Spyderco Forums

It's informative to read all of the replies to this thread :) I particulary enjoy Agent Starling's take on it :) There's a bunch of really good folks here and I appreciate you all :)

It is very possible to be aware while maintaining the generous core that is in many of us. I remember the posts, but not the username, but remember that after reading a few of the posts something I couldn't put my finger on was bothering me so I stopped following them.

Trust your gut. If something feels wrong it is worth looking into. Doing so doesn't interfere your inate goodwill and generosity.

My heart sank after hearing that. How unfortunate and ROTTEN. A little consideration. A little thought for others, makes all the difference.

I was absent for a while and glad this thread is the first thing i spotted, as it clearly highlights what this forum is about. Honestly I am not even interested in learning the name of the turd con artist, or what its story was. I am just proud of this special community and every each one of the members. And the last thing I would want to see is turds like this con (they might reincarnate time after time) succeeding in staining this fine place and make us think twice before acting as heart would lead us to.
Hats off to Spyderco team, and Doc and all other gold-hearted people here.

Thanks, Kristi. I really appreciate the great work that you do, and the person that you are. Spyderco is a great outfit under Sal's leadership.

The sad fact is that there will always be low-lifes who cannot or will not lead productive, honorable lives, and attempt to gain some measure of recognition by pretending to be something that they could never be. The excellent book "Stolen Valor" by Burkett highlights the issue in a straight-forward and moving way. I've always been a skeptic of sad puppy dog stories, and even more so in the Internet age. Pathological liars can now spread anonymous tales at the speed of light corrected for impedance.

That said, I continue to be drawn to this forum (though not as regularly these days) partly because of the character and tenor of the exchanges. A lot of participants go out of their way to help, which accurately reflects the character of Spyderco itself. It's certainly no shame to help someone even if their story turns out to be a lie.

The Bible approaches this type of situation with a two-edged sword. Galatians 6:7 says, "Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap." That obviously cuts both ways in this circumstance - payback for the con artist and blessing for the cheerful giver.

wow i cant believe someone made up a sympathy story to get a free knife.

what i dont understand is how you found out though

anyways karma sucks and that POS will pay later, always comes around.

If they were making false claims of military service, would said person be able to be prosecuted under the Stolen Valor laws?

RIOT wrote:wow i cant believe someone made up a sympathy story to get a free knife.

what i dont understand is how you found out though

anyways karma sucks and that POS will pay later, always comes around.

I work with military personnel every day. They present themselves in a certain way. Particularly those in the SF community. There are things they would consistently do/say and things they would NEVER do/say. I've learned to listen to the little alarms that go off inside and fortunately I have the resources to back them up.

Halfneck wrote:If they were making false claims of military service, would said person be able to be prosecuted under the Stolen Valor laws?

Possibly yes, but that IMHO wouldn't be a great enough consequence.

You're a gem, Kristi! We appreciate you more than words can say.

Thank you for your detective work and catching this fellow.

I see these same people standing on the corners of our highways at stop lights, holding up signs that are asking for help for rent or food. How does one figure out who's "real" and who isn't? I can't feed the world, and hate to see a hungry, homeless Iraq veteran. Quandary
Sonny

Was not here almost year and half and first thing I see on forums is this sticky thread. I don´t understand to this, why would anyone do it? Sometimes I´m sad from what people are capable of. Just wanted to say, people here are very kind, I´ve never met so much cool people as in knife world and this forums especialy (where else would someone like Kristi send you mail personally to say wishes for birthday and then wish you better health after she discovers you had bad bad health???). So congratulations to this forums for people so kind, nice and inteligent and thank you for being part of it. And I hope that one bad example will not ruin all of this. Just let´s keep it up!

So this happened here too..maybe thats why some are so short and automatically assume dishonesty...who knows--mb

I dont come to this forum often and only read the first post here ............. but I believe in Karma and that will get him sooner or later.

That really is a shame. It's vary unfortunate that in todays world we still have people like this. Why have they not stopped breathing my air?

I don't know how long this post will be so I got my coffee already. :)

First. The guy who started this whole thing I don't understand. At first I figured it was someone who felt his/her life was so uninteresting he/she had to make up some stuff or try to get free stuff.

OR

Has anyone been watching "The Newsroom" series on TV? In it a guy wants to do a story about "trolling" on the internet. According to the show "trollers" even have an on-line club and they compete by causing problems on forums or whatever by getting people mad or just dragging out "not so important" issues. I know this is a TV show but given my opinion of human nature this seems possible. People like to cause trouble just for fun so at least these guys aren't writing viruses "just for fun". I think the guy that this issue is about was trying to get a free knife or something (if I remember correctly). He sure did create a long running subject though. Not a problem because it has brought out the generosity of Spyderco in how they support our troops as well as the compassion of some forum members until it was determined he/she was a liar. I congratulate Kristi in doing the research to either get him a well earned and deserved gift or reveal him as a fraud. To bad it turned out to be the later. I think I am remembering this whole incident accurately but these days who knows?

That wasn't as long as I feared it was going to be given my habit of rambling. :)

Jack

I know I haven't been here long(sorry I just recently go into knives), but this makes me happy to see a forum of such good people. I know sometimes liars wiggle their way into a heard and cause some problems but for the most part I'm happy it doesn't happen often.

I was once gifted a Spyderco on another forum(I'm on a few gun forums as it's been a long hobby of mine) and I was so absolutely blown away by the gesture that I turned around and did a knife karma give away on the same forum. I simply mentioned I was looking into buying a certain knife and I got an email asking for my address as they had one NIB and would send it to me for free.

I'll admit it, I'm a very cynical person in general from working in public safety for a handful of years. I really see the bad, the stupid, the horrific and the insane all the time. It really shocked me to be treated so well by a stranger and I know it's a small gesture but one I wouldn't forget. I think we lose sight sometimes of how good some people can be.

Thanks for doing the background check on this one Kristi. It's a good feeling to know Spyderco had the backs of the trusting/well meaning ppl of this site.

What scumbag

just came across this. wow, and why?

Sequimite wrote:Thanks, Kristi.

I really despise con artists, from Madoff and Keating to small-change grifters like the one this thread concerns.

I assume you are talking about James Keating? I am new to this forum but I respectfully would like to know why you think his name belongs next to Madoff's? We can take to a PM thread if you like. Just a bit off-topic...

JC_Denton wrote:I assume you are talking about James Keating? I am new to this forum but I respectfully would like to know why you think his name belongs next to Madoff's? We can take to a PM thread if you like. Just a bit off-topic...

I think he was talking about Charles Keating Jr.