People now do not talk about keyboards ?

[xuanwumen]

HI,I'm a keyboard vendor and not sure if i get it right that it seems keyboard discussions are not hot for now.
I had a look at the vendor section and there is almost no new posts.
Is sales post banned here? Or those vendors disappear too ?
Even one moderator is shown last active in months ago..
Where do all the guys go ...

[LightningXI]

The keyboard community is somewhat more fragmented nowadays, less so centralized on geekhack and out on social media platforms like Instagram and in community servers on Discord.

I'm not sure how it'd work for vendors, but a lot still post in the Interest Checks board and on the Group Buys and Preorders board. People seem to keep track of those more closely and will respond with feedback.

There have been a lot of failed and/or no longer active vendors, however, so if you are looking for some of the old faces that used to be around, a lot of them might be long gone.

[phinix]

I may be wrong, but I think that in recent years keyboards market grew so much, that it is not the saem as it was, 10-15 years ago when we all were drooling over some silly-ass artisan cap, or those first 60% keyboards, having used mostly boards like Realforce, Filco or Cooler Master (my first mech keeb, Quickfire Rapid )
Back then you had to re-solder keyboards to change switches, where we practically had only Cherry options - it was mental when someone de-soldered Filco mx reds and mounted greens for example. Or we had group bys for some ****y plastic custom keycaps, like red one with hammer and sickle (I stiil have one). Or those long-ass group buys - I remember I waited for over 2 years for some keycaps from 7-bit GBs on Deskthority, picking up options from really long lists, with multi color options etc
Nowadays you can buy amazingly cheap barebone kits, or all pre-built sets that are already modded, silenced, lubed and hot-swap.
I think that this is what happened - we had it all, we've tried it all, there is no more room for improvements or real inventions. From super-unique hobby to mass-produced mainstream.

Like tears in rain...

[Findecanor]

And as mechanical keyboards became more mainstream, keyboard discussions migrated from this niche place to mainstream forums.
You will find more discussions on forums that cater to PC gaming these days: now that all the PC gamers have mechanical keyboards they don't switch to another forum just to talk about them.

I do think that the oldtimers who once built this hobby* do check in here now and then. They won't be visiting every PC gaming site.

Unfortunately, Geekhack also has a problem with spambots. I report several every day, and the mods do a heroic job of removing them, but they keep coming and dilute the quality of the forum.

*:  whatever "the hobby" is ...which is different for everyone.

[fohat.digs]

A classic case of Cory Doctorow's "En****tification"

[BucklingSpring]

HI,I'm a keyboard vendor and not sure if i get it right that it seems keyboard discussions are not hot for now.
I had a look at the vendor section and there is almost no new posts.
Is sales post banned here? Or those vendors disappear too ?
Even one moderator is shown last active in months ago..
Where do all the guys go ...

I used to spend more time here then any other forums. Then my interests moved to something else. I came back a week ago after many years absence.
Like you I was sad to see how dead this once flourishing place has become :-(

[zslane]

I suspect that most people who entered the hobby got what they wanted from it and moved on. What mostly remains are the real hardcore builders and they don't have a whole lot to talk about anymore, apparently. Or if they do, they talk about it elsewhere (Discord maybe?). I got into this ten years ago because I was fascinated by custom keycaps more than anything else, but now the iconic designers are gone. I guess every hobby has a natural life cycle, and none last forever, especially technology-based ones since technology changes so fast.

[goodnaruk]

I posed a similar question on reddit, I thought it odd that the entire hobby is about keyboards, yet it seems people don't use said keyboards to talk/type about them nearly as often as one would think. Heck, I actively seek out excuses to test out a new build and frequent general question threads just to put some miles on the keys.

Long story short, most of the respondents on reddit suggested to peruse discord servers and you will find them more active, but I do agree that overall interaction is seemingly low, especially amongst the higher end enthusiasts.

If you wanna talk aula/neo/wooting/RK/ entry level or mass produced boards theres definitely an audience, but the higher the tier of custom/artisan boards you climb the quieter it gets.