Thread: Vintage Razor review posts

I was thinking today that there isn't really a direct catalogue or group of threads or thread or one source to get information on vintage razor reviews.

What usually happens is a member will post pics in a new thread saying something like "has anyone used one of these?" "ID needed for this razor"

So what I was thinking was; if you made a review in a new thread for a specific vintage razor, just append 'REVIEW:' to the start of the post for easy searching.

That way its like a self updating wiki for vintage razors. All you need to do is search 'review' and it should pop right up!

It might also help with beginners who are determined to go the eBay route even after advice from other members.


So what do you think?

The thing about vintage razors is, unless it is NOS. The razor is only as good as the person that restored and honed it.

There are a lot of people doing scary restorations on ebay....

Even if you know that it is a good brand, if you do not know what to look for you can still get burned.

There is a section for razor reviews. There is also the Straight Razor Database in the wiki. I think most people just don't add to either area.

And as Ben said, it's very difficult to create an objective review of a vintage razor, given the massive number of variables that come with use + personal preference.

Also, most information requests seem to be about generic or no-name razors (as those are the ones you're less likely to get hits on). My typical response, unless I have actually used a razor is "If it's a vintage razor in good shape, she'll probably be a great shaver." And typically if it is a razor I've used, my response is exactly the same.

That's a good point, hadn't thought of it like that.

I'm thinking its progressed too far but maybe to append 'wiki' to posts that could be added to the wikipedia?

Just when I was reading a thread that complained about the same questions being asked all the time, maybe the forums could be the wiki and incorporate a system that takes more advantage of the search box.

I know I might get posts that say its common sense using the search box and yes it is, but sometimes looking for the right information on razors in a straight razor forum can be frustrating wth every second thread having 'razor' in its title.

Or even if the wiki could be transferred into threads.


sorry if this is a stupid idea, but I'm thinking the wiki could be much more manageable this way and easily updated. if a tutorial gets approval a mod could apend the WIKI label to the post, making it searcheable. And referrals for newbies to search the wiki could be done much easier.

Alex

Also the Razor Club sub forum. If nothing else you can see photos of many mint or nearly mint vintage razors. Some not so mint but at least there are examples. In my experience vintage Solingens, Sheffields and USA razors are usually of a high quality. Back in the days after the safety razor took over the market, professional barbers were the main target buyers, if I am not mistaken. If you didn't put out a quality steel I imagine you wouldn't last long. So the trick is finding vintage razors in excellent or better condition. FWIW stuff I bought when I was starting out, speaking of condition, I wouldn't touch nowadays.

Originally Posted by gimpyalex

Or even if the wiki could be transferred into threads.


sorry if this is a stupid idea, but I'm thinking the wiki could be much more manageable this way and easily updated. if a tutorial gets approval a mod could apend the WIKI label to the post, making it searcheable. And referrals for newbies to search the wiki could be done much easier.

The wiki isn't magic or anything, like a forum it's just a system that holds content (posts), but that content is organized and presented differently.
Instead of everybody's content changes be presented sequentially and linked in threads as it is in the forum, the wiki shows the latest version of a particular content (article) and all the modifications are held in a history.

So a wiki is much better suited for developing a finished article on some subject that has only the relevant information, while the irrelevant has been pruned, than a forum discussion is. And the forum is much better suited for conducting a discussion about something.

These things are best used for their respective purposes and switching from wiki entries back to forum threads would only make somebody having to distill all the information from a thread, after first collecting it.

One problem is that the wiki and the forum are separate pieces of software that are not all that well integrated (the userbase is but that's about all). So they have separate searches, and the wiki also has the problem that 'Enter' in the search bar doesn't actually perform a 'Search', you have to click the button for an actual search to happen. This last thing is fixable, but with only one or two people ever doing such fixes and they already having plenty of other responsibilities, things just don't get done quickly, if they ever do.

But all this being said, I think the first step and something that we rarely see is suggestions like yours on how to specifically improve things. Sometimes they are not going to be good, or feasible, but sometimes they will be very helpful. So if you don't like something and have an idea what may be a better way to do, please let us know. There's only one way to make SRP better and that's if everybody contributes whatever they can to it.

BTW the information on razors is really scattered all over the place. An integrated system where it's easy to find a specific razor, reviews, historical information about the manufacturers, links to various examples of members having that razor, discussions, etc.... would be really great. However we can't do anything this nice with our current software. We have some pretty good ideas how to make something like this, but unfortunately at this point we are lacking the resources to implement it.

Originally Posted by gugi

The wiki isn't magic or anything, like a forum it's just a system that holds content (posts), but that content is organized and presented differently.
Instead of everybody's content changes be presented sequentially and linked in threads as it is in the forum, the wiki shows the latest version of a particular content (article) and all the modifications are held in a history.

So a wiki is much better suited for developing a finished article on some subject that has only the relevant information, while the irrelevant has been pruned, than a forum discussion is. And the forum is much better suited for conducting a discussion about something.

These things are best used for their respective purposes and switching from wiki entries back to forum threads would only make somebody having to distill all the information from a thread, after first collecting it.

One problem is that the wiki and the forum are separate pieces of software that are not all that well integrated (the userbase is but that's about all). So they have separate searches, and the wiki also has the problem that 'Enter' in the search bar doesn't actually perform a 'Search', you have to click the button for an actual search to happen. This last thing is fixable, but with only one or two people ever doing such fixes and they already having plenty of other responsibilities, things just don't get done quickly, if they ever do.

Thanks Gugi for explaining all that and taking the time to, its much appreciated. I thought he wiki and forum could be integrated pretty easily but obviously is not that easy.

kind regards Alex