Resolution

[AimlessWanderer]

It can be sometimes tricky to express your heartfelt opinions, confusions, irritations, or experiences, without painfully slamming into someone else's opposing mindset. It can almost be as tricky as when someone else's expressed heartfelt opinions, confusions, irritations, or experiences painfully slam into your own, and knowing how best to reply, without competing or being overly defensive.

I know I don't always get it right myself.

I do try to leave space for others to feel very differently, and sometimes polar opposite. I try to be mindful about fully expressing my opinion, without stomping on those of others. I also try to do the right thing if my intentions don't land me how or where I had hoped.

However, I don't always get those right either.

We're people. We're fallible. Most of us are tolerant enough to forgive the odd misstep. Most of us will grow weary if the misstep seems to recur too frequently, especially if the time and place don't seem to correlate with or be appropriate for the alternate view. It's probably more by luck than judgment that I haven't peed off more people. Although the fact that this place is so cordial and well mannered, does help immensely.

Let the past remain where it belongs, focus on today, but spare a thought for tomorrow.

 

[euro]

Resolved: I will not question anyone’s choice to spend as much money as they wish on any shaving product.

Yesterday I asked why anyone would spend $350 on an adjustable Blackland razor when there are excellent vintage adjustable razors available for much less. This brought quite a few negative responses, including accusations of trolling. It brought a negative reaction from Shane from Blacklands Razors. My question simply asked why; it did not disparage any person or product. I have observed this phenomenon before.

I should be able to ask questions, render advice or express opinions without being met with rancor, personal attack or accusations of trolling. Sadly, this is not the reality.

I do not wish to be divisive or harmful in any degree to B&B. So I will make the resolve with which I began this post. But I will continue to advocate for less expensive shaving options.

Because they have the money and they really want that razor badly. IMHO expensive razors are overrated, my most expensive razor is the Merkur Progress, my cheapest razor is the Fatip OC v1. The Fatip is my favorite razor and it was only 19 euros. Expensive razor doesn't mean you will get better shaves out of it.

When I joined this board I considered myself a minimalist and said that I will never become like these crazy people on this forum. I'm now one of them. I have a couple razors, 100's of blades, 25+ soaps, 15+ aftershaves. I don't care much about razors but soaps? Hell yeah.

We always want to try out new products, maybe we fear of missing out on something? I really don't know. I always get a BBS with any razor and blade I use but I'm still looking for new soaps, new aftershaves, new blades to try out. It's not a money issue, it's just an another hobby.

 

[Lane101]

Resolved: I will not question anyone’s choice to spend as much money as they wish on any shaving product.

Yesterday I asked why anyone would spend $350 on an adjustable Blackland razor when there are excellent vintage adjustable razors available for much less. This brought quite a few negative responses, including accusations of trolling. It brought a negative reaction from Shane from Blacklands Razors. My question simply asked why; it did not disparage any person or product. I have observed this phenomenon before.

I should be able to ask questions, render advice or express opinions without being met with rancor, personal attack or accusations of trolling. Sadly, this is not the reality.

I do not wish to be divisive or harmful in any degree to B&B. So I will make the resolve with which I began this post. But I will continue to advocate for less expensive shaving options.

I just added a post to the thread where this happened (link below). While it's OK for most of us to have our "ferocious debate among friends" (Jack Welch) I couldn't believe that a vendor would react in this way. I spent a lot of my career in retail management and we would never tolerate a response like this even if the customer was less than perfectly diplomatic.

In an on-line environment we would love questions like this as they give us an opportunity to politely retell our story and marketing messages to the broad audience that is listening in.

Hope you keep sharing your perspectives here, they make B&B more interesting.

New Updated Blackland Osprey

The new Osprey numbers look great, as is fitting for yet another beautiful Blackland design. As a vendor, Shane is an appreciated forum contributor. In my view he takes the top spot over Tony Miller only based on the frequency of his helpful posts. My mother told me that if I didn't have...

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[Steve56]

I rarely get involved in controversy anymore.

The Appalachian Trail through hikers (the ones that do all 2000+ miles in a year) have a term for folks who do things differently from from the mainstream. They say ‘They’re hiking their own hike.’ It’s not a malicious saying.

