Fetishism, or what?

[ander]

Dudes (largely):

Don't get me wrong. As you do, I love keyboards in many ways.

But really—this endless hashing-over of every conceivable nuance of switch and sub-switch type, typing feels and sounds, key materials/thicknesses/colors, part numbers, legend variations and fonts, backlighting patterns, limited editions, keysets that cost as much as whole keyboards, keys with little monster faces, keys bearing the likenesses of pioneers of the doorbell industry...

Does it ever occur to you that maybe what this is really about is that we just need to get out a bit more? Could we actually be indulging in a kind of fetishism here that we have, for one reason or another, chosen as a safer and/or easier alternative to, you know, life? Oblivious, perhaps, to the fact that, no matter how many keyboards or special keycaps we own, or how much we discuss them, we eventually get old and die—and that this is a one-shot (as opposed to double-shot) deal?

Maybe I'm just being a Voice in the Wilderness. It wouldn't be the first time. And of course I am typing this on an MK, so a certain amount of hypocrisy is unavoidable.

I'm just saying.

In the interest of fairness, I expressly exclude from such speculation those with clinical conditions that compel them to fixate on keyboards and/or similar collections of small, precise, highly detailed objects.

Thank you.

[fanpeople]

I like latex.......

[digi]

Realforce 55g best keyboard NA.

[fohat.digs]

I feel ashamed when I see a grown up man say things like "...a sharp drop at the actuation point at around 2/3 - 3/4 way down the..."

Don't you have anything better to do with your life than yammering away on the minute details of a keyboard? I have both an M and an F that I picked up at goodwill for nothing 15 years ago and for the first time yesterday I googled about them and found 'enthusiast' (here an euphemism for retarded) websites where idiots bounce off the walls telling each other about the orgasms per second they have when using them. And 'using' is an overstatement with 90% of those morons. Most are busy opening them, cleaning the last atom of dirt off them, 'restoring' what doesn't need any restoration, 'upgrading', thinking of names for them, 'modding', taking photos, showing them off, in general jerking off about the clicky sensations and the superb accuracy of their typing and other general uber-dorkiness. What I never found there was anything useful to do with them, ie. actually program a computer.

Go type 'messenger lectures' in youtube and see what smart people look like, then kill yourself disassembling your One True Keyboard(TM) for the nth time and swallowing all the buckling springs.

And then mail one of your remaining model Fs to me.

[mike52787]

I dont think that we have the MOST obsessive hobby, but I admit that things can get a bit overboard sometimes. fetishism? maybe. I just see it as a hobby.

[kurplop]

Ander,
you bring up some valid concerns; concerns which many of us have mulled over. I've concluded that whether it's obsessive or not, it's who we are. Some people are sports fans, news junkies, gear heads, workaholics, wine connoisseurs, and more. I think that having a strong interest in any area, as long as it is at least morally neutral, is one of the wholesome joys of life. My personal experiences with keyboard enthusiasts have shown most of the community to be nice, quality people.

When does a strong interest become a destructive obsession? Probably when it interferes with the responsibilities of life. Are you doing well in school? How are you at managing money? Are you a good friend? Are you fair with others? Have you set realistic life goals and are you working toward achieving them? Life can get very busy at times and any optional interest or activity can become a rival to more important commitments.

About 15 years ago, I got together with my old training partner whom I hadn't seen since 15 years prior to then. We both had dreams of being world class weightlifter and spent countless hours in the gym. While our friends were out having fun, we were torturing our bodies. While they were drinking beer and getting high, we were swallowing supplements and gulping down protein drinks. As we talked and reminisced, I casually joked that we sure were stupid. He disagreed and reminded me that we turned out okay and that many of our friends didn't. The goals we set, while in some ways unnecessary, at least protected us from some of the harmful excesses that destroyed some of our friends lives.

I have gone through many obsessive phases in my 62 years of life. Many of them much stronger than my interest in keyboards. I think that overall I've gained from all of them. With each, it added a, at times useful, piece to the repertoire.

One more thing about the keyboard hobby. There is something pure about it. We don't do it for fame. It won't help your dating life. It offers little hope of prospering financially from it. We just do it because, for some hard to define reason, we enjoy it.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

… then kill yourself disassembling your One True Keyboard(TM) for the nth time and swallowing all the buckling springs.

And then mail one of your remaining model Fs to me.

I'm intrigued about his life-after-death process.

The nature of the human brain is that it is capable of viewing both sides of the same situation simultaneously. A subject or object that is the source of a fetish can be seen both from its fetish viewpoint and from its totally mundane viewpoint at the same time. That is a very confusing state of mind, since instead of a consistent or resolved viewpoint you're trapped in a state of interminable balanced conflict where neither viewpoint can be accepted.

In terms of keyboards, I do ask: considering all the trouble I go to to research and document the subject, for the minuscule benefit that all of this work brings, why do I subject myself to so much hassle? It does mean that I'm not mentally trapped in this charade: I can step away if I choose, just about.

I was thinking about the subject the other day from the perspective of a heritage railway — a heritage railway will be served by many volunteers, who perform many tasks, but who all work towards a single central goal: to facilitate the smooth running of a railway that the public can come and enjoy. With keyboards, there is no central goal, and it's easy to find yourself on the wrong track, working towards goals that are too distant from what anyone else is looking for in the subject.

There is something pure about it. We don't do it for fame. It won't help your dating life. It offers little hope of prospering financially from it. We just do it because, for some hard to define reason, we enjoy it.

I guess the people who are happy enjoying weird and wonderful keycaps and Korea's latest custom are the lucky ones, the people who reap happiness from this subject.

[chyros]

I think I might go about it another way from what you describe. I don't stay at home for keyboards, it's just what I might be doing while I'm at home nothing doing something else.

[tp4tissue]

A Fetish is not something you merely obsess over.


A fetish is something sexual which must be present for you to -get-off-..


Ya'll gotta stop using this word wrong.... 


Unless that 1% of geekhackers who must have an image of a keyboard in the background before being up-to-the-task, is the crowd ur referring to...


hahahahahahhaahahhahahahaha

[Data]

It looks like fetishism at times.  I'll give you that much.

But truly, the passion with which we approach our hobby is no different from any other.  Ever talk to a car guy?  No, a real car guy who does frame-up full restorations of antiques in his garage or is 30 grand into his latest import tuner project.  How about an R/C helicopter guy?  Have you seen those guys???  Ask one how he feels about carbon fiber sometime.    People get passionate about their hobbies.  The same degree of testing and prototyping and iteration and measuring and heated discussion happens there as happens here, and those other hobbies are usually a lot more expensive than ours.   

Though we're probably much better at putting our thoughts into words.