What does your family and friends think of your hobby?

[Duckyreddy]

Frequently asked questions from family and friends~~

"What's so fun about keyboards?"
"There really isn't much behind keyboards is there?"
"What's the difference between the laptop ones and that thing you have on your desk?" (Referring to my Ducky)
"What...How much?"
"It's so loud, can you not?" (MX Clears)
"What are they called again? artisans? how are you suppose to tell each key from another?"

What else have you encountered? Share it belowww! 

[_haru]

I have blank modifiers on my AMJ60. What baffles me, time and time again, is when people ask how I remember which keys are which. I mean, I've been using a QWERTY keyboard for most of my life... I think I know where the keys are XD

[Duckyreddy]

I have blank modifiers on my AMJ60. What baffles me, time and time again, is when people ask how I remember which keys are which. I mean, I've been using a QWERTY keyboard for most of my life... I think I know where the keys are XD

hahahah, so relatable XD
My friend has a terrible habit of still looking at his keycaps when typing, he was really confused and lost when he typed on my blank board lol  )

[zombimuncha]

My wife equates keyboard enthusiasts as weirdos / potential serial killers.

[fanpeople]

What i choose to spend my money on is my buisness. I don't start conversaitons with people about keyboards.

My wife wants a ducky because there is a white one.  LOL

[SBJ]

The wife understands I have my hobbies. I don't get into her business about buying arts and crafts stuff and she doesn't get in my face about keyboards.
I don't start conversations about keyboards either because most people won't get it. Would be cool to find another mechanical keyboard person in my area.

My inner circle of friends knows about it and I talk to them about it but they don't exactly understand either.

[superpiya]

Mostly think it's a weird hobby, and they said that spending more than $200 on <75% size keyboard is dumb 

[chyros]

At first they thought I was insane. Now half of them watch my videos .

[Vox]

My dad was actually really interested. I guess he liked the soldering and diy part of custom keyboards and understood that it, like many hobbies, wasn't cheap. But i don't know how well he would react when I tell him how much I spent on keycaps. The rest of my family doesn't really know what I do, just that I become weird whenever someone mentions a keyboard. And my friends know exactly what I do and just gave up on me.

[DaBubbs]

My wife just rolls her eyes but she has her hobbies too. So she doesn't understand it but does not give me grief about it.

The people I work with give me a little grief about how much I have spent. But I have brought one over to the dark side. She needed a new keyboard and I let her use a RF 104U silenced for a week. She ended up buying it from me 

[Boskr]

Many of my friends think it's a neat hobby but that I'm crazy for spending as much as I have, and I'm not even into expensive stuff right now.

"You spent $20...on a single keycap...that you won't get for 3 months? You're insane"

Girlfriend thinks it's cool, she enjoys that I DIY cool stuff that takes time and care.

Don't really talk to family about it, except my brother, who doesn't even understand the point of mechanical keyboards at all.

I use a 60% at work, people seem to think it's neat, but constantly say I'm odd for using a smaller keyboard.
I don't mind, it stops anyone else from using my keyboard.

[0100010]

Home :

My wife thinks I am insane for spending the amount of time / money I do on my keyboards, but when I am not building a board, I am building some other small electronic device; so, she understands.

Work :

When folks see my 4704 Model F 107 in front of my corporate screens on my desk, they always want to know more about it, where can they buy one, etc.  They like to pick it up to see how heavy it is.

I also keep the blue / black blank Model M on my desk at work in front of my KVM for my testing / non corporate image machines, to keep other folks in the office from using them.  On the rare occasion I need to bring a vendor or developer over to look at something, they always seem to struggle using it.

[typo]

My wife is indifferent. She has her hobbies, I have mine. I am not a fanatic about keyboards but we are both nerds. On the other side of the coin most of my family and longtime friends have passed away. It is to be expected at my age unfortunately. I have a number of much younger friends I made up here. This is a very poor rural farming area. I went and built a lovely home. They come over and are mostly fascinated with everything let alone the keyboards. I am a humble man and consider them my equal by any standard but I am not sure they feel the same way. Like maybe I am a different class. People are people. period. That is my feeling. To answer the question, no one I currently know pays it much thought. Of course it is very exciting to me.

