I get frequent emails from the Schrade Research pages from folks who read AAPK but have not taken the time to join for whatever reason. I think a lot of people join to research a certain knife, perhaps one that belonged one they inherited and once they find the answer they are gone until they have another question. I often get questions regarding a specific knife that belonged to a father or grandfather. Once I answer the question I typically receive a thank you email and never hear from the person again. These people have found AAPK through a Google search and have no real interest in knife collecting, Their interest is only in having questions answered about a specific knife.
I often hear from people at the OKCA show who are aware of AAPK, and often use the site to research knives, but when I ask them for their user name I frequently hear, “Oh, I have never joined, I just enjoy reading what other people have written and using it for research. There is a lot of good info there.”
I think Fran is right also, that many people join to enter the drawings.
I have lost count of the number of knife forums I belong to, but I rarely ever go to another site than AAPK. For the most part there is no need to go anywhere else unless I have a very specific question. We have folks here who know a great deal about most of the knife brands. We have a number of writers and authorities in their own fields, and being a smaller site, those people are usually more accessible than many folks on other bigger sites. There are many knife sites I belong to, but have never made a post to their forums.
Bryan has done a lot of things that we don’t see which brings AAPK topics to the forefront of Google searches. As a result AAPK topics will often show up in the first page or two of a Google search. This brings a lot of hits from people researching, who have no interest in the hobby of knife collecting, but are only interested in specific info. They are here once and gone until next time they have a question.
So to answer Paul’s question
Knife Nut wrote:.......why would so many bother to sign up but never take part?
There are a variety of reasons why people join but don’t post. The reasons are as varied as the people themselves.