A change in tone

[Blerv]

These threads pop up occasionally where an over-sensitive or nostalgic person says, "it's not like the good ol' days!". I really have noticed a change though and wanted to see if it was just me.

Obviously some changes are for the better. Penicillin, electricity, adorable cat videos on YouTube. I can't quantify ift he shift here has been overall good or bad and I don't have the guts to make a poll :). Heck, maybe I'm just one of those emotional nostalgia seekers too and this is pointless.

Maybe the older friendly forum was naive in its unwavering adoration of a brand. Maybe it needed a little self-reflection on the proper way to handle criticism. It just seems we flew way past that. A situation of us vs them and a pedantic squabbling over anything that wasn't bolted down.

I'm not trying to make any childish threats but I'll be spending a bit less time here contributing (as if that's a theat, haha!). It's just been about as much fun as a deposition unless you stick to brutal guidelines, avoid topics completely, or simply agree with the loudest voice in the room.

Life is difficult already; I'm not going to get worked up about pocket knives. That's why they invented video game and auto performance forums :p.

[Ankerson]

I like the cat videos personally, they can be really funny. :D

Those and the dog videos like the ones were the cat steals the dogs bed. ROFL :D

Life is serious enough I think, I come here to try and enjoy myself and talk about Spyderco products with fellow people who also like them.

[JD Spydo]

I've been here at Spyderville since September 2004 and I can assure you that there indeed has been a lot of changes not only in tone as you say but also I think it's fair to say that many of the newer group sure have a different spin on things. Now that's not necessarily a bad thing but if you've been here as long as I have you can't help but notice the different eras in which the Spyderco Forum has evolved.

But I will say this after I took about a 4 month sabatical around the 2010 time period there was a group of forumites at that time that were without a doubt just down right hostile and opinionated beyond belief>> not necessary to name anyone because most of them have departed. But that scenerio didn't last long thank GOD but I had at least 4 of the long term members talk to me about it at length.

I'm a member of 6 different knife forums and one straight razor forum but I spend 90% of my forum time either here or over a Bladeforums. This forum without a doubt has the best bunch of people I've ever known in cyberspace. I does grieve me however that many of the original, long term members like Daywalker, Simona, Jimmy Dean, blackninja, Dr. Hannibal Lecter M.D. and about a dozen others I can mention don't frequent the place anymore and I don't know why :confused: .

The fact that the owner of the company along with several of the movers & shakers in the company chime in on a regular basis is really cool IMO. And we have a lot of talented, knowledgable folks that do indeed know what they're talking about. LONG LIVE THE SPYDERCO FORUM!!!

[bearfacedkiller]

I have contemplated a hiatus myself. I lurked for a while and have been very active for over a year and now I seem to have to avoid certain topics and certain people in order to enjoy myself. That seems to detract from the overall experience and I might just need to take a break. Sal seems to have a theory that the forum should work it's own problems out if it can but is seems lately that some particularly strong egos are going unchecked and that the forumites are unable to smooth things out on their own. I would hate to see that push a lot of great folks away but I think I have already seen that happening.

[swigert]

It's not the same as even when I joined in late 2013. Honestly it seems that it has changed from having fun discussing a product and company we all love and sharing pics etc. to a couple people arguing over the same stuff all the time. I think the people know who they are and should either be asked to leave or they need to
Change their tune.

Maybe the couple people I'm thinking of shouldn't open each other's threads. That might solve a lot of the problems.


Then there's the girl from New York going after The Deacon. Well.....that was just weird.

[apollo]

I also walk around this forum for many years (I did not post much unthil a year ago but i always did watch all the threads).
And the forum did change. there are less fun threads and more arguings now like swigert already posted above.
But this forum still is the place to be for the spyderco collector. And if you filter down the topics a bit you still feel the love hanging around this place like no other forum on this earth. :) Also the forum will change back it is only a matter of time. :)

[tvenuto]

I feel where you're coming from, Blerv. There's always going to be a smattering of topics that fit into the following categories: interesting, uninteresting, and contentious. I think there's a largely random ebb and flow, but I do notice that there have been a number of contentious topics of late. I would merely ask: how can I make this place more fun and interesting to be and less contentious? For instance a few members here have taken the time to photo and share their collections, which I have enjoyed. However, I can't just sit passively and hope that other people start interesting topics, so I would challenge everyone to make this the place you want to come back to.

[Blerv]

It's still a great place and I'm still a fan of the people and products. It's just lost a bit of the jovial charm (just a personal feeling).

Thank you for sharing your thoughts as you all are highly respected! I'm sure I'll lurk around plenty :).

[apollo]

so I would challenge everyone to make this the place you want to come back to.

I like this challenge :) it is not an easy one but we all do have examples we can use.
Going to think about it how i can do my little part.

[apollo]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts as you all are highly respected! I'm sure I'll lurk around plenty :).

