Couple Questions re price guide, and about creating a store

[m4hampson]

Hi,

I would like to know if there is a list of all the knives produced available online here. I ask because I have searched the price guide to try and find knives I have and I cannot see them there. I did read the info on how the pricing so is there any way to say that knive prices today s/b 5% higher than the guide or 5% lower than the guide or does anyone know?

Also, I sent the email to see about getting a store to put up but never heard back. How do I go about getting that to work?

Any information you can provide is greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance,
Monica

[philco]

Private Message sent.

[bdev]

Forget about setting up a store. I tried twice (once about 6 months ago and once again a month ago) and never received a reply from the person that sets them up. I also emailed but never received a reply. Called and left a message and never received a reply.

PS....see my post on page 2.

[RobesonsRme.com]

Bryan, the owner of AAPK is the one that can set up a store.
He did not respond to my first requests, either. I think there might be a glitch in his email or he's busy. I'm sure he works a regular job. I don't know how much time he actually spends on the site.
I'd keep emailing him.
He did a fantastic job on my little store.
Charlie

[orvet]

At one time the Bryan’s Bio was posted on the home page of AAPK. I think it was lost many years ago in a server crash; whatever the reason it has been gone from the home page of AAPK for several years. I know most of the AAPK members of probably never heard Bryan story, especially not if they joined within the last 6 or 7 years.

So forgive me if I get a few details wrong, but this is a general gist of the story as I recall it and as Bryan has told me bits and pieces over the years.

Many years ago, (15 years I’m guessing), Bryan was getting ready to graduate from college to be a Wall Street broker. An accident, I believe it was a diving accident, injured his spinal cord and left him a paraplegic. After the medical profession did everything they could for him, Bryan went back to college to become a computer programmer. AAPK began as a project as part of his college degree program. It was so successful and so popular that Bryan continued with AAPK and built it into what it has become today.

Bryan types by a combination of eye-movement and twitches of shoulder muscles, (muscles he can still control in spite of the accident). It is with a great deal of effort that he is able to do computer programming or even email. He told me once that he just can’t answer all the emails because of the pain involved and the muscle spasms in his shoulders from “typing” with his shoulders.

I am one of 3 or 4 active administrators on AAPK may also have a couple of moderators as well. All the technical work of AAPK, all the behind the scenes programming, troubleshooting and everything else including setting up the AAPK stores is all done by Bryan.

I am frankly amazed at all that he does at AAPK. Most large websites have a staff of paid moderators, a webmaster and a host of other technical people. At AAPK Bryan wears all those hats!

As someone who worked professionally with disabled people I am aware that quadriplegics have certain time-consuming but necessary health routines that they must strictly maintain. In addition Bryan also has to go to physical therapy several times a week. A while back he had some vehicle problems with his adapted vehicle. This it means he had to get someone else to take him until he could get another adaptive vehicle built on the old one repaired. This was very expensive and also quite time-consuming.
Somehow Bryan does all of this, manages to keep AAPK running and does it without a large paid staff, indeed without any paid staff, (all Moderators and Administrators on AAPK are voluntary), and he does it without charging any membership fees! I think that’s absolutely amazing!

Yes, Bryan is slow at answering emails. Most of my emails to him are unanswered but I know he reads them and has the necessary information to take the needed action to address the situation about which I emailed him. If Bryan doesn’t have a very important reason to email you, he doesn’t simply because of the time and the physical pain it causes him to type the emails.

I know a lot of people would like to have stores on AAPK. Bryan and I have discussed this and he is in the process of setting up a protocol for opening new stores, but this does take time especially when every stroke of the keyboard is slow & painful.

I know a lot of guys would like to have stores on AAPK but until the new protocol for the stores is established there will be very few if any new stores open. The stores that are opened will probably be for longtime active members who have been waiting years in some cases for their own store. They are obviously at the head of the line.

I get a little upset when people who don’t know the situation start talking trash about Bryan because he doesn’t answer their email. If 1% of our members sent Bryan an email every day that would be 110 emails per day and they would all be expecting him to respond within 24 hours!

