Welcome Back Geekhack Giveaways - Winners Announced!!!

[DrCr4nK]

A random link to the sadster keys groupbuy.  Sold me on the mechanical keyboard idea, and I got 3 cool keys to start off.  I'm still getting into it, but, so far, I'm loving the community!  So many nice people! 

[Sifo]

This should be easy, short and sweet. Once upon a time a magical meatbro helped out a noob Sifo by modding his Filco. It got lost in the mail on the way back to me so I bought a new Filco and sir bro caps redid everything and sent me another, covering all parts and labour. Probably my most memorable interaction.

[calvinhousecat]

It'd have to be Hoff. Back in Christmas he had this artisan sale where he was selling really nice caps for retail price. Me just joining the game only 3 months ago, I lost every single sale and Hoff was the only guy who made me a winner.
But it gets better


So he actually forgets about my cap but was really responsive and nice when I messaged him about it. He even made it a priority to make sure my artisan got to me ASAP.

And to this day, that cap he sold me is still my favorite cap I have.


The Champagne Lion Binge Key!

[robotox]

I've had nothing but good interactions with everyone here, really.  As a relatively new guy, I don't have a lot to offer for the good caps that only go up for trades.  Now and again I'll ask if anyone will sell them instead of trade them and almost every time, the OPs will at least politely decline.  There was also a user on both Reddit and GH who agreed to sell me a wonderful Zombro.  I promised I'd keep his name on the mum, but I'm incredibly grateful for that.  It's even helped me persuade a few of my coworkers to get in on the hobby.

Every time I post what's probably a dumb or rote little question, somebody is kind enough to politely answer, which is itself a really kind act considering the general demeanor of people in online discussions.

Basically, thanks everyone!

[Muffin860]

Bcredbottle was giving away a grifiti sleeve, which I took. To pay it forward I gave a Grifiti wrist rest to E3E. Simple, gestures, making the community a nice place. Pay it forward people!

[SixtyLife]

early into this hobby, I had a classifieds transaction with frank(clacktalk) and realized we live 15 min away from each other. decided to meet up in person and he was nice enough to bring out his hhkb and kmac happy. up to this point I had only read people's rave reviews about hhkbs and ergo clears and korean customs and was so pumped to finally try them out in person. frank turned out to be one cool dude and I owe him for introducing me the ways of the ergo-clear and for showing me what a great community this is. thanks dude!

there are some really touching tearjerking stories up in here, but if this some how gets picked, please send the giveaways straight to clacktalk. great guy.

[chive_]

The best interaction I've probably had with any Geekhack member would be strict. When I was pretty new to keyboards, I messaged him to tell him how awesome his green Topre Stump was. After a while, we got to talking about our lives, and how things were going. Eventually out of nowhere he offered my the stump for retail because he recently got a really cool car and needed some money. I gladly accepted, and I'll always be grateful for that. I have since passed on the keycap and the favor, but I'll always remember strict as a nice guy and overall great collector.

[skycrimes]

https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/37zbh9/discussion_artisan_caps_rise_of_art_or_fall_of/

I found out about keyboards from a friend in FFXIV (final fantasy online mmo). I realized a lot of my skills/abilites weren't registering and I attributed that to a crappy keyboard. He mentioned r/mechanicalkeyboards and told me to check it out in order to educate myself. I fell in love with keyboards immediately and each day I visited I learned something new. Eventually I found my way to geekhack. At first I didn't understand the site at all, I couldn't figure out who was replying to who and how new each submission was etc. I also felt like everyone knew each other really well and I'd never fit in. At r/mechboards it was nice cause I felt like most people were anonymous and so I didn't feel like an outcast. But little by little I found myself more and more on GH because I felt like it was more in-depth in terms of group buys and keyboard knowledge. As I began to explore, I eventually found out about artisan caps and eventually my ideal dream board. At first artisans were just w/e to me but when I saw my dream board at https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=65501.0 I noticed it had something. Two brobots. I knew I'd never have that board completed or be able to start on something like that without those two bro's. So I decided to look into things more like where can I get those and which ones are they. I quickly found out that in order to get a bro I either needed to be really lucky and win a raffle and then from there trade around until I eventually got the two I wanted or I'd have to spend a lot of money. The deeper I dug the more I learned and eventually I dug too deep and found some fighting that had gone on. I read all the comments and found myself torn and upset. Who was right and who was wrong? I found myself trying to justify my feelings but in the end I just ended up feeling sick to my stomach and wanting to quit the whole mech thing. At that point I still didn't even have a mech yet and so months of research and trying to become a part of a niche community felt wasted. Why fight over plastic? I eventually voiced my comments in a reddit thread (the OP was complaining about a GH GB) about how I was feeling let down by all the hate and anger. Livingspeedbump replied to my comment and he said some really nice and comforting things. For whatever reason I decided to look at his profile after that and found that about 2 weeks prior he created a thread regarding artisans (the link to it is at the start of this comment) and set it up as a safe discussion on how the community felt. It was so awesome to see so many positive things said and many people gave very constructive criticism. No one was angry or flaming. That thread alone completely changed my attitude and I was reminded that I'm doing this whole keyboard thing for fun. After that I started to get more involved with GH  to be more involved with both communities and just got over all the hate. Its not worth being upset over plastic or being jealous of others. It's not worth fighting. So thanks to r/mechboards and GH I have finally found a hobby I actually like and want to stick with. I have my first mech (ducky 3tkl) with 2 ordered (varmilio tkl and kc60) and I've also ordered a TEX acrylic case and a ton of GB keysets. I even have a few artisans now (HKP/matt3o's pumpkin/voidtek skull) and I don't plan to stop anytime soon! I'm still new here and can't wait to get to know you all better! So thanks again to r/mechboard, GH, and Livingspeedbump