 

[Alum Ladd]

I don't get this thread or why it's in General Shaving. It's a rant.

Why post what you are going to do moving forward, instead of just following thru and doing it (or in your case, not doing it)?

I guess I missed the drama.

Well I suppose what's the point of no longer doing something if no one knows you are deliberately not doing something.

I mean, people may think that you have chickened out of not doing that something that you were doing, thus never giving people the opportunity to appreciate the virtue and integrity you are displaying by stating you are no longer doing something before you start not doing it.

Not doing something followed by silence on the part of the person no longer doing something just confuses people.

It is very important to state you are not doing something before you start not doing something.

It may be confused with indifference. What Q is doing is different to indifference.

 

[luvmysuper]

This is NOT directed at any member in particular, just a mention in general to keep things copacetic in view of how things went in that "other" thread.
Folks - if you feel something is inappropriate, mis-posted, controversial, rude, or otherwise not in keeping with our standards here - please just report the item.
It's less work for us, and less trouble for you.

 

[BigJ]

….

I should be able to ask questions, render advice or express opinions without being met with rancor, personal attack or accusations of trolling. Sadly, this is not the reality.

I do not wish to be divisive or harmful in any degree to B&B. So I will make the resolve with which I began this post. But I will continue to advocate for less expensive shaving options.

Absolutely!! And I, for one, always value your opinions!!

 

[muzichead]

I just added a post to the thread where this happened (link below). While it's OK for most of us to have our "ferocious debate among friends" (Jack Welch) I couldn't believe that a vendor would react in this way. I spent a lot of my career in retail management and we would never tolerate a response like this even if the customer was less than perfectly diplomatic.

In an on-line environment we would love questions like this as they give us an opportunity to politely retell our story and marketing messages to the broad audience that is listening in.

Hope you keep sharing your perspectives here, they make B&B more interesting.

New Updated Blackland Osprey

The new Osprey numbers look great, as is fitting for yet another beautiful Blackland design. As a vendor, Shane is an appreciated forum contributor. In my view he takes the top spot over Tony Miller only based on the frequency of his helpful posts. My mother told me that if I didn't have...

www.badgerandblade.com

With all due respect the biggest problem with what happened in that thread wasn't that Quiznoid asked a question, its the fact that everytime a thread about high end razors is posted he always chimes in with the question of why other people would spend that kind of money when an equal or better shave can be had with a super adjustable of a tech razor. The question has been answered to him on several occasions and it would seem he refuses to accept answers people give him. This happens on a fequent basis and its happened in more than a few Blackland threads and my guess is Shane had finally had enough and everyone has they're snapping point and this thread mentioned just happened to be the one. There were several people that took issue and only because, as I mentioned earlier, it happens far to often!!

That is all I have to say on the topic here and I hope everyone has great shaves with whatever they choose to shave with regardless of cost or brand... Have a great day...

 

[Omega48]

.... my guess is Shane had finally had enough and everyone has they're snapping point and this thread mentioned just happened to be the one. ...

Right. But as a vendor, if I read the forum's guidelines correctly, he should not have "snapped".

 

[Beefdrippings]

It wasn’t really just a question though was it? He implied the price was crazy and if you paid it you’re crazy. He comes with a negative vibe and that he can’t comprehend the idea that someone may do or like something different than him. It’s not just that he has an opinion, it’s how and where he expresses it. Many people enjoy his opinions here and I hope he keeps expressing them, maybe just differently sometimes. Or not. We have the ability to block users and threads. Cheers.

 

[Lane101]

With all due respect the biggest problem with what happened in that thread wasn't that Quiznoid asked a question, its the fact that everytime a thread about high end razors is posted he always chimes in with the question of why other people would spend that kind of money when an equal or better shave can be had with a super adjustable of a tech razor. The question has been answered to him on several occasions and it would seem he refuses to accept answers people give him. This happens on a fequent basis and its happened in more than a few Blackland threads and my guess is Shane had finally had enough and everyone has they're snapping point and this thread mentioned just happened to be the one. There were several people that took issue and only because, as I mentioned earlier, it happens far to often!!