It comes down to this: Bryan can either keep AAPK running or he can answer emails. Given his physical limitations he can’t do both. If you send Bryan an email, don’t expect an answer. If you have a question you can contact one of the Administrators; philco or myself (orvet). We will attempt to answer any questions or handle any technical issues such as changing passwords, forgotten passwords and so forth or we will forward them on to Bryan and he WILL address the issue at his earliest convenience.

Administrators do not have access to the AAPK stores part of the program. Bryan is the only one who can access that part of AAPK. If you are having a problem with your existing store contact Phil (philco) or Dale (orvet - me) and we will relay your problem to Bryan and I know from experience he makes store problems a priority.


I know a lot of people don’t know Bryan story. The last time I remember seeing his story on the home page was about 2007 or 2008 and we only had about 2000 members then so I know most of you probably not heard it. For some of you it probably won’t make a difference, but for most of you I hope you can better appreciate the effort that Bryan goes to in keep AAPK running.

No, we aren’t the largest knife forum on the web.
No, we don’t have a professional staff of technical people that do all the work.
No, we don’t have a staff of paid moderators.
There are a lot of things that we do not have and lot of things that we are not.
But IMHO, AAPK is still the best and the friendliest knife form on the web.

[royal0014]

Thanks for the info Dale. I knew Bryan had physical/medical issues,
but I did not know the extent .....

A great big THANK YOU ! to him and others involved is keeping our 'addiction' running

[Paladin]

At one time the Bryan’s Bio was posted on the home page of AAPK.,,,,,,,,,,No, we aren’t the largest knife forum on the web.
No, we don’t have a professional staff of technical people that do all the work.
No, we don’t have a staff of paid moderators.
There are a lot of things that we do not have and lot of things that we are not.
But IMHO, AAPK is still the best and the friendliest knife form on the web.

Dale,
Well said and timely. Thanks!

Ray

[glennbad]

Dale,

Thanks for reminding all of us what a labor of love this is for Bryan!

And a big to all you Admins and Moderators behind the scenes, the unsung heroes of this site!

Glenn

[bestgear]

Thanks Dale - as a fairly new member to AAPK I had never heard Bryan's story, thank you for sharing it with us. I had emailed Bryan a few times and received no response and chalked it up to him being overcome with other events or priorities. I had no idea about his challenges and I'm glad I never pushed the issue with him.

My sincere thanks to everyone that volunteers their time to make AAPK what it is. I work in the Information Technology field and I know what's involved not only with day-to-day site administration but with keeping the site fresh and inviting. This is the only knife site that I participate in because everything I need is right here!

[edge213]

I give a big THANK YOU to Bryan and all the guys that make AAPK possible. I am here almost everyday, at least for a little while.

[RobesonsRme.com]

I was totally unaware of any of that. Thanks, Dale for enlightening us.

Now, I find the existence of AAPK and its founder even more amazing.

Charlie Noyes

[dirtyfonzie]

Hands down the best knife forum on the web.

Hats off to Bryan and all the moderators. You guys make this place great!

Also, thank you to all the members here. This is by far one of the friendliest forums I have ever been on.


-Jordan

[Jacknifeben]

Hope you guys can keep AAPK goin. This is my "fix" for the day. Also it is neat for an old Iowa boy to go to the Gator show in Florida and meet some guy with a AAPK cap.

[Dinadan]

At one time the Bryan’s Bio was posted on the home page of AAPK.

Dale - First time I have read any of that information. Thank you for posting it for us newer members. Maybe this thread should be a sticky for a couple of weeks.

[carrmillus]

...thanks for posting this, dale, I certainly wasn't aware of this!!!.... ........

[Knife Nut]

Dale,

Thanks for the insight pertaining to Bryan's situation.
I never knew!

Paul

[bdev]

Dale....When I first tried to set up a store and did not receive any responses, I posted my frustrations on the forum and you were kind enough to respond to me and told me Bryan's story. I understood and was resigned to the fact that my store would not be coming soon.
Why not post on the set up page that setting up a store will take a long while. At least the member will know what to expect. Better yet....why not put store set-ups on hold until Bryan is able to catch up with the demand. As it is now, one goes through the process of the set up and is told that AAPK will be in contact when their store is ready to go. In today's tech world, one expects this in a fair amount of time, say about a week at the latest. We are all spoiled with instant return emails and confirmations.

