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  1. I’ve never really had any success in giving my typewriters any accurate ratings in durability and touch…they all ended up being 5 of 6 with a few exceptions. XD

    I have a suggestion for the website, though. Not too sure how hard it is to implement though. If you could somehow be notified (within the site) that a comment has been left on one of your typewriters, that way you can reply to it.

    1. A notify would be great indeed!

  2. Well done Ted and the DB. Desirability? Way too arbitrary for me to comment on. If I like what I see in front of me at the right price and it won’t trip too many guilt triggers, I buy it. One man’s dead fish is another’s beige beauty. Price paid might be interesting though. I probably have a record and it could be interesting, like you say, to look at price trends.

  3. Seems a bit too arbitrary. What I desire may be 180 degrees out from your most desireable typewriter. Then I have reason to desire one or another typewriter just for its appearance without reguard to its touch since it may never have been a good typer, but it may be a very desired machine for a collection.

    One of my latests finds was not one much desired at all yet it is now my favorite go-to machine because of its great operation. It lacks in appearance compared to the nice early 1930 and before machines, but it is every bit as easy to use as a more moderen electric.

    Original manufacturer’s pricing would be nice, but list or suggested price vs the actual selling price would be all over the place too.

  4. Congratulations on this landmark!

    I’m neutral on rarity/desirability. It could be interesting, but then again, just a check of current and completed auctions on eBay can give us a lot of current data on that score, when combined with the old ETCetera survey as regards rare machines that haven’t shown up on eBay recently.

  5. I think I will be curious about what others paid for their machine, so I’m also prepared to add prices to my typewriters in the TWDB. Perhaps it is handy to also add a field for year of acquisition?

  6. Ted, I don’t think a collection of prices would be any good at all, it would have the effect I think of causing people who don’t know anything about typewriters increasing the prices they sell them to us for, much like mytypewriter or vintagetypewritershoppe have done.
    I have been posting the prices I have gotten the typewriters for 1: to keep track of them myself 2: because I get them cheap and it might have the opposite effect for people going onlie to find out what a machine is worth.
    Also I think ranking the machines would be difficult and maybe useless… I suppose it could be fun and I would try and do it if it was incorporated. Maybe it could be helpful.

    I really think you need to make a section for us to upload scans of manuals and paperwork, separate from the typewriters, so that anyone can look up a machine in question and quickly access a manual. I have quite a few I’d be happy to add (even one for the Buddy L haha, amusingly one of the best manuals I own)

    Keep up the good work, I love adding my machines to your database!

    1. The current incarnation of what’s collected for the machine entries of the Database is purposefully basic, both to encourage more machines being entered (fewer fields to fill out, more likely people will fill ’em out), and also because I intended a very specific informational focus for the data. Manufacturers, Models, Serial Numbers, Dates and the all-important photographs, from which researchers and enthusiasts can deduce feature changes, options and design details as the data pool grows. I only included Typesample because I’m a typeface nut, and such things are important to me. (:

      any additional information collected will, I think, be included in an optional details tab. The balance between the “required” and “optional” data entry is something I will very carefully consider before making any push towards greater complexity.

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