Author Topic: Sudden Decline in Keyboard Interest  (Read 13476 times)

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Offline jcoffin1981

  • Posts: 860
Re: Sudden Decline in Keyboard Interest
« Reply #50 on: Wed, 30 May 2018, 05:16:31 »
Most hobbies/interests/avocations involve the acquisition of knowledge, skills, materials, parts, and the interaction with others in the community who share these with you.  You have  to admit something such as stamp collecting has changed immensely during the last 50 years because of the internet.

Factors that affect the waxing and waning of interest include well the novelty, the quest for knowledge, maintenance,  (for many of my hobbies it's been the "hunt" or the search of new pieces or examples which represent my chosen interest), free time, and  changing life roles and responsibilities. 

I'll give an example of one of my hobbies- computer rig building and then overclocking.  I spent a couple years doing this because I thought it  was absolutely fascinating. I reached what you may call  my 'endgame.'  This is a consistent, popular, ASUS board (Sandy Bridge for those still green) chosen for quality and because most potential problems and solutions were well documentated; and an Intel 2500K.  I had this rig stable running at 5.2 GH and crashing about twice a month. Some would argue that is not stable but that is not the point here.  Since I don't game I never had  a reason to upgrade my gear and I've had the same rig for the last 6 or 7 years.  I could learn about the newest generations and dump 1600 bucks on all new stuff and have some fun, but I would see little difference in performance for my needs.  It is true and I don't game and the most resource draining games do lag on my system on here, but it's of no concern to me.  It seems the OP KAVIK has also reached his chosen 'endgame' as he doesn't wanna dump more resources and is very happy with his current build.  Also in light of other events in his life and his late friend, this seems trivial. 

I'm one the weirdos or minority who has found his favorite switch to be  unmodified Cherry MX Browns.  I do go on GH almost daily, but it's mostly to read about newbies experiences and give a little guidance with my limited knowledge base.  I will say that during the last 6-12 months there has been an enormous amount of new switches or modifications of older designs- some mainstream and some confined to the underground community. This new invention of the drop in keyboard switches has rekindled my interests again at new switch designs and I would like to again experiment with new layouts, brands, companies, designs, and well just about everything.  But I do need to take some time and money to advance my career, so the keyboard thing has to take a backseat.

I don't know what the "Moon" keyboard is (shows what I know next the the real enthusiasts) but Kovak, you are at a time in the hobby where there is so much to try that I can almost guarantee  that with a  little research and experimentation (half the fun) you can find something which will exceed the expectation cap you have placed.
KPB V60 Gateron Browns and Leopold Keycaps.  Poker 3 with Gateron Browns and Poker keycaps.  Poker 3 with Cherry MX Browns, ABS keycaps and white LED's.

Leopold FC660M- my new favorite, right out of the box.

Offline ramblinrose

  • Posts: 99
Re: Sudden Decline in Keyboard Interest
« Reply #51 on: Wed, 30 May 2018, 09:03:17 »
This sort of thing happens all the time with my hobbies, whether it be retro game collecting, homebrewing beer, keyboards, computer builds etc. Comes in cycles!

Offline nerdblog_io

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Re: Sudden Decline in Keyboard Interest
« Reply #52 on: Wed, 30 May 2018, 09:16:28 »
For me it's whenever it becomes to "real" so to speak.

Like if this hobby ever causes me more distress than pleasure. I'm the same way though, was pretty amped for hyperfuse and once I got it, my focus shifted.

Offline long_qt_pie

  • Posts: 107
Re: Sudden Decline in Keyboard Interest
« Reply #53 on: Sat, 02 June 2018, 17:04:24 »
I know what you mean.  I go through periods of time where I feel guilty spending this kind of money on things and try to rationalize it but telling myself most of this holds good value.  I think it hits most when I’m in the middle of a lot of GBs with a few months left in them and you feel stuck.  Luckily thus far it goes away
Jetfire | Mech 27 v1 | Mira SE | Singa | Orion 2.5 | Eo87 | Lubrigante | MGA | IBM F XT | AEKII | Lightpad | Exent | Dolphin Rev 2 | F1-8x | Mr Suit

Offline nativejibroney22

  • Posts: 23
  • I enjoy keyboards as well as making artisans
Re: Sudden Decline in Keyboard Interest
« Reply #54 on: Thu, 07 June 2018, 10:29:22 »
I just went through this for the last 6 months or so. Just seemingly overnight and for no reason I stopped browsing and coming to the threads, keeping track of new cases and keysets, building my keyboards. By no means would I start typing on membrane trash, but felt no need to go further haha. Recently it started coming back and the itch is returning, not as intense as before but the hobby is growing back for me! Think it will just sort of come and go in waves!