[crayzieap]

To be honest, I still consider myself really new to the whole mechanical world.  Only towards December 2014, did I accidentally stumbled across the /mk and geekhack forums after someone had posted their Poker II w/ Dota 2 Keycap, Blue/White Ducky PBT blanks, and with a matching coiled Pexon cable on the /pcmasterace subbreddit (Looking back at things, it's amazing how much I can now easily dissect and pick apart each component of a modded keyboard which pales in comparison to when I first started where I didn't know what the hell I was looking at)

After being inspired with the Poker 2 pictures (and of course with a lot of research), I knew my first keyboard would undoubtedly had to be a 60% board with an aftermarket aluminum case.  It so happened that around this time the newly Pok3r was also announced and I knew this would be the "first" to pop the cherry.

Subsequently, my fondest memory within the community is easily the mayhem and crazy hype that would follow suite with the Pok3r release ---  e.g. prelease news, places to buy, shipment confirmations, countless of box openings, of course the giant megathread on /mk and also some of the $h1tposts towards 60% in general ).  Without a doubt, this brought back high school memories for me similar to the past "next gen" console release (Xbox 360, PS3).  Basically the excitement and buzz feeding of from the massive lines and countless of news coverage on the console release. While also doing the standing in a massive line for 16+ hours with your pre-order stub in hand  

All in all, this is the one memory that I will remember for quite some time when I think of the /mk community and one that I feel bless to have shared with the community.  Of course, it also helps since this also coincided with my first mechanical purchase.  But I've come to realize just like many of you, this hobby can quickly get out of hand and now I"m looking to deckout my keyboard with the community designed keysets (Pulse, 1976), recently bought my first Artisan Keycaps (WoB), and planning to attend my first mechanical meetup here in Seattle come August.

Anyhow, I just wanted to give a big thanks to everyone that is part of this awesome community ---  e.g. manufacturers, keyset designers, artisan cap makers, event organizers, and of course keyboard enthusiasts.   It's awe inspiring in with the amount of heart and soul people put into this community that truly makes it one of a kind.

[sth]

 the best part of GH is the people here that like to do awesome projects even on a tiny scale - the result is more important than the cost, the time spent perfecting something is more important than the hype or the name recognition. matt3o, hasu, metalliqaz, jdcarpe, haata - not just longtime members with a lot of posts, but fantastic work from their tireless efforts. i didn't mean to leave anyone out but the point is not the individuals named - it's about the community effort and the feeling of teamwork that is so cool to me.
for a more recent, personal and specific example, hasu's work on the tmk firmware and custom controllers is nothing short of amazing - he even made a batch of TMK controllers for HHKB Pro 1 which has very little representation compared to the HHKB pro2. i asked him early on when the pro2 controller was released if he'd ever make one for the pro1. he said it was unlikely due to the lower number of pro1s but just a few months later i got a PM saying he decided to make a pro1 controller anyways. now i have a custom HHKB that's about half my age- pretty cool!!!

[Sed8op8]

Ok guys sorry I just tried to post but I'm barely making sense I'm so tired so much awesome stuff in this thread and I'm going to write more tomorrow but thank you all for making this feel like my home  love you guys and gals

[rm-rf]

I am still fairly new here.
even with that being said, every interaction I have had here has been A+.
the sourcing that people do here blows my mind... whether it is for a small purchase of 5 items, or purchasing 2500+ of one sadface key cap.
the fact that everyone here is eager to invite new members and share their wisdom is so amazing.
sometimes it just makes me think that I am not doing enough to help out this community, but hopefully in the future I can.
there are many times where I would love to have an infinite wallet, just so I could help support all the crazy good ideas on here.
this is a great community with endless opportunity.
I wish i had found GH sooner.

[meiosis]

I'm not sure how the community sees me, but I can clearly say how I see the community.

The friends that I met during my time at Geekhack are much more precious then the keyboards themselves, I began my keyboard hobby on OTD.kr but ended up falling in love with the Geekhack community, I have met and interacted with many people who I still talk to today. From thick and thin, I love Geekhack for everything it is, there are just some selfless people on here who will go above and beyond to help me.

One of my most memorable moments on Geekhack was the impromptu meet up held when Leeku from Kbdlab visited the USA, we messaged everyone in Northern California and met up to nerd out, amazing people who I have stayed in contact with for many years and I finally got to meet them in person, there is no point in this keyboard hobby without people to share it with!





Shout outs:
First one isn't really a shout out, rather an overdue apology to nubbinator, I am sorry I once got angry and lost my temper at you and said many things that I did not really mean, this was over two years ago, and I am sorry I did not apologize sooner. I really do respect all the work you put into keyboards and your artistic talents are unmatched.

VesperSaint: You broke me out of my shell, one of the first people I talked to when I joined, we talked about anime and kpop, and you helped introduce me to people who had common interests.

Bunnylake: Perhaps my first interaction into keyboards, I remember you almost bought my black HHKB (the initial reason I joined), we ended up becoming friends through our common interests, I know you are someone I can always rely on to finish what you started, you are truly a man who gives without expecting to receive. Through everything, I'm lucky to have been your friend.

Sent: one of  the first people I talked to almost daily for months, wish we still talked more , but I know you are busy!

Ninjadoc1: My elder, so knowledgeable and can talk for days about anything, helped me out a lot, and very caring.

