Without naming them, I will say that I have been involved in several other discussion forums. I read posts on this one for quite some time before I became a member. Simon, you mentioned that things were a bit slow here except for challenges. I have noticed the same phenomenon. The other forums I followed are completely moribund. Dead. Throw on the dirt. Put up a tombstone. One or two dyspeptic grumps make posts complaining about their neighbors or the weather. Another member says, "Yeah, same here. Weather." You would never know what the discussion forum was about from reading the posts. I noticed the trend starting about 2020. It is like the whole world pulled its head into the shell and quit. The companies selling the sorts of toys we used to like did it too. No catalogs from most of them now. Not even digital. No interest. Nobody excited about anything. This site is better than most as far as participation. And still friendly. Maybe reviving some old strings is a partial answer. I hope so. Best wishes. Gary
Or anyone raised the philosophical question if modding is unethical because the meaning of SAKs is to receive in humility what Victorinox giveth us and make the best out of it (I belong to this school of thinking, btw). Oh well, I miss the old action.
The other forums I followed are completely moribund. Dead. Throw on the dirt. Put up a tombstone. One or two dyspeptic grumps make posts complaining about their neighbors or the weather.
When did this one happen?
Simon, I think you hit very deep, almost existential topic here.What causes rise and fall of emipires? Why almost every human endeavour goes through the stages of humble beginnings, growth, heydays, stagnation and inevitable decline?For the forum - is it age related? Maybe the old members already told everything and there is not enough of a new ones to rejuvenate? Of course I do not have exact data, but I guess there are not many members below 40 or 45...I am still very grateful that this forum exists, I remember my early lurking only days and the excitement reading discussions about the best combos, hours spent contemplating pro and cons of Rambler vs. Classic vs. MC, discusions between users and collectors, stories what sparked interest in SAKs and what SAKs means to people.. But it seems to me that SAKs and pocket knives in general are thing of the past. Beautiful, useful and great, but with limited future...
What seems like a sure fire discussion topic is whenever Victorinox introduces a new LE, especially controversial ones. The silly Paper White thing, or whatever it was, really got the group going. And before that the Model 1897 Sportsman's knife re-issue was probably the most controversial topic I've seen on the forum in years.
For me I do find posting photos a bit of a pain - It's a five step process: Take the photo; upload to PC; resize on PC; write post; upload piccie to MTo - There's probably an easier way - If so please enlighten me.
For the forum - is it age related? Maybe the old members already told everything and there is not enough of a new ones to rejuvenate? Of course I do not have exact data, but I guess there are not many members below 40 or 45...
If anything, a daily challenge would be a constant reminder of the uncomfortable fact that I don’t really need a SAK in daily life.
I mostly work in an office, so there are many days when I never use a SAK or MT. If anything, a daily challenge would be a constant reminder of the uncomfortable fact that I don’t really need a SAK in daily life.
To sum it up: Life without a SAK is conceivable, but it would be meaningless.
To sum it up: Life without a SAK is conceivable, but it would be meaningless. CheersSimon
Interesting topic. I've been lurking on this and few other forums for maybe 10 years and I've noticed something. Just a theory.When the EDC was still a new concept it was all around. People were very active posting their gear of forums, Instagram, Youtube etc. There were few knives everybody wanted: Esee, Benchmade, Spyderco, Emerson etc. As the demand grew higher there popped up more new manufactors and custom makers. Eventually everything was weird color titanium. Knives costing easily over 600€. There were titanium pry bars and knucks, custom handkerchiefs, ti bolt pens etc. Imagine having just a Classic SD, Dime and two coins in your pocket. Would you post that on a thread with all that pic porn (quess many people didn't want to)? Im thinking the whole EDC scene went too hot and then people realized how much useless and shiny stuff they bought with too much money. I just yesterday checked here the EDC section and with a small scrolling found threads that had last post in January. Anybody noticing the same?There is also the point people don't talk often. We have decent gear and multis but on a normal office workweek there is little to no use for this stuff. Where our gear shines is on rural area, camping, hobbies, construction and fixing things. Life is often easier than this.Right now I got a Spartan on my hip and Curl on the table and haven't use a knife in a week I think. Used pliers 2 times in 2 months. Still love these tools and will carry these. I feel that if I carry multitools I will be more likely to get into situations where I have to or can use them and that is for me the active life that I enjoy. For example, buy an camping axe -> want to go camping to test it out. From that axe comes good camping memories.But as I never want to complain but to see a solution I would like to see more of what people feel and think about their gear rather than just pictures. It's really just pictures. Forums have more capability.Post what you carry and tell why you like the stuff you have even if you used it only once a month. Don't let pictures and emojis replace your story. Tell that story.Sorry for long post but I felt interested on this topic. As im pretty new here im taking it still slow. Might revive some threads but also thinking of making some new ones. In the spirit of the above perhaps.Lähetetty minun SM-A426B laitteesta Tapatalkilla
First, welcome to the forum, PSG, good to have you. So your theory is that in the last decade, most of the activity on forums like this was about showboating, and that this ship has sailed? That's an interesting idea. I didn't think of this before as I didn't come to this forum on the EDC train (or, well, ship... ), I just happened to like SAKs a bit too much and needed a support group. But I agree that when I joined in 2019, there seemingly were more posts around in which people showed pictures of their EDC and in which the SAK was just a tiny speck of color in a sea of flashlights, tactical knives and even sidearms. I remember often wondering where they might store all of that stuff and what serious problems they must have with their lifestyles if they encounter problems in their Every Day (that's what EDC is about, right?) to which a tactical knife or a firearm is the solution. That said, I for one am not convinced that this particular forum was very much plagued by the problem you describe. My impression is that a SAK subforum is something you are more likely to end up in AFTER you get over your worst prepper fantasies or gear craze and realize that a humble SAK is all you need. Or you come here directly because you are old school and like to carry an analogue multitool next to the nowadays unavoidable digital one. Or you like to collect them for entirely different reasons - after all, after 125 years of an ever changing line-up, SAKs make great collectibles.So all in all, I for one don't believe the phenomenon you describe is the main reason for the current problems of this forum, although it might certainly be related to - or even a serious part of - it.After musing about the issue in the last days and actively cultivating some threads here, I wonder it the main problem is simply time (or rather lack thereof). I am currently on vacation and therefore have lots of time on my hands to just think about things, which I enjoy immensely. Trivial or serious, I don't care, as long as I just don't end up running in circles. To avoid the latter, you sometimes need input from the outside world, food for thought so to speak. This is when I started missing this forum, wrote this thread and tried to rekindle the fire. So far it works quite nicely, but I have to say I invested a lot of thought and time in the project in these past days (my family frequently complained because I was writing so much on the tablet). However, I noticed there seem to be more people like me out there, people who like to think about things and just waited for someone to tickle their brain. I find this very encouraging.So although my individual activity on this forum is bound to ebb away again, I will continue to visit it and try to offer conversation starters when interesting SAK related thoughts occur to me. As long as the other members will do the same and/or take the time and effort to add to such threads some thoughts and ideas of their own if they feel inspired, I guess we will be fine. But all this is conditional on us having enough time and leisure on our hands, which might be a problem in this day and age.Cheers,Simon
Really im not trying to say that there has been just showboating here. Trying not to say too much of things I may not know enough of.
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