Why I joined is simple. I couldn't answer crairett's question about the origin of his pen without joining, and the question seemed to have gone unanswered for a year.
Pens, well, pens are fun. My handwriting looks lousy, but with a dip pen and India ink, I can turn pencil sketches into pen and ink sketches, which are better remembrances, from my point of view.
As a child, I had pen pals. I found it interesting to see the difference it made to feel the character of my friends in their choices about pen, paper and ink as well as in word choice and subjects.
As I grew up, it became necessary to conduct business and occasionally social correspondence. This meant, to me, a fountain pen.
My current favorites are the burgundy Campo Marzio that helped me give information to crairett and a lighter weight Pelikan Madrid.
I'm glad I ran across y'all!
KBH