Neo.X: BABY COME BACK


Skype group closest friends:
Clacktalk: Too much in common, we were instant buddies. All the nights of playing GTA until 4 am together...
Slickmamba: ended up road tripping together out of the blue, mini keycon-west, great guy who taught me how to CS:GO.
TheByker: Canadian 'nuff said.
Taylordcraig: Someone I can trust with just about anything, amazingly talented at everything he does!
GhostJuggernaut/Jim: The model American, with a soft heart and generous
Karura/Kevin: Probably the nicest guy I've ever met, I don't think I've ever heard him talk behind someones back, only offers to help but never asks for anything in return (Canadian, but better!)
Radio_Killah: Amazing guy, puts friends first and never asks for anything.
billnye and Photekq: Although you and Josh act like you don't know better (trolls), I know you two both are very caring and defensive towards friends, even if you guys garnered the collective hate of geekhack, you still put friendship first, and that's what matters.
yicaoyimu: We've talked a lot, for a time I thought you disappeared, but you came back! I'm so glad we got to meet up too!
Zeal: Probably my Canadian brother... Exactly like me..
SethK and Hwood: Young ones, I hope I don't let you guys down.
Katushkin: American in Britain
Azhdar: Azerty


All my friends have helped me a lot, and it would be hard to choose just one story, but everyone is close to me like my keyboard clicking family, I have become a small fish in a big pond to a small fish in a family.

[Wilba]

In my first post to "New Members", I talked about just finishing the Planck PCB and asked if anyone wanted some PCB design work done, because I love doing it. jdcarpe got in touch and we've been collaborating on some things.

Fast forward a few months and I've just finished soldering all the SMD parts on the JD45 and JD40 V2 prototype PCBs and shipping them out to Bunny, mkawa and JD.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

That's what I like about GH... people collaborating and combining their efforts to make stuff happen.

[rjradical]

I only joined over a year ago and mostly scan everyone's input. I normally research the wholly bejesus out of anything I am going to buy and this site was the best source for looking for my next keyboard.
I finally bought a HHKB Pro2 after 4 months of reading about every post i could find about it. I use it at work because the wife just couldn't get used to it. I love the functionality of the board and the feel.

My next board will be one I build and I am researching here to figure out which one to build. It will be either TKL or full 108. Most probably a 108 (wife likes the number pad).

The biggest help here for me has been BunnyLake. I had an issue with my order and he resolved the problem without issue. Now I cannot wait for the new CtrlAlt store to open.

I am sure as I actually begin to build my board this will be the place to get parts and help. Thank you all for contributing to a great site.

[iceman1925]

The day after the cosmic sale, someone was trying to sell what he won, a couple of us posted very quickly and waited while chatting with each other. It looked like he messed up and won more than he could afford so we wanted to help Turns out guy is trying to male some quick cash and lies about reason for selling and decided he wanted crazy profit so he went for an auction. This all happened around 6AM and we were upset about not getting the chance to get the caps. Thing is while all this went down, me and one other user spent more than a couple hours talking and said we would try and get what we wanted. He offered to grab the bro I wanted if he got the chance and I said I'd keep him in mind if I got the chance to get what he wanted. Both of us also spend time helping other keyboard enthusiasts when we can. I just started posting here and hope to help more people here and interact with all my fellow nutjobs(who else spends hundreds and thousands of dollars on keyboards and little bits of cool looking plastic  ).)
Tldr, I made a friend from a bad situation which is really why I got on to here and the Mk subreddit in the first place. This all happened on r/mk btw. My new friend is /u/rjmana

[KnivesM]

Back when we didn't know much about Gaterons keycaps infiniti got a few sets off TaoBao I assume, and to find out more information like the thickness, color comparisons to other manufacturers, spacebar compatibility ect he gave away keys from the sets to people to test for those things. He gave a few keys (and some bonus candies) to me of the various colors to test their thickness and smoothness, paying for their shipping to me.




This was very generous to send caps around the world and splitting up parts his sets to the community for testing so we can gain more information. 

[minTea]

I've actually had a number of positive experiences here and r/mk!


When I bought an aluminum case from 64rky and it came with a chip in the corner (occurred during shipping) he refunded me a little cash to make up for it.


Skiwithpete is super awesome and helpful to work with.  Have some custom sleeves coming in soon and him and Steph were really helpful.  They sent me free color swatches so I could compare them to find the right colors for my sleeves and designed them exactly how I wanted.


Krytone is super cool!  When he realized the cap he thought I won was actually won by two people he gave me a different cap to replace it instead of one of us getting screwed

Rjmana on reddit is an awesome person.  We started talking about keyboards out of nowhere in PM's and ended up talking all sorts of things like life, other hobbies, etc.  Once and awhile we still talk in PMS about things happening on mechmarket/mechanicalkeyboards subbreddits.  Also he posts my name in any mechmarket post that has the Green Tea keyset in it because he knows how much I want that keyset.  He's a good guy!

These are just a few examples! In general whenever I sell things on mechmarket I always take a slight hit.  I find it important to not rip people off and will also try to give some advice when I can.  Have only been in this scene for five or six months but have enjoyed it for the most part thus far. Glad to see this giveaway because recently a lot of people seem to have forgotten how lucky we are to have the cap makers we have in this community and have taken people like Bro for granted.

[KTKM]

.

[nubbinator]

Shout outs:
First one isn't really a shout out, rather an overdue apology to nubbinator, I am sorry I once got angry and lost my temper at you and said many things that I did not really mean, this was over two years ago, and I am sorry I did not apologize sooner. I really do respect all the work you put into keyboards and your artistic talents are unmatched.

For what it's worth, I don't remember what you're apologizing for and remember you being a pretty chill and cool dude on here, so obviously there's no hard feelings for whatever happened in the past.  TL;DR, water under a bridge.

