A Personal Thought

[Quick Steel]

I'm not sure where to place this but an administrator will probably place it correctly.

My thought is this. In perusing the member's list I noticed that a large majority of the AAPK membership very seldom post to any of the forums. And that is okay. But I would like to encourage more participation. Even if you don't think you have anything to contribute e.g. no photos or questions or comments. There is still a valuable contribution to be made.

When looking thru the forums and some knife or photo somehow strikes a chord, it is very worthwhile to just leave a simple positive comment.
This is encouraging to the member who took the time to make a submission. It tells him that someone noticed. And a word of encouragement does precisely that, encourage further efforts. Many of the most active members do that very consistently. But there are many who look and then leave without sharing any reaction. I am confident many would appreciate their opinions and reactions. The benefit to the commentators is that it will help refine their own interests and judgments about knives.

Don't be intimidated by the fact that the AAPK has real experts. I am not one of them; just a simple accumulator of knives that appeal to me.
But in interacting with the pros I learn about knives and something of the persons who make up our club. It's very worthwhile.

[gsmith7158]

Well said QS ! After all you don't need to be an expert to express whether you you like the way something looks or not and of course new posts are the life blood of any forum so speak up everybody.

[LongBlade]

Great comment QS ... I am clearly no expert either and sometimes I refrain from commenting on some knives in which I do not know much about - basically because I am not comfortable with it (I am not a Case collector at all so hard for me to answer questions or comment on the knife basically because I probably would have a hard time with all the ins and outs of Case fakes..)... other times when a knife flips my trigger I do comment on them whether they be a knife that would fit my collection or not - but probably not enough... great point and one for all to ponder.... on occasion I have posted a knife and received not a comment but it doesn't stop me from continuing to contribute the best I can and archive them in multiple threads where they would fit - this site is no doubt known for looking up the answers to many knife questions and there is much to be learned here in so many threads - when you google something knife related AAPK surely comes up near the top very often and that is when I found this website

[jerryd6818]

Well said Garry. Those who have been around for a while have seen me say more than once that "posts are the life's blood of any forum. Without posts, you have no forum." I've seen it happen. If everyone just lurks without contributing so much as a "nice knife" the forum quickly dies without even a whimper.

Two stats just copied from the AAPK home page. (I don't understand the disparity in the online users count)
Members: 13,391 - (648 online now)
Total users online: In total there are 356 users online :: 36 registered, 2 hidden and 318 guests

Look at that. It's about average for a typical day. That's less than 3/10ths of one percent of the total membership keeping AAPK's heart pumping.

You had to get me started.

Edit: BTW, I'm faaar from being an expert on anything.

[fergusontd]

I think it would be interesting to see how many of the 13000+ use or read this forum. Maybe some are posting or reading just once in a great while. ftd

[bestgear]

I don't believe that AAPK is different (percentage wise) than any other online forum in terms of participation; it's just the way it is. My knowledge of pocketknives is 1" deep and a mile long so I often find myself in sponge-mode with often little to add. That said, I could do a better job of complements on a nice knife or support a forum member on his posts and I make a genuine effort to do so going forward. Having been a member for 1,833 days I post slightly more than every other day, I can do better than that!

The flip-side is that the 20-30 members that post here regularly make AAPK like the local tavern where everybody knows your name.

[montemojo]

I'm no expert, I used to lurk here. I have found that I enjoy it much more scince I started posting. I joined in 2013 but didnt start posting until 2015. Thats alot of lurking!

Monte

[jerryd6818]

Bryan added the first post on AAPK on Aug 29, 2004

To date, we have:
447 pages of members @ 30 members per page for a total of 13,391 Members.

16 pages of members with 100 posts or more ---> approximately 3½% of total membership
53 pages of members with ten or more posts ---> approximately 12%
34 pages with two posts
50 pages of members with only one post
247 pages of members with zero posts

[glennbad]

I am guilty of not contributing on a regular basis. Sometimes I'll just read threads for a week straight, then for no particular reason, will go on a posting spree. Sometimes, I'm just not in the right frame of mind to post. Other times, I just really have nothing intelligent to add the conversation other than "hey that is an awesome knife" (which I do a fair amount).

I should be a better student of the blade, but mostly I am just a knife fan.

[gsmith7158]

That's a lot of lurkers!

[smiling-knife]

Good post Quick Steel. Some interesting stats provided Jerry. I only tend to visit three or four forums regularly here. I like the sentiment of leaving encouraging feedback. Even if it is a knife I know little about I will try to find something I like. Nice scales etc.

