Mob mentality? What are you raving about now? I'm not fond of FPN (as you might have guessed) but the last thing I would accuse that controlled environment of is mob mentality. Indeed, it's hard to see how such an appellation can be applied to something as disparate as a web-based discussion board.
As you may recall, I was once a moderator there. My statement is a simple observation based only on what I've personally witnessed.
Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens
Isn't it Polonius who says "Drift is the soul of wit"?
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I'm not well (or at all) read in the classics, so I don't know. Isn't Polonius some kind of Italian sausage?
TSherbs (June 3rd, 2020)
Did anyone mention The Fountain Pen Community? It's still there but there has been no activity for years. It was started by Dennis Lively, if memory serves. I think this was another case of someone with nowhere else to go starting his own board. I think it faded away because it had nothing special to recommend it - nothing that wasn't being done better elsewhere.
carlos.q (June 3rd, 2020)
I didn't know of this board. Thank you!
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Frank (July 7th, 2020)
I haven't heard of Dennis for several years. I don't want to go too deep into history and repeat old gossip but he was a character, to say the least. He announced his own death at least once, maybe twice. On the other hand he produced pen repair videos that were a good start point for those who wished to do that.
Didn't it become the Fedralist pen forum or was that something else? Before it demised?
Frank (July 7th, 2020)
According to information from an earlier post, FPN started out late June 2004. If you happened to visit the site on February 12, 2005 this is part of the front page you would have seen:
2005feb12.png
If you had clicked on the top left side to find out "About FPN" this is what you would have read:
Welcome to the Fountain Pen Network where the pens are abundant and the ink and chatter flows freely.
FPN is a site for Fountain Pen enthusiasts and provides dedicated forums to discuss every aspect of fountain pen use.
We are a member driven site where all aspects of fountain pen collection/addiction are discussed and where the input from the forum members has shaped and continues to shape this friendly community.
This site is 100% non-commercial and we do not have or wish to solicit sponsors. We are hosted for free, we use freely available software, and the members of the Administrative team are unpaid volunteers.
The respective forums you will find reflect the members' interests we have identified and the number and content of these forums will evolve under the direction of the community. You will find forums to discuss general pen topics, History, Repairs, Penmanship, Inks, Photography, Trade, and there is even a forum for off topic Chatter and a forum dedicated to all things "Sheaffer".
The forums will be regularly edited, to keep them readable and to assure quick information access. There is no cut-off time for most forums, so the information contained in your posts will be publicly available as long as the site lives.
We hope you will enjoy the site. See you soon on the board !
The FPN Admin Team.
An even earlier iteration of FPN was this site named fpnet.tk. If you had visited this site on July 9, 2004 this is what you would have seen:
2004march24.png
That day the board had 9 registered members and a grand total of 37 posts.
The site's creator was Denis Richard and the first person who volunteered to help with the site was KCat, who I believe is still over at FPN.
Last edited by carlos.q; June 3rd, 2020 at 01:41 PM.
Since there is no published "History of FP Forums" and given the limits of the Wayback machine it is very hard to say who was truly the first. After the USENET and BBS systems that were prevalent at the dawn of the internet, the World Wide Web (WWW) became an ever increasing phenomenon beginning with the release of Mosaic in 1993, Netscape in 1994 and Internet Explorer in 1995. The oldest mention I have found to a WWW FP site is Penthusiasm who proudly proclaimed to be "YOUR Information Center to the WWW of Fountain Pen Collecting since 1996".
Here is a screen capture from August 2000:
Penthusiasm2000aug23.jpg
Last edited by carlos.q; June 5th, 2020 at 05:41 PM.
catbert (June 5th, 2020)
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