Why the level of animosity to Noodlers and Nathan Tardiff.

[sgtstretch]

... though to me it feels less like I'm moving on "for cause" than just moving on for lack of a reason not to.

That's an interesting point. When I got into all this, about 6-7 years ago, Nathan already had the broadest range of interestingly-hued inks. Imports of Diamine and Private Reserve were coming on, and few if any of the boutique inks existed, or had much market share. Noodler's represented a panorama of interesting choices, were at a good price point, and gave people who wanted to stray from the boring old Big Manufacturer inks a playground. I found inks I liked and inks I didn't (fortunately, almost always through samples - I'm glad the Goulet's started around when I did!).

Now, the terrain is vastly different. There as so many inks available today, many with superior behavior and remarkable colors and properties. Anyone who was as gifted a concoctionist as Mr. Tardiff will always make some unique inks, and I think he has some that will - or should be - around for quite a while. The bottom line, however, is that with the explosion of a rainbow of inks with stable properties and other innovations, his basic model may be coming close to running it's course. Most importantly, Mike's last comment rings loudest: there are now reasons to look elsewhere, and people are.

Exactly, when I first got into fountain pens, my first two bottles were Noodler's inks, and I tried numerous samples of Noodler's inks. Now with brands like KWZ, and Robert Oster on the market, I tend to look to them first, and Sailor's specialty inks, although on the expensive side, are quite easy to get through Vanness Pens. I currently have 3 bottles of Noodler's (Black, Liberty's Elysium, & BSiAR), but I don't really see myself picking up more.