What do your friends and family think of your obsession?

[MadSage]

I was just telling my brother about my latest purchase (Filco Brown Tenkeyless + Blue on Grey custom keycaps). My brother is a big driving/racing enthusiast, and he responded:

"lmao. a keyboard enthusiast. awesome. did not know you existed."

"i wonder if they have typing competitions for you guys, with diff classes for types of keyboards with various modifications, lol."

And it just got me thinking... what do people around you think when they discover the source of those gaping holes in your wallet? I'm pretty sure most of my family and friends think I'm stupid for spending so much money on things that can apparently be commonly found for $15. I try to explain to them the differences, but I don't think most people will believe that those differences justify the price premium. When I told my girlfriend that I was selling my old keyboard for $120 cash to someone who was driving over from about 90 minutes away, she couldn't believe it. "He's driving all the way from Syracuse to buy a keyboard?"

Oh, and my dad loved my Model M, but that's because he remembered using them back in the day on our old IBM PS/1 and /2.

Most of my friends come over and sit around clicking on my various keys, but would never actually spend money on one. They usually see my Model Ms lined up and think I'm crazy.

[pitashen]

Same thing as regular folk think about those audiophile equipments.

[noodles256]

they don't care like I don't care about their obsession with lolli

[godofdeath]

i dont got an obsession lol

[reaper]

What friend and family?  lol

[canon.tk]

I've been told I have a keyboard fetish at work.  Other guys are cool with it, they like the keyboards but wouldn't spend money on one.  They understand that they have things they spend money on that some people wouldn't.  Keyboards are just not their thing.  For me keyboards are just a side thing, I spend more money on other computer stuff and camera gear.

[redpill]

Obsession?  Hah, you should see my absinthe collection.
 Now THAT takes some 'splainin!

[Mr. Perfect]

I have one board, so it's not really anything anyone would notice.

"i wonder if they have typing competitions for you guys, with diff classes for types of keyboards with various modifications, lol."

 
Hey, yeah, what's with that? We could have stock boarding, import tuning, vintage concourse... :pound:

[Zamorph]

Yeah I know what you mean about expensive keyboards.  I found it hard to muster up the cash to spend on a keyboard, but after buying it, I love it.  Then again, I do spend a lot of time using my keyboard  Everyone has something that they really enjoy and spend a lot of money on.  We are keyboards... other people collect cards ... golf clubs...

[ironman31]

After they realize that they have spent more money on their cars, cameras, etc., they back off a little and agree that it's just another hobby.

[Keylamity]

What do friends and family think of my obsession?  None of them know, because they'd think I'm an idiot.  But every one else I tell thinks I'm rich.  Know your audience, man, know your audience.

[RickyJ]

My sister laughs, but she does understand since she's on a computer for most of the day.  My mom accepts it, but loves typing on my clicky Alps board when she's over.  My dad shakes his head, but he chicken pecks on a membrane keyboard...he's also a blacksmith as a 2nd profession and has a **** ton of gear for that as well as working on cars, so he doesn't have any room to make fun.  My friends laugh at me, but are actually kind of interested in what the fuss is about.  My cat doesn't like the competition for attention, but she's also afraid of the monitor when I scroll through text.

[Tony]

Everyone is crazy about something or a lot of things, so often people ignore other's obsession.

Welcome to the keyboard asylum.

[Ascaii]

I still remember vividly my girlfriends face when she got back from a three week vacation visiting her family and found me sitting in a pile of 80 keyboards I practically dumpster dived. She calmed down when she saw i had sold 20 by the end of the week^^. Now im down to about 20...time to go back for more I think. First i need to set up my new huge ikea shelves so i have the space for them. My dad loves his new g80-3000 with blues...my brother is begging me to give him a cherry brown board to go with his g80-3000 blue and g80-3000 clear. Also memorable was my comp science professor at university calling my g80-1800 carryaround board a battleship O_o. I mean seriously...its a beautiful compact layout, not the Bismarck.
Though I think the best was going for a beer with a fellow geekhacker from denmark when he was in town...since he wanted to buy one of my Model Ms, I just took it along...so we sat in a crowded goth bar talking keyboards to Rammstein...and he walked out with his new board under his arm.

