- Steve Stephens
- Platen Punisher
Offline - From: San Francisco Bay Area, Calif.
- Registered: 13-3-2013
- Posts: 55
Re: Suggestion Box
Uwe, you could ask your neighbor, Martin Howard, what he would suggest since he's very interested in the early and unique typewriters. I don't know how the collectors of those rare and early machines refer to them. Many are "index typewriters" but there must be more types.
- Frank
- New Member
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- Registered: 15-3-2013
- Posts: 10
Re: Suggestion Box
Hi, I would a division like this:
Pre war:
- index
- portable
- desktop
Post war:
- electric
- portable
- desktop
A third main section could contain tyewriters before the first world war divided by typing mechanism (front strik, side strike, typewheel, etc)
A division by country makes no sense to me, unless it is as a sub-sub division beneath the sections I mentioned..
Last edited by Frank (21-3-2013 16:29:00)
- Uwe
- Moderator
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- From: Toronto, Canada
- Registered: 12-3-2013
- Posts: 4,408
Re: Suggestion Box
Steve Stephens wrote:
you could ask your neighbor, Martin Howard, what he would suggest since he's very interested in the early and unique typewriters.
I'm not familiar with the name, does he live in Toronto as well? Or by neighbour did you mean someone south of the border? What if we just called the category "Pre-Standardisation", which would cover all the oddities up to around 1910?
I would a division like this: Pre war: ... Post war:
I assume we're talking about World War II? I don't understand how sorting them by year makes more sense, but of course if that's what people want we'll certainly do it that way. My modest collection spans the pre and post WWII years, but I don't look at that them that way, instead I'll say something like "I've got a few Olympias, several Olivettis, etc...".
I've touched on this before, but I think that hardcore/serious collectors should be more versatile in dealing with machine categorisation as opposed to newcomers or even those who just join because they want advice on the one typewriter they own. Would those people understand a forum divided by periods of time, or by a manufacturer's name? Ultimately, shouldn't we make this forum most accessible to those who are new to this hobby if we want interest in typewriter collecting to grow?
Take a look at the forum's demographics so far based on this currently running poll. There's a significant percentage of new collectors here, so whichever way we divide these machines up, I think it needs to be as user-friendly as possible for them.
Perhaps the best way to resolve the restructuring of the Type Talk section and the suggestions that have been made here will be to put it to a vote. Sometime during this coming weekend I'll post a poll with all the ideas that have been presented here and let the majority decide how best to categorise typewriters.
Does that sound fair to everyone?
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- •
Thread Starter- Steve Stephens
- Platen Punisher
Offline
- From: San Francisco Bay Area, Calif.
- Registered: 13-3-2013
- Posts: 55
Re: Suggestion Box
you could ask your neighbor, Martin Howard, what he would suggest since he's very interested in the early and unique typewriters.
I'm not familiar with the name, does he live in Toronto as well? Or by neighbour did you mean someone south of the border? What if we just called the category "Pre-Standardisation", which would cover all the oddities up to around 1910?
Uwe, I should not have assumed that you know who Martin Howard is but, yes, he lives in Toronto and is an advanced typewriter and a nice guy. Here's his website.
I have not met him but have spoken numerous times to him by phone.
I consider myself a new collector having started from next to no knowledge in Dec. 2011. How quickly with the internet, message boards, and forums one can become a "beginning expert" in short order. Of the many new collectors who enter the hobby I wonder how many become much more advanced within one or two years. I'm sure that quite a few do while others drift away from their new interest.
What I see as the importance of dividing the forum into time periods is to separate different periods of typewriter manufacture and the products to reflect their great differences. I like American portables from c.1930-1958 but my main interest has become the old heavy cast iron desktop typewriters from c.1890-1920. By 1930 or shortly afterwards the style of typewriters changed rapidly with new colors and the closing in of open framed typewriters. To be able to go to a section of the forum which has most of the pre-WWI typewriters that I like will entice me to visit more often I think where I can see one section and find most of the posts that would be of interest to me.
Having portables intersperced with early desktop machines gives too much of a mix of different types of typewriters in a section. The range of portables is only from c.1925 to c.1980s but the desktop typewriters have a much greater span of production as well as more changes in desigh and appearance.
The separation of post- and pre-1950 electric fans on our fan club forum was the best thing that ever happened. I no longer have to read through many posts about old fans that are not really old and those who are interested primarily in the newer fans have a steady audience for what they post.
