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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on Aug 14, 2019 21:48:23 GMT
Except I wasn't there!
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stormmaster
Member
I like viking/migration era swords
Posts: 7,647
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Post by stormmaster on Aug 14, 2019 21:52:38 GMT
There used to be alot of manufacturers interacting with the community, now theres less
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Post by 28shadow on Aug 14, 2019 22:04:11 GMT
I know I lurked from 2013 to 2015, then joined in 2015. Having Dave Kelly provide massive and informative write ups was a treat back then, especially for a newbie to sit and read through. We don't have that anymore.
Also the past few years it seems harder and harder to buy/sell/trade swords than it was when I first began in 2015. Swords that would be steals at $200 usd sit in the classifieds at $150 or even $100 for weeks, if not months, before selling.
Outside of the forum, although somewhat tied to it, Skallagrim was becoming fairly popular but not too much so, he felt like a fellow sword collector on a journey to learn, as I was. Now he seems a holier than thou, stuck up HEMA jock.
To me it feels like there used to be an age of discovery, at least for me, to find decent swords at decent prices, not just to jump straight to the high end stuff that's supposed to be amazing. Now adays it feels nobody cares about anything less than $600, in fact people regularly throw poo at items below that range, then also complain that they don't know how to sharpen their own $1200 sword.
There also used to be a healthy backyard cutting community. It wasn't long after I began that UBC shut down, and I've rarely seen backyard cutters grouping up on here or elsewhere since. That's mostly where I have fun. Cutting with various different swords, playing with my body mechanics and seeing what works and what doesn't.
Maybe I'm just getting slower and older (I'm still stupid young, btw) but just about everything feels off. Also I'm sort of ranting about the entire sword community as a whole, but to me SBG has always been the center of my community. Facebook is full of idiots who know nothing but are unwilling to learn.
Rant over. Now onto the good! Got a giant amount of swords coming Friday, several of which are Windlass' better designs like the scimitar and XIV. I'm excited for that! Lots of new toys to cut with.
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stormmaster
Member
I like viking/migration era swords
Posts: 7,647
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Post by stormmaster on Aug 14, 2019 22:30:00 GMT
I too lurked for 2 years while gathering information before i finally purchased my first piece and registered, i have to say sales have also been alot slower recently and there is less participation from older more knowledgeable members
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christain
Member
It's the steel on the inside that counts.
Posts: 2,835
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Post by christain on Aug 14, 2019 22:30:25 GMT
Be gentle on one of those XIV's...it's probably gonna belong to ME in the near future. ---Not to derail here....continue on, please.
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Post by Adrian Jordan on Aug 14, 2019 22:40:05 GMT
Yes and no. I've been on since 2011, so I've been around a while, but not since day one or anything. Here are some of the things I've noticed.
I've been on three iterations of the forum. From a technical standpoint, that is, stability of the forum, not constantly getting error pages, not constantly crashing, etc, then it's a great deal better now. We've lost a few desirable features on this iteration, but the stability is very much worth it.
From a member/M&V interaction perspective, then yes, it was better and more varied before. We've lost vendors due to a number of reasons. Bad interaction between them and members(going both ways), lack of business stirred up by participation(they're business owners in a shallow pond at the end of the day, and time is money), vendors have gone out of business, and of course some just decided, fairly or unfairly, than they don't like the place.
From a member to member perspective...that's tougher. The "core group" that is sometimes mentioned has indeed shrunk significantly, either due to loss of interest in the hobby or participation in the forum, or by not liking the way the forum has been at certain times, be it a decision of the admin/moderators or the behavior of other members. Regardless of reason, the effect has been that the member pool in general is often more of a stranger to stranger vibe. Inside jokes and references are not understood and can cause fights, so a lot of the playfulness is gone and there are more misunderstandings. There seem to be waves on occasion of groups of new members who like to bring a more combative style into the fray. Folks who are more used to posting on social media and don't understand or don't care that this place is more tightly regulated as far as disturbing behaviors.
Topics were newer. A big complaint and reason for folks dropping out these days is that they've been reading the same statements, the same reviews, the same arguments, and answering the same questions for the last several years. The comparatively slow progress of the hobby compared to this just provokes a lack of desire to participate, or a desire to get into a new hobby.
