# Person who used ballpoint ink pen instead of stylus on LCD touchpad: Why? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 26, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-used-ballpoint-ink-pen-instead-of-stylus-on-lcd-touchpad-why/544629 "2010-06-26T21:44:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-used-ballpoint-ink-pen-instead-of-stylus-on-lcd-touchpad-why/544629/21 "2010-06-29T00:54:22Z")
I’m paralyzed by ecological concerns. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-used-ballpoint-ink-pen-instead-of-stylus-on-lcd-touchpad-why/544629/22 "2010-06-29T02:39:49Z")
OP, it’s the same reason people try and put the cereal in the fridge and the milk in the cupboard. Your body is going through a motor process that has become automated through repetition to the point that their brain no longer has to be engaged to do it. But if the brain is not engaged, the chance of making really dumb errors is high. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-used-ballpoint-ink-pen-instead-of-stylus-on-lcd-touchpad-why/544629/23 "2010-06-29T03:12:11Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > IIRC (from an aseptic technique class), lobby pens are even dirtier than public toilet door handles. I’m sorry. I’ll stop picking my nose with them. You’d still better beware of [ass pennies](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ass%20pennies), though. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-used-ballpoint-ink-pen-instead-of-stylus-on-lcd-touchpad-why/544629/24 "2010-06-29T15:44:22Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I’m sorry. I’ll stop picking my nose with them. > You’d still better beware of [ass pennies](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ass%20pennies), though. Must learn not to click on links when in the Pit… … of Despair. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-used-ballpoint-ink-pen-instead-of-stylus-on-lcd-touchpad-why/544629/25 "2010-06-29T15:51:11Z")
Ass pennies: proof we aren’t that different than poo-flinging monkeys, really. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-used-ballpoint-ink-pen-instead-of-stylus-on-lcd-touchpad-why/544629/26 "2010-06-29T16:34:01Z")
You know who it was, right? Why not just hunt him or her down and ask that person directly? ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-used-ballpoint-ink-pen-instead-of-stylus-on-lcd-touchpad-why/544629/27 "2010-06-29T19:41:56Z")
> [@Todderbob](#): > > Why concept of grammar is confusing to you? The thread should have ended right there. Comedy gold. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-used-ballpoint-ink-pen-instead-of-stylus-on-lcd-touchpad-why/544629/28 "2010-06-29T20:00:55Z")
The electronic signature pad that Sears (and some other retailers) used until recently required you to use a regular ballpoint pen. Experience with that probably leads people to assume that either a stylus or a pen would do. It seems a reasonable assumption that devices can be designed for such flexibility. ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-used-ballpoint-ink-pen-instead-of-stylus-on-lcd-touchpad-why/544629/29 "2010-06-29T20:15:47Z")
Another thing that’s good for removing Sharpie from a dry-erase whiteboard: Purell hand sanitizer gel. Not sure if I’d experiment on a Smart Board, though. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-used-ballpoint-ink-pen-instead-of-stylus-on-lcd-touchpad-why/544629/30 "2010-06-29T20:24:59Z")
> [@](#): > > Your world frightens and confuses me! When I see my image on the security camera at the country club, I wonder, are they stealing my soul? I get so upset, I hop out of my Range Rover, and run across the fairway to the clubhouse, where I get Carlos to make me one of those martinis he’s so famous for, to soothe my primitive caveman brain. - Phil Hartman as _Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer_ ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-used-ballpoint-ink-pen-instead-of-stylus-on-lcd-touchpad-why/544629/31 "2010-06-29T20:34:36Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Ass pennies: proof we aren’t that different than poo-flinging monkeys, really. Or we could exhault in the knowledge that every time we inhale, we take in at least one molecule farted by Julius Caesar ---
**Author:** ![troub](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troub/32/14802_2.png) [@troub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troub)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-used-ballpoint-ink-pen-instead-of-stylus-on-lcd-touchpad-why/544629/32 "2010-06-29T20:46:58Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > The electronic signature pad that Sears (and some other retailers) used until recently required you to use a regular ballpoint pen. Experience with that probably leads people to assume that either a stylus or a pen would do. It seems a reasonable assumption that devices can be designed for such flexibility. Yes, but this is the device where the receipt was inserted over the pad, so you actually signed the paper while the impression was picked up by the pad, right? So you’re still signing the paper, not directly on the plastic. Unless, a) you mean something different that I’ve never seen before but which would be noticeable by an inch-deep layer of encrusted ink or b) your local Sears associates were too stupid/lazy to slide the receipt over the pad like they were supposed to. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-used-ballpoint-ink-pen-instead-of-stylus-on-lcd-touchpad-why/544629/33 "2010-06-29T20:47:11Z")
> [@digs](#): > > This should be its own thread: “Are you too globally-aware and caring and liberal and eco-friendly to function in daily life?” > > I tell ya, some days I’m teetering on the edge… You obviously missed sassyfras’s other rant thread about how everybody is at fault for BP’s fuck up. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-used-ballpoint-ink-pen-instead-of-stylus-on-lcd-touchpad-why/544629/34 "2010-06-29T21:11:21Z")