All I'm trying to say is to let the members who want to set up a store know how long it will take.

[orvet]

The short answer is administrators and moderators do not have access to post on the AAPK store setup page. This is strictly Bryan's territory. I do not know how long it will be before Bryan will have the new store program and format completed and I am confident he doesn’t know either. He’s the kind of guy who would tell us if he knew. It is a Work in Progress and these things take time. Rome was not built in a day and neither was AAPK.


There is a thread discussing the topic of the opening of new AAPK stores, unfortunately it is in the Knife Store Owner Forum which is a limited access forum and not available to the general membership of AAPK. It's only available to people who are currently AAPK store owners. The discussion in this topic took place in February of this year.
In that thread Bryan discuss the idea of having new storeowners have a membership duration, (a minimum period of membership), or a minimum post count.
Bryan also discussed revamping the entire store system to have a different levels of store ownership and bringing back some sort of store feedback system.

Part of what precipitated discussion in the Knife Store Owners Forum and the delay in the opening of new stores was a couple of unscrupulous members who open stores, sold knives to people, never shipped the knives and would not respond to any inquiries from the buyers or from AAPK. These stores are no longer operating and the owners are no longer members of AAPK. Another part of the problem is that the software Bryan is using for the AAPK stores has about reached its capacity in the number of stores it can handle. We are about at maximum capacity for the number of stores that the software can handle; at least this was my understanding the last time I talked to Bryan about new stores.

The problem is how do we establish that a member of AAPK is a person of honesty and integrity who has a passion for knives and is just not here to make money from selling knives?
If Bryan just wanted to open knife stores for the purpose of making money from the knives people sell in their stores, (like ebay) then he is going about it backwards.
Bryan operates AAPK because he is a knife collector and loves the hobby. Bryan was a knife collector before his accident that left him a quadriplegic. Even though AAPK originating out of a college degree program in computers, it is obviously a labor of love for Bryan! Bryan is not here to get rich, Bryan is here because he loves the hobby of knife collecting.

I am confident that Bryan will come up with an acceptable and viable process for opening new stores which is fair for the members who want to open the stores but also safe for the members who want to purchase knives from those stores. It's the age-old story: 1% messes everything up the 99%, and that's what has happened here and why were not having any new stores until the new system is in place. Obviously it's going to take time especially given how much Bryan has on his plate right now. I would encourage everyone who wants to open a store to notify Bryan, if you haven't already, through the form for contacting him regarding opening a store; then wait. I don't know how long it will be and I'm sure Bryan doesn't know either. However, I am confident that the issue of new stores at AAPK is very high on Bryan's To Do list. I know he has other issues that crop up from time to time that need to be addressed to keep AAPK up and running, but I am positive he will solve the store problem as soon as he possibly can.
In the meantime everyone's patience is appreciated.

Thank you,
Dale

[stagman]

Let us all give Dale a big "Thanks" for putting his own time in to share this story
with all the other AAPK members...Dale has had several operations on his own hands and I am sure it brings alot of pain to himself after a long typed message like this , Thanks Dale !!!

Bryan Sanders changed my life guys...after several emails with him in late 2005, I opened up my
Clear Creek Knives store here at AAPK on Jan. 2nd 2006...over 10 yrs ago !!!
That was also the year I retired from GM after 31 yrs of service
Guys, I literally had over 30 yrs of knives settin around my house,
Knives I saved for, begged for, traded for, etc.
I never did like the ebay deal, never messed much with it
Bryan not only gave me a chance to start to sell a lifetime collection,
but the chance to get sooo much education from AAPK members on knife topics from A to Z
I have met so so many fellow AAPK members, and became lifelong friends with a few
special people that bought a knife from me, friends I am in contact with every week of my life
that does not happen on ebay folk's !!!
I have said it several times over the yrs the special thanks I would like to give Bryan,
he knows, told him many times....Bryan Sanders is a incredible fella guys, we all owe him alot !!!

Will
http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/clearcreekknives

[stockman]

Dale I want to thank Bryon and all of you that keep AAPK running. I know it is a labor of Love.

Thanks Harold

[leggo]

I think this is the best forum of any kind on the internet. Thank you !