Editing The Pen Addict 335/transcript (section)

== Pen Recommendation Discussion ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' So there's a special code, 15%. So Brad, I'm going to ask you, I don't have a 3776, which one of these shall I buy?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's impossible.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Do I want the Lilas, the regular Nice, or the Lavendi?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So the Lavendi would be number one, Lavend for me. The Nice Pure would be number two, and the Nice Lilas would be number three. The Nice Lilas would be number one on looks, but it has a really rough edge barrel that if you haven't tried before, it might feel funny to you. But I think it's the best looking. It's also the best price. God, that's a good deal.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yep. I'm buying it right now. I'm buying the Nice Lavendi in broad. Okay, cool. Feels like fun.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I think that's my favorite. That's the one I would buy if I was buying. And if I liked the gold furniture, the Nice with the gold furniture is really stunning. It's just not my style. It's really, really good.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I'm all over this. I've been waiting. I've been like, I've seen them. I've been waiting to get one for a while. At the price that Pinchelet is offering right now, it is a no-brainer. So I'm just going for it. Cool. Very excited about getting one of these finally. Actually, as well, I should mention, there is a Black Friday sale starting this week. So keep it locked to Pinchelet. And you can get, like, just, Ron's been giving me, like, he's got some crazy stuff that he's working on. So Pinchelet.com, P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T.com. Don't forget, Black Friday sales starting this week. So keep your eye on Pinchelet. Our thanks to Pinchelet for their support of this show and RelayFM. All right, do you want to set up this next topic while I finish my checkout process?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Okay. So I didn't see this when it came out, but I think it just came out yesterday. So there was a post from NYMag. They started this sub-site called The Strategist this year, like only a few months ago. And they've been doing lots of pen and paper stuff, lots of analog-y stuff. I think they're trying to be, like, a wire cutter style Amazon affiliate link. Let me tell you what's the good stuff blog. Right? That's the way I see this stuff, which is good. Like, I love these lists, and I love finding out about new things and what people think about old things and all that stuff. So they've done a lot of stationary stuff over the few months that The Strategist has been in my purview.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And yesterday, I think it was yesterday. Yeah. They came out with an article called The 100 Best Pens as Tested by Strategist Editors.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Michael, where do we start? So we're going to link this in the show notes. I suggest you read the intro. Because the first thing I did was jump down. Let me see what's number one. And we're going to get to that. We're going to go through the top 10 one by one when we get to it. But read through the intro before you get into the list like I did. And then you'll get an idea of what they're trying to do. Even saying that, Myke, I'm not sure what they're trying to do. I don't think this is a best of list of any, in any way, shape, or form. I think it's a favorites pen list. Because in a lot of areas of this list, they don't know what they're talking about. Like, it shows that they don't know what they're talking about.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Or at least, let me try and qualify that a little bit. Because that is a harsh statement. Like, I know you feel it and I get you. But I think what it is is they are testing some pens that are clearly above their comfort level. Or their understanding level of what they're looking at. Right? Like, there's auroras and pelicans and stuff like that in here. And some, like, the Platinum 3776 is in here at number 86. Like, there's just, like, and then some of the ways that they rank and rate some of the pens, it doesn't match up. Because what they, one of the things that they've got going for them, which is where a lot of the problems lie, if you're looking at this from a pen addict's perspective, is they judge these on a five-point scale of these criteria. There's five criteria and they give a score of one to five. Smoothness, smudging, bleed through, feel, and looks. And some of the issues come around, like, the bleed through. And some of the pens that they're saying are not bleeding through do bleed through on lots of paper types and vice versa. So it's all just very, it's a very peculiar scale. Especially when applied to some of the pens that they're applying it to. And all of this would be fine if it was called a favorites list, but it's called a best list, which tries to make it an imperative ranking. Which is strange because it's, doesn't, like, they consult people. They're saying they've got, like, consultants, which are, like, very smart people. People you know and love. The superstars. Yeah, but they were not involved in the actual final ranking. It's all very, like...

'''Brad Dowdy:''' They definitely were not.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's like, okay, the thing is, they went too far with this and they brought in some stuff that doesn't make any sense. And, like, I don't even know where they got it from. Like, why is the Platinum 3776 in this ranking? Like, where did you find that pen? Like, I don't get it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So that sounds like, so that's like it showed up. So let's talk about the people they consulted. So, and I'm using this consulted because that's the word that they use. They consulted all of these people for the products, not their thoughts on the products. So I think that's where the 3776 comes in. Because when you're talking to Ed Jelly, Anna Reinert, Brian Goulet, and Elaine Koo, I'm pretty sure you're going to say, hey, what's a good fountain pen? The Platinum 3776 is going to come up. But that was the extent, from the way I read this, of all of those awesome people's work on this list, right? They provided a list of products these people should check out. And then that was the extent of it. Like, I don't think they had any say in the ranking the way I read this. Yeah. So, like, which, in retrospect, they should have used, they should have leaned heavily on them, or at least a lot more on them, to at least maybe vet some of the things at the end. Because there's one thing that broke the entire list for me, and that ruined the whole thing for me, is when you take the Uniball Jetstream and give it an average bleed-through grade. So its bleed-through grade is 3.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Inherently, ballpoints do not bleed. Pretty much every ballpoint pen should be a 5 for bleed. Maybe a 4.5 if you think it's acting a little funny. If it's a terrible ballpoint, maybe it's a 4.5. The Uniball Jetstream doesn't bleed.

'''Myke Hurley:''' The Jetstream got a 3, and the Retro 51 Tornado got a 5 on bleed-through, which means it didn't. I don't know what paper they're using if the Jetstream's bleeding through, but the Retro 51 Tornado isn't. I don't understand what they're doing.