> [@troub](#): > > Yes, but this is the device where the receipt was inserted over the pad, so you actually signed the paper while the impression was picked up by the pad, right? So you’re still signing the paper, not directly on the plastic. Unless, a) you mean something different that I’ve never seen before but which would be noticeable by an inch-deep layer of encrusted ink or b) your local Sears associates were too stupid/lazy to slide the receipt over the pad like they were supposed to. Yes, these ones were the slip-the-receipt-in kind, but that doesn’t really give you sufficient information about other devices. As I said, without specific experience with a particular type of device, there’s no reason to assume that it couldn’t handle either kind of input. In fact, I’m kind of surprised that all touch-screen-type devices aren’t already capable of handling multiple methods of tactile input, whether fingertip, electronic stylus, actual stylus (e.g., wooden stick or metal nib), pen, or pencil. I was disappointed to learn that my Iphone will take only fingertip inputs and not stylus input and that Ipads can’t take handwriting input. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-used-ballpoint-ink-pen-instead-of-stylus-on-lcd-touchpad-why/544629/35 "2010-06-29T21:46:46Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > In fact, I’m kind of surprised that all touch-screen-type devices aren’t already capable of handling multiple methods of tactile input, whether fingertip, electronic stylus, actual stylus (e.g., wooden stick or metal nib), pen, or pencil. You’re surprised that a surface that’s intended to be used repeatedly for many different things isn’t designed to be used with a pen or pencil? Seriously? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-used-ballpoint-ink-pen-instead-of-stylus-on-lcd-touchpad-why/544629/36 "2010-06-30T02:04:12Z")
[quote=“acsenray, post:34, topic:544629”] I was disappointed to learn that my Iphone will take only fingertip inputs and There are special styluses that do work. The point was to make it usable with finger input, something that doesn’t work well in most multi-purpose touch screens. But, even if it did, do you want it detecting the input in your pocket, randomly pressing stuff? It’s not like there’s a cover to keep it safe. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-used-ballpoint-ink-pen-instead-of-stylus-on-lcd-touchpad-why/544629/37 "2010-06-30T14:46:45Z")
Glad to see you rethought that post, **BigT**. 😛 Besides the specially-designed stylus you can use with the iPhone (~$20), there’s apparently [some kind of little sausage](http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/03/korean-iphone-sausage-now-available-in-us/) that works, too, and will only cost you a buck. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-used-ballpoint-ink-pen-instead-of-stylus-on-lcd-touchpad-why/544629/38 "2010-06-30T15:06:57Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > You’re surprised that a surface that’s intended to be used repeatedly for many different things isn’t designed to be used with a pen or pencil? > > Seriously? Yes, seriously. I don’t see any reason why there couldn’t be a screen that could detect the pressure from the tip of a pen or a pencil but would also be impervious to marks from such pens or pencils. > [@BigT](#): > > There are special styluses that do work. The point was to make it usable with finger input, something that doesn’t work well in most multi-purpose touch screens. But, even if it did, do you want it detecting the input in your pocket, randomly pressing stuff? > > It’s not like there’s a cover to keep it safe. It shouldn’t do anything until I press the “home” key to activate it and do the slidey bit. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-used-ballpoint-ink-pen-instead-of-stylus-on-lcd-touchpad-why/544629/39 "2010-06-30T17:00:39Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Yes, seriously. I don’t see any reason why there couldn’t be a screen that could detect the pressure from the tip of a pen or a pencil but would also be impervious to marks from such pens or pencils. … You don’t see any reason why someone wouldn’t design a screen that physically prevents ink from being released from a pen or lead from being worn off a pencil. Seriously. Wow. Okay, yes, you could design a screen that ink wouldn’t stain. But then you’d end up with at least some ink still coming out, so now it’s just sliding all over the place and you have to constantly find something to wipe it off with and/or get it all over your hands and fingers. As for pencils, they work pretty much by friction, for lack of a better word. So unless you can make a perfectly smooth surface, the pencil is still going to be marking the screen in some way, which you’ll again have to constantly wipe off. Or, y’know, people could just NOT USE writing utensils, designed to leave marks on surfaces, on a surface that they don’t want to leave a mark on. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-used-ballpoint-ink-pen-instead-of-stylus-on-lcd-touchpad-why/544629/40 "2010-06-30T17:16:43Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > writing utensils We call 'em “upencils” in my house. Well, I do. The cats don’t really say much. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-used-ballpoint-ink-pen-instead-of-stylus-on-lcd-touchpad-why/544629.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-who-used-ballpoint-ink-pen-instead-of-stylus-on-lcd-touchpad-why/544629.md?page=3)