[suicidal_orange]

The first thing that comes to mind was when I stumbled on a post by Katushkin who mentioned wanting to swap the blacks in his Keycool to tactile greys.  After confirming that "Britbong" wasn't far from here I offered to do it for him and the board was in the post a couple of days later and back with him in under a week, and he hated the blacks so much he let me keep them.

Another thing that was great was my first Bro e-mail sale.  Having messed up my first e-mail sale (for KWKs - I forgot to include my paypal ) I posted that I had everything ready an hour early and was clock watching so as not to miss it.  When the time came I pressed send only to be reminded that I needed a "to" address...  After a lot of swearing at my incompetence I found the address and sent it anyway, a whole 20 seconds late.  To my surprise I got a Nuclear Kush Stump!  I never confirmed it, but I'm sure Bro sent it out of pity and I was quietly grateful (there was too much salt about to be outwardly so)

Beautiful as the Stump was though I had underestimated how bright it was, so I put it up for trade.  Sed8op8 loves Stumps and was looking for a Kush to partner her V2 so we agreed a trade for an orange Lion Keyng and she threw in a slightly less orange keythulu.  She was happy with this trade but it seemed a little one sided so I surprised her by including an Orc Trooper which she had commented on in the package.

I also enjoy helping people when their keyboard matrix breaks - RoastPotatoes' Gon was particularly memorable as that thing looked like it had been through a war, but it works!

Another thing that makes me feel good is helping people in Krytone's sales thread when he's asleep at inconvenient times, and in metaliqaz's EasyAVR thread where the same questions keep coming up.  The OPs have done enough, it's good to field some of the easy questions for them.


Having already experienced Bros generosity this year I don't expect to win but Halloween is soon(ish) and dibs for that would be amazing - an orange V3? I can dream

[DanielT]

For me interaction with GH community is one of mixed feelings, sometimes I feel ignored while other times I feel welcome and part of it.
While GH was down I missed it a lot, even if I don't post much I like browsing the threads and looking at the amazing photos the users post.
One of my first experiences here was running the SA Vim and DSA Vim and Debia GB's hosted on PMK, it was so much fun and the best part was giving away almost all my caps from these GB's to random people who missed out, it was such a nice feeling to give something to a complete stranger without asking for anything in return
I also got some love back, Madhias passed over his BB after he found out that the one I won in a BroCaps giveaway got lost, it was an amazing gesture from a complete stranger.
On another occasion a user from Australia (Cottonsox) gave me a Poker case and 2 GMK space bars for free, just paid for shipping, that case I'm still using today with my TMK Alps 60.
Here I met SPRiT who became a good friend. We chated a lot in the last year about everything and anything, he is such a cool guy
Got to know GON and had the honor of nominating him for DTA2014 , and he even won the award and the rare Wingnut CC trophy.
And how could I forget Hazaa who helped me get my Dolch keyboard, he went to the seller's place to pickup the keyboard and even sent me a couple of Nixie Blacks, what he did was so awesome, that board is one of my favorites.
And the list can go on forever, if you are not here it doesn't mean I forgot what you have done for me

After a long time I managed to find a hobby that actually makes me feel good, and it opened my mind to things I have never thought of before. Maybe it had something to do(influenced) also with my decision to move to another country, something that became now a reality, in 2 weeks I'm embarking on a like changing experience for my family and I. 

[Vadurr]

Nothing big or crazy here...But I felt pretty good for passing on some advice/help on /r/confession to some depressed/unstable individuals whom I hope helped. Sometimes a stranger can be a friend indeed. GL to everyone.

[IonutZ]

I can't really qualify my best interactions with people on here because there have been a lot of them, and 99% of them positive.

Beartung got me my first gasmask v1. (whose hat brim broke, still the best, green with red eyes)
Pwnnarwhal got me my first bro. (steel bbv2 <3 that I still have)
ImpendingxDoom got me my first clack. What a great guy to deal with, and I wanna see more of your keycaps. (candy corn that eventually landed with alienman82)

Shoutouts to:
btctopre for being awesome
ghostjuggernaut for all the trades - dude is really nice
MythicalWagyu for being super cool guy
CPTBadAss for writing neater cursive than me
admiralvorian for the trades
3love and synjin for the $$$
hasu for helping me modify my HHKB's firmware and making me learn about integrated bluetooth modules haha
cottonsox for being dope
Bunnylake for helping bro out in time of need, I thought that was really nice, and it's really a testament to some of the characters that make this community
alienman82 for his persistence lol
Reptile for being a douchebag
naasfu for overall coolness
Soarer for helping me with his converter
and all the other great people on here that make script kiddies wanna ddos this place.

I think the best story I have is making friends with SPRiT. When I first enquired about his custom keyboards, he flooded me with pictures, explanations, and friendliness. We've talked a lot over the past year and we would be our mutual proxies in our countries. He went above and beyond. Also Korean cigarettes are pretty bomb. Oh and you can blame him for this poor Adler's destruction http://imgur.com/a/ubuCv. He said, "MI BRO (I think he calls me that because I'm from Michigan), I want the keycaps, you can keep the rest" - so naturally I extracted the key components in there lol, all the servos and this awesome piano wire string which can totally be used to go Splinter Cell on someone!

