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Post by frankthetank on Nov 2, 2024 20:59:55 GMT
Please cut it out.
Please do it immediately.
“10. The owner of Hung Shing True Sharp () has been banned from this forum. As such, there will be no mention of him, his company or his products on this forum. This is a permanent ban. Members who try to circumvent this rule by using other names for will be in violation of the rule.”
sbg-sword-forum.forums.net/thread/18656/quot-rules
Please do not make some comment or attempt to take umbrage.
Just cut it out.
Thank you.
Shut up |
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Post by pellius on Nov 2, 2024 21:04:44 GMT
Frankthetank has been banned.
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Post by pellius on Nov 2, 2024 21:10:41 GMT
“Account Deletion (Banning): a moderator or staff may delete a Member’s account and ban their IP address for continued or extreme violation of their responsibilities. Examples of this may include: … - a Member informing a moderator or staff when given a warning that they have no intention of following the rules. …” sbg-sword-forum.forums.net/thread/18656/quot-rules |
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Post by glendon on Nov 2, 2024 23:46:14 GMT
In every society, there are those who simply will not abide in civility, delighting in discord, destroying comeraderie, and darkening the world. They have always been the reason for the development of swords.
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admin
Site Admin
Posts: 2,112
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Post by admin on Nov 3, 2024 2:17:18 GMT
Yes, I will admit that Ronin pressured me to ban HSTS, and while it was within the rules, I liked the HSTS concept and tried to work with them. However constant rule violations and extreme pressure from Ronin forced my hand, which I now regret. Knowing what I do now, it should have been the other way around - hindsight being 20/20 and all.. I cannot disagree that in hindsight bowing to Ronin's pressure was a stupid, stupid mistake. Despite rule violations, I should have found a gentler solution to the HSTS situation. I have amended the rules just now to remove the obsolete rule. Too little too late I know, and I definitely feel very stupid overall right now and am using that anger at myself and at Ronin to try to fix this mess and restore some balance - working 12+ hour days on 6-7 days a week to avoid SBG collapsing in a heap..
I will admit, I was very stupid. I ignored signs that something was amiss with Ronin because I considered the owner an actual friend and someone trustworthy - in short, I was tricked but I should have done my due diligence or asked more questions when I felt something was 'off'. Last month however, everything I had either kind of blinded myself to or pushed to the back of my mind suddenly became crystal clear, and only when I asked some hard questions that Ronin had no answers to, it all clicked for me, I realized what had been happening that whole time, and I removed all their products and projects from my site immediately and made this initial announcement..
I regret my mistakes and doing business with Ronin in the first place. While I reserve the right to say more later, I will not say much more for now because at the end of the day, the buck stops with me. Criticism is deserved — I feel foolish for trusting Ronin for 11 years on their word, and the ONLY thing I can take pride in is that I always stood behind what I sold, often paying out of pocket to fix issues that were most responsible and customer service focused wholesalers know is their responsibility.
I lost a lot of money while Ronin got rich, but karma is a semprini.
I am getting mine now, and I deserve it for misplaced trust and thinking someone was a friend while they were ripping me off (thankfully it is only me that got burned, I've always done my best for customers and always will - even if it means taking hit after hit after hit financially until SBG collapses, because at the end of the day the buck stops with me and I will accept all the blame).
While I will be doing my best over the coming weeks, months and years to make up for this stupidity - in the meantime any criticism directed my way is well deserved. |
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Post by swordfriend on Nov 3, 2024 3:48:36 GMT
Kudos to you for being transparent and coming out that you regret it.
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Post by mrstabby on Nov 3, 2024 16:18:15 GMT
How long ago was all of this HSTS business?
There is a saying "bei Geld hört die Freundschaft auf", essentially friendship ends where money is involved. This is unfortunately very true too often.
BTW, I kind of expected as much of Ronin TBH.
