Vic Official Forum and Knife

[BPRoberts]

I know we had a thread on this, but I couldn't find it to bump.

Vic's official forum is now open to the public here.

I really wanted to be excited for it, but it's a complete mess. It looks like they're using Flarum, which is better than Discourse, but still "modernized" AKA designed for a phone and garbage on a real computer. Despite receiving a welcome message assuring me "We are real people, not AI 🙂" the entire forum is, in fact, set to AI translate posts between languages. I guess it's nice that they're trying to bolster a more integrated/world wide community, but it means every post reads like bad marketing copy. Oddly polls and other actual forum architecture remain inconsistently (seemingly at random) translated, giving you a great "worst of both worlds" experience, as you get to combine awkward navigation with awkward posts.

The big selling point for the forum was supposed to be the Community Knife, which members would have a hand in designing. Maybe I got over excited, but I thought designing might mean something like suggesting tools, or at least picking the base model. Instead, Victorinox decided people needed a Pioneer X with a package opener, and let people vote between the three Companion Alox colors (red, gold, silver) plus black, which box to reuse, and three choices for the engraving. Awlso, don't worry if you missed out, some of the collectors groups will probably be getting models to sell (officially, not scalping) anyway. So exclusive...

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Credit where credit is due, they did post a cool little video showing some of the manufacturing.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9FL3Q6La2mc

I try not to post just to complain, but I thought the Community Knife warranted a post. It's a shame the forum/process was such a mess. I get that setting up a forum is a lot of work (shoutout to Def and co!), I've helped do it with smaller ones. It just feels like Vic made all the wrong choices here for no reason.

[Farmer X]

It looks like they're using Flarum, which is better than Discourse, but still "modernized" AKA designed for a phone and garbage on a real computer.

I'm not familiar with Flarum or Discord, but something like PHPBB or Simple Machines (what MTo uses) would have been a better choice. Both of those platforms have good versions for both smartphones and PCs. As for the forum knife...let's just say that I like the etch and the engraving panel graphic, but I would have chosen a different tool loadout.

I could probably go on for at least an hour about how much I detest AI, but for now I'll say that Mr. Roberts is correct about a lot of it reading like marketing hyperbole. Last night I ran across a large amount of eBay G-Shock listings with AI "descriptions." None of them mentioned anything about the state of the watch's battery or whether the crystal was scratched. And AI nonsense about used folding knives never mentions walk and talk or wear on components. That is information you need. A few pictures ain't always worth a few thousand words!

With all that said...I'll stick with MTo.

[elsinox]

I see it completely differently. I really like the vx forum, especially because it's international. One click is all it takes, and you get the post in the original language if you want. For me, all the features work very well on both my PC and my smartphone.
There's room for improvement, that's clear, but that's normal for such a new platform.
The Community Knife only interests me marginally. It was announced that it's very simple this year. That's fine with me.
What makes the VX community unique is the direct line to the company. I've been invited to several interviews based on my posts so I can actively participate. Where else do you find that?
I think we should stop pitting individual platforms against each other. To each their own. But it's clear to me that VX is a competitor to mto and will most likely displace sakwiki with the upcoming collection feature.

[Farmer X]

What makes the VX community unique is the direct line to the company. I've been invited to several interviews based on my posts so I can actively participate.

That is a pretty compelling point. I have to wonder what they'd think of my feedback.

[gustophersmob]

I’ve joined over there, and it seems like a good atmosphere. Sometimes the machine translations are odd (consistently translating some German word for scales as “bowls”), but you can generally understand the intent of most posts.

I do find it hard to navigate. There was thread I read the other day, and went back to find it a few hours later and couldn’t. It could be user error, but the navigation seems clunky to me.

I’m positive of the Vic forum, overall, and don’t see any reason why it and MTO can’t peacefully coexist and provide value to the SAK community.

[Richard Zheng]

I think that its a pretty nice platform for victorinox users as a way to ask general questions, where our community here is more suited to the enthusiast/hardcore users

[Myron]

I just joined.  Seemed pretty easy to move around on using my MacBook Air, but it doesn't really seem to offer anything I can't get here at MTO.  I was disappointed that the club knife is closed to orders already. Oh well, it's not like I'm hurting for Alox SAK options.