Funny Thoughts and Not So Much · 2:58pm Feb 24th, 2017
One funny story, and one not so much-
I was in Staples yesterday. A woman came in with her son, early 20s or so, and asked the employee there, who was about the same age, if they carried typewriter ribbons. Naturally I was expecting him to simply say they did not, but he instead admitted that he had no idea what a typewriter ribbon is. I gave the lady a wry 'old person' smile, and she told me that her son, who was 22, ended up getting a typewriter from somewhere that they were trying to get working for him - but she wasn't sure he knew what it was, either! Apparently, the employee at least was under the impression that 'typewriter' was a term used to refer to an older model of laptop, and he was unable to determine what part of a computer would be called the 'ribbon'.
...okay look, I know I'm on the older end of the fandom, and yes, nobody uses typewriters anymore, but to not even know what that is...believe it or not, there was life before computers, even...I swear there was, really!! But then, you're talking to somebody who tried to explain a Commodore C64 computer to somebody 15 years younger than me a short time back, who straight-up did not believe me. "Oh come on, computers were never like that." They were...really they were! 
Would you believe me if I told you that once upon a time, I did my writing on one of these? Granted I was very young at the time, but that progressed to something like this, on to a StarWriter word processor (it had a CRT monitor and looked like a computer, I can't even find a picture anywhere), on to modern computers, and finally found a home with my Alphasmart Neo. I recall them all with fondness, particularly the long nights alone with text in my room. I suppose that's why I still enjoy single-purpose writing devices. Just me and the words.
Now for the less funny story-
A friend of mine, who had a horror short story published in a popular magazine some time back, decided to try his hand at scary pony stories on this site. He busted out nearly 20,000 words in several chapters. He hasn't gotten a whole lot of attention, but he has more likes than dislikes, and he's involved in EquestriaWords, where we give him encouragement. The other day he told me he got a private message on this site from somebody who told basically told him his story sucks, and he should take it down. The account that sent the message was then immediately deleted.
A rather clear act of cowardice of course, given this person didn't have the stones to comment publically on the story, nor did they have the courage to send the message either from their regular account, or at least keep the account active long enough to receive a reply. My first reaction is to laugh at someone who would waste so much time just to be a troll. Personally I'm of the opinion that if you can't explain logically exactly what you didn't like (or even did like) about a story then your opinion is of no value to anybody, so I told him to ignore it, as did several other horseword friends. I think he got over it and I'm glad of that, but the fact remains that a lot of people on this site are putting themselves on the line when daring to share their work. I myself was quite uncertain about putting out my first mature-rated story, and I still get a tiny collection of Fluttershy's cutie mark in my stomach whenever I hit the submission button on anything I write, no matter the topic.
The moral is, if you don't like a story, that's fine. But tell us why, and be cordial about it - share your opinion so we understand. There's no excuse for random flaming, and if that's how you handle things, you very obviously don't understand the point of 'Friendship is Magic'. I can only pity you, and suggest your best course of action would be to move on without commenting at all, since that does the community a greater service.
At any rate, ponyfriends, keep that friendship going strong 
I love typewriters! If you look at the row of numbers at the top, you'll see a lot of models missing the number "1". What did they do without it? Well, they used an uppercase 'i' in place of it. My grandad has a typewriter he still regularly uses to send letters through snail mail (they live on a rural farm and lead a fairly antiquated lifestyle), but his one uses ink instead of ribbons.
And you say you're on the older end of the fandom? I'm 25, so where does that put you if I may ask?
4435272
I suppose my days of typewriting are behind me, but they're fond memories.
I've got...13 years on you, come April
4435559 To be honest I thought you were a lot younger than than 37 O.o
4435579
I think the majority of bronies fall more around your age group, so that's understandable. Some would say I'm not that old, but I'm young at heart anyway.
4435582 One guy I helped was in his early to mid forties, so I'm not really surprised there's an older crowd
4435686
Oh, there definitely is. Just I think most bronies tend to be in their twenties, so I don't consider it unnatural to assume those you meat are also, unless there's some reason to assume otherwise. The oldest one I know is 46.