So what's the deal with all the SALES threads?!?

[lsmith42]

Anyone know where I can get a kilt?

Something should be kilt... quickly and quietly...

[naimitsu]

Anyone know where I can get a kilt?

Something should be kilt... quickly and quietly...

A kilt-kilt, a plaid-kilt, or a utility-kilt?


And to get back on topic... I was wondering if it was just me turning into an infrequent lurker lately that has caused the Sales forum to explode. Now I know... but since the explosion, I've started going through to the end of the unread threads in there. To make sure I don't get myself confused, I use the Thread Tool and mark all as Read, so only the ones with new activity bolds up the next time I peruse.

[penwash]

I've never been on Reddit. So I know nothing about it.

Chrissy,
It's about 50-50 chances that you will either love it or just absolutely disgusted by it

We can't be the only two FPGeeks on there, but so far I think only Jon and I survive the sometimes "uber-juvenile" jokes and the absolute fixation on Pilot Metro and EDC concept.

But beneath that, what made me enjoy the reddit fountainpen group is that the (mostly) younger generation are quick to apologize, generous with each other, ask honest questions, and they are not afraid to be vulnerable.

We all here could learn from them.

Oh, and most of them are totally into inks. They could use some of your expertise!

[Jon Szanto]

Anyone know where I can get a kilt?

I've seen your legs. Don't even think about it.

[TSherbs]

...and they are not afraid to be vulnerable.

I know that you were responding to someone else with this, but I was surprised by this as a recommendation for behavior on the internet. I highly recommend against this on the internet, especially for women (unfortunately, they are more often targeted).

"Vulnerability" is, indeed, an important courageous position and attitude, but this is typically not the recommendation for how to behave with anonymous strangers on the internet. This is reserved most often, and more wisely, for our interactions in the narrower physical worlds that we engage in, in person, where trust and respect can be more reliably earned. There are trolling predators and persons with all sorts of masked issues swimming the forums of the web. We all know this. Take care and be safe and moderate and ONLY post where and when you are not making yourself unwisely vulnerable. And God bless.

[penwash]

...and they are not afraid to be vulnerable.

I know that you were responding to someone else with this, but I was surprised by this as a recommendation for behavior on the internet. I highly recommend against this on the internet, especially for women (unfortunately, they are more often targeted).

"Vulnerability" is, indeed, an important courageous position and attitude, but this is typically not the recommendation for how to behave with anonymous strangers on the internet. This is reserved most often, and more wisely, for our interactions in the narrower physical worlds that we engage in, in person, where trust and respect can be more reliably earned. There are trolling predators and persons with all sorts of masked issues swimming the forums of the web. We all know this. Take care and be safe and moderate and ONLY post where and when you are not making yourself unwisely vulnerable. And God bless.

It's being vulnerable as far as fountain pens.
Something like "I lost my only pen, not feeling so cheery today"

You are correct about predators taking advantage of people's vulnerability, but that is not at all what crossed my mind when I type my post earlier

[KKay]

I rarely look at things on sale, so I haven't noticed an uptick there. I guess I have missed seeing friction, for the most part here. I thought (and still do) it was a great place to talk about pens, paper, and ink. I think the world is a stressful place, and some of it is bound to spill over into forums. I have met some very fine people here, and I like it here. Personally I don't care who sells what, and how often. Hopefully they are selling the pens at a good price, and are respectable. I would hesitate to buy from someone who is not a regular on here, but that's just me. I have learned a lot on here, and enjoy dropping in for a visit. I don't know when I stop being a newbie, but I bought my first fountain pen about a year ago now. Places like this have helped me so much. I thank you all very much for all the help you've given me, or other new people.

[Scooby921]

Anyone know where I can get a kilt?

Serious question? Because I own one from Sport Kilt and can say that the quality is quite good and it's very comfortable to wear. Not quite traditional with a velcro waist, but it does make it much easier to get in and out of and is also flexible should your waist size increase or decrease a bit.

[Brilliant Bill]

Well said, Sherbs.

Or as Shorty Weber, an ex-con in an old-time radio episode once said, "There are a lot of wrong guys out there."

...and they are not afraid to be vulnerable.

I know that you were responding to someone else with this, but I was surprised by this as a recommendation for behavior on the internet. I highly recommend against this on the internet, especially for women (unfortunately, they are more often targeted).

"Vulnerability" is, indeed, an important courageous position and attitude, but this is typically not the recommendation for how to behave with anonymous strangers on the internet. This is reserved most often, and more wisely, for our interactions in the narrower physical worlds that we engage in, in person, where trust and respect can be more reliably earned. There are trolling predators and persons with all sorts of masked issues swimming the forums of the web. We all know this. Take care and be safe and moderate and ONLY post where and when you are not making yourself unwisely vulnerable. And God bless.

[ethernautrix]

Shhh... as an kilt-donning armadillo who scrabbled over the U.S./Canada border under cover of darkness, I recommend vulnerability and a thick skin anywhere.

And maybe a pocketknife. Or keys before your clawfingers.

As for the topic... I am seldom interested in the sales thread, although sometimes peek out of curiosity, and I wondered if this question would lead to coding New Content to exclude the classifieds (as was done some years ago on fpn), just as it now excludes the Politics, Religion, and Society thread.

[Frank]

Anyone know where I can get a kilt?

Don't go there!

Frank

[Woody]

Only lately I've sold a couple of pens as I'm wetting my photography interest. I'll be asking about a Photobox soon. I do enjoy the ink reviews and repair sections. I just like looking at pens actually, and maybe a trade or two. The other sites are primarily vintage, and on FPN they're just correcting some of their short comings. But I think the increase in traffic is that the For Sale section on this site caters to the $50 to $200 which is far and away the demographic of what folks can afford these days.

