ok Ripster, here's the thing. I think you're right that abs m1 may well have come with fukkas, and that people mistakenly thought it had black alps. For the sake of argument, lets say that is the case.
Now, for the sake of playing devil's advocate, I'm still going to take on your argument here. Basically you're insinuating that "everyone here poo-poo'ed abs m1 until they found out it was fukkas and then they suddenly liked it" -- the clear implication being that everyone here are slaves to great marketing and the implication additionally being that fukkas arent that great in and of themselves.
Well, clearly i'm among those who say the fukkas are immediately noticeable as a different and better variety of alps; and in my own case, I said so as early as my experience with the matias tp2 real-simplified board last february.
Of course I cant speak for the masses here. That said -- I dont think your argument holds much water when its looked at closely. Ie, your argument that "everyone here poo-pooed the abs m1 before they found out it was fukkas."
Exhibit A: Far from poo-pooing, see these quotes from actual reviews of the abs m1 in GH's review forum. There are three and only three reviews of the M1 in our reviews section, and they are all from before the fukka information broke. So one is from way back in december 08, the others are from way back in Jan 09 and Feb 09.
First lets look at Itlnstln's review - in which he specifically states he has not opened up the switch, so he doesnt know whats inside:
He says: "First Impressions... I should have bought this 'board sooner....I have not popped a keycap to inspect (Filco owners, help me out here), but the keys feel much heavier than those of the Dell"
""The feel of the keys is fantastic". Although the ABS has switches simiar to those in the Dell (my Dells were NIB, so usage experience will be similar), the tactile feedback is more pronounced and there is a stronger spring-back in the switch, producing a somewhat different feel. I am not sure who is making these fake Alps, but they did a phenomenal job; IMO, they feel better than the [dell] Alps switches"
And this is what he concludes - again WITHOUT KNOWING THEY ARE FUKKAS: "All in all, this is, by far, the best keyboard I have typed on... I am heading off to Newegg to order another for home right now"
Not quite a poo-poo assessment, is it? Lets look at the second review of the abs m1 on geekhack reviews forum:
This one is by inaneframe: Note inaneframe ALSO does not know they are fukka's; he is in fact under the impression that they are black alps.
"The ABS M1 Mechanical "Gaming" Keyboard is the first "black alps switch" that I have ever used but if any other black alps are anything like this, I'm in for a real treat and for those of you who count yourselves fans of black alps, you could add another to your number".
"I have to say that I love this keyboard, I love typing on it. It is probably one of the better feeling keyboards that I have ever used"
"This keyboard, I feel will be the watermark against which I will be judging all other keyboards in the future. I think that I have found my favorite and day to day keyboard "
"As it stands, my overall impression of the ABS M1 is that it is as near to perfection as any typingboard that has ever had the pleasure of being keyed by my blessed hands"
Not quite a poo-poo assessment -- is it glowing enough for you? Again, to reiterate: he is not aware that they are fukkas; the dastardly marketing campaign (as you characterize it) hasnt had a chance to become operative here.
Finally, from the third (and last) review of the m1 in our reviews forum -- from ozar. Now, ozar is initially on the fence with the m1; he starts out saying its nice but he's not sure yet. But just one week later, he is saying:
"I've continued to play with this board and it's starting to grow on me... it's definitely a keeper"
Not quite a poo-poo account is it?
So - I think we've established that for those who actually put their hands on an abs m1 with fukkas -- even when all three didnt realize it had fukkas -- two of them immediately loved it with gushing praise, and the other came to like it a lot.
Now lets look at what sorts of criticisms abs m1 has received, which you consider to be 'poo pooing' of the abs m1.
1) since everyone was under the impression that abs m1 had black alps, in the comments/discussion section of these reviews, those who did not actually lay their hands on the m1, but were told it was black alps, and who did not think highly of regular black alps, naturally expressed that sentiment in the comments of these reviews. Ie, if you want to count their comments as 'poo pooing', then you have to acknowledge those are from people who didnt actually touch or use that board.
2) The rollover issue with the m1 was poo pooed, sure. That is a controller issue, not a switch issue, of course.
3) For the one or two negative comments you might find for the m1's key feel if you search the forum from top to bottom to find them - is it that suprising that any switch will have a few detractors? If you take them into account, you certainly have to take into account the gushing extended reviews noted above by those who actually bought these boards. Would you still characterize the reception of this board's key feel, on the whole, as 'poo pooing'?
And finally, it wasnt abs marketing that brought attention to us that they were fukkas - the website only shows a side view profile diagram of the switch from which it is impossible to tell - rather, what brought us news that they were fukkas, was that someone finally opened up a switch and posted a pic of the guts.
In the comments thread of one of the reviews above, I actually request someone post a pic of the m1's switch guts, but no one posted it. It was only many months later that that switch was identified as real-simplified/fukka.
Abs website I dont think even mentions fukkas (the filco on majestouch website does, but thats another board). Whats more, even in the majestouch/filco case, we had gushing reviews before we had a pic, before we understood what fukka actually meant; before we connected fukka's to real-simplifieds (and thus to that switch's own previous history of gushing reviews).
In conclusion then, rippy, I have to disagree with your assessment of what happened with the abs m1 (and its fukka switches) on this site.
You say they were poopooed until abs or other marketing defined them as fukkas, at which point you say many if not all geekhackers, lemming-like, suddenly liked it. On nearly every point, I'd argue, your (cynical!) assessment of both this board and these switches does not hold water.
-the abs was NOT poo pooed by those who actually used and bought it. In fact it got some of the most glowing reviews any keyboard has ever gotten on this site.
-this praise did not happen after fukka or abs marketing hit us - it happened BEFORE that.
:-) /end devils advocation.
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