Thx Blerv i do have to say all the threads started by the older generation members like yourself made me love spyderco even more.
And i hope one day all the members you mentiond in a post above come back to this place.
So i hope you never stop hanging around here because that would be a big loss to this forum. :)

[Donut]

Some days it's tough to walk that line. I can't walk it every day, but I try to stay reasonable.

I do think the market has shifted a little bit towards an outspoken offensive competition. Society has shifted to having an offensive appearance.

[ChrisinHove]

Hey Blerv, don't go: you're one of the good guys! Level heads like yours (and mine, obviously, heh heh) are what is most needed.

I think of it of just having to step over the kids scrapping and rolling around in the dust on the playground floor. "Awww, look, aren't they having such fun", and get on with chatting with the grown-ups.

Even the most ascerbic contributer will say something of value, eventually....

[LC Kid]

Hi Folks!


I don't have the benefit of being around here that much as many fellow members that I honestly admire.

But I've been here enough to clearly notice what Blerv says.

I've been around Internet Forums for a very long while. And having been from Regular New Comer User to Global Moderator / Administrator I really know the How-To, and the first and principal motive behind any relevant Forum is To Contribute and Share Valuable Info. :)

Anything else just doesn't count, at least in my book.

And it's pretty obviuos that some people around don't Contribute. It looks like they enjoy to Complicate instead. :confused:

For that reason there're some threads that I don't even bother to check.

My real concern is when that amount of threads increase in frequency. :rolleyes:

[gbelleh]

Just like the real world, this forum is what we make it. Sure, there has been some contention lately, but there's still plenty here to enjoy. We each determine our own attitude, and choose whether to criticize or uplift.

[demoncase]

I find this forum has a much lighter and happier tone on average than any other forum that I frequent.....Now, anyone will tell you that- statistically speaking- there is always a distribution about the mean which varies somewhat with season and world events, but again, I find this always tend to be skewed a little to the upbeat rather than the downbeat....Which is all to the good!

I've not been here as long as many, but I've been online and on forums since I was in my late teens- and compared to some of the real bearpits there are out there, this place is a calm and placid lake of reason and good cheer.

[tvenuto]

I've not been here as long as many, but I've been online and on forums since I was in my late teens- and compared to some of the real bearpits there are out there, this place is a calm and placid lake of reason and good cheer.

You haven't even been forced to use your dueling pistols yet!

[demoncase]

I've not been here as long as many, but I've been online and on forums since I was in my late teens- and compared to some of the real bearpits there are out there, this place is a calm and placid lake of reason and good cheer.

You haven't even been forced to use your dueling pistols yet!

:D....Day ain't over yet

[mikerestivo]

I think that this forum, like most others, goes through cycles where there are flare-ups of what Blerv describes.

This forum has gone through that in the past. Maybe it's going through it now - I don't participate as much as I used to so I have not observed anything drastically different.

This is consistently one of the more civil forums that I have seen. There also seems to be good governance on this forum.

There is one cycling forum that I used to frequent. It has become dominated by a handful of very knowledgeable, but also mean-spirited and rude folks (some of the moderators are in that category). It's circling the drain because of it. That forum used to be the best single source on the web for cycling gear reviews, technical questions, and such. It's now become a place where free discussion takes a back seat to petty ridicule and who can be the biggest smart-Alec.

What goes around comes around - if the forum allows folks to act out like that, eventually there will be a small cluster of members left, echoing each other's already-known opinions.

[Evil D]

I'm creeping up on 5 years here, but I've been on forums basically since the internet gained popularity back in the mid to late '90s. What I've always felt happens in times like this (because it happens on ALL forums) is that a new generation comes in and "steps on the toes" of the senior crowd, and perhaps doesn't give them the respect they feel they deserve. Along with this, you get a heightened sense of entitlement from the senior staff because they feel they deserve that respect for being around so long.

What this typically manifests itself as is, the newer crowd openly disagrees or questions the posts of the senior crowd (or member) and that's when things get out of hand. I myself think it's all pretty silly. We're all here because of a common interest, and this isn't a union so seniority doesn't gain you any special treatment other than some forums having special banners and titles and such, but here we're all just a bunch of friends discussing great knives. If people would just give the same respect they would give in real life, say at a knife convention, then these issues would never occur.

But yeah, in the end, this is still by FAR the most civil and well mannered forum I frequent and have frequented.

[Stuart Ackerman]

Words from a wise man...

“If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.”

“He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion... Nor is it enough that he should hear the opinions of adversaries from his own teachers, presented as they state them, and accompanied by what they offer as refutations. He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them...he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.”

“the only way in which a human being can make some approach to knowing the whole of a subject, is by hearing what can be said about it by persons of every variety of opinion, and studying all modes in which it can be looked at by every character of mind. No wise man ever acquired his wisdom in any mode but this; nor is it in the nature of human intellect to become wise in any other manner.”

― John Stuart Mill On Liberty