I don't really want to get into politics, but have had an effect as well. You can say and do things now that you couldn't before and vice versa. Certain topics get brought up more often. Laws and regulations concerning knives and swords are getting passed/more attention. That's as far as I want to delve into this aspect, but it all has an effect.
The rules were widely the same, just stated in less detailed ways. The mods tended to be more hard nosed than our current group. Again, sometimes that was better, sometimes that was worse. Moderators could be M&V, or offer services in the name of the forum, and that turned out poorly on a couple of occasions, either by malfeasance, accident or lack of understanding. No moderator can be an M&V or representative of a company anymore, and services offered in the name of the forum are much more closely watched and regulated.
However, it's not like it was a 100% delightful place all the time in The Olden Days. There were still big fights, flame wars, name calling, accusations, bashing, refusal to be open to new things or improvements made by manufacturers and vendors, distrust, echo chambering and all that good stuff. The only difference is that you generally had a better idea of who you were talking to then. Sometimes that made it better, sometimes it made it worse.
For me, I enjoy helping out folks. I still feel a sense of accomplishment when I do, especially when helping new folks out and seeing them understand and really take to the hobby after sorting out some newcomer misunderstandings and mistakes. That's why I've personally stuck around for the most part, and why, despite it often not being a very fun position, I remain a moderator.
So, while not really a yes or no, those are some of my thoughts on the matter.
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Post by Adrian Jordan on Aug 14, 2019 22:43:00 GMT
There also used to be a healthy backyard cutting community. It wasn't long after I began that UBC shut down, and I've rarely seen backyard cutters grouping up on here or elsewhere since. That's mostly where I have fun. Cutting with various different swords, playing with my body mechanics and seeing what works and what doesn't.
That's another great point. Backyard cutting is almost extinct, or at least the sharing of it. I really appreciate the folks who still share.
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stormmaster
Member
I like viking/migration era swords
Posts: 7,647
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Post by stormmaster on Aug 14, 2019 22:53:12 GMT
Thats true, maybe we see the past with rose colored glasses, as i do remember that pretty big scandal that involved a former mod that really shook the trust of the community
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Post by chrisperoni on Aug 14, 2019 22:55:44 GMT
According to my profile page I signed up in Oct of 2010- so before Adrian did. which makes me better. In fact I may have signed up even before that date, which makes my betterness that much better-er. In my esteemed opinion, everything started going downhill when Adrian signed up. With a steep decline 2-3 years ago for all the reasons Adrian stated.
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Post by Adrian Jordan on Aug 14, 2019 22:57:51 GMT
According to my profile page I signed up in Oct of 2010- so before Adrian did. which makes me better. In fact I may have signed up even before that date, which makes my betterness that much better-er. In my esteemed opinion, everything stated going downhill when Adrian signed up. With a steep decline 2-3 years ago for all the reasons Adrian stated. If we still had karma you'd get both points. One for the humor, one for the betterness.
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Post by chrisperoni on Aug 14, 2019 22:59:40 GMT
I'd use the smite cheat on you to drop your score into the negatives! out of love, of course. . . . . love of messing with you
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Post by Adrian Jordan on Aug 14, 2019 23:09:38 GMT
It's always good fun.
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Post by 28shadow on Aug 14, 2019 23:16:23 GMT
There also used to be a healthy backyard cutting community. It wasn't long after I began that UBC shut down, and I've rarely seen backyard cutters grouping up on here or elsewhere since. That's mostly where I have fun. Cutting with various different swords, playing with my body mechanics and seeing what works and what doesn't.
That's another great point. Backyard cutting is almost extinct, or at least the sharing of it. I really appreciate the folks who still share.
I've thought about trying to stir up some interaction on that front. Either a traditional game of SWORD or just post a video of cutting and a random draw will determine one or two winners and I'd send them a sword or knife/machete as a winner's prize.
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Post by nerdthenord on Aug 14, 2019 23:22:25 GMT
I posted a cutting video a few months ago but that barely got any attention. I plan on doing more with a proper setup soon enough. I love cutting videos but interest may have dried up, or maybe my video was really bad😆
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Post by nerdthenord on Aug 14, 2019 23:24:51 GMT
I joined around December 17. It seems like the forum is in a rut right now and I’m hoping it gets out. If I can think of relevant things to say I’ll try to start more positive conversations. We could all do with more positivity these days I think.
