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Fountain pens are one of those things that probably would have died out if not for the internet, especially on the cheaper end of the market. There are today mo

Fountain pens are one of those things that probably would have died out if not for the internet, especially on the cheaper end of the market. There are today more pens and inks to choose from than at any time in history, even times when fountain pens were widely used.

opencl 9y ago
Most niche hobbies had no problem existing before the internet. There were magazines and conventions and local clubs and specialty shops devoted to them, just like there still are. And cheap fountain pens have been easy to find in office supply stores for as long as I can remember.
balladeer 9y ago
I am a fountain pen enthusiast, or I should rather say "used to be". If any effect Internet has had on my fountain-penmanship or any penmanship it has resulted in drastically decreased usage. Isn't it a general phenomenon? (I've no data on it, just what I have observed around me) So if you meant just buying, selling, collecting, swapping pens, and talking about fountain pens then it makes sense (which is what it seems you have focussed on in your comment), but if that also involved actually using them then, I would say, overall the Internet has instead done great harm to it.
- freosam 9y ago
  I'm the same. I used to almost exclusively write with a fountain pen. Now I write everything with a keyboard. Primarily, because I realised that notebooks full of words are hard to search and fragile in a archival preservation sense. Far better to type everything, and print it all on archival paper with pigment inks (no laser printers!). Sort of a bit sad though, to not play with pens and bottles and syringes etc. any more.
ajmurmann 9y ago
I don't know if they'd gone away. However, in school and college I used to write with one and I only every used the standard, blue Pelikan ink we were told to use in elementary school in Germany. I now have to write a lot more by hand at work and got a new fountain pen. That was the months ago or so. Thanks to the Internet I now have 4 pens three ink bottles and about 15 samples from Gulet pens...
enriquto 9y ago
In many european countries all schoolkids use fountain pens at school, and then keep using them later in life. So it is very unlikely that they will die out any soon.
- twblalock 9y ago
  Actually I've heard that's being phased out in some countries in favor of... typing classes!
  - enriquto 9y ago
    What do you mean? It is not like the kids have "fountain pen classes". They use fountain pens in all their classes. Yet, having typing classes is a great idea! Learning to touch-type is a very important ability in the modern world.

opencl 9y ago

Most niche hobbies had no problem existing before the internet. There were magazines and conventions and local clubs and specialty shops devoted to them, just like there still are. And cheap fountain pens have been easy to find in office supply stores for as long as I can remember.

balladeer 9y ago

I am a fountain pen enthusiast, or I should rather say "used to be". If any effect Internet has had on my fountain-penmanship or any penmanship it has resulted in drastically decreased usage. Isn't it a general phenomenon? (I've no data on it, just what I have observed around me) So if you meant just buying, selling, collecting, swapping pens, and talking about fountain pens then it makes sense (which is what it seems you have focussed on in your comment), but if that also involved actually using them then, I would say, overall the Internet has instead done great harm to it.

freosam 9y ago
I'm the same. I used to almost exclusively write with a fountain pen. Now I write everything with a keyboard. Primarily, because I realised that notebooks full of words are hard to search and fragile in a archival preservation sense. Far better to type everything, and print it all on archival paper with pigment inks (no laser printers!). Sort of a bit sad though, to not play with pens and bottles and syringes etc. any more.

ajmurmann 9y ago

I don't know if they'd gone away. However, in school and college I used to write with one and I only every used the standard, blue Pelikan ink we were told to use in elementary school in Germany. I now have to write a lot more by hand at work and got a new fountain pen. That was the months ago or so. Thanks to the Internet I now have 4 pens three ink bottles and about 15 samples from Gulet pens...

enriquto 9y ago

In many european countries all schoolkids use fountain pens at school, and then keep using them later in life. So it is very unlikely that they will die out any soon.

twblalock 9y ago
Actually I've heard that's being phased out in some countries in favor of... typing classes!
- enriquto 9y ago
  What do you mean? It is not like the kids have "fountain pen classes". They use fountain pens in all their classes. Yet, having typing classes is a great idea! Learning to touch-type is a very important ability in the modern world.