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Post by MessengerofDarkness on Nov 3, 2024 16:40:26 GMT
How long ago was all of this HSTS business? There is a saying "bei Geld hört die Freundschaft auf", essentially friendship ends where money is involved. This is unfortunately very true too often. BTW, I kind of expected as much of Ronin TBH. I believe it was around 11 years ago or so; I think I only caught the very tail end of it all when I first joined the SBG forum. This is all stuff from a bygone era. After looking them up, the owner of HSTS still has a couple of videos up on youtube from around the time. Honestly it feels weird to see this all come back into discussion after such a long time when even mentioning them was treated like some sort of forbidden killing word like Muad'Dib. Going down this rabbit hole is like a forbidden apocrypha of old, half-forgotten memories. Regardless, I hope that all involved manage to take what they've learned and continue to change and improve. |
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seth
Member
Just Peachy
Posts: 1,012
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Post by seth on Nov 3, 2024 17:27:49 GMT
I certainly hope this isn't an SBG ending event. I've owned several RK blades but passed everything on except one waki. They seemed solid enough, and I didn't see any big flaws except for one very crooked cross guard on a euro. For me, they don't have any sort of "wow" factor. I really disliked the fake leather used in the euro models too. Given Paul's statement about losing a lot of money, this is probably more about their business practices than the product.
SBG still has Ryujin which I think are great budget options. I've really like the custom fitting options so hopefully customers looking for Japanese swords go with them rather than shop from another site.
I just ordered a Kingston Arms sword which, IMO, have a lot more going on than the RK euro options. I'm interested in the Kingdom of Arms Kern, but I'm on the fence on that one. Anyway, SBG still has some great options so I hope that keeps it going.
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Post by Paul Muad’Dib on Nov 3, 2024 21:33:33 GMT
How long ago was all of this HSTS business? There is a saying "bei Geld hört die Freundschaft auf", essentially friendship ends where money is involved. This is unfortunately very true too often. BTW, I kind of expected as much of Ronin TBH. I believe it was around 11 years ago or so; I think I only caught the very tail end of it all when I first joined the SBG forum. This is all stuff from a bygone era. After looking them up, the owner of HSTS still has a couple of videos up on youtube from around the time. Honestly it feels weird to see this all come back into discussion after such a long time when even mentioning them was treated like some sort of forbidden killing word like Muad'Dib. Going down this rabbit hole is like a forbidden apocrypha of old, half-forgotten memories. Regardless, I hope that all involved manage to take what they've learned and continue to change and improve. Hey, I don’t know why you’re bringing me into this. I’ve never killed anyone on this forum with a killing word. While I’ve never had any direct dealings with Paul I’ve ALWAYS gotten the impression that he was a stand up guy. Him admitting he made a mistake proves that to me. Like others I feel this is kind of a second home to me. I check it each morning and sometimes during the day. So I hope this forum and the site stay strong. Thank you Paul. |
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Post by treeslicer on Nov 3, 2024 21:51:08 GMT
I want to congratulate admin on producing the most enthralling announcement thread that I've seen here in years. 
Way to go, Paul, from what I know of these matters, well done. 
Now, please excuse me, I have to go back to slicing small trees with a Ryujin 65mn #5. I'm on the clock, you know.  |
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Post by Lonely Wolf Forge on Nov 3, 2024 23:41:41 GMT
Yes, I will admit that Ronin pressured me to ban HSTS, and while it was within the rules, I liked the HSTS concept and tried to work with them. However constant rule violations and extreme pressure from Ronin forced my hand, which I now regret. Knowing what I do now, it should have been the other way around - hindsight being 20/20 and all.. I cannot disagree that in hindsight bowing to Ronin's pressure was a stupid, stupid mistake. Despite rule violations, I should have found a gentler solution to the HSTS situation. I have amended the rules just now to remove the obsolete rule. Too little too late I know, and I definitely feel very stupid overall right now and am using that anger at myself and at Ronin to try to fix this mess and restore some balance - working 12+ hour days on 6-7 days a week to avoid SBG collapsing in a heap..
I will admit, I was very stupid. I ignored signs that something was amiss with Ronin because I considered the owner an actual friend and someone trustworthy - in short, I was tricked but I should have done my due diligence or asked more questions when I felt something was 'off'. Last month however, everything I had either kind of blinded myself to or pushed to the back of my mind suddenly became crystal clear, and only when I asked some hard questions that Ronin had no answers to, it all clicked for me, I realized what had been happening that whole time, and I removed all their products and projects from my site immediately and made this initial announcement..
