2023 unpopular opinion thread

[j....soy.....]

There go….ahead of schedule…..everyone can wax the shit out of everything…..everywhere……

[KyleG]

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It’s 2023…..you can wax the shit out of everything……if you can’t handle the wax, stay on the east coast….

[close]

Why would too much wax make something harder? If people don’t want to slip out they should do their trick correctly. Not my fault you can’t.

Some people like to feel like they're skating and not doing a Disney on Ice routine. Most people who over wax go too slow anyway.

[Roy Machine]

I wish nothing but the best to skate shop owners and I love people being able to support themselves by working in skating. But am I really ethically obligated to spend money at skate shops when I could save like 30-40% buying shit on sale online. I enjoy buying stuff in shops especially stuff that doesn’t really come on crazy sales (f4s or something) but isn’t “supporting your local” just an indirect for of charity to skaters who don’t want to do anything else in the world. I always thought they were supposed to throw contests and stuff or something but money is too tight to give back like that nowadays, what are you gonna do like employ five skaters who don’t want to work shitty jobs, a lot of dudes make their money from shitty jobs why are we subsidizing you? Not even saying people are greedy or lazy and I appreciate them being around when I don’t want to order online but like is it worth spending hundreds of dollars extra every year just to not feel bad? You’re giving a shop board a month to some guys in your city who are good at skating? Who give a shit? You can get bbs blanks on sale from tactics we’ll start a gofundme it just seems like a weird circuitous form of charity to me

I always liked you but this is pretty dumb opinion

[manysnakes]

I wish nothing but the best to skate shop owners and I love people being able to support themselves by working in skating. But am I really ethically obligated to spend money at skate shops when I could save like 30-40% buying shit on sale online. I enjoy buying stuff in shops especially stuff that doesn’t really come on crazy sales (f4s or something) but isn’t “supporting your local” just an indirect for of charity to skaters who don’t want to do anything else in the world. I always thought they were supposed to throw contests and stuff or something but money is too tight to give back like that nowadays, what are you gonna do like employ five skaters who don’t want to work shitty jobs, a lot of dudes make their money from shitty jobs why are we subsidizing you? Not even saying people are greedy or lazy and I appreciate them being around when I don’t want to order online but like is it worth spending hundreds of dollars extra every year just to not feel bad? You’re giving a shop board a month to some guys in your city who are good at skating? Who give a shit? You can get bbs blanks on sale from tactics we’ll start a gofundme it just seems like a weird circuitous form of charity to me

Friend of mine worked for a local skate shop making minimum wage with no benefits. Got treated like shit and was fired by the owner (who can operate the shops because his dad owns the very expensive buildings) for associating with someone he didn’t like. Now he works for CCS, makes a lot more, and gets health and dental.

Most wage theft and labor abuse comes from small businesses.

[switchfakie]

Also I need paint on the bottom of my board because the SLIDE MARKS make everything FEEL COMFORTABLE AND FAMILIAR UNDER MY FEET, I
HATE NATURAL BOTTOM PLYS OR WHATEVER ITS CALLED WHEN THE BOTTOM IS JUST WOOD I HATE IT

fuck natural bottom plys

shit drives me insane

[modern life is war]

I wish nothing but the best to skate shop owners and I love people being able to support themselves by working in skating. But am I really ethically obligated to spend money at skate shops when I could save like 30-40% buying shit on sale online. I enjoy buying stuff in shops especially stuff that doesn’t really come on crazy sales (f4s or something) but isn’t “supporting your local” just an indirect for of charity to skaters who don’t want to do anything else in the world. I always thought they were supposed to throw contests and stuff or something but money is too tight to give back like that nowadays, what are you gonna do like employ five skaters who don’t want to work shitty jobs, a lot of dudes make their money from shitty jobs why are we subsidizing you? Not even saying people are greedy or lazy and I appreciate them being around when I don’t want to order online but like is it worth spending hundreds of dollars extra every year just to not feel bad? You’re giving a shop board a month to some guys in your city who are good at skating? Who give a shit? You can get bbs blanks on sale from tactics we’ll start a gofundme it just seems like a weird circuitous form of charity to me

i think this is realistically what most people are thinking at this point but no one wants to admit it. if i owned a skate shop i would be trying to diversify and cater to some kind of market peripheral to skateboarding, like selling records/sneakers/etc. i don't think being a core skate shop is going to cut it for much longer as people's budgets just get tighter.

[skatebruh]

I'm cool with a lot of wax as long as you don't put wax all over the top of the ledge so you can do lipslides. Don't lipslide the ledge, bro.

