What is up with FPN?

[Felix]

I have never understood why people choose anything other than vBulletin. Every forum I've used with it has been relatively stable, and every forum I've used with other options goes through hassles far more often. I have known the people paying for boards on many occasions and believe that vBulletin is not a particularly pricey solution at all.

Oh, I don't know, I prefer the open source phpBB for forum admins who don't require an unusual degree of hand holding. It handles 40 mil page views/month (7 mil unique visitors/month) on the tech site Ars Technica...and quite nicely with absolutely minimal disruptions.

[D Armstrong]

What if the picture storage is part of the database and is stored as a binary in the database.
Any amount of scanning won't detect any malicious code attached to the image file unless it also scans the database entries.

You mean that enforcing board-hosted images is part of the problem? Wait I think I hear Isaacson screaming with laughter in the corner...

So I've just done a blog post on our site on "Alternatives to the Fountain Pen Network", and plugged any keyword I can think of into the SEO. Hopefully people going cold turkey from FPN will start discovering that there are some good alternatives out here.

My daughter (18 yrs.) commented last night about the placeholder page being rather condescending: "why don't you play with some pens and inks? " Yeesh, I'm getting more irritated all the time.

[fountainpenkid]

What if the picture storage is part of the database and is stored as a binary in the database.
Any amount of scanning won't detect any malicious code attached to the image file unless it also scans the database entries.

You mean that enforcing board-hosted images is part of the problem? Wait I think I hear Isaacson screaming with laughter in the corner...

So I've just done a blog post on our site on "Alternatives to the Fountain Pen Network", and plugged any keyword I can think of into the SEO. Hopefully people going cold turkey from FPN will start discovering that there are some good alternatives out here.

My daughter (18 yrs.) commented last night about the placeholder page being rather condescending: "why don't you play with some pens and inks? " Yeesh, I'm getting more irritated all the time.

Yeah, the placeholder makes a good point but isn't exactly friendly

[david i]

What if the picture storage is part of the database and is stored as a binary in the database.
Any amount of scanning won't detect any malicious code attached to the image file unless it also scans the database entries.

You mean that enforcing board-hosted images is part of the problem? Wait I think I hear Isaacson screaming with laughter in the corner...

So I've just done a blog post on our site on "Alternatives to the Fountain Pen Network", and plugged any keyword I can think of into the SEO. Hopefully people going cold turkey from FPN will start discovering that there are some good alternatives out here.

My daughter (18 yrs.) commented last night about the placeholder page being rather condescending: "why don't you play with some pens and inks? " Yeesh, I'm getting more irritated all the time.

Thanks for the nice referral

-david

[gweddig]

So I've just done a blog post on our site on "Alternatives to the Fountain Pen Network", and plugged any keyword I can think of into the SEO.

Great post, Google brings it up third and fourth in my searches for "Alternatives to FPN" and "Alternatives to Fountain Pen Network" respectively. Though I don't play there, is there any merit in mentioning Pentrace and Fountain Pen Community as well?
--greg

[velo]

"April 28, 14:15 UTC / 10:15 EDT: We are currently checking why the board is so slow."

The number one reason I don't go there. For me pages just hang everytime.

[jor412]

[QUOTE=gweddig;22782]

Though I don't play there, is there any merit in mentioning Pentrace and Fountain Pen Community as well?
--greg

Fountain Pen Community has an excellent library of ads and materials on vintage pens. It also hosts two Lively pen repair videos.

[piscov]

[QUOTE=jor412;22841]

Though I don't play there, is there any merit in mentioning Pentrace and Fountain Pen Community as well?
--greg

Fountain Pen Community has an excellent library of ads and materials on vintage pens. It also hosts two Lively pen repair videos.

Pentrace is definetly a place to go. Very nice posts especially on Sundays. Some of the members have awesome collections and are always ready to show them. Also classifieds are very interesting.

Dont forgot about the Zoss list. Currently I dont know how they are at the moment, but I was a subscriber some time ago, and it was a interesting (its a mailing list). Less interaction, but very interesting discussions.

[whych]

So I've just done a blog post on our site on "Alternatives to the Fountain Pen Network", and plugged any keyword I can think of into the SEO. Hopefully people going cold turkey from FPN will start discovering that there are some good alternatives out here.

What one misses most is the interrupted conversations that are waiting for a replies and the contacts you have built up where you can ask for help for things from halfway house for shipping, etc.

My daughter (18 yrs.) commented last night about the placeholder page being rather condescending: "why don't you play with some pens and inks? " Yeesh, I'm getting more irritated all the time.

So reams of paper later, you find they are still down and you have run out of paper and they are still not back!

So what we eed is for the like minded existing boards to get together and set up some kind of constitution ifor working together and combining into one site. That way we all score.

[piscov]

So what we eed is for the like minded existing boards to get together and set up some kind of constitution ifor working together and combining into one site. That way we all score.

That is a great idea! !!! A FPG and FPB joint venture. Two great places combined into one would have a major impact and fill a current market need.

