Although I am generally pretty tight and protective of my gear, I am considering sending one of my ANSI-modded Model F 122-key terminals out on a limited domestic tour, provided that I can feel assured that I will get it back in good condition in a reasonable time frame.
Having been greatly helped by getting to put my hands on other keyboards during their tours, I can appreciate how informative it can be. But for me it comes down to 2 big concerns: the respect that users have for packaging and time.
Previous tours, like those listed below, generally had only a couple of rules, and relied on respect and trust to keep the process moving forward.
The idea was to keep the keyboard for only a short, finite time, 3 days, 1 week, whatever, then pack it up
*well* and send it forward, at your expense, to the next person on the list. Then you owed the forum a timely review of some sort, as short or as long as you felt motivated to write.
With a couple of exceptions, such as the attack of the giant mutant turkey, almost all of the problems seemed to come from people not respecting other people's time and keeping the keyboard far too long. "I have just been so busy at work" or "A family member has been sick" are perfectly legitimate problems, but if you are not in a position to do your duty, then move yourself down the list or put on a new stamp and send the box ahead without opening it.
I still haven't decided whether I want to do this, but if I do, can whoever makes it onto the list assurethe rest of us that you will do the right thing?
Hashbaz built this beauty, and (not being a "Cherry" guy otherwise) after using it for a couple of days, I understood much better what I liked.
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=39254.msg765888And Akimbo sent around this magnificent thing, but without even participating in the tour, I recognized that it was awesome, and built one for myself.
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=49604.msg1640751#msg1640751