[Mean salto]

I'm cool with a lot of wax as long as you don't put wax all over the top of the ledge so you can do lipslides. Don't lipslide the ledge, bro.

Does this still happen that often? After fully flared, early Berrics, torey pudwill influence made some grim years for manualers

[versacekid420]

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I'm cool with a lot of wax as long as you don't put wax all over the top of the ledge so you can do lipslides. Don't lipslide the ledge, bro.

[close]

Does this still happen that often? After fully flared, early Berrics, torey pudwill influence made some grim years for manualers

im a ledge lipslider I’ll admit but I’d never film one

[Sizzle]

I always liked you but this is pretty dumb opinion

Genuinely can you explain why I’m wrong, I just don’t understand

[djoekr]

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I'm cool with a lot of wax as long as you don't put wax all over the top of the ledge so you can do lipslides. Don't lipslide the ledge, bro.

[close]

Does this still happen that often? After fully flared, early Berrics, torey pudwill influence made some grim years for manualers

[close]

im a ledge lipslider I’ll admit but I’d never film one

I love a good lipslide on a ledge. Tom Knox makes 'em look good imo.

[SneakySecrets]

I feel like heavily waxed ledges should come with a little caution sign on the side.

That’s a reasonable compromise.  Maybe like a little inconspicuous symbol invisible to outsiders so we don’t get ostentatious with our misuse of other’s property.

-

The all-black leather shoe thing looks gross. 

[switchfakie]

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I feel like heavily waxed ledges should come with a little caution sign on the side.

[close]

That’s a reasonable compromise.  Maybe like a little inconspicuous symbol invisible to outsiders so we don’t get ostentatious with our misuse of other’s property.

-

The all-black leather shoe thing looks gross.

 if the shoe is fully the same color (except white), it always looks gross

that one pharell adidas superstar collab was disgusting imo, felt like vomiting when i saw all those plain ass colorways

https://sneakerbardetroit.com/pharrell-adidas-superstar-supercolor-collection/

[exlurker]

Neither the TK or Bam thread should have been nuked. Both were amazing resources for seeing the biographies of two troubled but important figures within skateboarding.

I haven't followed the Bam one, but the TK thread sucked. The man was very clearly in mental free-fall, yet you just had a bunch of SLAP posters giggling and saying "shalom we cherokee" for hundreds of pages or whatever.

Maybe it started out innocent enough, but if you've ever known someone who's had a psychotic break, it was all too obvious and sad.

[roll_dog]

It gets hard to support local shops sometimes. I like my local, but it's hard to stomach the $70 retail for a deck when I bought a few decent decks for half that price recently (or less). Recently tried to buy a snowboard from a local and pointed out that every retailer from REI to tactics was offloading past season stuff at a discount and they wouldn't budge, I would have been happy if they met halfway.

[BALARGUE]

It gets hard to support local shops sometimes. I like my local, but it's hard to stomach the $70 retail for a deck when I bought a few decent decks for half that price recently (or less). Recently tried to buy a snowboard from a local and pointed out that every retailer from REI to tactics was offloading past season stuff at a discount and they wouldn't budge, I would have been happy if they met halfway.

it's kinda like asking a shop to lower his prices because other shops mismanaged their own stock and have to discount everything.

Shops that are discounting left and right and getting your money are most probably operated by the greediest people who preordered too much stuff thinking they would make a quick buck

[Sizzle]

It gets hard to support local shops sometimes. I like my local, but it's hard to stomach the $70 retail for a deck when I bought a few decent decks for half that price recently (or less). Recently tried to buy a snowboard from a local and pointed out that every retailer from REI to tactics was offloading past season stuff at a discount and they wouldn't budge, I would have been happy if they met halfway.

Appreciate you seeing where I’m coming from but asking a local shop to pricematch tactics is positively maniacal

[pizzafliptofakie]

I genuinely feel bad for anyone whose skate scene isn’t exciting enough to make you want to support your local shop.

[Tom Pearl]

i dont have a local shop but any time one has an online sale im right there, i've bought from like 20 shops in the last 2 years

i'll sometimes pay full price for a deck that im gonna keep but never on one im gonna skate. $70 for a deck is way too much imo

[modern life is war]

I genuinely feel bad for anyone whose skate scene isn’t exciting enough to make you want to support your local shop.

What makes them exciting? Also do they include people who aren't in the local core scene in the exciting stuff?

Edit: sorry I read your post wrong. I thought you said 'i feel bad for anyone who's local skate shop isn't exciting enough to make you want to support your local shop'.

