Spyderco byte August 2022 - EDGE-U-CATION®- The Spyderco Forum
From our earliest beginnings as a company, Spyderco founders Sal and Gail Glesser have been keenly interested in feedback from our customers. In the early years, much of that interaction was done face to face at fairs, trade shows, and other in-person events. As the company grew and put down roots in Golden, Colorado, direct communication was joined by phone calls, letters, and ultimately emails. Regardless of the medium, our commitment to listening to our customers remained steadfast.
In July 2000, that commitment took a quantum leap forward with the establishment of the Spyderco Internet Forum. Created primarily to promote intelligent discussion about knives, sharpeners, and related topics, our forum also had a deeper cause: to foster a strong sense of community and encourage its members to learn from and about each other. To achieve that loftier goal, Sal Glesser did one of the many things he does best—he led by example. Twenty-two years later, the Spyderco Forum is still the only forum in the knife industry where a founder and President of the company participates and actively posts nearly every day.
One of the most unique aspects of the Spyderco Forum is that it does not allow the buying, selling, or trading of knives or other goods. Instead, we encourage Forumites to share information, knowledge, insights, and opinions—both with us and each other. We welcome honest feedback on our products and support conversations about all things related to Spyderco and our business practices. Over the years, that kind of open discussion has produced some extraordinary results, from subtle refinements of existing designs to the birth of all-new products and groundbreaking efforts like our Mule Team™ project.
Since the forum’s inception, it has grown steadily and now includes nearly 31,000 registered members. To date, those members have generated over 1.6 million posts and continue to contribute an average of more than 260 posts a day. With their amazing help and support, we have printed 11 calendars showcasing images created exclusively by our members. We have also produced a number of annual Forum knives—special variations of established Spyderco models made available only to Forum members.
Although most discussions on the Spyderco Forum focus on knife designs, materials, lock types, blade steels, and related topics, the sharing of thoughts and opinions does not stop there. Through our “Off-Topic” subforum, our members are also free to share their ideas on a broad range of other subjects. And while such discussions can sometimes get “enthusiastic,” we do not tolerate the hostility and negative behavior that often poisons other social media platforms. By maintaining a high level of respect for each other and the platform, we have succeeded in our greater goal of creating a true community. That success is clear in the behavior of our members, who have graciously supported each other—and the Spyderco Crew—through the best and worst of life’s challenges, including natural disasters, major world events, weddings, births, deaths, and illnesses.
We are extremely grateful to all our members for making the Spyderco Forum what it is today. On the surface, it is an interesting cyberspace destination where you can share your ideas and gain insights into our company, its history, and our products. The deeper you look, however, the better it gets. It’s not just about knives, it’s about the people who love them—and each other.
P.S. If you’re not yet a member of the Spyderco Forum, we encourage you to discover what you’ve been missing. Visit Spyderco Forums - Index page (https://forum.spyderco.com/) and click on “register” in the upper right corner. Once you’ve registered, please be patient. Our moderators manually approve all new posts to keep spammers off the Forum and ensure that new Forumites respect the spirit of the community. That manual approval continues until we determine that you want to be a genuine member of our Forum family. While these measures may seem extreme, in the past year alone, they have enabled us to block more than 70,000 spammers from gaining access to the Forum.
Spyderco, Inc.
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