I regret my mistakes and doing business with Ronin in the first place. While I reserve the right to say more later, I will not say much more for now because at the end of the day, the buck stops with me. Criticism is deserved — I feel foolish for trusting Ronin for 11 years on their word, and the ONLY thing I can take pride in is that I always stood behind what I sold, often paying out of pocket to fix issues that were most responsible and customer service focused wholesalers know is their responsibility.
I lost a lot of money while Ronin got rich, but karma is a semprini.
I am getting mine now, and I deserve it for misplaced trust and thinking someone was a friend while they were ripping me off (thankfully it is only me that got burned, I've always done my best for customers and always will - even if it means taking hit after hit after hit financially until SBG collapses, because at the end of the day the buck stops with me and I will accept all the blame).
While I will be doing my best over the coming weeks, months and years to make up for this stupidity - in the meantime any criticism directed my way is well deserved. Takes a lot to put yourself out there and admit you douched up. Cant speak for everyone but I respect the gesture. The first step towards fixing things is admitting there was a problem at all. Kudos. |
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izzy
Member
14 Day Ban - Politics
Posts: 427
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Post by izzy on Nov 4, 2024 6:59:45 GMT
In every society, there are those who simply will not abide in civility, delighting in discord, destroying comeraderie, and darkening the world. They have always been the reason for the development of swords. IN every society there are those who "tear their Proverbial hair out" at silly "rules" that make (made) no sense...even to the point of being utterly rude to Authority tasked with enforcing rules; rules that they (authority figures) may not even personally agree with. It's called "thumbing your nose". |
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Post by wildv on Nov 4, 2024 8:23:44 GMT
Weren't they banned from this forum over some kind of petty drama a long while back? My memory is fuzzy though, and I'd rather not break any rules if that would be an issue. Just thought I should ask. Plain and simple made a better product all around than Ronin. Instead of upping their quality to compete they resorted to mud slinging and underhanded tactics to get banned and wiped the forum of any mention of them. This move at the time was a death sentence for a newer sword company. When people shared their negative experiences with ronin they were accused of "bad mouthing" ronin and were warned or banned out right. The forum lost a lot of really great members at the time because they refused to lie about ronins shoddy quality and business practices, johnwalter for example. (There was a thread where the ronin rep posted a customers private emails about a negative purchase in an attempt to shame them) This is too little too late from SBG. They allowed ronin to run the site and drive off any competition and innovation for years all in the pursuit of the money ronin could bring in. I wonder what they finally did that made SBG smarten up when they've been defending and covering for their bad behavior for years I'm pretty new to the forum, but not to swords or the sword community in general. I know one long time member here that was banned permanently because they spoke badly about the Ronin swords they purchased. My experience with ronin was fine, nothing to rave about but nothing to complain about either. I heard many other people over the years talk about their sup par swords but I sold my ronin dojo pro off years ago so can't comment. I'll just leave it at that. In other communities both online and at the dojo the SBG/Ronin relationship has always been talked about almost to death, so this thread is going to dig up a bit of controversy I'm sure. Mods might have a bit of a time trying their best with this one!
To add to the other question, one guy in my old dojo had a "sword that cannot be named here" and I cut with it once, it was a damn good cutting sword! The guy who made them does have long form videos on youtube or his site I can't remember but he goes into more detail about everything from his perspective.