But the question still stands; how is your local scene exciting in a way that makes you want to support the shop?

[roll_dog]

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It gets hard to support local shops sometimes. I like my local, but it's hard to stomach the $70 retail for a deck when I bought a few decent decks for half that price recently (or less). Recently tried to buy a snowboard from a local and pointed out that every retailer from REI to tactics was offloading past season stuff at a discount and they wouldn't budge, I would have been happy if they met halfway.

[close]

Appreciate you seeing where I’m coming from but asking a local shop to pricematch tactics is positively maniacal

Didn't ask to price match, just if they could budge at all or offer some sort of service to make up the difference *shrug*

Also it wasn't just tactics, literally every major retailer was offering all past season stuff discounted.

[GrayCellGreen]

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I genuinely feel bad for anyone whose skate scene isn’t exciting enough to make you want to support your local shop.

[close]

What makes them exciting? Also do they include people who aren't in the local core scene in the exciting stuff?

Edit: sorry I read your post wrong. I thought you said 'i feel bad for anyone who's local skate shop isn't exciting enough to make you want to support your local shop'.

But the question still stands; how is your local scene exciting in a way that makes you want to support the shop?

I think local core shops should be supported regardless if they are doing “exciting” things. Most shops are barely scraping by and can’t afford to host demos where they give out a bunch of merchandise. As long as your local shop isn’t run by complete assholes who treat you like shit each time you walk in there, you should consider picking up a few things from them here and there.

[modern life is war]

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I genuinely feel bad for anyone whose skate scene isn’t exciting enough to make you want to support your local shop.

[close]

What makes them exciting? Also do they include people who aren't in the local core scene in the exciting stuff?

Edit: sorry I read your post wrong. I thought you said 'i feel bad for anyone who's local skate shop isn't exciting enough to make you want to support your local shop'.

But the question still stands; how is your local scene exciting in a way that makes you want to support the shop?

[close]

I think local core shops should be supported regardless if they are doing “exciting” things. Most shops are barely scraping by and can’t afford to host demos where they give out a bunch of merchandise. As long as your local shop isn’t run by complete assholes who treat you like shit each time you walk in there, you should consider picking up a few things from them here and there.

It's not really my problem if they're barely scraping by or not, especially when myself and a lot of other people in the world in general are also barely scraping by right now. I'm not obligated to support someone's dream of running a skate shop when it's going to cost me $30 more for a deck+grip than buying from an online store and that $30 could pay for half of my weekly groceries.

Regardless, when it's financially reasonable I do still buy gear from my local shop because it's convenient and the guys are cool, but when times are tough I'm not going to feel any guilt for buying from an online store or whatever if they have what I want for half the price.

[Sizzle]

What do local shops have to do with the quality of your scene? Do people hang out there all the time? Do they throw contests? Do they make sure talented kids have gear? I’m not asking a rhetorical question I’m genuinely curious why people think supporting their local is important

[lamfordie]

There needs to be a 2-3 year ban on all new board companies. Let the current ones develop new ams and produce videos. The market is over saturated and frankly the graphics are mid for most companies.

[pizzafliptofakie]

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I genuinely feel bad for anyone whose skate scene isn’t exciting enough to make you want to support your local shop.

[close]

What makes them exciting? Also do they include people who aren't in the local core scene in the exciting stuff?

Edit: sorry I read your post wrong. I thought you said 'i feel bad for anyone who's local skate shop isn't exciting enough to make you want to support your local shop'.

But the question still stands; how is your local scene exciting in a way that makes you want to support the shop?

Well for one, I actually like the skateboarders in my community. So that makes it a little exciting.



But I meant what I said in my post. I know shops exist that don’t foster a community and that’s a bummer. My local is awesome and they take great care of our scene. And not just the “cool” guys. They host events, they help fund/maintain our DIY park, and most of all they’re good people. If I have to give my money to someone, I’d rather it be someone I like. And maybe this is naive, but I’d like to think there are a lot of people in different regions who feel the same way.

[GrayCellGreen]

What do local shops have to do with the quality of your scene? Do people hang out there all the time? Do they throw contests? Do they make sure talented kids have gear? I’m not asking a rhetorical question I’m genuinely curious why people think supporting their local is important

For one, they’re usually owned by actual skateboarders. Two, being sponsored/hooked up by a local shop is how a lot of people get their break into the industry. There’s a whole lot more but I feel like I’m pissing in the wind here. Genuine question you, have you ever spent time in a local shop just hanging out, watching videos or getting to know the locals?

[modern life is war]

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I genuinely feel bad for anyone whose skate scene isn’t exciting enough to make you want to support your local shop.

