Question We're not even allowed to say the name of dealers who aren't BF sponsors?

kefefs

kefefs

Joined
Feb 24, 2019
Messages
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I made a post earlier About a new knife and mentioned the dealer I bought it from. My post and another poster's response were edited to remove the name of the dealer, and I got a message from a mod. I read the rules and only see this:

BladeForums.com stays open due to paid subscriptions from various member groups, including Dealers who help sponsor this site. A dealer who does not have a paid subscription is not allowed to advertise in any way, shape, or form. In the past, dealers have used 'shill' accounts to promote themselves & their products; as a result we've limited all dealer advertising to The Exchange or registered Dealers with active paid subscriptions.

The moderator message didn't specify which rule was broken so I assume it was this one, though I don't see how this could be interpreted to mean other dealers can't even be mentioned.

Does saying a dealer's name constitute "advertising" for them? Or is there another rule I missed? A lot of forums have rules against advertising for non-sponsors and I totally understand that but I've never seen one where they can't even be mentioned by name. That's a bit bizarre if that's the case.
 
Think about it, shill account. You provided a picture of a knife, the amount you paid for it and where you got it from.
A lot of reviews mention the price and pics not the vendor. Most of the supporting dealers have the same knives that are purchased from non supporting dealers.
You need three things to start a fire; fuel, heat, oxygen. Take any one away, and the fire doesn't happen.
 
So now I'm a shill? That's a stretch. I mentioned the price because it's a cheap auto and I didn't know what to expect quality-wise. If I was a shill I probably wouldn't have pointed out flaws with the knife.

You're making it sound like I just posted the knife, price, and vendor. I wrote a short review. I'm not affiliated with the vendor or the knife manufacturer, nor am I a particularly big fan of the manufacturer to begin with. Just because I like a vendor's service doesn't mean I'm shilling.
 
kefefs said:
So now I'm a shill? That's a stretch. I mentioned the price because it's a cheap auto and I didn't know what to expect quality-wise. If I was a shill I probably wouldn't have pointed out flaws with the knife.

You're making it sound like I just posted the knife, price, and vendor. I wrote a short review. I'm not affiliated with the vendor or the knife manufacturer, nor am I a particularly big fan of the manufacturer to begin with. Just because I like a vendor's service doesn't mean I'm shilling.
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He wasn't calling you a shill, but the possibility of such post being shills exists. The rule you quoted seems pretty clear to me. The moderator felt you fell under the rule-no big deal
 
Peter Hartwig said:
He wasn't calling you a shill, but the possibility of such post being shills exists. The rule you quoted seems pretty clear to me.
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It sure sounds like he was, but maybe it was just poorly worded.

I think it's clear in prohibiting advertising. I just didn't think that extended to saying the name of a business. The rules are the rules either way, I just think it could be clearer if that's the intent.
 
kefefs said:
It sure sounds like he was, but maybe it was just poorly worded.

I think it's clear in prohibiting advertising. I just didn't think that extended to saying the name of a business. The rules are the rules either way, I just think it could be clearer if that's the intent.
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Having the price, item, and vendor all listed together might be the cause for concern. I know that you're not allowed to post links but I haven't seen what you did called out. But, I haven't seen many people post the price of the item in reviews either, since that's subject to change and it's fairly easy to find if it's a current model. Basically, I think you included too much info on the purchasing side of the review, when the review should have been about the blade and not the vendor.

Does that make sense? It's late, I'm tired, and not sure if I'm wording that all that well.
 
bikerector said:
Having the price, item, and vendor all listed together might be the cause for concern. I know that you're not allowed to post links but I haven't seen what you did called out. But, I haven't seen many people post the price of the item in reviews either, since that's subject to change and it's fairly easy to find if it's a current model. Basically, I think you included too much info on the purchasing side of the review, when the review should have been about the blade and not the vendor.

Does that make sense? It's late, I'm tired, and not sure if I'm wording that all that well.
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You make sense, I know what you're trying to say. I was happy with how quick the knife shipped and that it went through secondary QC at the vendor, considering the brand is so hit or miss, so I talked about that. I also mentioned the price because it's a good knife for the money though that's more about the knife than the vendor. They charge the same as everyone else.