[treefarmer]

Confession is good for the soul! I lurked AAPK for about a year and a half before I jumped in. I signed up in '09 and didn't post till early 2011. Did a lot of reading and comparing and found this to be the best knife forum on the internet! Probably life style and available time have a lot to do with participation. When a feller has a growing family and a job it's hard to have time to comment on issues that may not "ring one's bell".
Once in a great while someone will ask a question here on AAPK and I actually know, or think I know, the answer. I'll sometimes comment but always hope one of the real knifers will be gracious enough to respond. I feel there is no need to comment if say, Mr. Steve Pfieffer aka knifeholic, has cleared the air concerning a knife question. His name just came to mind and there are many more here that have such vast knife knowledge. I am often surprised when I begin a search for a certain make or pattern and the 1st reference in the Google file is to AAPK.
The dark side of this is that AAPK is addictive.
Start the morning by doing the 1st Cup and checking to see if anything is happening in the Upper Room.
There are several special cyber friendships that I much appreciate because of AAPK!
Treefarmer

[jerryd6818]

You don't need 20,000 posts plus to be considered an active member. That fella is just a motor mouth and goes waaaay overboard.

My personal opinion is that everyone should be able to contribute 1-3 posts a week. 1-3 a month wouldn't overload anyone. My expectations may be a little high on that but if so, so be it. I find so much interesting stuff here that I just can't keep my mouth shut.

[terryl308]

Bryan added the first post on AAPK on Aug 29, 2004

To date, we have:
447 pages of members @ 30 members per page for a total of 13,391 Members.

16 pages of members with 100 posts or more ---> approximately 3½% of total membership
53 pages of members with ten or more posts ---> approximately 12%
34 pages with two posts
50 pages of members with only one post
247 pages of members with zero posts

I am in the 100+ post group!
A little bit of encouragement to new members,(and old members) keep posting! Nothing worse than to post a question and get no responses, which by the way doesn't happen very often. I too am like a lot of members and not an "expert" on pocket knives but one can learn a lot by reading and asking questions. If I am a so called expert on anything, it would be on handle material and blade steel since I have made over 600 fixed blade knives in my shop. Don't make pocket knives but do collect or "accumulate" them and love to see what others have. Best Forum there is on the subject! Terry

[LongBlade]

Sometimes, I'm just not in the right frame of mind to post.

I can relate to Glen... there is alot of things in my life at the moment that has me quite often, since last September, not able to wrap my head around making a cogent post or reply... now often I post to distract myself (therapy) from some very unfortunate situations that I am in the midst of... prior to last September I posted much more often and for those that know me I like to contribute some history with a new knife if it has not been written here before... makes no difference to me that some just like knives and history is not interesting - I know that many out there do like historical aspects and have received nice comments online and offline for them... there is no right or wrong in knife collecting or accumulating - and I truly respect everybody's approach to knives!!!

As to just making the comment - "awesome knife" - certainly that can make anybody feel good about something they posted and as noted above prompting positive reinforcement for members, especially new members which give them the confidence they are on the right track - it was hard for me when I started - sort of lost and not knowing did I buy junk or something cool - I learned very fast but not without the help of many forum members here too numerous to name.... but sometimes to make a comment on a knife that you know has been "cobbled" or such without pointing it out may not help new members - and believe me that is walking a fine line as one never knows how a member may take a comment... When I usually post as to a nice knife I try to say why ands what it is I like about it!!

In terms of other interests of mine - As an aside in the many fly fishing but especially fly tying forums that involve tying complicated salmon flies and the like from the 1800s comments are quite important - to just give somebody the comment of nice fly does little without saying why - many of us in that area discuss how many "attaboy" comments does one need without some comments - guess some folks like to just have an ego boost but many are looking for direction as to how to improve... anyway just relating this as it pertains to posting knives.... unless you are a knife maker or repair/restoration cutler - those very talented guys here on AAPK and there is many who come to mind deserve nice comments as skilled craftsman!! - but when it comes to knife collecting at least to me it is about the "find", the "knife" etc so it is much different - don't mis-interpret what I am saying as I still think if you just say what an awesome or cool knife that does make folks feel good but I like to say why... I like "old" knives from certain geographic areas including the history and in many ways feel like the "caretaker" or "curator" of a piece of history though I do have some newer knives I buy for EDC purposes that doesn't approach the number I have as more collecting pieces - others just like a nice knife to accumulate and EDC - no right or wrong - whatever makes you happy and floats your boat is what is important... and as I said before when the enjoyment of knife collecting stops for me than I will be done with it... but I don't see that happening anytime soon

Hope this makes some sense fellas... don't trust myself these days with my mind all over the place

[KnifeSlinger#81]

Great post.