[close]

What makes them exciting? Also do they include people who aren't in the local core scene in the exciting stuff?

Edit: sorry I read your post wrong. I thought you said 'i feel bad for anyone who's local skate shop isn't exciting enough to make you want to support your local shop'.

But the question still stands; how is your local scene exciting in a way that makes you want to support the shop?

[close]

Well for one, I actually like the skateboarders in my community. So that makes it a little exciting.



But I meant what I said in my post. I know shops exist that don’t foster a community and that’s a bummer. My local is awesome and they take great care of our scene. And not just the “cool” guys. They host events, they help fund/maintain our DIY park, and most of all they’re good people. If I have to give my money to someone, I’d rather it be someone I like. And maybe this is naive, but I’d like to think there are a lot of people in different regions who feel the same way.

That's sick.

Seems like there could be so much shit that a shop could do that would hardly cost any money yet still foster a community. I saw that break free skateshop in oakland recently was doing movie nights recently where they just play a vid and anyone can come and hang out. Shit like that seems sick to me but i guess the issue is that in a lot of places the core group that is tightest with the shop doesn't actually want 'anyone' to come and hang out, they want to keep it exclusive while still having all the benefits of a skate shop and a successful business

[Roy Machine]

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I genuinely feel bad for anyone whose skate scene isn’t exciting enough to make you want to support your local shop.

[close]

What makes them exciting? Also do they include people who aren't in the local core scene in the exciting stuff?

Edit: sorry I read your post wrong. I thought you said 'i feel bad for anyone who's local skate shop isn't exciting enough to make you want to support your local shop'.

But the question still stands; how is your local scene exciting in a way that makes you want to support the shop?

[close]

Well for one, I actually like the skateboarders in my community. So that makes it a little exciting.



But I meant what I said in my post. I know shops exist that don’t foster a community and that’s a bummer. My local is awesome and they take great care of our scene. And not just the “cool” guys. They host events, they help fund/maintain our DIY park, and most of all they’re good people. If I have to give my money to someone, I’d rather it be someone I like. And maybe this is naive, but I’d like to think there are a lot of people in different regions who feel the same way.

Well I am also one of the lucky guys in this thread because the same applies to my local shop and i feel the same way pizzaflip.

Also I like physical stores where you can walk in and vivid cities with shops and all. I will never forget the feeling of walking into a  real skate shop for the first time. I feel sorry for all the kids who have to buy their first setup online.

 Buying cheap is not everything in my eyes. If spending some extra bucks won't kill you please think twice before you shop online

[pizzafliptofakie]

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Expand Quote

Expand Quote

I genuinely feel bad for anyone whose skate scene isn’t exciting enough to make you want to support your local shop.

[close]

What makes them exciting? Also do they include people who aren't in the local core scene in the exciting stuff?

Edit: sorry I read your post wrong. I thought you said 'i feel bad for anyone who's local skate shop isn't exciting enough to make you want to support your local shop'.

But the question still stands; how is your local scene exciting in a way that makes you want to support the shop?

[close]

Well for one, I actually like the skateboarders in my community. So that makes it a little exciting.



But I meant what I said in my post. I know shops exist that don’t foster a community and that’s a bummer. My local is awesome and they take great care of our scene. And not just the “cool” guys. They host events, they help fund/maintain our DIY park, and most of all they’re good people. If I have to give my money to someone, I’d rather it be someone I like. And maybe this is naive, but I’d like to think there are a lot of people in different regions who feel the same way.

[close]

That's sick.

Seems like there could be so much shit that a shop could do that would hardly cost any money yet still foster a community. I saw that break free skateshop in oakland recently was doing movie nights recently where they just play a vid and anyone can come and hang out. Shit like that seems sick to me but i guess the issue is that in a lot of places the core group that is tightest with the shop doesn't actually want 'anyone' to come and hang out, they want to keep it exclusive while still having all the benefits of a skate shop and a successful business

Yeah, the exclusivity mindset makes no sense and it’s sucks when that happens. Maybe it’s a regional thing because aside from the occasional socially awkward employee I really cannot think of a single shop experience where I felt flat out unwelcome. And I assure you, it’s not because I’m a cool guy and awesome skater lol.



I’ve seen variations of this debate pop up in the past, and a lot times it seems like people think they’re being “vibed” because they went to a shop and they weren’t immediately treated like a best friend. Not saying you’re doing that, but good interactions go both ways. And frankly, I find it a little hard to believe that everyone who’s splurging on crazy online sales are doing so because they feel shunned by their community.