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Showing 1 of 13 conversations about:
WE Knife 608 Drop-Point S35VN Knife
Jean-da-bear
30
Jan 3, 2019
I concur with other members’ comments about how much – and how often – MassDrop doesn’t help us with decent negotiated price discounts – the ostensible raison d’être for this “buying club” web we’ve gotten ourselves ensnared in. But this particular drop also highlights another shortcoming of the site: playing fast-n-loose with product descriptions.
The narrative description of the drop assures us that this knife “clocks in at 9 inches overall,” with a “4-inch S35VN blade.” The “Specs” section repeats this, and then proceeds to give us the metric equivalents of 10.2 cm and 22.9 cm, respectively . . . the decimals presumably lending an air of authenticity.
In fact, these figures are wrong, as you can tell if you click on either of the KnifeCenter.com links given in these Discussions entries. (Knife Center never seems to get this stuff wrong, in my experience – so how hard can it be, MD?) Or, if you don’t want to take their word for it, check out Model 608 on the WE site itself (http://www.weknife.com/plus/list.php?tid=11). Either method will confirm that this knife has a 100 mm blade, and overall length of 228 mm. These translate to blade and overall lengths of 3.94” and 8.98”.
OK, so what’s the big deal? Those “round up” to 4 inches and 9 inches, don’t they? Yeah, I guess that’s right – but I don’t think that’s what’s going on here. Even though it would be more honest to say something like “clocks in at almost 9 inches overall”, and “a near-4-inch blade”, I could buy the sizes given in the narrative being acceptable approximations . . . as long as the actual figures were given in the Specs section. (C’mon, folks, that’s what “Specifications” are supposed to be – the straight dope, right?)
But, in my cynical old heart, I think the real reason for this jimmied data isn’t inadvertent, like a simple mistake in manual measurement, but a calculated attempt to gin up support for this particular drop, by telling us trusting souls that these WE 608 Drop Points are legitimate “beasts”, in that they reach that critical 4-inch blade length. Or maybe your tipping point for the “beast” moniker is that nine-inch overall length. In either case, as long as the actual dimensions are being falsified, you’re being manipulated. Particularly so when the already-inflated inch measurements are then converted back into metric ones (which are also rounded up!) that MD knows are wrong, and then posted to a so-called “Specs” table!
TotallyTrav
8
Jan 3, 2019
Jean-da-bearThis is a joke right? You think there is some malicious intent behind Massdrop rounding up the overall length by HALF of a millimeter? Surely, we are being pranked by the fact someone legitimately sat down to type multiple paragraphs about half a millimeter, thinking that any of it made sense.
I'm not gonna say this is a great deal no matter how many millimeters we round. But of all the things to whine about... You must really think your opinions are important
Jean-da-bear
30
Jan 4, 2019
Jean-da-bear
Never said MD was being malicious, just intentional. And that intent was clearly to make the drop more enticing to buyers, by shading the truth a tad . . . granted, just like a majority of sellers. (And as far as blade length goes, that shading wasn’t “HALF of a millimeter”, but four times that amount.) “Let the buyer beware” holds true in any transaction, but the buyers have to be “aware” of the facts before they can “beware.” That’s all I’m doing here, guy.
Regarding the ad hominem remarks, I don’t think my comments were whining or self-important, any more than your own gripe in another Discussion forum, about keycap legends being off-center by equivalent amounts. In fact, as you said on that occasion, “Now I am only one person so I do not know if my experience is reason enough . . . but I think it is good information to provide publicly”. Thanks, I couldn’t have put it any better myself.
Omniseed
1972
Jan 4, 2019
Jean-da-bearI don't see any issue with their conversationally-accurate description
Jean-da-bear
30
Jan 4, 2019
OmniseedAnd, usually, neither would I . . . if they had confined that approximation to the narrative description. My objection in this case was primarily to MD’s having reiterated the error in the Specs section, which we ought to be able to rely on. And they not only repeated it there but compounded it, by taking their own already “conversationally”-inflated measurements in inches, applying yet another round of inches-to-metric conversions, and then rounding up again.
The end result was to turn a 100 mm blade into a 102 mm one. Not an earth-shaking difference, but in this case, that last error also served to legitimize the “Wow” factor of “My god, an honest-to-goodness 4-inch blade!” for anyone buying the accuracy of the posted size.
Omniseed
1972
Jan 5, 2019
Jean-da-beardo you feel potentially cheated out of a couple millimeters of steel
Jean-da-bear
30
Jan 5, 2019
OmniseedNope, not personally. I’m not a fan of this particular offering’s aesthetics or price point, regardless of size or build quality (have a slew of WE’s, collaborations and otherwise). I do, however, know some “size queen” collectors who would likely suffer buyer’s remorse had they bought it relying on MD’s inflated figures, then learned the truth.
A lifetime of making a living dealing in accuracy has undoubtedly made me more sensitive than most to a lack thereof, particularly where I think we’ve got a right to expect it. Others of us here in the MD corral obsess endlessly over the management’s screw-ups in the Terzuola CTF branding kerfuffle (seriously, 1.2K Discussion entries?); the relative merits of CREE vs. Nichia LED drivers; or why bronze-anodized Ti frame-locks never come out looking as warm as the drop photos. Different strokes, man.
TotallyTrav
8
Jan 7, 2019
Jean-da-bearI like how you use direct quotes from me to make an argument about a point I didn't make. Also looking at my account history to bring up completely unrelated things. I call that grasping at straws.
Your original comment starts with a complaint about MD. Then you continue to explain that your entire next point is - in your opinion - another "shortcoming" of the site. This is what makes it sound like a whine, not informational. You could have provided the information you think is so important in about one sentence.
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