[Steve Warden]

I'll admit to being one of those who lurk more than post.
This thread has prompted me to make more of an effort to post more often.

[TripleF]

I'm a sucker for attention......and have very little knife knowledge.
I like it when people comment on my posts and try to do so for others.

Great thread Garry!

[specgrade]

Nevermind

[TheMadHungarian]

I signed up within a few months of Bryan's first post, I think I posted a couple of posts and then went dark till a few months ago. Now I visit the site often, I use it as a quoted/linked reference source on other sites but it wasn't till recently that I realized I had been a registered member. It was by pure luck my username and password were correct the 3rd time I put it in since the email address I registered with was no longer accessible so I couldn't have gotten back in without re registering and I hate that.

Once I got back in I decided to make up for the 13 years I've used AAKP as a reference. Some of you may have figured out by now who I am on the other sites if not, I go by Ted E. , T. Erdelyi or VladTheHungarian.

I think a lot of people get intimidated by the site and spend a lot of time lurking vs posting, that's easy to do. The hard part is engaging the members which in turn will interest the guest so they return and register. AAPK is a more intimate site, I recognize a lot ot of names here and those same names that are active here are the same ones active in the other sites. I'm only one person and I can't change the dynamic of the site but I will be more active and do what I can to encourage more people to join and to join in once they're here.

Oh and unlike many here who won't admit it, I am an expert, just not in anything useful What I am good at is finding information or finding someone who knows either the information or at least they'll know where to find it.

[Dinadan]

This is a good thread, Quick Steel, and there are a lot of thoughtful replies posted here. I will kind of echo some of the earlier posts by saying that I lurked here for many months before I ever made a post. And there are a lot of topics where I add a post that just says nice knife or nice photo. If about ten other folks have already done that, then I am a lot less likely to add my comment.

I do have a couple of suggestions which are vaguely related to this thread.

1. If, for whatever reason, some folks here use your name, or a that is not your username, then add the name to your signature. In my case my username is Dinadan, which I chose because I used it on another forum. But when I actually developed a feeling of being a part of this forum and some folks here knew my real name I added Mel (my real name is Melton, which is a story in itself) as my signature so that there would be no confusion or aura of exclusion. I know that when I started reading this forum the fact that some of the most prolific posters called each other by what seemed to be real names instead of usernames did make me more hesitant to jump in.

2. I think I have forgotten number two ...

[AR Norby]

I am much more of a lurker that a poster as you can tell by my post count and join date. I will try and post more. I am also a member at another knife forum and several gun forums so I do keep busy in retirement.

[garddogg56]

You are so right Quick Steel, ::nod::Like in the every day carry thread lots of guys post beautifull knives I post well used carries that I accually carry, for years I didn't have a large assortment of knives so I basiclly carried a Buck .112. and a electricians knife.on weekends I'd carry an 34ot Schrade and that is it because I was raising a young family and thats all I could afford.As the kids moved away my wife likes to go to fleas and yard sales so I gut back into accumilating and have mustered over 400 knives that I love to carry some are antiques and some are inherited that will never be carried,some are modern that my apprentices got me into or I have accumulated and enjoy.This is me and that is all folks

[Tsar Bomba]

That is a cutlery corner to be proud of, gd!

As a member of the 1000+ post group, I clearly don't lurk...here. But I have found myself in read-only mode on a few forums, sometimes because I'm curious and still learning about the topic of the forum and sometimes just because I am learning the forum's general ethos. I mainly post in GKD and the brand-specific forums, but I also "lurk" on subscribed threads and forums outside of those. I do make an effort to document totes so I will have something to post in GKD every day or two, and I try to make the most of my accumulation by rotating carries regularly (keeps things interesting, both for the forum and in selecting the knives). Sometimes life has other plans, though -- I didn't even have my first coffee today until after noon when I ran out of the office for an emergency cold brew.

[jlw257]

Great tread Quick Steel.
I really like AAPK and appreciate what it has done to help knife collecting. I see knives that would never been seen elsewhere.
I love to show my older Case knives here, but I have come to accept very little acknowledgment for them. The ones that do acknowledge them are most kind.


Larry