Still, I think the main point of the post was the knife. I didn't think giving a shootout to the vendor would get me edited and (maybe?) called a shill. I get that forums need to be on the lookout for shills, astroturfing, etc. but it seems a bit aggressive here.
 
Rather than post, "Hey, I got this great deal on a really cool knife at this non-BF dealer."
We ask that you post, "Hey let me tell you about this great knife." And leave where you got it out of the discussion.

BF Dealer memberships are pricey. They pay a large percentage of the rather high costs of operating BF. Dealers with BF Dealer Memberships support the site. We try to support them by not promoting their competitors.
 
knarfeng said:
Rather than post, "Hey, I got this great deal on a really cool knife at this non-BF dealer."
We ask that you post, "Hey let me tell you about this great knife." And leave where you got it out of the discussion.
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Alright, that's all I wanted to know. Thanks for the clarification.

But just to stress, I didn't post about them giving me a great deal. That's just what the knife costs, it's the same price everywhere. What I liked was their shipping and QC. Still, point taken.
 
kefefs said:
I made a post earlier About a new knife and mentioned the dealer I bought it from. My post and another poster's response were edited to remove the name of the dealer, and I got a message from a mod. I read the rules and only see this:

BladeForums.com stays open due to paid subscriptions from various member groups, including Dealers who help sponsor this site. A dealer who does not have a paid subscription is not allowed to advertise in any way, shape, or form. In the past, dealers have used 'shill' accounts to promote themselves & their products; as a result we've limited all dealer advertising to The Exchange or registered Dealers with active paid subscriptions.

The moderator message didn't specify which rule was broken so I assume it was this one, though I don't see how this could be interpreted to mean other dealers can't even be mentioned.

Does saying a dealer's name constitute "advertising" for them? Or is there another rule I missed? A lot of forums have rules against advertising for non-sponsors and I totally understand that but I've never seen one where they can't even be mentioned by name. That's a bit bizarre if that's the case.
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I know this is a bit of an old thread but I thought I would mention something.

The operative term you did is called "deal spotting". Even if you aren't affiliated with the nonpaying dealer and even if you are not a shill and even if you aren't in anyway related to the manufacturer, listing the price and where you got it still could drive business away from supporting dealers by "spotting a good deal elsewhere". You're likely not a bad guy and you likely didn't do this intentionally but it was still "deal spotting", which is the title of rule #8.
 
kefefs said:
Alright, that's all I wanted to know. Thanks for the clarification.

But just to stress, I didn't post about them giving me a great deal. That's just what the knife costs, it's the same price everywhere. What I liked was their shipping and QC. Still, point taken.
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You can talk about non-sponsoring dealers in the Good, Bad, & the Ugly sub.

You'd be best to leave out any direct links regardless.
 
craytab said:
I know this is a bit of an old thread but I thought I would mention something.

The operative term you did is called "deal spotting". Even if you aren't affiliated with the nonpaying dealer and even if you are not a shill and even if you aren't in anyway related to the manufacturer, listing the price and where you got it still could drive business away from supporting dealers by "spotting a good deal elsewhere". You're likely not a bad guy and you likely didn't do this intentionally but it was still "deal spotting", which is the title of rule #8.
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I understand that now, though I'll reiterate that the price is the same everywhere. I was remarking about how little the manufacturer charged for the knife, not some sort of sale or a deal from a specific vendor, because there wasn't one. I wouldn't think that'd count as a "deal".
 
knarfeng said:
Rather than post, "Hey, I got this great deal on a really cool knife at this non-BF dealer."
We ask that you post, "Hey let me tell you about this great knife." And leave where you got it out of the discussion.

BF Dealer memberships are pricey. They pay a large percentage of the rather high costs of operating BF. Dealers with BF Dealer Memberships support the site. We try to support them by not promoting their competitors.
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Where's the list of BF Dealer Memberships? Are these allowed to be discussed and linked etc?
 
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