Editing The Pen Addict 538/transcript (section)

== Twitter and Stationery Hot Takes ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Twitter in general. Yeah. Everything's a hot take. Everything's a hot take. And that doesn't really work in the stationary world. We're all too nice. Like I've never, you know, created content around hot takes. You know, we don't, we don't follow the algorithm here at the penaddict. Not on the blog. I've never done anything that's for the clicks or for the algo or anything like that. So when we were talking about this on Twitch is how this topic came up. It's like, well, are there hot takes in stationary? Can you have a hot take? You know, what are your hot takes? You know, is there a product you love that everyone hates or the product you hate that everyone loves, vice versa? And basically I decided that as we were going through all these hot takes is they're more lukewarm takes, right? Like this is, this is a, this is a bunch of lukewarm takes here in the stationary world. We're not really going for like the pure hot, pure hot takes. You know, we're not taking anyone down, right? We're not making the clickbaity titles. There's only so much, uh, so much hotness you can, you can deal with when you're dealing with pens and paper and ink and pencils and all, all of that stuff. We're just, we're just too nice, Myke. We're just too nice. So I want to talk about this collection of lukewarm takes. That's, that's the phrase I'm going to use. So, um, these lukewarm takes, I want to, I want to go through some of these today. So I have a list that, uh, a bunch of people in, in Twitch chat, we, we created, I wrote a bunch of these down. So I've taken a sampling of these. Um, and these takes like the hard thing about these are like, especially in the stationary world, this stuff's like super personal, right? We're talking about preferences really, right? No, we're going to burn people down today. No preferences. It's like, I like it. Myke's going the hot route. I'm, I'm trying to stay in the lukewarm channel here. So, uh, we got a little hot and cold in this bathroom here, Myke. That's where I am. Yes. Big, big, uh, popular word. Uh, that is a hot take word, Myke. So you should, uh, continue to do that. So maybe you'll come up with a hot take, um, as, as we go through this, but I'm going to kick it off with one of mine. And so I'll tell you, I put a few of mine in here, but mostly we'll talk about, uh, some other ones that other people have and we'll, we'll decide if they're, you know, a hot take or a lukewarm take or, or not a take at all. But, um, I'm going to, I'm going to kick things off with probably my, uh, my hottest of lukewarm takes. And that is that eyedropper fill fountain pens are the worst filling system. And what I mean is, and I'm not counting Japanese traditional eyedroppers. I think that's a different system. I'm talking about the, the fill the barrel full of ink with silicone gel or O-rings or that type of filling system where you're just pouring ink into the barrel and sealing it off either with grease or with O-rings. I think that's the worst filling system. And I know people love that filling system and I understand why, right? It's a high capacity filling system. I never need that much ink in a pen because I use too many pens, right? Again, these are personal things and they tend to make a mess half the time. Like I've had some eyedroppers, like I will continue to fill eyedropper fill pens every now and then. Like I don't mind doing it. It's like, eh, this is cool. Let me try it. After about once I'm right into the converter or even a cartridge. Sometimes I'm just avoiding eyedroppers just for waste. Like I'm not, I'm using too much ink. I'm filling it with too much ink and not using the ink. You know, that's a personal thing. You know, that's a flaw in my own system, but I'm also having to deal with, you know, the, the, the pen burping and making mess in the cap or splashing around or just, you know, getting too inky on the page, not mitigating the flow as well in there. So that is probably my hottest take. So most of my takes are lukewarm. Like I really don't have hot takes because you know, it's, it's pens. We all like what we like. So what do you think about that?

'''Myke Hurley:''' I think you're completely right with the, with the, the eyedropper system. It's too messy, damages pens, like the bodies of pens sometimes. Like I have pens that are stained from doing this. Sure. Sure. And really I don't, I think the benefit that, that people talk about is so slim of like, you can put more ink in the pens. Like, yeah, but like how much more really is it that goes, you know what? I don't think it's that much more. Right. So yeah. Yeah. I'm with you.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Get me, you know, if I'm, I mean, and it's, it's, it's simple, right? It's generally simple to make, right? There's no additional mechanisms, you know, it's a little bit cheaper, but then the, the, the burdens on the user to do it correctly, to not make a mess. And I would just generally tend to avoid that type of thing.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And it's also like, um, you need all this weird extra equipment. Like, are you going to get like a syringe? Not too much, but you have the silicone. And then you get, yeah, but you got to do the silicone thing. Like how much silicone is too much silicone? How often do you have to replace the silicone? It's just like, it's aggravation. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Did I get it on all the threads?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Do I need to do it on the, the, the, just the, just the grip section? Do I need to get it on the nib threads, on the housing? So yeah, you got to tap in two different areas.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Now your pen is always greasy a little bit forever because you put too much on when you,

'''Brad Dowdy:''' yeah. Yep. You feel it on your fingers when it comes through the threads. Yeah. So, yeah. So eyedroppers, I love the idea of them. I tend not to use them, uh, just for all the, they're, they're extra and I don't find the need for the extra that I don't, I don't get those benefits. So, all right. That was one of mine. Uh, one we got from Twitch chat. I will not name names mostly because I didn't write down names on this. Um, I do know who said this though. And I feel really seen when they did say this, we should use the inks we have instead of buying new ones.

