Today I just packaged up the last of my Hinderer knives, scales, pens, and other accessories which I had previously purchased and sent them off to the individuals who purchased them from me.  In short, while there’s no doubt Rick Hinderer makes a great knife, I can no longer recommend  Hinderer products, nor do I wish to do business with the company.  The reasons why is a rather long story, but an important one I think to share with my readers.

Last month, I did a comparative review with the Umnumzaan, XM-18, and SnG.  I received largely positive comments even from those who didn’t particularly agree with some of my stated opinions in that review.  That is except for members The Usual Suspect Network forum where I shared the article in the Hinderer sponsored forum and the Strider sponsored forums.

Now, as anyone who’s read this review can see, I didn’t say anything  particularly negative about any of the knives in this review or the manufacturers who produce them. I  simply stated my opinion about the competitive advantages each held over the other.  I’ve also done stand alone reviews of each of the knives compared, and gave each high praise.  In the interests of full disclosure, it should be noted that none of the knives reviewed were provided by the manufacturer for review purposes – they all were purchased by me.  Neither did I receive any sort of compensation directly or indirectly from these manufacturers.

Again, community response to my comparative review was largely positive.   However, the response received on the Usual Suspect Network or USN was quite atypical.  In particular, the response from both the “Strider Hardcore” forum and the Rick Hinderer forum was…eye opening to say the least.  In the case of the Strider Hardcore forum, my post was met with a stream of insults, profanity, and other unseemly behavior which went on for over 20 pages until the thread was actually moved out of the Strider Hardcore forum …the worst of online forum mentality (and as someone who owned and ran a large forum for almost 10 years, I’ve seen my share of bad).

In every online forum I’ve ever participated in, the discussions are governed by moderators who try to maintain some semblance of civility and decorum.  From what I can gather, brand sponsored forums on USN are only moderated by the sponsors themselves.   In the case of the Strider Hardcore forum, Mick Strider was one of the most profane responders to the thread, which honestly came as little surprise.  It was only after I purchased the Strider SnG that I actually learned of Mick Stider’s checkered past and I’ve since sold that knife too.    In the case of the Hinderer forum, the review discussion thread was almost immediately moved out of the forum, and a company representative Rob Orlando posted rudely in the thread which was moved.  This reaction was quite a bit more surprising to me.

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