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How Google Sliced Away Our Knife Ads

knife-depot.com

211–220 of 341 posts

Re: How Google Sliced Away Our Knife Ads

#211
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may think there is unreasonableness here, but is that unreasonableness Amazon's? For Amazon to enter online sales of weapons, they have to address a mess of state and local compliance issues which are not their core competency. No matter what your opinion is on firearms and ammunition, Amazon's reticence as a business to get involved with that seems very reasonable to me.

Not really -- Amazon would just have to have a policy along the lines of, "We only sell guns via gun stores in your local area," and their legal team would only have to ensure compliance with regulations in 50 states (and whatever other countries they do business in). The last rifle I purchased was from a friend in New York, and he mailed the rifle and the case to a local gun store, which is basically what the law re…

A big part of Amazon's branding is that they sell online, and ship direct to you. Doing as you suggest would involve special messaging and a custom workflow to select the local gun store that they are willing to ship the gun to. Also custom workflow for potential problems and complaints (including a mapping ability to locate those stores, and resolution mechanism if the store chosen turns out to not be there, not willing to participate, etc.)

Not impossible, to be sure. But it sounds like a lot of work and potential customer problems.

Re: How Google Sliced Away Our Knife Ads

#212
post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "meaningful distinction" is that "assisted-opening" knives require a non-zero amount of force in the direction that the knife actually opens. Switchblades can just have a button. The former takes a few minutes of practice to open smoothly, the latter doesn't. There's no reason to buy an assisted-opening knife if switchblades are also available. So yes, they absolutely exist to exploit a loophole. Loopholes in law…

The former takes a few minutes of practice to open smoothly, the latter doesn't. Having once owned a switchblade, it takes a bit of practice to hold it such a way that you can operate it but not block the path of the outswinging blade with your fingers. Watching the demonstration in this video, there doesn't seem to be any more force employed in operating the switch that there was in pressing the button. I agree that…

Having used assisted opening knives, I can say with confidence that the practice is necessary to make yourself comfortable holding the knife while still being able to deliver the necessary, and not negligible, force to open the knife. They are really very little alike.

Re: How Google Sliced Away Our Knife Ads

#213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The former takes a few minutes of practice to open smoothly, the latter doesn't. Having once owned a switchblade, it takes a bit of practice to hold it such a way that you can operate it but not block the path of the outswinging blade with your fingers. Watching the demonstration in this video, there doesn't seem to be any more force employed in operating the switch that there was in pressing the button. I agree that…

Having used assisted opening knives, I can say with confidence that the practice is necessary to make yourself comfortable holding the knife while still being able to deliver the necessary, and not negligible, force to open the knife. They are really very little alike.

To be clear, the opening force almost all comes from the wrist. The force you apply to the knife with your finger to get it going is quite negligible.

Re: How Google Sliced Away Our Knife Ads

#214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The UK also has 1/5 the US' population - what does all this mean?

Murder rates are often given per 100,000 inhabitants - so size of country isn't really a factor: United States: 4.8 United Kingdom: 1.2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentiona... vacri's statement seems completely accurate.

Thanks, I missed the important word 'rate' in vacri's post in my haste.

Re: How Google Sliced Away Our Knife Ads

#215
post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The UK also has 1/5 the US' population - what does all this mean?

http://blog.skepticallibertarian.com/2013/01/12/fact-checkin... 4.8 murders per 100,000 in the US vs 1.2 per 100,000 in the UK. The figures _do_ take size into account.

Yes, I stand corrected. Thanks.

Re: How Google Sliced Away Our Knife Ads

#216
post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Murder rates are often given per 100,000 inhabitants - so size of country isn't really a factor: United States: 4.8 United Kingdom: 1.2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentiona... vacri's statement seems completely accurate.

While I agree the US is far more violent than the UK, most of the US's incremental violence is explained by the drug war. Even if we had zero guns and the UK had US-style gun possession and laws, I suspect US drug laws (and other forms of extreme economic/political/legal inequality) would give us a higher murder rate.

A large portion of violent crime (~75%) in the US involves either family members or other acquaintances ("nonstrangers"). I'm sure some of that relates to drugs, but most of it probably doesn't.

http://bjs.gov/content/pub/press/vvcs9310pr.cfm

Re: How Google Sliced Away Our Knife Ads

#217
post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>This is the same way you'd criticize a king, somebody you are beholden to. "Golly! I know you, the king, are not at fault, but some of these advisers of yours must have accidentally goofed up somewhere..." I don't buy it. People don't criticize a king at all . You don't criticize the communist party in Stalinist Russia, tactfully or otherwise. Doing that gets you sent to the gulag. The reason people say that it was…

>>>> They have an obligation to the shareholders. Turning down paying customers because of some moral objection to pointy objects is a little bit crazy. Happens all the time. For example, Groupon recently dropped all firearms-related deals on the wave of the craziness that is going on. I, personally, cancelled my account with them the next day and would never buy from them anymore. I am completely certain them and th…

>Happens all the time. For example, Groupon recently dropped all firearms-related deals on the wave of the craziness that is going on.

That's something else entirely. There is an argument to be made that doing things like that could actually be good for the shareholders, if you assume that a majority of customers are pro- gun control and doing that could get you accolades from them instead of boycotts. Maybe the opposite is true in reality, but at least there is a plausible argument to be made that it could be profitable to take a stance on a political issue.

That doesn't seem to apply in this case. There is no huge anti-knife lobby to pander to. Refusing to sell knives or to associate with knife sellers doesn't get your company published in the liberal press in a positive way. It just gets everybody dumping on you for being an imperfect bureaucracy.

>And the government probably has absolutely nothing to do with it - if it were government-enforced, it would apply to Amazon too.

If the mortgage crisis has taught us anything it's that big companies can get a pass for things that smaller companies wouldn't.

Re: How Google Sliced Away Our Knife Ads

#219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> then listing exactly the use that people resort to a box cutter for I also have a box-cutter (which by the way, thanks to its lower mass and design, can be opened just as quickly with one hand, despite lacking a spring assist...) Sometimes I use one, other times I use the other. Do you have a problem with that? > Instead of having a button on the side of the knife that causes it to trigger open via spring actuation…

There is absolutely no accidental opening of the knife Knife has an edge actuator that, when pushed (by your thumb, the table you're leaning against...you know, anything that pushes on it), causes it to kinetically open. I think most of the people around here are fairly intelligent and can see countless accidental deployments scenarios, notwithstanding your endless cries of "bullshit!". notice the "tools and home imp…

> Knife has an edge actuator that, when pushed (by your thumb, the table you're leaning against...you know, anything that pushes on it), causes it to kinetically open. I think most of the people around here are fairly intelligent and can see countless accidental deployments scenarios, notwithstanding your endless cries of "bullshit!".

You have clearly never used one of these knives, you are just pulling shit out of your ass. I can imagine absolutely no scenario in which you might accidentally open one on a table, let alone with your thumb. It requires very deliberate action, with enough force to leave an indent on your thumb (seriously, if you accidentally do that you have nerve damage and should see a physician), and only becomes "kinetic" (barely, it clicks into place with enough force to lock itself) when it is already past 90 degrees open. If you are somehow accidentally doing this with a table edge (how???) your greatest danger is the fact that this knife is probably going to fall onto your foot. How do you survive in modern kitchens if you are so hopelessly oblivious?

> Knife is by Smith & Wesson and is called a SWAT knife. Totally a "tool and home improvement" section. At this point I think you must be just having a laugh.

Who cares what it is called, or who makes it? Seriously, how does that effect the functionality of the knife AT ALL? What are you going to do next, complain that it is black?

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