010, you are using CRT's still? I am using some new big Eizo's. I don't really feel that is absurd because I am doing serious business with them. My employer helped anyways.

I cannot understand most of the newer generations with $5 dome boards. I guess if you never felt something good you would never miss it? Even with my illness I can bang out very high WPM at 99.7% accuracy on my boards. On a Rubber dome that falls drastically. I mean back in the day we only had the likes of Teletext, Model F Etc. I think the art of typing has been lost. Just like fountain pens. I do not know if they even teach touch typing in High school anymore? I am just an old guy. Still shave with a straight Razor and use a Strop, Badger Etc. They probably find it so interesting just because they are in their Twenties and Thirties is the actual reason.

[Boskr]

I cannot understand most of the newer generations with $5 dome boards. I guess if you never felt something good you would never miss it? Even with my illness I can bang out very high WPM at 99.7% accuracy on my boards. On a Rubber dome that falls drastically. I mean back in the day we only had the likes of Teletext, Model F Etc. I think the art of typing has been lost. Just like fountain pens. I do not know if they even teach touch typing in High school anymore? I am just an old guy. Still shave with a straight Razor and use a Strop, Badger Etc. They probably find it so interesting just because they are in their Twenties and Thirties is the actual reason.

Can confirm, I am a young gun (23) and my high school did not teach any typing classes. The closest we had was a basic Microsoft Office course (and I do mean BASIC, it barely taught anything past formatting and excel formulas). Shame, too, since I didn't learn to touch type until I was 20, and that is only because I work in IT and have been typing all day long from a very young age (Although I didn't care to really learn how to type until I was 19).
Almost everyone I meet that is my age types incredibly slow and does not even understand why a good keyboard would matter.

[zslane]

They don't give it any thought whatsoever.

[Duckyreddy]

My wife equates keyboard enthusiasts as weirdos / potential serial killers.

ahahahahaah, my English teacher at school, literally.

[Duckyreddy]

The wife understands I have my hobbies. I don't get into her business about buying arts and crafts stuff and she doesn't get in my face about keyboards.
I don't start conversations about keyboards either because most people won't get it. Would be cool to find another mechanical keyboard person in my area.

My inner circle of friends knows about it and I talk to them about it but they don't exactly understand either.

My family doesn't quite understand but I don't understand why they have 200+ pots of little plants in the backyard either, I try not to get in their face with keyboards too and my friends on the other hand, they're happy with their rubber domes.

[Duckyreddy]

My dad was actually really interested. I guess he liked the soldering and diy part of custom keyboards and understood that it, like many hobbies, wasn't cheap. But i don't know how well he would react when I tell him how much I spent on keycaps. The rest of my family doesn't really know what I do, just that I become weird whenever someone mentions a keyboard. And my friends know exactly what I do and just gave up on me.

hahahha "Just gave up one me" Lol  )

[Duckyreddy]

I cannot understand most of the newer generations with $5 dome boards. I guess if you never felt something good you would never miss it? Even with my illness I can bang out very high WPM at 99.7% accuracy on my boards. On a Rubber dome that falls drastically. I mean back in the day we only had the likes of Teletext, Model F Etc. I think the art of typing has been lost. Just like fountain pens. I do not know if they even teach touch typing in High school anymore? I am just an old guy. Still shave with a straight Razor and use a Strop, Badger Etc. They probably find it so interesting just because they are in their Twenties and Thirties is the actual reason.

I'm a high school student in New Zealand and I can confirm that we do in fact have touch typing lessons but they are heavily encouraged but not compulsory, I'm tempted to bring a really loud board there and just annoying everyone. 

[jnav]

This is the scenario that plays out in my head when I imagine explaining my interest in keyboards:

Co-worker: So every time I walk into your office I see a new keyboard... What's up with that?

Me: Allow me to preface my response by saying I'm a complete nerd and keyboards just fascinate me...

Co-worker: blank stare

Me: ...And there's these ways you can make a keyboard your own, like choosing your layout, case, key caps, even the switches, all providing a more interesting, personalized, typing experience than a typical keyboard...

Co-worker: blank stare

Me: ...And it's a practical hobby because it's something I use every day for work...