Offline mdlt97

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Re: Sudden Decline in Keyboard Interest
« Reply #55 on: Thu, 07 June 2018, 10:32:48 »
tbh, you might just need a break, take sometime not thinking about keyboard, if doesnt come back than you lost interest but if it does you probably were just stressed
TX60 | Duck TC-V3 | Duck Eagle V2 1/1 Bottom | Zephyr r2 | Duck Sidewinder | Mech27v2 | TX75 | LZ CLS | Duck Viper v2 | Orion v3 | HHKB pro 1 | TGR 910 | Omega60

Offline Deephouse_jedi

  • Posts: 21
Re: Sudden Decline in Keyboard Interest
« Reply #56 on: Thu, 07 June 2018, 14:45:28 »
I lost interest for awhile also, but recently got back into them. Even if you arent building or collecting youre still be happy using whta you have and have an appreciation for them. Well that my case anyway

Offline hideyourholes

  • Posts: 27
Re: Sudden Decline in Keyboard Interest
« Reply #57 on: Thu, 07 June 2018, 14:47:05 »
I'm really bad at picking up a new hobby, getting fully engrossed in it, and then stopping after I have wasted a considerable amount of money in it. I call it the DED approach - discovery, engrossment, despair. Haven't gotten to stage 3 of mechanical keyboards yet.

Offline hilltopchill

  • Posts: 20
Re: Sudden Decline in Keyboard Interest
« Reply #58 on: Thu, 07 June 2018, 19:32:56 »
I've been into keyboards for about 1 and a half years, and I frequently go between being really interested and then not at all. I'd say what you're experiencing is perfectly normal.

Offline Kavik

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Re: Sudden Decline in Keyboard Interest
« Reply #59 on: Tue, 14 August 2018, 15:13:02 »
Not too long after posting this, my interest came back and all was well in the world.

Now, I've hit that spot again. Every time I get on GH, it's like scrolling through those promotional e-mails from companies I bought something from once but end up deleting with the occasional interesting e-mail from a friend sprinkled in.

I was really enjoying my TKC-1800 with BOX Royals, but then my spacebar started chattering and I just haven't had the drive to sit down and fix it. The whole BOX switch debacle is also a bit depressing since I love the two BOX types I have. Now I'm just using some Kailh low profile switches at work.

At least this time, I've managed to fill my time with some other hobbies, so it's not as empty.
Maybe they're waiting for gasmasks and latex to get sexy again.

The world has become a weird place.

Offline captsis

  • Formerly matt2dlg
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Re: Sudden Decline in Keyboard Interest
« Reply #60 on: Tue, 14 August 2018, 16:16:34 »
I also tent to lose interest every few months. Hobbies for me come and go in waves. This is indicated by gaps in my post history :p. For me, keyboards will always have special meaning as it was one of my first real hobbies as I started to earn money, and thus am in too deep now to just up and quit :))

Offline JP

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Re: Sudden Decline in Keyboard Interest
« Reply #61 on: Wed, 15 August 2018, 10:04:32 »
I'm glad I found this thread. My interests in this hobby have been multi-faceted. I started this hobby with a massive influx of acquisitions. I started out trying to collect every IBM keyboard which eventually branched to other types of vintage keyboards. For me a lot of this has been based on the thrill of the hunt. It was also an ambition to discover relics of the past virtually unknown to the times and to also research them. Besides simply collecting I had aspirations of restoring certain ones and in some cases customizing them. It came to point recently though where I've more or less hit the brakes on this hobby and shifted over to other hobbies or even real life I dare say. I haven't lost interest entirely but I've achieved my end game in certain domains of interest and do not care about having one of everything as I once did. I figure I can always tinker away on my projects whenever I feel like rather than burn myself out trying to get everything done as fast as possible.
About Me | The Collection
Therapy is expensive so I buy keyboards and bike parts.

Offline dndlmx

  • Posts: 339
Re: Sudden Decline in Keyboard Interest
« Reply #62 on: Wed, 15 August 2018, 10:21:36 »
Once I learned “most” of the basics of the hobby (more like culture) and tried various keyboards... the amount of time I spent thinking about the perfect keyboard dropped. I just started to use and appreciate what I had, without worrying about some end game or flawless design. There’s pros and cons to keyboard models and switches and whatever else, like a lot of things in life.

Offline f32h80fsd08h34r5

  • Posts: 114
  • Location: US-
Re: Sudden Decline in Keyboard Interest
« Reply #63 on: Wed, 15 August 2018, 12:26:58 »
I found my definitive favorite keyboard + switch combo (LFK78 with Salmon Alps) and have literally been so inactive on GH and reddit ever since... I'm sure I'll fall back in the rabbit hole eventually.