[Evo_Spec]

The generosity I've received from GeekHack is insane, I've been blessed with everyone's generosity here since I got here but one of my most memorable would have to be Bunnylake's crazy advent giveaway.
I had been one of the crazy lucky winners and I was thrilled because this is where I had won my first ever BBV2, it was green (I believe toxic) which was exactly the theme I was aiming for to add to my excitement.
So a couple weeks go by and everyone started getting their packages and I was getting really worried that my package might have gotten lost.
Then the next day or so Bunny contacted me letting me know that the package had bounced back from customs and so he had to send it back, I was really happy to hear that the package wasn't lost but I was sad that Bunny would have to pay shipping again which I offered to pay but that bastard didn't let me =P
So a couple weeks go by and I get a PM from Bunny saying that the package yet again bounced back from customs and asked me if it was okay to switch out some of the items with something else because they were causing the package to bounce (it ended up being the shotty cap, maybe lube too?) I said something like, "of course! You're giving me free stuff and asking my permission? You're crazy!" lol. Anyways, this time I really tried to pay for shipping because it would be the 3rd time be would be paying for this and that didn't sit well with me but again Bunny was a butthead and didn't let me pay even though he paid for tracking this time so that we could keep a closer eye on the package through its journey.
I finally received my package a couple weeks later (couple months after the advent event) and I was so happy to have my first green BBV2 (I had gotten lucky with a dib ticket in between this time and managed to pick up a Pharoah BBV2, Yay!)

I'll definitely never forget bunnylake's generosity and love, I wish I had more money to buy everything and donate tons to [CTRL]ALT =P

[Edmundoh]

This was on deskthority, hope it counts.

Kindest thing for me was during a keycap giveaway by Ducky Nordic, I was one of the winners and when I received the cap it had unfortunately been scratched during shipping.
I was really bummed but thought I could deal with it anyway.

I posted pictures to show it off and Ducky Nordic saw it and decided to send me a new one, did not expect that at all! On top of that, when I received the new cap there was an MX Blue keychain included 




I am ever grateful to this day for that

http://deskthority.net/vendors-f52/ducky-nordic-keyboards-keycaps-projects-and-misc-stuff-t4718-1980.html

[GenKaan]

Anyways, u/GenKan on r/mk was hosting a giveaway for a Ducky keychain and I always wanted to have one of those. All you had to do was to give one reason why you deserve it. I simply said that I don't own any fancy stuffs and that I'm still new to all of this, all I had was a CM rapid-i keyboard. He picked me and even sent me some (surprise) extras to help me out.<3

Thanks man

My moment would have to be with u/0rangeNinja who won one of my first giveaways and later started messing around with acrylic plastic, making some pretty sweet key chains. I asked him about the limitations of what he could make, after a few days of PM's it turned out he could make exactly what I wanted (a display case)!

Took some time, made some samples and within a month of two I had my display case. Later I helped him reach out here, made a review and posted a ton of pictures since he dont have a very good camera (phone camera's please).

Overall best interaction with the community!

pics of the case:





My first Bro's (Blackout sale)


Edit: Also shout outs to u/wlhlm for the switches, shout outs to Pexon for the sweet bag/custom cable and hwood34 who gave up a v2 (my first!)

[Bomble]

I've only been in the keyboard community for a few months, and on GH for even less, but for sure my most positive experience has to be with kcamrn over on reddit.

I only had one board, a Filco MJ2 TKL Ninja with stock caps and all and I was browsing r/mk and I started reading about Topre switches. I had no idea what they were, but I quickly started researching to learn more about it. Everything that I could find about it sounded like exactly I wanted out of a switch, so I send kcamrn a message after reading his review of the HHKB to find out any more information that he could provide.

Luckily for me, he was finishing up his writing of a comparison review between the regular and Type-S HHKB's. He sent that to me along with some more of his thoughts and opinions based on what I had asked - mainly on whether I should go for the HHKB, or just try out the 60% form factor with something more affordable like the Poker II.

He also mentioned that he was looking to sell the regular HHKB, and that he would be happy to sell it to me (along with the red & blue control/escape kit) for less than he was initially looking for it just because he wanted to help me out. I was really surprised that he did this, particularly because I really have no established presence or influence in it - and I was also so fortunate to have caught him at the right time just before he posted it on mechmarket.

Probably not as exciting as some other stories, but it's what made me really stick to this community after just finding a board that I liked. Definitely something that I'm going to remember.

Thanks to bro for running this giveaway, and good luck everyone 

[Belfong]

I wanted to participate in this giveaway and have been thinking about all those positive moments that I have experienced in Geekhack. But then, I read about all these entries about how awesome everyone is and I feel that they do deserve this giveaway more than me. And it's exactly why GH is such a great place to be. Cool and totally selfless people are very common in this community and who would have thought that the love of keyboards are made up of stellar individuals. All of you are why I felt anguished and lost when GH was offline for a week. DT or r/mk was not the same at all!

Now, to give my offerings to the RNG Gods for the sale later

[meiosis]

Shout outs:
First one isn't really a shout out, rather an overdue apology to nubbinator, I am sorry I once got angry and lost my temper at you and said many things that I did not really mean, this was over two years ago, and I am sorry I did not apologize sooner. I really do respect all the work you put into keyboards and your artistic talents are unmatched.

For what it's worth, I don't remember what you're apologizing for and remember you being a pretty chill and cool dude on here, so obviously there's no hard feelings for whatever happened in the past.  TL;DR, water under a bridge.

Haha this came out of the blue, had to reminisce over all the GH times, it was one of my biggest regrets and shames.  i just don't want to be hated by anyone.

[dustinhxc]

Having already experienced Bros generosity this year I don't expect to win but Halloween is soon(ish) and dibs for that would be amazing - an orange V3? I can dream

Hell yea, Halloween can't come soon enough!!

[Seranite]

I've only been around GH for a few months and while I'm moderately active here so far I haven't engaged anyone personally yet. However, every interaction I've had here has been a positive one. It feels really good to be part of a community where no one is an ******* to you for being new and/or ignorant. That is something that's really hard to find on the internet. It can be kinda intimidating for someone like me to just start talking to people I don't know, but the users here make it easy. I couldn't ask for a better place to feel so accepted by a group of people who share similar interests.