That is all I have to say on the topic here and I hope everyone has great shaves with whatever they choose to shave with regardless of cost or brand... Have a great day...

Yes, @Quaznoid may have been out of context in the original thread. My post was not focused on that but on @Blackland Razors inappropriate response. As a vendor he should not be insulting other B&B members who have different opinions even if they are not expressing them in the right place and in a diplomatic way. @Omega48 is absolutely right that he should not have snapped.

This is not the first time that Blackland was insulting to someone who had this type of view. See the link below to his posts (start with post#2 and move to #27 and beyond) back in December of 2022 where he ridiculed Medivh, who expressed similar comments on expensive razors. This time in a more appropriate thread focused on a newly released lower cost Yaqi razor.

While I get that as a premium vendor he may not hold knock-off imports in well regard he should not be insulting to those that do. Lots of B&B members who start with low cost Weishi or Yaqi tools eventually move up to more premium equipment. Why insult their initial purchases that got them into this hobby.

Again this was another missed opportunity to take a high road and and tell the story of his brand given Blackland's well designed and highly regarded products to the broader audience.

Note that responding to the broader audience is a Communications #101A tenet. During my career I delivered many large audience presentations. In that environment any negative feedback or question was responded to politely via a positive fact based response that was delivered to the broad audience, not the individual raising the question. Just responding and maintaining eye contact with the individual would lead to a *** for tat dialogue that would take down the entire presentation. That is a bit of what happened in the original thread.

@luvmysuper summed the issues up really nicely when he closed out the original thread. Lots of off-topic posts in that thread that we should move on from.

Link to prior Blackland posts noted above:

Yaqi 2023

Of course I will get it. They can even polish their razors. Often not even offered anymore in free and progressive nations, we are getting sandblasted for a premium. Oh yeah big true. I might not be a huge fan of the Chinese razors, but Jesus Christ, paying over $100 for razor that doesn't...

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[Lane101]

It wasn’t really just a question though was it? He implied the price was crazy and if you paid it you’re crazy. He comes with a negative vibe and that he can’t comprehend the idea that someone may do or like something different than him. It’s not just that he has an opinion, it’s how and where he expresses it. Many people enjoy his opinions here and I hope he keeps expressing them, maybe just differently sometimes. Or not. We have the ability to block users and threads. Cheers.

Read his original post #10 (link below) in the thread that started all of this where he said "....Why do you fellows want to pay so much more? If you buy one, compare it with these great vintage Gillettes, built like tanks, magnificent performers, and then try to explain your rationale for the purchase. I’m not trying to be critical; I honestly don’t understand it."

He never called anyone "crazy" and if you look at the text without the context of @Quaznoid 's history here the question was actually asked in reasonably respectful way. The two issues were that a thread on the Osprey razor was not the right place for this type of question and then Blackland's response created the blow up that took the thread off course.

A simple response offering to discuss why the design, workmanship, etc. that creates these premium heirloom quality razors in a different thread (pick one, there are plenty on this topic) would have diffused the situation and kept the thread on track.

New Updated Blackland Osprey

Blackland has just announced an updated Osprey with larger numbers on the setting dial and the option of ordering the numbers colored in black for better visibility for an additional charge.

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[Blackland Razors]

Tired of getting dragged into this. But since I'm tagged, I'll respond.


I stand by my comments in both threads. Maybe I'll fail Communications 101.

Blackland stands for high quality products, backing our customers and our products for life, supporting local jobs and businesses, and being a helpful member of the wet shaving community. We design and build the best products we can here in the USA and we operate with all the integrity we can muster. We go above and beyond to assist users, fans, customers, and shavers of all types in any way we can. Those are our values. Our values do not include rolling over and sitting on our hands out of old-school beliefs that brands must always yield, always remaining silent without taking a position for fear of alienating anyone. We know who we are as a company and we're not afraid to own our positions and state our beliefs.

This is my last post in this thread.

 

[Whisky]

This is done. Why do people spend large amounts of money on a razor? Because they want to. End of story. You/I/we may not understand it, but it’s not up to You/I/we to understand why someone else wants something. Live your life, who cares what others do. If we all just had what we need and not what we want we’d have pretty boring lives.