Please consider dividing parts of the forum by PORTABLE and DESK and DESK into two sections; pre- and post 1930. At this point I feel that INDEX typewriters and the other early or unusual designs migh fit well into a pre-1930 forum.
- Uwe
- Moderator
Offline
- From: Toronto, Canada
- Registered: 12-3-2013
- Posts: 4,408
Re: Suggestion Box
Uwe, I should not have assumed that you know who Martin Howard is but, yes, he lives in Toronto and is an advanced typewriter and a nice guy.
Good grief, I'm a little embarrassed. Not only was I unfamiliar with his name, but I've never seen his website either. In my defence the typers he collects don't overlap with my own interests; every typewriter I own gets used for writing and most of his very interesting machines would be less than practical in that sort of an application.
Still, I appreciate that you brought this to my attention. I'll have to spend more time on his website and to have a resource like that in your backyard is indispensable.
On the other matter, we'll put the entire sub-forum discussion to a vote. And if the time/date/period division system wins I'll leave it to all of you who wanted it to scrap it out for the exact time ranges.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- •
Thread Starter- Shangas
- Speed Champion
Offline
- From: Melbourne, Australia
- Registered: 17-3-2013
- Posts: 298
Re: Suggestion Box
This may seem silly, but as a typewriter forum, I think we should have a thread or a board, dedicated to "typecasting". If it's to be a thread, then perhaps it should be stickied/pinned.
"Not Yet Published" - My History Blog
"I just sit at a typewriter and curse a bit" - Sir Pelham Grenville "P.G." Wodehouse
"The biggest obstacle to professional writing is the necessity for changing a typewriter ribbon" - Robert Benchley
- Uwe
- Moderator
Offline
- From: Toronto, Canada
- Registered: 12-3-2013
- Posts: 4,408
Re: Suggestion Box
This may seem silly, but as a typewriter forum, I think we should have a thread or a board, dedicated to "typecasting". If it's to be a thread, then perhaps it should be stickied/pinned.
Maybe I live under a rock, but I don't even know what typecasting is, but it sounds like it would fit in the Social section within the World of Typewriters sub-forum. No?
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- •
Thread Starter- Amelia
- Platen Punisher
Offline
- From: Southern California, USA
- Registered: 28-3-2013
- Posts: 94
Re: Suggestion Box
This may seem silly, but as a typewriter forum, I think we should have a thread or a board, dedicated to "typecasting". If it's to be a thread, then perhaps it should be stickied/pinned.
Maybe I live under a rock, but I don't even know what typecasting is, but it sounds like it would fit in the Social section within the World of Typewriters sub-forum. No?
A typecast (blogging) (a.k.a. typecasting or typecasting blog) is a form of blogging by media type and publishing in the format of a blog, but differentiated by the predominant use of and focus on text created with a typewriter and then scanned rather than text entered directly into a computer. (Wikipedia)
On another note:
Is it possible to create a snail mail (typewritten letters) PEN PAL section?
I think the typewriter subreddit does this.
- Uwe
- Moderator
Offline
- From: Toronto, Canada
- Registered: 12-3-2013
- Posts: 4,408
Re: Suggestion Box
the predominant use of and focus on text created with a typewriter and then scanned rather than text entered directly into a computer.
If that's all it is, I've seen many on the net and always just considered them to be blogs, which reinforces my suggestion that they belong in the Social section within the World of Typewriters sub-forum along with other blog-related threads, don't they? 
Is it possible to create a snail mail (typewritten letters) PEN PAL section?
I think the typewriter subreddit does this.
Sure. However, doesn't this also fall into the same area?
I'll re-word the description right now for that sub-forum and you and Shangas can left me know if that's good enough. If you still want dedicated sub-forums after I've made this change and you've looked it over, let me know. I'll also add the other sub-forum now too that Shangas had been asking for.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- •
Thread Starter- beak
- Key Master
Offline
- From: Qld Australia
- Registered: 24-3-2013
- Posts: 912
Re: Suggestion Box
I'm always interested in the typefaces of various machines - could there be a thread were we demonstrate our machine's type with a standard paragraph of text? Also running through the keys in the order presented on the machine, first in lower case, and then in U/C, leaving a gap between the banks may be useful. I'll search to see if one exists already, and if not start one?
We could have some splendid arguments over which bit of text to use!
Last edited by beak (07-4-2013 05:51:08)
Sincerely,
beak.