[atlas3686]

Almost all my interactions on geekhack have been positive, it's definitely why I ended up staying I will just highlight a few very memorable ones.

1. I received a package from an artisan's sale on GH to find not only the cap I was expecting but a hand written note and an fn in my favourite colorway! You know who you are

2. Just a few members who I need to mention:Bunny, Dustin & SpamRay all my interactions with these guys have been so good, the kind of help and generosity you don't expect to get from someone you have never met. Thanks    My most recent package from Bunny unexpectedly contained this really nice leather CtrlAlt keyring.

[nmur]

My first interaction here was back in February this year, where my first post was in a dental band modded HHKB tour for Australia, run by Jersen. I had been interested in the HHKB and topre switches for a while, but making a $300 aud leap of faith for the board was pretty much out of the question, so with my first post ever I asked if I could join the tour, stating that I would obviously understand if he didn't want to trust someone so new to have the board for an entire week. But he had no problems with it, and even let me have the board for the first leg of the tour.

Fast forward a few months, and I'm typing on my very own beloved dental band modded HHKB that I picked up recently in Tokyo. I know I wouldn't have desired it as much as I did if it wasn't for Jersen

[Himiko_the_sun_queen]

Long time lurker, registered recently, first post

A while back Brostafarian from reddit posted in /r/mk about a help key for his parents, and he recently delivered! He got so much attention and people wanting to buy that he set up a mini GB of maximum 20 people. Well in the order form he had a box for additional comments, so I went ahead and said I'm buying it to mod it to make it a 2 key controller for agario - and he said he'd make one for me instead! It's coming soon

So yeah, /u/Brostafarian is awesome. Best memory so far - but this community is awesome. Fun, informative, amazing, accepting of new users, always people striving to help. Keep it up guys 

[ironpup]

Preface: I am rather new to the keyboard scene and I spend most of my time on /r/mk so my interactions are limited, but I have made some observations about the community as a whole.

First I'm going to start with my personal interactions:

TourneyCollector: I made a post on /r/mechmarket looking for Topre Artisan keycaps to buy and TourneyCollector messaged me offering to make some custom ones for me. After some back and forth on what I wanted him to make and figuring out the pricing, I payed him and he went to work. Throughout the process of him making the caps he messaged me updates, making sure they were what I wanted. Unfortunately his equipment broke/malfunctioned during the building process, and instead of not telling me about the problem and making me wait forever to get it fixed, he offered me an free cap or a refund. I went with the refund and he paid me back in full without any other questions or troubles.

Mookzs: I contacted Mookzs about one of his threads on mechmarket where he was selling 77 lubed, vintage black switches. After a bit of negotiation I bought them off him and he even threw in half a sheet of switch stickers. About a day later he contacted me saying that he has miscounted and he only had 75 switches, so he refunded me $0.91. I was very impressed with the fact that he would even bring his small error up and then go as far to refund me such a small amount, a lesser man wouldn't of said anything and I probably would have never noticed.

Brocaps: Although I am 0/4 in Brocaps sales and I haven't purchased any of his caps/products aftermarket I am still very impressed with the work he is doing. He hold all his caps to a very high standard and tries to make sure everybody who wants his caps can get them, while still maintaining the level of craftsmanship people have come to expect from him. I think the thing about him I'm most impressed with is that if somebody mentions in a thread somewhere how they're 0/9 or something like that he will get in touch with them and try to help them get some caps, and how sometimes he'll give people who haven't won anything double priority in his sales. I think Bro's whole system and style of business is something the other cap makers and keyboard craftsmen should work towards.

Now for the overall community: I am simply blown away by how nice and accepting this community is. When I first entered the keyboard game I had a bunch of silly, stupid questions I could have easily found in wikis or past posts, but for some reasons when ever I had a question I would start a new thread. Instead of everyone getting mad at me, or the mods yelling at me people would be nice and help me and point me in the direction of resources I could that could also help me. You guys are all the time helping each other out and really working towards strengthening the niche as a whole, and although there is some drama here and there everybody gets along.

[awhitedev]

What can be said that hasn't already been so eloquently stated? I started my journey into keyboard enthusiasm about 1 year ago today. I always had my eye on after market and artisan keycaps (even though I do not own any artisan caps yet) and when Massdrop started selling keycaps I couldn't help myself but start my collection. But I had a lot of questions... PBT, ABS, POM? Doubleshot, Dyesub? What's the best? How do I know what I'll like? I don't remember his / her username but I was referred to GeekHack through the comments on Massdrop. That was the best recommendation anyone could have ever given me. The hours upon hours of reviews, tutorials, and Q&A's guided my purchases perfectly. I can happily say I've never purchased a keyboard or keycap set I wasn't completely satisfied with. That's impressive considering the thousands of options out there. So thank you random Massdrop / GeekHack patron... you introduced me to the best damn community on the internet.

But there's so many other positive examples of how this forum has helped others and why I continue to be impressed with its community:

1) When someone misses out on a group buy and another member purchased enough sets to sell one at cost to help out people who missed out. Who does that!? Shout out to Synjin for selling me his extra Hack'd by Geeks set.

2) A community driven Novatouch tour. Awesome stuff! Despite all the logistical issues that can happen here... the ball kept rolling for quite a while!  Each person was trusted with the keyboard and it went from person to person without flaw. So much trust. Thanks Captain and Mkawa and the guys at Cooler Master.

3) A bunch of great vendors who really go the extra mile. ZealPC for his quick turn around, Mechanicalkeyboards.com for listening to their customers and stocking some awesome keyboards and parts. Some of the quickest ordering I've ever seen. Almost as fast as my prime membership and it's free shipping!