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izzy
Member
14 Day Ban - Politics
Posts: 427
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Post by izzy on Nov 4, 2024 8:57:16 GMT
Plain and simple made a better product all around than Ronin. Instead of upping their quality to compete they resorted to mud slinging and underhanded tactics to get banned and wiped the forum of any mention of them. This move at the time was a death sentence for a newer sword company. When people shared their negative experiences with ronin they were accused of "bad mouthing" ronin and were warned or banned out right. The forum lost a lot of really great members at the time because they refused to lie about ronins shoddy quality and business practices, johnwalter for example. (There was a thread where the ronin rep posted a customers private emails about a negative purchase in an attempt to shame them) This is too little too late from SBG. They allowed ronin to run the site and drive off any competition and innovation for years all in the pursuit of the money ronin could bring in. I wonder what they finally did that made SBG smarten up when they've been defending and covering for their bad behavior for years I'm pretty new to the forum, but not to swords or the sword community in general. I know one long time member here that was banned permanently because they spoke badly about the Ronin swords they purchased. My experience with ronin was fine, nothing to rave about but nothing to complain about either. I heard many other people over the years talk about their sup par swords but I sold my ronin dojo pro off years ago so can't comment. I'll just leave it at that. In other communities both online and at the dojo the SBG/Ronin relationship has always been talked about almost to death, so this thread is going to dig up a bit of controversy I'm sure. Mods might have a bit of a time trying their best with this one!
To add to the other question, one guy in my old dojo had a "sword that cannot be named here" and I cut with it once, it was a damn good cutting sword! The guy who made them does have long form videos on youtube or his site I can't remember but he goes into more detail about everything. Sad we can't talk about them here that's totally fine by the way, I don't own this forum and it's not a public entity. So rules are rules! I hope this does not over step any boundaries but Paul mentioned them above? I do enjoy being here on the forum and learning from and adding to the discussions. Please message me if this needs editing, I only check in with the forum maybe once or twice a week so you'll have to give me some flexibility with time if I need to edit anything.
Relax, the rule has been Changed by the owner. Hopefully now that that is the case people who know more about those issues will discuss freely.
Never owned a Ronin OR Hung Shing True Sharp. One had Niku ( HSTS)...I would love to hear if it was more than the Cheness SGC that I do own ( unfortunately only the Wak). Niku is a big issue that is lacking with many Chinese made katana. I am glad to read that some Ryujin models have that.
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Post by glendon on Nov 4, 2024 11:05:09 GMT
In every society, there are those who simply will not abide in civility, delighting in discord, destroying comeraderie, and darkening the world. They have always been the reason for the development of swords. IN every society there are those who "tear their Proverbial hair out" at silly "rules" that make (made) no sense...even to the point of being utterly rude to Authority tasked with enforcing rules; rules that they (authority figures) may not even personally agree with. It's called "thumbing your nose". True-- and utterly irrelevant. Thumbing one's nose at authority has a long and proud history in politics, especially in my neck of the woods, but this is not politics: This is a private party, owned, operated, and paid for by someone other than we who were invited to attend. If one doesn't like the decor, the hors d'oeuvres, the vintage or the dress code, one is free to leave. But one shouldn't be rude to the servers or the valet, and if that is the case, one shouldn't be surprised at being reprimanded by the host. This is our host's home, not the town council chamber or even a local pub; we are guests here, not paying customers, and not an electorate. In any case, my remarks referred to those who, in every age and at every party, delight in knocking over a few tables as they are escorted out, to prove how independent and powerful and grown-up they really are, because flower arrangements and silver table settings and polite conversations on history are just silly rules. |
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Post by wildv on Nov 4, 2024 11:50:30 GMT
I'm pretty new to the forum, but not to swords or the sword community in general. I know one long time member here that was banned permanently because they spoke badly about the Ronin swords they purchased. My experience with ronin was fine, nothing to rave about but nothing to complain about either. I heard many other people over the years talk about their sup par swords but I sold my ronin dojo pro off years ago so can't comment. I'll just leave it at that. In other communities both online and at the dojo the SBG/Ronin relationship has always been talked about almost to death, so this thread is going to dig up a bit of controversy I'm sure. Mods might have a bit of a time trying their best with this one!
To add to the other question, one guy in my old dojo had a "sword that cannot be named here" and I cut with it once, it was a damn good cutting sword! The guy who made them does have long form videos on youtube or his site I can't remember but he goes into more detail about everything. Sad we can't talk about them here that's totally fine by the way, I don't own this forum and it's not a public entity. So rules are rules! I hope this does not over step any boundaries but Paul mentioned them above? I do enjoy being here on the forum and learning from and adding to the discussions. Please message me if this needs editing, I only check in with the forum maybe once or twice a week so you'll have to give me some flexibility with time if I need to edit anything.