Offline bengeek

  • Posts: 5
Re: Sudden Decline in Keyboard Interest
« Reply #64 on: Wed, 15 August 2018, 14:55:36 »
I confess that I'm not stricken as some of you with keyboards. I came here recently, because I needed a new kb and saw some incredible boards here - which started me towards the rabbit hole - I'm still on the edge, looking in. What's keeping me out is all the keycaps that I like are $180 and up. For that kinda money, I can buy three vintage Macintosh SEs!

Offline Ephemeral

  • Posts: 131
  • Location: Indy
Re: Sudden Decline in Keyboard Interest
« Reply #65 on: Wed, 15 August 2018, 15:27:39 »
I come and go from the hobby. Right now I'm more interested in keyboards than ever, but who knows where I'll be with it after the builds I have coming up.
It always takes something interesting and new popping up to pull me back in.
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E6.5 (Lubed 50g MX Blacks) | Preonic (55g MX Clears) | CA66 (Zealios V2 65g) | budget96 (MX Red) | Infinity 60% (Zealios 78g) | Phantom TKL (Gateron Black) | MiniVan (Zealios 78g) | Helix (?)
[Incoming: Polaris (?) |  KBDFans 8X Mk II (v2 Tealios)]

Offline Blaise170

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Re: Sudden Decline in Keyboard Interest
« Reply #66 on: Thu, 16 August 2018, 10:08:12 »
I confess that I'm not stricken as some of you with keyboards. I came here recently, because I needed a new kb and saw some incredible boards here - which started me towards the rabbit hole - I'm still on the edge, looking in. What's keeping me out is all the keycaps that I like are $180 and up. For that kinda money, I can buy three vintage Macintosh SEs!

The majority of the money I've spent on the hobby has been for vintage stuff, I've never purchased a key set which costs more than $40 (although I think that will change soon since I just need one specific keyset to complete my modern build).
I proxy anything including keyboards (キーボード / 鍵盤), from both Japan (日本) and China (中國). For more information, you may visit my dedicated webpage here: https://www.keyboards.es/proxying.html

View my current and past keyboards here: https://deskthority.net/wiki/User:Blaise170

Offline ThoughtArtist

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Re: Sudden Decline in Keyboard Interest
« Reply #67 on: Fri, 17 August 2018, 01:33:37 »
I confess that I'm not stricken as some of you with keyboards. I came here recently, because I needed a new kb and saw some incredible boards here - which started me towards the rabbit hole - I'm still on the edge, looking in. What's keeping me out is all the keycaps that I like are $180 and up. For that kinda money, I can buy three vintage Macintosh SEs!

The majority of the money I've spent on the hobby has been for vintage stuff, I've never purchased a key set which costs more than $40 (although I think that will change soon since I just need one specific keyset to complete my modern build).

A fact about keycaps I discovered is that it is sort of a sub-hobby within the keyboard hobby. And even though I haven't shopped for new caps in well over 2 years, the ones I use still give me noticeable pleasure every day using them. (specifically PBT caps)

So in a way I am happy that my interest in shopping for keyboards and caps has waned, because I've found what I really enjoy and I appreciate it every day I use my gear and don't feel the obsessive need to hunt rather than enjoy what I already have.

Also, I think one could consider some types of unique exotic boards as another sub-hobby because those seem to be in a separate category from my daily driver boards and they give me something to use every once in awhile as interesting diversion.

So overall the interest in the boards/caps themselves is still very much there for me, but I can relax now with them and appreciate them more over time.
« Last Edit: Fri, 17 August 2018, 01:37:45 by ThoughtArtist »

Offline Auslander

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Re: Sudden Decline in Keyboard Interest
« Reply #68 on: Fri, 17 August 2018, 03:23:21 »
The only annoying thing about this hobby is that you need to invest your energies in finding stuff because sellers are too lazy to offer a continuous supply of the best products, or simply they're hobbyists like you.

You don't spend most of your time to improve - build - entrance products, but to actually jump in the right opportunity that allows you to spend your money. And this is very stupid. Most of the time you're waiting for someone that takes your money, and you need to actually thank them for running a GB and taking your money. They obviously deserve to be thanked, is just how things work that is stupid.

So far only k3kc and originative are pretty consistent, at a premium price.

+1

 I 100% agree
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Offline Meowsaur

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Re: Sudden Decline in Keyboard Interest
« Reply #69 on: Fri, 17 August 2018, 09:45:06 »
Also, I think one could consider some types of unique exotic boards as another sub-hobby because those seem to be in a separate category from my daily driver boards and they give me something to use every once in awhile as interesting diversion.