[nhwhaup]

My husband just shakes his head and laughs when I get a new package delivered. He also was pretty impressed when I quieted down my Filco with the sound dampening pads.  Thought that was totally for his benefit but I really like the quiet and the feel as well.  I just sold a full sized Topre board and should be receiving my tenkeyless version this week. Now that should get him laughing.

I get on a fetish but for me it's usually short lived. Once I receive my tenkeyless this week and my new keycaps from Imsto I really should be all set.  Then I'll be on to the next fetish.  Not sure what that is right now. My UPS guy is such regular to the point where I get the neighbors packages as well at my house.  He's on my Christmas list. LOL.

The cool thing when getting on one of these forums, is that a whole new world opens up with techie items you just cannot find in NH retail stores.

[domin8r]

My girlfriend found it a bit odd at first but she's used to it by now

Was looking around for mechanical keyboards at fleamarkets, thrift stores, etc. She thought it was over when I "finally" got a keyboard my coworker found on his attic (Laser keyboard with SMK switches.
But then I said "well now I have one at home, I need one at the office too ofcourse".. she sighed a bit but understood.

Obviously, it didn't stop at the next keyboard But I guess she understands now.. like a girl never too many shoes, you can never have too many cool keyboards! And when she's at a thrift store without me, she even checks for keyboards for me (yeah, she rocks )

[strum4h]

My dad wonders where  I get all these keyboards but I think that I keep it a well known secret. I am a closet keyboard lover

[woody]

Once I receive my tenkeyless this week and my new keycaps from Imsto I really should be all set.

Tell us how that goes.

[keyboardlover]

My dad thinks its interesting but a bit weird that I'm not trying to profit from the hobby somehow. My mom thinks its really cool. I explained ergo clears to her and she loved the concept =)

[chongyixiong]

My golden rule:

1. Buy all tenkeyless versions
2. Buy black keyboards only
3. Pray hard that no one will be able to tell 'em apart.

But in all seriousness, my dad understands the obsession and so do some of my friends. But the rest, meh. Don't bother explainin' even - they just don't click

[Surly73]

Well, the budget can get out of hand if not kept in check.  You can also get a little crazy with cosmetic crap when getting into keyboards (different key colours, custom keys, skull keys, Ripster keys, whatever).

There's two distinct things with keyboard following, and a lot of these concepts apply to any area of interest.  In pretty much any area you look, there's good stuff and there's crap.  For a lot of people, keyboards are tools.  They aren't just the thingy that let's you type your facebook updates on your crappy appliance-grade computer in the corner of the kitchen.  We make our livings typing on keyboards, even if not programmers.  Professional mechanics usually buy good tools - not the cheapest thing from the local made-in-China mart.  Dentists have very expensive tools.  Professional racing drivers pilot cars which are a significant investment.  Even non-professionals bother to spend money on good tires for their car.

I've always thought that one should have good peripherals.  Peripherals are how we interact with our computer (and all of the applications and people we interact with using it).  What's the point in having kick-butt hardware but $5 speakers and a $50 display?

So:

1/ Keyboards are tools, good tools are worth the cost especially if you feed your family using those tools.  I don't include cosmetics in this category.  One you've started to invest in quality switches and construction, however, something like dye-sub or doubleshot keys upgrade the keycaps to a quality level consistent with the rest of the board.

2/ Even if you don't feed the family with your keyboard, there's high and low quality items in pretty much every category.  This is just one that YOU appreciate.  Your friends might appreciate wine, shoes, suits, cigars, scotch, TVs, fine German automobiles, audiophile, whatever....  There *is* a difference, and you appreciate it.  End of discussion - who cares what they think?

3/ As a primary hobby or a "collection", people can start to drop money on cosmetics.  It can get out of hand, and is not understood by the majority of the population as easily as superior functionality is, but if they aren't hurting anyone....  I'm only interested in custom keycaps as a matter of quality (i.e. doubleshots).  I would not bother to customize keycaps on a $2 rubber dome keyboard under any circumstances.  If I'm in a situation where I'm upgrading to doubleshots or PBT for a functionality reason and then there are sub-choices allowing customization then I'll bite.  I'm not looking at my Realforce thinking "what this needs is rainbow keys!".  If I could have ordered my Filco with a doubleshot option right from the factory I probably would have and that would be the end of that.