[Marsilius]

Only lately I've sold a couple of pens as I'm wetting my photography interest. I'll be asking about a Photobox soon. I do enjoy the ink reviews and repair sections. I just like looking at pens actually, and maybe a trade or two. The other sites are primarily vintage, and on FPN they're just correcting some of their short comings. But I think the increase in traffic is that the For Sale section on this site caters to the $50 to $200 which is far and away the demographic of what folks can afford these days.

Good point. That is about my range without getting in trouble of losing the house.
I have been enjoying window shopping that range, I confess, but don't tell anyone.

[Alchemist]

Here's my two cents on the original question. I just started using fountain pens a couple of years ago, and have found this forum to be a great source of information. I don't feel like I'm very knowledgeable about FPs, so I haven't contributed much to the forums yet.

To my knowledge, the nearest brick and mortar store with a decent selection of pens is at least 2 hours from where I live. So as I've gotten more into the hobby, I've made most of my purchase online. Inevitably I've purchased some pens that don't fit my writing style and needs, so I needed a place to sell them. I'd much rather do that here than on ebay. And to be honest, it's easier to do here than on some of the other FP forums, which require a lot of posts before you're allowed to sell. I have bought and sold several pens on FPG, and have found the transactions to be uniformly satisfying. I have tried to be as honest as possible when selling, and have priced my pens reasonably - I'm not trying to make money here, just trying to recover some of it to reinvest in new pens. I generally include some "extras" when selling a pen (usually a hand-made leather pen sleeve), and always let the buyer know that I will accept returns if they're not satisfied. And I feel that I've always been treated generously when buying or trading items on FPG as well.

To make a long story longer, FPG has been a great tool in helping me explore the FP hobby. I appreciate that the members are so willing to share their knowledge and experience, and I will try to do that more as well. And the sales threads have been a blessing in helping me afford to continue to explore the hobby.

[pajaro]

I learned a lot from FPN, but when they changed the sales to four pens a month for gold members that was a deterent. I had decided to dump most pens, but ended up selling only on ebay, and seldom. I check this site daily for something interesting. Sometimes there is something.

I found a lot of orthodoxy on FPN and an unwillingness to investigate a new idea, except to regurgitate orthodox ideas. Perhaps it's better to be more freewheeling and less constrained by parental management.

[usk15]

Depict there are many sale adverts, it looks like there not too many sold.
Maybe the market is over-saturated?

I do have some pens for sale, but only to get other pens and pen paraphernalia...

[dankdan63]

Howdy- I hope you don't mind my jumping in here. I usually just lurk and read a LOT from this site.

My hobby largely consists of bottom feeding off of Ebay. I really don't have the money to buy many of the items that get posted on sites like this (I chose a job for satisfaction rather than money) and have a daughter in college. I do buy a number of pens that are about ready to fall off of the edge of the earth and get them back writing again (you should see me Safford Fifth Avenue collection!- great little pens that nobody wants by the way).

I have been active on message boards before in other places and my opinion is, as a site grows, it often alienates many of the old timers because the place inevitably changes from when there were just a few dozen people and really- in an intimate (for a message board) setting it's nice to be around at that time, but things do change.

Based on my observations, much of this seems cyclical and you bounce from periods of time where it goes from everyone loving each other to conflict and back and back...

I've seen a few replies that seemed a bit curt and kind of raised an eyebrow, but let's be realistic, maybe I just read something that way? I mean- from what I see, most conflict comes, not from people being jerks, but from people sort of half hearing something and replying to it which seems off, so the person replies and the two don't connect and it escalates.

My message? I guess as a place (thing?) like this grows, we sort of find corners and niches. The bigger places often get the most traffic and the most good and bad interactions. Sometimes we find a corner with a half dozen regulars we know and it's nice to stay in touch.

Bottom line, I hope this place never gets actively monitored because that often creates more conflict than it was trying to fix.

Anyway- thanks. I don't usually post much but something in my head said, "I've lived through this before". We'll all live and as was stated earlier, this is a message board. It can be picked up and put down whenever we choose.

Now smile dammit... I enjoy and get a lot from this place, and assume you all do too or you wouldn't have stuck around. The pluses outweigh the minuses.

dan

P.s.- if you're still reading to the end, I'm impressed!

[pajaro]

Depict there are many sale adverts, it looks like there not too many sold.
Maybe the market is over-saturated?

I do have some pens for sale, but only to get other pens and pen paraphernalia...

Some prices are pretty high. The market might be getting saturated. I have found that most of the pens I bought after discovering pen forums and then learning about the existence of various pens have been a bit disappointing. I have stopped buying.

[Frank]

I learned a lot from FPN, but when they changed the sales to four pens a month for gold members that was a deterent. I had decided to dump most pens, but ended up selling only on ebay, and seldom. I check this site daily for something interesting. Sometimes there is something.

I found a lot of orthodoxy on FPN and an unwillingness to investigate a new idea, except to regurgitate orthodox ideas. Perhaps it's better to be more freewheeling and less constrained by parental management.

It was actually a big motivator for me to go retail after years of selling vintage pens.....
I did find eBay sales OK, but missed the warm feeling of selling items to people I knew, and knew ME!
Now I sell items through my eCommerce store- perhaps I should be thanking FPN??

Frank

[Woody]

Well - I look at it this way. If people come here to sell their pens - at the VERY LEAST they are coming to FPG. If they want to contribute to the community even better. It's all about visits (hits) to the website -- and if something interest those people selling - that's a bonus for FPG.