Hey folks! First, what a humbling experience touring this forum. I feel like an absolute beginner, and in most ways I still am. I bought my first mechanical keyboard in 2017, thinking I was on the absolute cutting edge with my Vortex Race 3. Then I got the CTRL and the ALT, still thinking I was so far ahead of the curve. I joined the /mk subreddit, mostly for the pictures. I didn't even know about this forum.
After a lot of money and a lot of waiting, I got to a place where I felt pretty satisfied with what I had. But that's all changed now. I went to go buy some switches the other day and on the site, I saw a very nice-looking keyboard. I can't even tell you what it was at this point, because when I saw it was sold out I tried searching for other keyboards like it. Sold out. Then I stumbled on some videos (Taeha Types, KeyBonBon, etc) and realized that I know nothing. I've never known anything. I've been an absolute scrub thinking I was a god. So here I am, humbled, crawling into these forums to seek true enlightenment.
Things have changed quite a lot since I joined the scene. So many more enthusiasts, extremely high-quality builds, and absolutely no stock anywhere. Endgame? How about finding *any* decent kit in stock. I only knew about 3 switch makers before. Now there are at least a dozen or more. So much to take in!
I have at least four builds in mind:
- Pure typing. Tactile. I'm fine with any board that has arrow keys and super keys since the majority of my typing happens in a mac. I'm not sure how folks actually do things on 60% boards that only have control keys.
- Pure typing. Clicky, because I like them clicks!
- Pure typing. Linear, because sometimes I just like a buttery feel.
- Gaming. Linear switches. This one needs function keys for sure, so likely a TKL or some 75% that happens to have function keys. I want a separate numpad for this configuration as I use it a lot in the games I play but don't like it connected to the board.
...and of course, multiply this by some number of keycap sets.
The Jelly Epoch was going to be one of my infinity stones, but I didn't get it. It's a sad story that involves not having a phone number entered before entering my PayPal information. I've got my sights on the Bahrnob65 now. And past that? I'm just not seeing anything coming up. Maybe I'm not looking in the right places? Not sure. Would love to get some pointers on where to find high-quality kits.
I've also yet to built my first kit. I've got soldering tools on the way and some practice kits coming. I'm excited about that! So it'd be fine for my first build to be something a little lower on the tier list.
So, to sum up, I'm super excited to be actually joining the community instead of just buying into it. Looking forward to the friends I'll make here and all the awesome things I'll learn!
If it's not against the rules, I'd like to close out this intro with a few questions:
- What would be a really high-quality but inexpensive kit that would serve me well as a first build?
- Aside from /MechMarket and this forum, are there other after-market hubs that might specialize in higher-end boards?
- Are there reasonable options for frakensteining a board together based on extras from previous group buys? Is that not really possible because of cases/PCBs?
- What's the best way for someone like me to contribute back to the community?
Thanks in advance, and thanks for having me!