Relax, the rule has been Changed by the owner. Hopefully now that that is the case people who know more about those issues will discuss freely.
Never owned a Ronin OR Hung Shing True Sharp. One had Niku ( HSTS)...I would love to hear if it was more than the Cheness SGC that I do own ( unfortunately only the Wak). Niku is a big issue that is lacking with many Chinese made katana. I am glad to read that some Ryujin models have that.
I edited my post but you must have responded before the edit loaded haha! I notice Paul Admin said we're free to discuss. I see the pinned thread in "General; Japanese" is still there. Might want to rectify that one. Zsey do niku but they're kind of hesitant to offer it. My Huawei have a tonne of niku but those are the only two Longquan I can recall. |
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Post by spaceghost1822 on Nov 4, 2024 16:09:57 GMT
I'm pretty new to the forum, but not to swords or the sword community in general. I know one long time member here that was banned permanently because they spoke badly about the Ronin swords they purchased. My experience with ronin was fine, nothing to rave about but nothing to complain about either. I heard many other people over the years talk about their sup par swords but I sold my ronin dojo pro off years ago so can't comment. I'll just leave it at that. In other communities both online and at the dojo the SBG/Ronin relationship has always been talked about almost to death, so this thread is going to dig up a bit of controversy I'm sure. Mods might have a bit of a time trying their best with this one!
To add to the other question, one guy in my old dojo had a "sword that cannot be named here" and I cut with it once, it was a damn good cutting sword! The guy who made them does have long form videos on youtube or his site I can't remember but he goes into more detail about everything. Sad we can't talk about them here that's totally fine by the way, I don't own this forum and it's not a public entity. So rules are rules! I hope this does not over step any boundaries but Paul mentioned them above? I do enjoy being here on the forum and learning from and adding to the discussions. Please message me if this needs editing, I only check in with the forum maybe once or twice a week so you'll have to give me some flexibility with time if I need to edit anything.
Relax, the rule has been Changed by the owner. Hopefully now that that is the case people who know more about those issues will discuss freely.
Never owned a Ronin OR Hung Shing True Sharp. One had Niku ( HSTS)...I would love to hear if it was more than the Cheness SGC that I do own ( unfortunately only the Wak). Niku is a big issue that is lacking with many Chinese made katana. I am glad to read that some Ryujin models have that.
Shut up was a little much. My bad. I have the 2013 HSTS budo prototype, the one Josh (cottontailcustoms) reviewed on here over a decade ago. I can post pictures of people are interested. I know Eric husayn also has a few HSTS blades as well |
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izzy
Member
14 Day Ban - Politics
Posts: 427
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Post by izzy on Nov 4, 2024 18:23:04 GMT
Relax, the rule has been Changed by the owner. Hopefully now that that is the case people who know more about those issues will discuss freely.
Never owned a Ronin OR Hung Shing True Sharp. One had Niku ( HSTS)...I would love to hear if it was more than the Cheness SGC that I do own ( unfortunately only the Wak). Niku is a big issue that is lacking with many Chinese made katana. I am glad to read that some Ryujin models have that.
Shut up was a little much. My bad. I have the 2013 HSTS budo prototype, the one Josh (cottontailcustoms) reviewed on here over a decade ago. I can post pictures of people are interested. I know Eric husayn also has a few HSTS blades as well Yes that was OTT.
The mods ( or at least one of them) has left the "mark of shame" ( or one could say a "kick me!" sign) after the ban on me expired...what I did might have broken the rules...but was not actually meant to be either political or religious...more of a dig at a buttocks kisser who made a double meaning joke about people getting banned ( for talking about a disease that shall not be named) and a need for Mods to have sticks.
One could always contact Pellius and try to make amends...he seems like a decent fellow.
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Post by spaceghost1822 on Nov 4, 2024 18:43:57 GMT
Frankthetank has been banned.
I'd like to apologize to you for my response. Shut up was a little much. Some of us have been waiting to have this conversation openly and honestly for over a decade. I know you were only doing your due diligence as a mod and enforcing a rule. Albeit a rule that should never have been one from an era before you joined the forum. My apologies |
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