I could go on but I think you get it.

I also just want to say thank you Bro for being generous enough to do a giveaway and missed out sale. I'm sure whoever is the lucky recipient will cherish your artwork. I know I would

Peace (and no salt)

[ghastone]

So I really have only started getting into this hobby this past year when I built my new computer and I can't believe how nice and supportive everyones been(i mostly post on reddit r/mechanicalkeyboards from u/jiraffinator). I have tried to explain this over and over again to family and friends, and they all don't understand my fascination with keyboards and your awesome keycaps. I've literally been talking to my gf about putting one of your keys as my escape key on my hhkb for hours on end. Nonetheless,  I still feel the need to share with everyone in my life when you're having your sales on ctrlalt, usually just parading in the house counting down the minutes till they're over .

Anyways, something that stuck out, I purchased a ducky keycap set from u/64rky, and practically got it next day which was pretty awesome and wasn't expecting it.

Lastly, bro, don't listen to all the haters, i noticed there were some posts with people getting angry or whatnot. I can understand you're just one person. People really gotta go into these sales with the thought you won't win, so that if you win, you'll be super excited. Even though I haven't won, I still have hope. Anyways, keep up the awesome work, and I can't wait to see what new caps you release.

Lastly lastly , I'm not sure how you create your caps but I was thinking of getting into trying to make my own, since my dad has an injection molding machine sitting in his garage. Would love to hear how you make your caps.

[IMBoddy]

On Reddit (Same name here) I recently saw XX7 starting up his 3d printed caps and figured I'd procure a cap for my board. Upon delivery Canada Customs or (US IDK) managed to push the keycap through a double layered envelope and stole it. Luckily XX7 was nice enough to send another but I swung him some ideas that I've seen other Artisans use, Cardboard, Plastic Bags, that sort of thing. He found one of the best ways to ship it in some sort of mints container. It arrived perfectly the next week. I figured why stop there? I shot him some sketches for -Hopefully- future sales. (A Homing Dish Coffee Mug Series, Holiday Cap Series, that sort of thing.) I didnt want anything other than to give him some ideas for sales to help him buy his own resin equipment and one day I hope he does acquire the equipment he needs because I'm sure they will be fantastic! 

[ConscienceDrop]

By far my most heartwarming interaction was with dustinhxc. I was entirely new to artisan caps and still am, the only ones that ever caught my eye were KBK conspires.

I was basically crying to myself in a KBK thread about the low likelihood of ever getting one and he straight up offered to sell me one of the ones i wanted most.

It felt really good and i suddenly "got" the spirit of passing on these caps to people who will appreciate them. Its made me realize that the people who are spending their time here are very genuine, and its not just about money, and that's so rare on the internet.

very cool

[VivaGardner]

I had a member here that wishes to remain anonymous that basically paid for the operation of a broken leg on a dog that was rescued and then fostered by me.  I was (always am) dead broke so it was a huge relief because I'd already sold $1000 worth of Playstation gear, computer parts, TVs, random etc... and I was still coming up short. 

I always think it's amazing when people do things for people they don't actually know.  It is one thing to do something for someone in your family, but for someone that you don't know, it takes a special kind of person.  I've found that GH seems to be comprised of a large portion of very honest members. 

I still love the fact that I can do transactions using "friends and family" option and screwing PayPal out of the deal.  It's all in the little things sometimes.

Anyway, happy 4th of July.  https://instagram.com/p/4uFIh_JXuc/?taken-by=happyhoundsmi

All these opportunities, Bro 

[sethk_]

I had a member here that wishes to remain anonymous that basically paid for the operation of a broken leg on a dog that was rescued and then fostered by me.  I was (always am) dead broke so it was a huge relief because I'd already sold $1000 worth of Playstation gear, computer parts, TVs, random etc... and I was still coming up short. 

I always think it's amazing when people do things for people they don't actually know.  It is one thing to do something for someone in your family, but for someone that you don't know, it takes a special kind of person.  I've found that GH seems to be comprised of a large portion of very honest members. 

I still love the fact that I can do transactions using "friends and family" option and screwing PayPal out of the deal.  It's all in the little things sometimes.

Anyway, happy 4th of July.  https://instagram.com/p/4uFIh_JXuc/?taken-by=happyhoundsmi

All these opportunities, Bro 

Yeah, I love being able to do friends and family, but I only use it when it is a private deal. I also usually fully insure my stuff but that's just so I have piece of mind incase something happens

[kebby]

After lots of lurking, sometime last year I decided on the first keycap set that I really wanted but of course it was one where the ordering period was long gone. Luckily I found out from the GB thread that taylordcraig was looking to sell his and we arranged the transfer of the order. Afterwards he was nice enough to keep chatting a bit and  answered the  multitude questions regarding this hobby that I had. It was one of my if not the first interaction with someone from the GH community and left me with a very warm impression.

[Tigermelon]

Haven't really had time to interact with many GH members due to college and summer school.But I have gotten some good price advice and also got a very warm welcome in the New Members page when I did post an intro. Sorry I don't have much to say, guess it's just a sign I should stop lurking so much.  )

[tiltowait]

I've always been struck by how friendly the community in general is alongside the enthusiasm for something many would consider frivolous. One of the greatest interactions I ever saw was a giveaway thread on reddit. A guy won a custom keycap or possibly a case, and said something along the lines of "now all I need is a keyboard!" So the person running the giveaway (intelli78?) gave him a free keyboard as well. I know it's vague, and unfortunately I can't find the interaction, but it really struck me as a perfect example of how great this community can be.

[icedogg]

So I've been on GeekHack for about two years now. While I work in IT, the world of mechanical keyboards is much different and has still taken a while to learn everything about the hobby and whatnot.

