Internet Influences

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Permalink Reply by Craig Henry on November 11, 2011 at 1:21

Not just reviews, but the discussion that goes on between member on "forums". That seems to influence some people as to what they get. Or someone posts a picture and suddenly a person wants that thing/knife. As I said that sort of thing doesn't influence me in any way, except, if I'm collecting brand X, for example, and someone talks about or posts a picture of a brand X knife that I might have bought anyway, THEN I might want it more than before.

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Permalink Reply by D ale on November 11, 2011 at 2:01

I've some old whittlers that I hadn't had out in a few years .. then talking w/ JJ .. I was reminded what a useful pattern they are. Next thing ya know .. I'm digging these out ..

 .. and then when asked what I wanted for my B'day last yr .. I suggested Queen's # 48. Now, I've got my eye on one of these ..

Another time .. I'd been eyeing this Mikov kit for about a yr or more when  it came up in a forum discussion .. member Dan Howland ended up purchasing one .. and sure enough, I now have one. We've currently a discussion  going on relative to the kit assembly. 

 

Never a deviation outside my basic cutlery passions .. but, it does influence my purchasing.

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Permalink Reply by Alexander Noot on November 11, 2011 at 4:01

A review that is repeatable is a test. Not a review.

D ale said:

Craig .. if you are referring to online knife reviews ...

 

NO ..because I have yet to find one that will hold up to even the most basic scrutiny.

 

The online reviews that I have read / viewed were authored by sales people (obvious ulterior motive) …or…  simply lacked scientific methodology & were neither repeatable or objective.

 

I do use  sites that list verifiable facts like … steel types, attainable range of hardness, etc.

Craig Henry said:

does what someone says on a internet site influence what you buy? 

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Permalink Reply by D ale on November 11, 2011 at 12:31

A scientific test which is repeatable provides a review that is factual and useful. They're often used in the manufacturing industry .. a performance validation review .. to prove that the product meets the required performance specifications .. before final acceptance.

 

More specifically .. when evaluating a knife's locking system .. determine the ftlbs of torque required to cause failure in the locking system. And for a baseline comparison .. have already run evaluation testing on other locking systems .. say the Buck 110.

 

When a review states that a knife arrived "razor sharp" .. it communicates very little .. beyond the reviewers opinion.  Listing a steel type, hardness, the angle of the edge & throw in a 30X magnification of said edge conveys more useful info.  And .. for a baseline .. have already run the same evaluation on other products.

 

A review which ignores the scientific method, i.e. is not repeatable, is an opinion.

Alexander Noot said:

A review that is repeatable is a test. Not a review.

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Permalink Reply by Andy Moon on November 11, 2011 at 22:57

Hi Craig -

The obvious impact of exposure to knives I would not have known about is that I purchase knives that I would not have known existed unless I had seen them on the internet. 

No place in my town sells Great Eastern Cutlery, and I would likely not have found out about this fine cutlery unless I had joined a couple of internet knife communities.

Not a bad thing at all!

best regards-

 

mqqn

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Permalink Reply by Alexander Noot on November 12, 2011 at 0:52

I understand what you mean. But you're talking about a "formal review" which is a testing method. If there's something is measured in order to see whether the actual results measure up to expected results then it's a testing method.

 

I suppose we're both right though in the sense that a review could be seen as testing and there are also testing methods such as a formal review.

However I disagree in one thing. A review that talks about opinions instead of hard facts is still usefull. It deals with the "non-functional" characteristics of a product. Sentimentals, feel of a product, usability etc. All these are very usefull things to know and someone who is serious about testing does NOT ignore these facts. (If you'd like some backround about this kind of stuff have a look at these characteristics. They're meant for software testing but a lot of them apply to physical products in a very real way as well http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-functional_testing)

 

Regards

Alexander

D ale said:

A scientific test which is repeatable provides a review that is factual and useful. They're often used in the manufacturing industry .. a performance validation review .. to prove that the product meets the required performance specifications .. before final acceptance.

 

More specifically .. when evaluating a knife's locking system .. determine the ftlbs of torque required to cause failure in the locking system. And for a baseline comparison .. have already run evaluation testing on other locking systems .. say the Buck 110.

 

When a review states that a knife arrived "razor sharp" .. it communicates very little .. beyond the reviewers opinion.  Listing a steel type, hardness, the angle of the edge & throw in a 30X magnification of said edge conveys more useful info.  And .. for a baseline .. have already run the same evaluation on other products.

 

A review which ignores the scientific method, i.e. is not repeatable, is an opinion.

Alexander Noot said:

A review that is repeatable is a test. Not a review.

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Permalink Reply by Steve"Hog"Hanner on November 15, 2011 at 19:34

Since joining iKnife Collector, I've had my eyes opened! I mean I was always a knife user but never, ever did I think about all the kinds of knives out there. I think the one thing that struck me most was seeing all the pictures. Customs, production, tactical, rare, old, new, all blade type and handle materials and dozens of manufacturers represented. Not by a catalog or by a salesman, this was all shown by collectors. WOW! The best thing to me is pouring myself another cup of coffee, and just looking at members pictures. Seriously, you could spend the rest of your life(possibly) just looking through each one....member by member, album by album.

Its like a ringside seat for the greatest knife show ever..who would miss that? Has it influenced me? It changed they way I think about knives forever.

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Permalink Reply by Billy Oneale on November 15, 2011 at 20:46

Pictures! pictures! and more pictures! I'm not sure you could see all the pictures. as soon as you thought you have seen them all, 25 people will decide to upload 25 pics each. Looking at pictures is my favorite thing to do on ikc.  Oh yeah, the conversations and discussions are excellent also.

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Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on November 20, 2011 at 14:21

Considering I've spent a grand total of $8 on Trappers, I'd say about $8 worth.  I'm still at $0 for muskrats, the other pattern I'm suppose to love. 

Still I get quite a bit of information from online sights and I'm exposed by a lot of opinions and see a vareity of knives.  I know  that reading other peoples thoughts on different companies and different knives has led me to consider purchases and even helped me in some of my undecided choices (both to buy and not buy an item). 

So in that way, yes, I've been informed and influenced.  But quite frankly, I join forums to learn and to help make informed decisions.  That and to share what I know and help people make choices

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Permalink Reply by Pat ChoKo on March 23, 2012 at 4:21

 I guess the internet has a little influence on what I buy. I have friends online who recommend stuff to me and sure, I'll browse through different online catalogs, read reviews, and look at pictures but, while often times I really get the urge to impulse buy, I have to really be convinced about the knife in order to make a final purchase.

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