Co-worker: blank stare

Me: ...No, wait, you're not understanding. See, back in the 1980s keyboards were manufactured really well, and companies like IBM made beautiful keyboards, and they had these really nice switches like buckling springs and Alps, and Cherry and it was really enjoyable to use them. But then somewhere along the way, keyboards were commoditized and cheapified to the point that nowadays they're just plastic and rubber disposable crap, and they're basically depressing to use...

Co-worker: blank stare

Me: And then this really amazing community of enthusiasts came along and decided to pool their resources together to design their own keyboards that are much better than anything you can buy off the shelf, and they're like these little works of art sitting on your desk, and they're so enjoyable to type on, and there's so many really interesting thing going on...

Co-worker: blank stare

Me: Never mind

[Duckyreddy]

me: "You'll never understand" 

[fohat.digs]

time to trot this gem out again

[tp4tissue]

What i choose to spend my money on is my buisness. I don't start conversaitons with people about keyboards.

My wife wants a ducky because there is a white one.  LOL

Paging fanpeople..  you've been Called Out,  quick use that cover story we talked about

My wife equates keyboard enthusiasts as weirdos / potential serial killers.

/Racist !!!

[typo]

Figures in other Countries. America has gotten to a point where.......
These kids can type faster on their phone then they could on a Mech keyboard! I wonder how it ever came to this. Technology has allowed us to take Three steps backward.
The educators have given up no doubt.

[tp4tissue]

Figures in other Countries. America has gotten to a point where.......
These kids can type faster on their phone then they could on a Mech keyboard! I wonder how it ever came to this. Technology has allowed us to take Three steps backward.
The educators have given up no doubt.

what?

who can type faster on their phones than keyboard.. ??

That's impossible..

[_haru]

Figures in other Countries. America has gotten to a point where.......
These kids can type faster on their phone then they could on a Mech keyboard! I wonder how it ever came to this. Technology has allowed us to take Three steps backward.
The educators have given up no doubt.

what?

who can type faster on their phones than keyboard.. ??

That's impossible..

Come to my high school. You'd be surprised. I'm just about the only mech keyboard enthusiast there, and I'm definitely one of the few that can't type faster than a keyboard on a phone.

[tp4tissue]

Come to my high school. You'd be surprised. I'm just about the only mech keyboard enthusiast there, and I'm definitely one of the few that can't type faster than a keyboard on a phone.

oh you mean n00bers...  We are people,  n00bers are not really people...  hahahahaahahhaha


Before, I thought you meant,  Had I tried to , I'd be able to type faster on the phone than I could on my keyboard.

[f32h80fsd08h34r5]

money hole

[mason]

Family: More keyboard stuff?
Girlfriend: She supports it  she helped me do the shelf liner mod to one of my keyboards. And she likes to come here to see if anyone replied to her post. She also tried to order
me keycaps while I was at work but the site wasn't cooperating 

Co-worker was talking to me about our other co-worker wearing Fear Of God jeans then I said I would never spend that much on jeans, but I did spend $475 on a keyboard that hasn't shipped yet.

Chris: A keyboard, like a synthesizer?
Mason: No, a computer keyboard.
Chris: A computer keyboard?! Is it mechanical? What's so special about it? Dave, get over here! Mason spent $475 on a keyboard, and not your type of keyboards.
Dave: $475?! Is it high tech?

[SpAmRaY]

What friends?

But my kids think it's cool and my oldest daughter has a tipro with a bunch of random caps on it.

The wife just assumes if we get a box delivered that's anywhere close to being keyboard shaped that I bought another keyboard.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[tp4tissue]

Family: More keyboard stuff?
Girlfriend: She supports it  she helped me do the shelf liner mod to one of my keyboards. And she likes to come here to see if anyone replied to her post. She also tried to order
me keycaps while I was at work but the site wasn't cooperating 

Co-worker was talking to me about our other co-worker wearing Fear Of God jeans then I said I would never spend that much on jeans, but I did spend $475 on a keyboard that hasn't shipped yet.

Chris: A keyboard, like a synthesizer?
Mason: No, a computer keyboard.
Chris: A computer keyboard?! Is it mechanical? What's so special about it? Dave, get over here! Mason spent $475 on a keyboard, and not your type of keyboards.
Dave: $475?! Is it high tech?

But then we have to face facts,  it's NOT high tech..