Hmm.

You know, I used to scroll through /r/MechanicalKeyboards and gawk at everything.
Now I'll scroll past 80% of the things on there.

I haven't lost my enjoyment of the hobby by any means, but over the years it's shifted more towards the weirder layouts, cases and switches. I expect I'll get some backlash for saying this, but often it feels like once you've seen one 60% in the bog-standard layout - you've seen them all. I find it very difficult to comprehend why people buy so many expensive keyboards with so little variation; perhaps there's some degree of retail therapy to it.

But hey. If someone gets happiness out of it, who am I to judge, eh.

Offline SBJ

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Re: Sudden Decline in Keyboard Interest
« Reply #70 on: Fri, 17 August 2018, 10:27:18 »
perhaps there's some degree of retail therapy to it.
Had to look up retail therapy. :D
I've been guilty of that in the past.
Nowadays I find myself more critital as to what I'm going to spend my money on(okay so probably more of the wife's influence :p ) Not to say I won't ever buy another keyboard. But I'm satisfied for now.
Different strokes for different folks though.

Offline Blaise170

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Re: Sudden Decline in Keyboard Interest
« Reply #71 on: Fri, 17 August 2018, 10:56:04 »
I proxy anything including keyboards (キーボード / 鍵盤), from both Japan (日本) and China (中國). For more information, you may visit my dedicated webpage here: https://www.keyboards.es/proxying.html

View my current and past keyboards here: https://deskthority.net/wiki/User:Blaise170

Offline zslane

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Re: Sudden Decline in Keyboard Interest
« Reply #72 on: Fri, 17 August 2018, 12:27:45 »
Having found my favorite keyboard model, and having acquired (nearly) all the keycap sets I want, I too am winding down my involvement. I love keycaps, but it is incredibly rare that anyone designs a set I like enough to want to buy, and so I'm rapidly approaching the "I'm finally done" phase.

Offline Kavik

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Re: Sudden Decline in Keyboard Interest
« Reply #73 on: Fri, 17 August 2018, 13:04:28 »
Also, I think one could consider some types of unique exotic boards as another sub-hobby because those seem to be in a separate category from my daily driver boards and they give me something to use every once in awhile as interesting diversion.

Hmm.

You know, I used to scroll through /r/MechanicalKeyboards and gawk at everything.
Now I'll scroll past 80% of the things on there.

I haven't lost my enjoyment of the hobby by any means, but over the years it's shifted more towards the weirder layouts, cases and switches. I expect I'll get some backlash for saying this, but often it feels like once you've seen one 60% in the bog-standard layout - you've seen them all. I find it very difficult to comprehend why people buy so many expensive keyboards with so little variation; perhaps there's some degree of retail therapy to it.

But hey. If someone gets happiness out of it, who am I to judge, eh.

I agree. Different layouts are actually what interest me the most. I don't like having more than one or two of a certain layout; although TKL is probably the most usable for me. For switches, I also like the more extreme variants (very heavy or very tactile), and I usually consider cousin switches a close enough proxy to satisfy my curiosity (e.g. Clears vs. Zealios). 60% looks pretty boring to me. 65% can be cool. 75% doesn't usually look cool, but it looks very utilitarian.


Having found my favorite keyboard model, and having acquired (nearly) all the keycap sets I want, I too am winding down my involvement. I love keycaps, but it is incredibly rare that anyone designs a set I like enough to want to buy, and so I'm rapidly approaching the "I'm finally done" phase.

As far as keycaps, I'm the same. There are a few sets I'd really like to have, but most of the ICs really don't pique my interest at all. They're really too expensive for what they are anyway, especially when some just sit in a box without a keyboard to go onto.

There are still a few things I'd like to have/try, but I don't feel the "need" to get them.

It's a weird situation though since I still use a keyboard every day, and I still notice all the little things I like and don't like; I just don't have as much of a drive to do anything about them.
Maybe they're waiting for gasmasks and latex to get sexy again.

The world has become a weird place.

Offline zslane

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Re: Sudden Decline in Keyboard Interest
« Reply #74 on: Fri, 17 August 2018, 15:56:04 »
I type quite a bit every day too, and I guess I'm fortunate that there is only one thing about my favorite keyboard model that I wish I could change, and that's its case. The stock ABS case is okay, but I'd much rather have my endgame board(s) in beautiful, powder-coated white aluminum cases. Unfortunately, that's just not going to happen given how few people other than myself would want to spend the large price tag such a thing would have.