...Clack whales...
I like that term, for a diehard clack collector I assume? Is that new?
Not as much die hard, more like big spender. It's just something you hear every now and then in gambling or (micro-transaction-oriented) gaming, describes someone that spends an excessive amount of money to the point where the casino/developer actually takes notice of them and starts to cater to them (as it'd take a substantial amount of average people to replace one whale). It's not quite as applicable here, since the biggest spenders do not directly impact Clack's bottom line (selling only at retail and all), but they indirectly do it by generating discussion/interest each time they make a public purchase at a excessive value, while also pushing average Clack aftermarket value upward to allow Clack to justify increasing his retail price.
So I'm mostly talking about the people that drop 2-3x market value on eBay clacks, but if you look lately a lot of the final bids have stayed below $200, so the whale well might be going dry.
Is it just me or do none of the heavy traders post anymore?? Did they all get taken out by some international clack spy ring?
It sounds like some (like naasfu) are busy, but I'm fairly certain two great collectors moved the bulk of their clacks a few months back to a few other collectors who don't have as sterling of reputation around here, so most of their business is probably being handled behind closed doors (if at all).
Interest in mechanical keyboards/keycaps still continues to grow by a lot though, so could just be that people want to avoid the corresponding increase in "I KNOW YOU AREN'T SELLING BRO, AND I DON'T HAVE WHAT YOU WANT, BUT THAT'S MY DREAM CAP" type spam that grows very tiring.