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Post by William Swiger on Aug 15, 2019 0:01:11 GMT
There are folks still active on the forum who predate me. As the years went by, people who were a big part of the "vibe" of the forum for me slowly moved on. The group of many core members from the time I joined are gone. Their departures were not so much anything bad about the forum but as Adrian said, after years of reading the same statements, the same reviews, the same arguments, and answering the same questions, it can get sort of hard to continue in this sort of time loop. This is basically a budget forum looking for the best values in the production market. There are only so many swords out there that fall in this category. Many members will come here as neophytes and learn from the members and progress to custom and higher end production swords. Once they enter that stage of collecting, most move on. Some will stay but their focus is really out of synch with the focus of the forum. Sort of like being a big fish in a little pond. Great we have them here as they help introduce members to antiques, customs and higher end swords. All active members are appreciated here who make a positive contribution. I have a decent sized collection with swords from lower, mid, high and customs. I also collect firearms which has been my main interest since coming back from a long-term assignment in Europe a couple years back. That is why I am not as active as I once was.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2019 0:09:48 GMT
Paul disapproved of smiting and was keeping track Some of the boards have like buttons now civilwartalk.com/members/glen_c.3016/www.bladeforums.com/members/horseclover.112986/Some have share and recommend buttons. All forums have profile pages myarmoury.com/talk/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=25 (yes, that was member #25) SFI back in the Highlander forum days, then the year of the www pages before the 2002 board www.swordforum.com/vb4/member.php?117-Glen-CNetsword, with the Paul Chen chat and Gus doing reviews web.archive.org/web/19990508151104/http://netsword.com/The Bugei board long gone, Keith is recovering a bit with many good cheers and care. There has been recent efforts here to consolidate some of the permanent links and data but those links still need to be brought to the attention of newcomers. The jaded "just search" just as offensive in response to someone pointing out a sticky. I posted just last evening that there is active and useful discourse here. The pig piles are always going to occur with or without what some view my attitude as snotty. Choice words and memes aside, the fun factor is what motivates SBG (and a lot of other coffee clutches) I got tired of the Welcome Aboard factor but I still chime in at times. I'll end in again pointing out that there is an ignore function, so don't read this if you don't want to.
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stormmaster
Member
I like viking/migration era swords
Posts: 7,647
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Post by stormmaster on Aug 15, 2019 0:22:28 GMT
Guess ill try my best to vibe up the forum into a new golden age, get ready guys
Or not lol
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Zen_Hydra
Moderator
Born with a heart full of neutrality
Posts: 2,625
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Post by Zen_Hydra on Aug 15, 2019 4:02:28 GMT
There seems to be a rather prominent lack of activity on these forums recently. It honestly feels like a ghost town around here, compared to how it was last year. Many proactive contributors have left, some in disgust. There has been a bullying problem the entire time I've been a member, especially with regards to anything regarding Japanese swords and swordsmanship, and there has been fairly inconsistent moderation of said bullying. I'm not sure if this particular community can realistically rebound. I'd like it to, but what are we doing to attract new members? More importantly, what are we doing to engage and keep them? Napoleon's grognards will continue to complain and be generally discontent, but next year will their be anyone else left?
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on Aug 15, 2019 7:44:19 GMT
I was lurking here since 2012 and became a member in 2016. Tbh I don't feel there were big changes. I'm not in facebook or other forums, only lurking in MyArmoury. I don't think there is a significant decrease of activity, how many new posts do we have in an average day? We have backyard cutters and reviews and Uhlan's and Pino's great articles. Concerning reviews I think they became bigger and better made. When I look up older reviews many of them would count as "first impressions" or "short review" today. I'm a bit discouraged to write reviews because I'm here with a smartphone usually and typing longer writeups suck then. I'd like to see more short reviews/first impressions because usually that's enough to get the information I want. The new Windlass/Marto product line has so many new swords. I see the point of long time members being bored of the same old questions about the best steel etc. That's what newer old members are for, but Adrian is always a help. Same old questions means new members at least. I'm trying to give links for looking up the stuff.
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