Too bad. Nobody said boo when multiple people questioned my integrity and made comments about 30 pieces of silver / gold.
So you are ok with some clones, just not all clones. Got it.
I've looked at it from multiple points of view. My point of view is reasonable: I can only control what happens here. People having meltdowns about what happens on a website I don't control isn't reasonable or rational.
Oh ok, cool. My discretion is exercised in that I boot people for how they conduct themselves on this site, just like I don't boot people for their actions on eBay. I have a zero tolerance policy for clones being sold here and expect members to abide by the rules set forth.
You guys are expecting me to expand that definition to sites that advertise clones OFF the forums. I'm, reasonably, asking where we draw the line. That's not "quibbling"
I'm late to the party, but here's my $0.03 (that's right, I said $0.03. Ballin!)
I'm ok with where the site and
Spark
have drawn the line. As long as a dealer or member follow the rules of the forum while on the forum I don't see any cause to ban them.
The site has a very basic, easy to understand set of rules. We're all free to break those rules off-site (you should hear what I call
@WValtakis when speaking elsewhere), but are held to a standard here. As long as a dealer, member, manufacturer, craftsman, etc. follows those rules they should be allowed to exist here just the same.
I would hope though, that if push came to shove behind the scenes and our legitimate and beloved manufacturing supporters like Spyderco and Benchmade threatened to pull their support if dealers of counterfeits weren't dropped the site would side with them. I'd hate to see valued members of the community be lost in favor of an academic argument of how the site should choose its supporters.
Don't get me wrong, I don't like these sort of dealers either and would've been fine with wthe decision if
Spark
banned them immediately. I do respect his decision to take the stance that he has in the face of obvious opposition though and looking at the issue academically, I agree.