Click Clack is a genius. These things are so photogenic... and any self-respecting keyboard geek would jump at the chance to have something so cool.
That must mean I have absolutely no self-respect, because I think they’re ugly, impractical, and ludicrously over-priced. The whole secondary Click Clack market is just tulip mania for gullible keyboard users.
There are enthusiasts for a lot of things. From pigeon racing to people collecting model airplanes. Typically, they are willing to pay considerable amounts of money for things that have no value to the average Joe. And a lot of times, these things are for aesthetics only.
That does not make them dumb, it just means that when it comes to their hobby, they have a specific set of preferences that differs quite a bit from everyone else. Buying rare or custom keycaps is not that different from collecting coins or stamps, or paying an absurd amount for fancy looking carbon bottle cages for your roadbike. This is a forum where such people from all around the world, with such a specific interest, gather. It should therefore be no surprise that they are willing to pay prices that would be silly to some. But as long as the person who bought it is happy with the purchase and feels it was worth it, who is to say he/she made the wrong call. Some interests are more widely accepted than others. Nobody gives it a second thought when my girlfriend pays 350 euros for shoes that are technically not better or more expensive to produce than other shoes less than a quarter of the price, or whatever the hell my brother paid for those rims on his mercedes.
Well put. The only problem is that being a "hobbyist" to me means taking everything I get into over the years to the next level. What can I say I just love "gear". Bought a road bike off Craig's List some years ago. It works fine...nah it needs a new component group, stem, headset, carbon bottle cages (haha), etc, etc, etc. How about a DSLR off ebay? Well you can imagine what I own on top of the base camera kit now. Lets see...got a mechanical keyboard as a gift. It works fine, great keyboard. How abouttt....key cap sets, novelty keys, buying, selling, 3 more boards, forums.....The list goes on.
I think this kind of behavior actually becomes a problem for some people, whether it prohibits their enjoyment of a product because they always need the next thing or it puts a hole in their pocket. Personally I love hobby stuff and getting into things... but sometimes we all need to remember to enjoy what we have. The second we all got our first mech keyboard, we already had a "better" keyboard than probably 95% of people who own keyboards.
)