One of my very first interactions on the site was posting my haul from a couple SP crap bags I got. Was lucky enough to get a couple in the sale a couple years back. Didn't know all the keycap types, profiles, etc at the time. Mostly was just interested in the novelties to build a cool unicorn vomit set (which I have in fact). Posted some pictures of the stuff from the crap bags seeing if I could sell/trade anything.

One user that I completed my very first trade / real interaction with was "hwood34". Forget the exact cap that it was, but recall it was of the SA variety. I got a running man novelty in return. While it may not be a huge moment for anyone else, it was a very welcoming experience upon first entering the community. Honestly didn't even know what SA was at the time. Felt very welcomed with all the interactions I had since then, so glad I found out about GeekHack. Still learning more everyday, fun hobby indeed 

[thefebruaryman]

My story ain't super amazing or anything. But it's a mixture of people being awesome and helpful.
When I first tried to to start a classified thread I had some troubles with the thread not being visible. Both user 18 and the hoff (admins) provided the best help tech wise I have ever had from a forum. Being it that people work for free to keep this site going the level of help was amazing and friendly and made me glad that there are good people out their.

[nathanrosspowell]

I've got a couple great things from this year:

1)My first IRL meetup with fellow enthusiasts!

Geez, telling your friends that you are going to meet some people to, erm, what exactly... play with each others keyboards? "No, not the musical kind. Yes, the one you type on... Well, there are many different types.... Yeah, nevermind." It's easy to forget that we have a pretty niche interest.

There was a thread for a Montreal meetup and swill finalised the plans by securing his workplace to host the event. There was a pretty good turn out but HOLY MOLY there were a lot of boards, a frightening number owned by the awesome dorkvader (and he didn't even bring his whole collection). Snacks, drinks, beers and pizzas where all paid for by generous members of the group. I was there for about 5 hours(?) but swill and some people where there pretty much all day.

So, what DO you actually do at a meetup? Of course you bring as much of your own gear as possible whether it be a stock QFR or some crazy beamspring board. Mill about testing out the different switches and discussing what you like and don't like about the boards. Step it up and do some speed runs with different swtiches and let the pros take some sweet pics of all the boards. Have a few beers and realise that most of us are some kind of engineer and shoo the sh*t about that. Crack out the modding gear and get a run through about how lube up switches and solder things like a boss (merci, swill). Figure out who is the craziest by listing of what group buys people are waiting for (quite a few GH60's and Sprit boards being waited on). Figure out that Torpe is life. Finally all agree that a Lighsaver is the recommended board for self defence. Generally just hang out with awesome people and have a great day 

I posted the full album(credits to random rockets) over at reddit and a few more people in the nearby area identified themselves, so hopefully the next meet can have some more new faces and even more equipment to geek out over!

IRL GeehHackers (I = baldy beardy):




2) I had my first ever trade on Geekhack thanks to Sed8op8!

She went out of her way to trade me the Kushy Purp Escape key I wanted so badly to complete the set for my HHKB! Why did she do that? Pretty much just to see my set get completed! I had previously been burned in my first interaction with the classifieds (due to a super shady user) on Geekhack and I was weary to post a thread for trades. Sed8 is a user with nothing but positive feedback so I was happy to work out my first trade after exchanging a few PMs. Now, I've had a bunch more keycap trades and have had tons of interesting chats with members of the forum.

Yeah, it's true that it could be very easy for people to scam you, but by putting a bit of trust into the community we stand to gain so much more! I want to truly thank Sed8 for helping me get more involved with this side of the forum. I encourage the rest of you to think about trading some of your unused or lesser used gear for something new and exciting to you. Don't deny yourself that pleasure of an epic post day where you get a mountain of keyboard gear to tear open!

Quoted below for pics and good feels:

Brah curps!

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Anyone wants to trade my escape for a kushy purp?

since you asked so nicely  I like the kushy purp but It looks like it will complete your set and i dont have anything that matches...pm me your info

And just like magic!

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Hats off to Sed8op8, top forum member, making Topre dreams come true.  ;D

so much awesome love it !!!!! Sexy yet not over doing it  :thumb:

[Sinanju]

I'm more of a lurker than a poster, but these are two moments that have stuck with me.

1)  Was able to get a Krytone keycap ~30 minutes or so after the sale.  Remember it went live during PT formation and was bummed I was going to miss it..  What stuck out the most was that he replied very quickly and seemed to just be happy that I was interested in his caps (was his 2nd sale IIRC).  Ended up getting a freebie cap in addition to a brainy skull keycap.

2)  Somehow managed to get a Nub's heart cap (clear dark blue).  Reason that stuck out to me was that I just got done with a FTX and hopped onto GH. I must have logged in right at the perfect time to get one. Also got a freebie. A grey/black dolly w/ red eyes and nose.  Favorite colors.

Thanks for hosting the giveaway, Bro.

If for some reason I manage to win one, I hope it doesn't require having to reply back as I'll be on orders from 6JULY-5AUG (no phone or internet in the foreseeable future).

[lolpes]

Well for me most memorable interactions are with photekq who helped me a lot in identifying keyboards! Got a monterey blue keyboard comminga and thanks to him I am very excited to recieve it! Also Ivan and Sprit for trying to help me in acquiring a spacebar stab for my board, i managed to make one by miself but in the mean time Ivan offered me one and sprit also tried to get one for me So the though counts a lot at least! I was a pretty big noob when i got into mechanical keyboards, but thanks to people like them i know a ton now and I manage to learn something new almost every day, and I am very proud to have made my own keyboard thanks to all the amazing guides posted here at geekhack! Thank you all