To both forum owners: why not join hands? ??? You are even members of each others forums and get along so fine. ...
Please consider this suggestion. ...

Let's call it the fountain pen Geek Board! !!!


Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

[piscov]

Better name: the Friendly Fountain pen Geek Board.

FFPGB YOUR FUTURE PEN NUT HOUSE IN THE INTERNET

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

[fountainpenkid]

I have a feeling it wouldn't happen...Isaacson likes his site to be pretty much totally vintage pens... (but who knows...it certainly would be cool!)

[HughC]

For the true vintage "addict" David's FPB is unsurpassed ( of course the fact he hasn't banned me helps...lol) , still diversity and separate forums with different focuses is the best overall. The issues at FPN show the risks of trying to be "the one", even more so it highlights the error of believing "you are the only one". Bit sad my dear friend Wim hasn't bothered to give us a personal update of how "his" board is progressing, I hope he enjoys the "fun" some of us are getting from his predicament....

Regards
Hugh

[david i]

I have a feeling it wouldn't happen...Isaacson likes his site to be pretty much totally vintage pens... (but who knows...it certainly would be cool!)

Hi Will,

While I am of course respectful that different people find charm in different Boards, please note that:

1. I do not "like my site to be pretty much vintage pens"

2. Modern pen discussion is invited and welcomed.

My personal focus in pen collecting is on old pens. I often use new pens at work. I also have purchased what probably is the largest collection of new pens to hit the market in the last few years, something that would be a bit odd for someone who eschewed new pens. Granted, I brought my bud Paul Erano in on the deal as he has better handle on new pen pricing than I do.

Here is a link from my (cough cough...) "totally vintage pen site"

Link: Lancaster Pen Hoard. Modern Pen buy by Isaacson and Erano. Touching on "How does one sell his collection when the time comes"


Modern pens can be mentioned of course in any of the brand sections. We even have a modern pen forum (somewhat extraneous) for those who'd like to start a thread in a clearly "modern" section.

While our emphasis is on collecting, space is available for the usual on-line stuff (ink, paper, etc).

Best Regards,

David

[thagbert]

vBulletin is extremely clunky and not user friendly at all.

[reval]

Unlike a lot of people in this thread, I am quite happy with FPN. I found a lot of useful information on FPN and lots of nice, helpful people are contributing there. I don't think Wim and the FPN crew have bad intentions.
However, I get the impression that the technical side of running FPN is getting over their heads. The amount of downtime lately is massive. I can imagine that people who have paid for one of the new merchants accounts are very unhappy with that.

[dannzeman]

vBulletin is extremely clunky and not user friendly at all.

Any suggestions for improvement can be made in Site Feedback. I'd very interested to hear your thoughts.

[thagbert]

vBulletin is extremely clunky and not user friendly at all.

Any suggestions for improvement can be made in Site Feedback. I'd very interested to hear your thoughts.

Oops, my mistake. I was thinking of FPNs forum software. It is difficult to navigate. I would look up the name of it. But their site gave me a redirect again.

[jor412]

I think they're using ipBoard which has a pretty decent admin interface. I tried a demo version.

[OakIris]

Unlike a lot of people in this thread, I am quite happy with FPN. I found a lot of useful information on FPN and lots of nice, helpful people are contributing there. I don't think Wim and the FPN crew have bad intentions.
However, I get the impression that the technical side of running FPN is getting over their heads. The amount of downtime lately is massive. I can imagine that people who have paid for one of the new merchants accounts are very unhappy with that.

I, too, was very happy with FPN and, to be honest, never found the site difficult to navigate or the content overwhelming as some have mentioned in this thread. I found a "home" (FPN is still set as my home page on my PC) with a lot of friendly, knowledgeable people and lots of information about my new found obsession with fountain pens and pen paraphernalia. I joined FPN in 2012, long after the David Isaacson "controversy" happened; I could have sworn that I actually learned about David and his site on FPN, but perhaps not since he is apparently "he who should not be mentioned" on FPN, from what I have read here in this thread.

I was long unaware of any "backroom" machinations by Admin and moderators and was quite content there, and probably would have remained blissfully ignorant until the board kept going down and "forced" me to look elsewhere for my fountain pen fix. So I came here and found this thread, and..... I am distressed by the recent bout of banning that has occurred this month - I mean, come on, ban people for expressing positive criticism or different views when feedback is supposedly encouraged by admin?? Ban people for expressing an opinion in their PMs (has this been proven??) or on other fountain pen sites? It makes no sense to me and is quite disappointing.

I do not believe that everyone or even most of those in the moderator group at FPN can possibly be as petty, controlling or malicious as the impression of them seems to be here. I will continue to visit and participate there - if the board ever again stays up long enough for me to do so - but I will be a bit more cautious about what I say and what I write, and I will spend much more time here where people seem equally welcoming, friendly and knowledgeable. (Plus there seem to be a lot of FPN members or ex-members (banned) here and I want to keep track of my friends and the folks that I trust to steer me right when I have a question!)

Holly