Is Reddit Worth Using?

[rickap]

I'm curious how many of you use Reddit for fountain pen discussion and if you find it useful or worth using or not.

Thanks,
Rick

[guyy]

I use it a lot, mainly because FPN turns me off & because it gets more traffic than this place. I find it a pleasant diversion at times and exasperating at others. I like talking about pens, but even i tire of regularly answering the same questions. The focus is on new pens; if you're interested in discussing the relative merits of currently produced pens, you might enjoy it.

[countrydirt]

Seems like I see a lot of new pen and ink pictures and squealing like teenagers over pen pics. Lots of “should I buy x” questions as well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jon Szanto]

Great for new (and especially, young) pen users, little info for those experienced or involved with vintage. I've hung out there (just passed my 5-year cake day) to help people new to the experience, but I have to take breaks because some of it is endlessly repetitive and dumb. Which is fine, because it is what it is. If your idea of a "collection" is 15 TWSBI Ecos and a "grail" pen is a Lamy 2k, you'll love it. It's fun and fast and suits the intended audience, which is primarily new/young.

[migo984]

I’m not a “typical” Redditor (whatever that is!) and I like it there. I like the enthusiasm & excitement over a new TWSBI or Pilot Metro or kit pen. The folks there are mainly happy to learn from others & not set in their ways. Much less snobbery there than traditional pen forums. You don’t get lectured if you happen to post something in the wrong place, or spell something incorrectly. You can type “Schaeffer” and no-one gives you 100 lines. I get a real giggle from the gasps of horror & outrage from the old farts there when a young whippersnapper puts a vintage Waterman flex nib in a Hongdian Black Forest pen, then takes a Dremel to it to turn it into a sabre fude, then fills it with acrylic ink jazzed up with make-up grade mica. Or takes sandpaper to the barrel of a Montblanc Vert et Jaune (or is it Rouge et Noir?) to pimp it up a bit. Or fills a pen with red ink without cleaning out the previous green fill, including putting it in a ultrasonic cleaner for at least 3 weeks. Ink reviews aren’t endless completed dull templates; they’re photos or videos of their cat being sprayed all over with Baystate Blue, which, incidentally, they’re happy to put in a Pelikan Raden Stripes. And Redditors don’t hunt in packs & turn as one onto another member who doesn’t “conform”. Odd Bods are welcomed there.

Redditors get teasing & tongue-in-cheek posts too.

On a perhaps more serious note: Jon, I have a “collection” of 15+ TWSBIs, and I enjoy them & share my pleasure there. I would hesitate to do the same here though - and to me that’s not a good thing. It portends the death of a forum if youngsters don’t feel welcome or comfortable enough to ask the same “dumb” questions, repeatedly.

[Jon Szanto]

On a perhaps more serious note: Jon, I have a “collection” of 15+ TWSBIs, and I enjoy them & share my pleasure there. I would hesitate to do the same here though - and to me that’s not a good thing. It portends the death of a forum if youngsters don’t feel welcome or comfortable enough to ask the same “dumb” questions, repeatedly.

What makes you happy is fine with me and I'm not saying you should do anything otherwise. If you were charitable, you might have asked if I ever tell those people that what they are doing is wrong or dumb or stupid - and I don't. I keep those concepts and opinions pretty much to myself because it is their venue and I'm happy to let them play how they like. Do I occasionally offer pointed advice if I feel there is a good reason for a position of experience to offer enlightenment? Sure.

I honestly think it somewhat absurd to expect every gathering and community to behave the same and expect the same types of discussions to go on. I don't think I have to worry about a place like this and frankly it is nice to have a balance of venues where some scroll off the page with dozens of responses per minute, as well as quieter communities for different kind of discussions.

Meh, I'm going on and on. Whatever. OP asked opinions, I gave mine. Glad we both enjoy reddit fp in our own way.

[Deb]

I look in now and again. I appreciate the enthusiasm but the noise to signal ratio is a bit high for me.

[guyy]

And Redditors don’t hunt in packs & turn as one onto another member who doesn’t “conform”. Odd Bods are welcomed there.

I haven’t found this to be true. The voting system makes Reddit a kind of popularity contest and encourages a herd mentality. Subreddits develop a consensus and contributors are rewarded with upvotes for adhering to and reproducing the groupthink. Conversely, idiosyncratic voices get downvotes or are buried under NPD posts. Worst, misinformation persists much longer over there as people pooh-pooh warnings and downvote the old guard.

[manoeuver]

I haven't found it useful enough to spend much time there, my experience is similar to those described above.

I have pen friends who do quite a bit of buying and selling via reddit though, seems to be a lively market over there.

[migo984]

And Redditors don’t hunt in packs & turn as one onto another member who doesn’t “conform”. Odd Bods are welcomed there.

I haven’t found this to be true. The voting system makes Reddit a kind of popularity contest and encourages a herd mentality. Subreddits develop a consensus and contributors are rewarded with upvotes for adhering to and reproducing the groupthink. Conversely, idiosyncratic voices get downvotes or are buried under NPD posts. Worst, misinformation persists much longer over there as people pooh-pooh warnings and downvote the old guard.

Well they certainly take the dire “warnings” with a huge shovel of salt - which is what I like about it. So often these old guard forums need to just lighten up a bit.

We’ll have to agree to disagree about the popularity issue. Many Redditors just laugh about it. And the voting system is no different here is it. Here members get & give “thanks”, & there is “Rep Power” and “feedback score” - whatever difference they make to the price of bread 😂 And just don’t dare to be an outlier here; the attack pack is alive & kicking.