'''Myke Hurley:''' How's that for a hot take? Uh, I mean, my issue with that take is that you can't got just constrain it to inks. Like that can't be the only thing you believe. Like if you're going to go for that take, you've also got to apply it to pens and notebook that you, and if you want to apply it to that, go for it. But I feel like you can't just selectively apply that to one element.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I think that's, I think that's, I think that's fair. I just felt like pretty seen by that. Like I think ink is one of those things, no purchase is ever accidental, but when we're like, say we're buying like a $200 pen, you know, we tend to like passively say, well, let me just add this $20 ink there. You know, I just spent $200 on a pen. I deserve this $20 ink. And it's like, well, that's $20 worth of ink. And you already have, you know, in a lot of a large number of other $20 inks, you know, that are sitting there unused, but you know, we all, we're always tempted. I'm raising my hand completely. I'm super guilty of this. Um, even when I do my little magic trick, I do for myself, Myke, where I say, oh, this is a review product, not a personal product, right? That's the one magic trick that I use on myself. I still end up with too many inks. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I play that card frequently and, uh, inks is the one that gets me in trouble there because they just end up stacking up, stacking up. So related to that, I have another one of mine. Um, and it, this is, this is more lukewarm than the eyedropper one, but my lukewarm take is that nobody needs a super sheening ink. I think that's the worst feature, uh, worst, like, you know, marketing feature of any ink. They tend to be overly messy. I guess there's a theme here. I like, I like clean, I like clean pens and clean paper and clean ink. I'm clearly not a left-handed Myke. My apologies, left-hander. I'm a, my apologies for that, but super sheening inks are more drama than they're worth. The, the pictures you see on the internet look amazing, right? That's, that's what tempts us into going, look what this ink does. And then you get it in your pen and it gunks it up and it gets all over the nib and the feed. And then you start writing with it on paper and it never dries and it sticks to the other page when you close the notebook and it gets all over your hands. And I say, this is someone who has a, a pretty sheening ink right now that I mentioned earlier, the diamond Marine, like that's my limit, right? It at least dries respectively. It's, it's not gross in the nib, but some of these super sheening inks that are so popular, I just think are terrible. Like I really don't like super sheening inks and I like sheen as a ink feature. I like shading first and then I like sheen around the edge of the lines, right? I don't want a hundred percent sheen coverage on the top of the line that I just wrote, right? So super sheening inks almost are to the level of creeping me out. And I just don't think anybody needs that. You can get some, some moderately sheening inks, right? And those that behaves so much better. Like I don't think super sheen should be a thing. So that's, that's my

'''Myke Hurley:''' I'm not even sure. I know what super sheen is, to be honest.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I don't think you really have any, but it's basically like if you'll, you've seen a thousand pictures of these where, and the most popular one is blue where you'll get like a blue base ink color, but when it dries, it's red on the top, right? It's just like the chemical reaction and the air. So it'll have almost like a color changing aspect to it, but on the surface of the base ink, right? It's, it sits on top of the base ink. So you'll see like when you turn the page, like the ankle turn from like blue to red is the most common example. And some of them are just a hundred percent coverage. It's like I'm writing a blue line. And by the time it dries, it's red. And, um, and a lot of times like it looks cool for a minute until you have it all over your hands and all of your notebook, because it, a lot of them don't dry very well. So you can find some pictures of them, uh, online. I'm not going to call out any, any names specifically, but there are some famous super sheening inks. They're very, very popular, um, because they photograph extraordinarily well and they look awesome. I just think the, the actual like day to day use of them is horrible. Like it would drive me bonkers. Like I just don't like it. So next one, Myke, this might, this might, but I think we're going, you know, like in the hot, in the hot water, we're like turning, turning up the heat a little bit on this one. This one might get a little bit, uh, more than lukewarm, uh, because it hits home a little bit. And this is a two parter from two different people. Machine pins always look unfinished and are always too thick at the grip. So that was, that was one from chat and let me, uh, add in the second part. So this is a two part. This from a different person's hot take, Myke, machine pins are pointless. Why on earth do you need an expensive holder for a perfectly good refill? I take this a little personal. Do you want to go first as I, uh, as I, as I quell, quell my, as, as I bring my temperature back down to lukewarm?