for good or evil. Here we pay to not be the product.
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I think you just nailed the most important fact in this BF vs. discussion.
 
Ben Seward said:
STeven is still around. Had some life issues. I gotta wonder if the preschool positive re-enforcement atmosphere keeps guys like him away. And in the shame on selling a knife to feed your family climate, could Joe Paranee still do what he did with the hurak and tsavo runs from Lurquin? Talk about straight up selling! But it did keep things exciting and gave collectors a reason to be here! Take away the reason for top makers top post(selling) and critical discussion which is constructive and interesting and what do you have to gain by posting here? IG is an easier format and while it's not as permanent you are at least guaranteed a lot of people seeing your work if you have a good following. It is what it is. If you don't have the deep discussions then all you have in BF is a lame, inconvenient, unprofitable form of social media.
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STeven will always be around, until he is dead.

My wife and best friend of 21 years died last year after a routine surgery that she came through like aces, always, and then after four days she was in a coma, wtf?

Then I got diverticulitis with a perforation, complications and surgery that had me in the hospital more times last year than my whole life combined. Then bladder cancer and treatment.

Am back to work and strong again. Mind and soul are healing. Have a beautiful girlfriend who is an ICU nurse and USAF Reservist. Went to Blade this year as an employee of Vegas Forge.

Picked up a TW-90 Grinder from Travis Wuertz at his Hammer In in the Spring. Met some great people.

Gotten more suspicious of "Outlanders", lol...in the last few years, many people have come out of the woodwork to either a) view us as a "target market", to be exploited or b) come in under the guise of friendship and community only to be revealed as ultimately self-serving....it's a problem for me....you might consider it a problem for you.

Went to Tim Hancock's Memorial in Casa Grande, AZ held by Travis Wuertz. Dude is a Friend and a Brother.

Will post when able and have something unique or possibly valuable to contribute.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
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Kohai999 said:
STeven will always be around, until he is dead.

My wife and best friend of 21 years died last year after a routine surgery that she came through like aces, always, and then after four days she was in a coma, wtf?

Then I got diverticulitis with a perforation, complications and surgery that had me in the hospital more times last year than my whole life combined. Then bladder cancer and treatment.

Am back to work and strong again. Mind and soul are healing. Have a beautiful girlfriend who is an ICU nurse and USAF Reservist. Went to Blade this year as an employee of Vegas Forge.

Picked up a TW-90 Grinder from Travis Wuertz at his Hammer In in the Spring. Met some great people. Backwoods Melissa is real pretty, but I am still not sure if she is REAL Knife People, or a Poseur. Gotten more suspicious of "Outlanders", lol.

Went to Tim Hancock's Memorial in Casa Grande, AZ held by Travis Wuertz. Dude is a Friend and a Brother.

Will post when able and have something to contribute.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
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My thoughts are with you.
 
Kohai999 said:
STeven will always be around, until he is dead.

My wife and best friend of 21 years died last year after a routine surgery that she came through like aces, always, and then after four days she was in a coma, wtf?

Then I got diverticulitis with a perforation, complications and surgery that had me in the hospital more times last year than my whole life combined. Then bladder cancer and treatment.

Am back to work and strong again. Mind and soul are healing. Have a beautiful girlfriend who is an ICU nurse and USAF Reservist. Went to Blade this year as an employee of Vegas Forge.

Picked up a TW-90 Grinder from Travis Wuertz at his Hammer In in the Spring. Met some great people. Backwoods Melissa is real pretty, but I am still not sure if she is REAL Knife People, or a Poseur. Gotten more suspicious of "Outlanders", lol.

Went to Tim Hancock's Memorial in Casa Grande, AZ held by Travis Wuertz. Dude is a Friend and a Brother.

Will post when able and have something to contribute.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
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Hang in there STeven - life is hard at times.
 
Great to see you around, STeven.

You are and always will be a catalyst for dialog. You have a gift for clarity which I only wish I had, and you have had the limitation of no filter, which invokes collateral remarks.

It's a double edged sword! ;)

@Spark: In regards to limitations: The BF software could be SO MUCH MORE USER FRIENDLY, if it contained a photo resizing tool within. Upload whatever from phone or PC, and it comes out at the proper file-saving size.

Is this possible? Don't other forums do this? Right now we have a 500KB posting limit. Cell phones have bigger (and better) cameras every day, and they aren't downsizing.

C&H is an important part of the handmade world scene. It's the only area which doesn't have 'stock model' images to search for. Photos are crucial.
 
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