[migo984]

What makes you happy is fine with me and I'm not saying you should do anything otherwise. If you were charitable, you might have asked if I ever tell those people that what they are doing is wrong or dumb or stupid - and I don't. I keep those concepts and opinions pretty much to myself because it is their venue and I'm happy to let them play how they like. Do I occasionally offer pointed advice if I feel there is a good reason for a position of experience to offer enlightenment? Sure.

I honestly think it somewhat absurd to expect every gathering and community to behave the same and expect the same types of discussions to go on. I don't think I have to worry about a place like this and frankly it is nice to have a balance of venues where some scroll off the page with dozens of responses per minute, as well as quieter communities for different kind of discussions.

Meh, I'm going on and on. Whatever. OP asked opinions, I gave mine. Glad we both enjoy reddit fp in our own way.

I’m the most uncharitable person on the planet obviously as to be honest I don’t particularly care, and don’t really want to know, what you tell “those people”. I’m sure they’ll all be so relieved that you are “happy to let them play how they like”.

Just out of interest, who it is that “expects every gathering & community to behave the same etc......”.? I’d be surprised if anyone did that.

[rickap]

I really appreciate all the responses. There are a lot of different perspectives here and I think it's great all of you have opened up yours to me.

Thanks,
Rick

[Fermata]

I had to look up outlier, to save others from doing so it means a person or thing differing from all other members of a particular group or set.

I would hope that the vast majority of any forum just want peace, they are on a forum for enjoyment and education and to give a little of their knowledge and experience to other people who ask for help. I would hope that there is some measure of respect there too, respect for the viewpoint of others and not to simply particpate in order to argue or confront.

There are people who have a history of confrontation and, for want of a better phrase, causing trouble. Outliers can be respected, maybe not so much for those that have their own angry agendas, who really needs that when they are just coming to a forum to have a break away from all the madness.

I use the ignore button for people who are confrontational, I have had a lifetime of that, I neither need it nor want it any more and I suspect that many of the FPG pack will feel the same way.

[Deb]

I had to look up outlier, to save others from doing so it means a person or thing differing from all other members of a particular group or set.

I would hope that the vast majority of any forum just want peace, they are on a forum for enjoyment and education and to give a little of their knowledge and experience to other people who ask for help. I would hope that there is some measure of respect there too, respect for the viewpoint of others and not to simply particpate in order to argue or confront.

There are people who have a history of confrontation and, for want of a better phrase, causing trouble. Outliers can be respected, maybe not so much for those that have their own angry agendas, who really needs that when they are just coming to a forum to have a break away from all the madness.

I use the ignore button for people who are confrontational, I have had a lifetime of that, I neither need it not want it any more and I suspect that many of the FPG pack will feel the same way.

I agree. You put it well. Differing opinions are welcome. Idiotic behaviour not so much.

[grainweevil]

I have pen friends who do quite a bit of buying and selling via reddit though, seems to be a lively market over there.

Not surprising given the high attrition rate there must be for pens owned by reddit folk, if migo is to be believed. You could probably do a good trade in replacement cats as well.

Reddit clearly isn't aimed at me, and it's successful. I'm one of those folks who like to search extensively before I ask a question, and very rarely does reddit come up in search results. There is one exception - pen hacks and nib swaps. Pretty much every permutation of nib-in-pen seems to have been tried by someone, which is rather helpful and occasionally a bit alarming. What isn't so helpful is that you either never find out how it worked beyond the first flush of Prince Charming excitement that it fits, or have to search again to try and find an update thread and hope you get lucky. A lot of brickbats get thrown at FPN around here, and some are deserved, but you do get people coming back to a thread, sometimes years afterwards, and updating or adding their experience to the mix. It's a resource. Reddit is a fleeting conversation. FPG is somewhere between the two but with, as we're having so admirably displayed in this very thread, added unnecessary aggression. Nobody, as they say, is perfect. Except me, obviously. And if you don't agree with that you can come over here and tell me *smashes end off Noodler's ink bottle on the end of the bar and then realises it was BSB* Nooooooooooo!!!!!!

In short - I'm too old and too set in my ways. And now too blue.

[Voiren]

I use Reddit, yes. I like that it gives me plenty to read, mostly enthusiastic, and news ends up there, along with 'can I make nib X fit in pen Y' and fun nib grinds.

It does have a problem with downvotes and downvote bots though - certain users get instant downvotes as soon as they say anything, and some are keyword-based. Yes, the voting is kinda silly, but it does discourage people if they post thought-out replies and instantly end up negative.

[azkid]

I'm on Reddit all the time. I like the pen pics. Once in awhile I hop on the discussion thread and see if I can answer some questions and help people out.

It is not a great platform for learning or researching. Too ephemeral. Same with Facebook groups (I've been off of Facebook for a couple years now).

[silverlifter]

It does have a problem with downvotes and downvote bots though - certain users get instant downvotes as soon as they say anything, and some are keyword-based. Yes, the voting is kinda silly, but it does discourage people if they post thought-out replies and instantly end up negative.

I hardly post in the sub for this reason. It is not that I care about the votes, but I find it dispiriting over time to find every contribution mindlessly dismissed. That coupled with the endless churn of the same posts day in and day out.

I do see how it is a great resource for people discovering, or rediscoverning, pens.

[kazoolaw]

[QUOTE=guyy;286577]

And Redditors don’t hunt in packs & turn as one onto another member who doesn’t “conform”. Odd Bods are welcomed there.

[/QUOTE
I haven’t found this to be true. The voting system makes Reddit a kind of popularity contest and encourages a herd mentality. Subreddits develop a consensus and contributors are rewarded with upvotes for adhering to and reproducing the groupthink. Conversely, idiosyncratic voices get downvotes or are buried under NPD posts. Worst, misinformation persists much longer over there as people pooh-pooh warnings and downvote the old guard.

You mean someone actually cares about "votes?"

[Jon Szanto]

I’m the most uncharitable person on the planet...