Where are the Europeans?

[d3cadent]

Hi all,
it's hard not to notice the American dominance on this forum. Most people here seem to be from America, a lot of sales are CONUS only, etc. But where are the Europeans? Are there other forums for them (us), or is it really that the number of pen friends is significantly higher in the USA than in the EU?

[Empty_of_Clouds]

Hand up. European here!

[ShugPug]

Hand up. European here!

Ditto! British, currently living in Germany and about to move to CONUS. But still very definitely European!

[Deb]

Look at my details to the left, there!

[d3cadent]

Hi guys Good to know some of you are here, but... Let me rephrase. Is FPG (or FPN) the most frequented forum for EUeans, or do you know any better place? I can hardly believe only a handful of pens are advertised to be sold on the continent - per year...
TBH, I am more than happy to do conversations with anyone from anywhere in the world. However, buying/selling is WAY easier if done without USPS, customs etc...

[RuiFromUK]

Hi all,
it's hard not to notice the American dominance on this forum. Most people here seem to be from America, a lot of sales are CONUS only, etc. But where are the Europeans? Are there other forums for them (us), or is it really that the number of pen friends is significantly higher in the USA than in the EU?

I am here.

What about you?

[d3cadent]

Budapest, Hungary. 31° Celsius

[RocketRyan]

I'm European, at least until Brexit lol

[Stickler]

I am an expat American living in Europe (also until Brexit)

[Nathan Weston]

What-ho!

I don't know of any better place. We have our own selection of excellent retailers in the UK and I know there are some in Europe, and the proportion of FP users is probably about the same as in the US, I guess. Is it just that there are a lot more of you?

[birch]

I think that Europeans are indeed in minority on the fpg and fpn. However, there are several very dynamic national forums worth exploring.

[Pterodactylus]

I never saw it as a drawback to have people all over the world in the forum, and overall I´m not convinced that the US guys are really a strong majority when you look at the power users here.

Agreed, the majority of the selling adverts are from the US, but I don´t consider selling threads as real forum participation.
In fact I don´t like them at all, because I still think this is mainly not a marketplace.
The huge amount of selling adˋs (majority created by people which are not active in the forum) annoys me, they block my sight to the real content when looking for new posts.
I wish the selling threads could be permanently excluded from the "Whatˋs new" list.

Btw. Where are you coming from?

If you speak German there is also a nice German Forum www.penexchange.de
There you have only (German speaking) European members.

[R.A. Stewart]

Hi all,
it's hard not to notice the American dominance on this forum. Most people here seem to be from America, a lot of sales are CONUS only, etc. But where are the Europeans? Are there other forums for them (us), or is it really that the number of pen friends is significantly higher in the USA than in the EU?

Or are we just so depressed about what's going on in our country that we are turning to pen obsessions for comfort?

[ShugPug]

Hi all,
it's hard not to notice the American dominance on this forum. Most people here seem to be from America, a lot of sales are CONUS only, etc. But where are the Europeans? Are there other forums for them (us), or is it really that the number of pen friends is significantly higher in the USA than in the EU?

Or are we just so depressed about what's going on in our country that we are turning to pen obsessions for comfort?

If it's any consolation it's no better here...

Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

[dfo]

Or are we just so depressed about what's going on in our country that we are turning to pen obsessions for comfort?

This is my place for comfort amidst the depression.

On another note....I think Pterodactylus nailed it. Most of the post on the sales forum are US only, but members come from all over the world.

[Farmboy]

I'm from the US, which country is Europe again?

[Pterodactylus]

I'm from the US, which country is Europe again?

Let me help you a litttle bit as I understand that this is a little bit difficult for a US guy.

Europe is a Continent, part of the developed world consisting many countries which care about the world climate, have functioning education and health care systems, which are not led by an dumb egomaniac Neanderthal.

But as said I understand that getting these informations is difficult in a country flooded with alternative facts and and a free falling education system.

[adhoc]

I'm from the US, which country is Europe again?

Let me help you a litttle bit as I understand that this is a little bit difficult for a US guy.

Europe is a Continent, part of the developed world consisting many countries which care about the world climate, have functioning education and health care systems, which are not led by an dumb egomaniac Neanderthal.

But as said I understand that getting these informations is difficult in a country flooded with alternative facts and and a free falling education system.

As a European, I hate this kind of smugness Europeans have versus Americans. They do things differently and for the above average performers, better.

You just think socialism is better. That's an opinion, not a fact.

And OP is quite on point, I miss EU members, also in for sale section. You know, the section that allows testing out pens at lower prices than full retail for new ones.

[Pterodactylus]

I'm from the US, which country is Europe again?

Let me help you a litttle bit as I understand that this is a little bit difficult for a US guy.

Europe is a Continent, part of the developed world consisting many countries which care about the world climate, have functioning education and health care systems, which are not led by an dumb egomaniac Neanderthal.

But as said I understand that getting these informations is difficult in a country flooded with alternative facts and and a free falling education system.

As a European, I hate this kind of smugness Europeans have versus Americans. They do things differently and for the above average performers, better.

You just think socialism is better. That's an opinion, not a fact.

And OP is quite on point, I miss EU members, also in for sale section. You know, the section that allows testing out pens at lower prices than full retail for new ones.

Some maybe would call me a above average performer, and yes itˋs not fun to get only 50% of what you earn really into your hand.
But this has nothing to do with socialism.
I don't know how old you are, but I'm old enough to remember socialism in the former east block countries as in your county Yugoslavia.

You may do not understand what it means for million US guys not to have a proper health care insurance or people which canˋt retire because they just canˋt afford it.
I guess you are still young and donˋt know what it would mean for many people in the US when they or their kids get a serious illness like cancer, if you could not afford the treatment, OP ,..... because it would ruin you financially or you are condemned to dying because of that reason.
And this has nothing to do with performers or not performers, everybody can come into such a situation (also top performers)

And if you are old enough to have kids, I really appreciate that in Europe everybody has the possibility to get an excellent education (and become a above average performer) including university.

I know enough people in the US (personally) to know that good education in the US is not a given thing.
The public school system is rotten (and will degrade even more hearing from the plans from the current government).
So if you do not have the privilege to have (relatively) rich parents you really have a problem.
And good education is really expensive there, even for better performing people, to speak in your language.

This will lead into huge social conflicts sooner than later, and this has nothing to do with socialism or not socialism.

So finally, yes this is only my personal opinion, but I think I´m not the only one thinking like that.

I really appreciate to live in Europe and even if it is not nice to give away about 50% of my earnings each month I prefer to do so that everybody has a good health care, access to excellent education and everybody is able to retire without starving.

And you also should be grateful not to live in a socialism east block state anymore.
If you think that the American system is that much better you should emigrate to the States, it should be no problem to get a green card as a top performer.

I had the possibility to move to the States, but I did not used this opportunity (and Iˋm happy that I did not done it).... but this was also a personal subjective decision

[Stickler]

Having lived in Europe and the US AND the Middle East; and having traveled a large portion of the planet, I cannot agree with most of what is above.

First Farmboy I think was being funny.

Nevertheless, I do not find Europe to be better in any way to the USA. You have the same radial fascist wannabes we do. They even got close to being elected in a few nations.

There is not perfect healthcare in any European country (nor in the US).

What I can say is this-- other than the culture, it only takes a year to acclimate to wherever you live and it just becomes -- "the place where you live." The only reason I like the US better than Europe is because that is where family and friends are.. but I have lived in the UK for a year and I was in Italy for five last time I lived in Europe. All lovely places.