[MadSage]

The problem with equating our tools to those of professional drivers is that our performance does not depend on our tools.

Example, a great racecar driver in a Toyota Corolla may not stand a chance against an equivalent driver in a Ferrari, while a great programmer can write beautiful code whether he's using a $5 keyboard or a $150 keyboard.

The reason for this is that our primary tools are our brains, the keyboards are simply an intermediary. Expensive keyboards are more of a luxury investment, like heated seats.

And of course the custom keycaps are like pimping out your car with neon lights, decals, etc.

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

[domin8r]

The problem with equating our tools to those of professional drivers is that our performance does not depend on our tools.

Example, a great racecar driver in a Toyota Corolla may not stand a chance against an equivalent driver in a Ferrari, while a great programmer can write beautiful code whether he's using a $5 keyboard or a $150 keyboard.

The reason for this is that our primary tools are our brains, the keyboards are simply an intermediary. Expensive keyboards are more of a luxury investment, like heated seats.

And of course the custom keycaps are like pimping out your car with neon lights, decals, etc.

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

I think this is only partially true..

A carpenter can still build a house with a supercrappy hammer, but the job will get done faster with a proper one.

Expensive keyboards are not a luxury investment persay.. it's more the earlier mentioned good tires on your car then heated seats..

[alaricljs]

The problem with equating our tools to those of professional drivers is that our performance does not depend on our tools.

 
This is not true.  The better the ergonomics of the tools you use the longer you can use them.  Both in a single day and over the long haul.  Abuse your body and you will reap the rewards.  Are mechanical keyboards that big a difference?  I don't know, however I'm using a keyboard for 90+ hours a week (that's ~4700 hrs/yr, over HALF the entire year) and it's directly attached to my profession.  Just the psychological effects of thinking my keyboard feels better now that it's a mechanical is going to effect my performance over those time spans.

[Henry Allen Venture]

My dad went insane and lectured me about wasting my money like an idiot when he found out how much I spent.
He's a mechanic, so I put it to him that he would much sooner buy a nice set of screwdrivers with magnetic tips and a nice fat rubber grip than some terrible cheap brand, even though the nice ones cost a fortune. Its the same principle here, I work in an office, I spend all day at my computer, and as such I feel completely justified spending the extra money for something that is comfortable to use and functional at the same time, given the amount of time I spend using it.
He shut up after that.

[Multiple]

The problem with equating our tools to those of professional drivers is that our performance does not depend on our tools.

Example, a great racecar driver in a Toyota Corolla may not stand a chance against an equivalent driver in a Ferrari, while a great programmer can write beautiful code whether he's using a $5 keyboard or a $150 keyboard.

The reason for this is that our primary tools are our brains, the keyboards are simply an intermediary. Expensive keyboards are more of a luxury investment, like heated seats.

And of course the custom keycaps are like pimping out your car with neon lights, decals, etc.

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

I do not entirely agree with the notion that a programmer can write just as good code with a $5 keyboard, it would be a constant struggle typing, ultimately ending in bad work moral and health concerns. Could be the end of the $5-keyboard-programmers career if the culprit is not identified and taken care of.

Sure, if said $5 keyboard is comfortable and functioning like a champ, there is little to improve. But if there is something to improve, the odds are against you, if you some day will have to measure up against a programmer with an improvement which you do not have.

Maybe you wouldn't care about that, but others do, and that's what it is all about...squeezing out the last possible performance increase in productivity. Being able to work longer days, more years, with less effort, less strain, higher accuracy, higher speed, higher concentration and with a better moral due to reassuring, comfortable tools.

Everyone else is busy doing this, in every single field. It's a competition and generally, the guys with the ****ty tools are the ones losing. That said, you do not have to be competing against others to lose, simply failing to improve yourself is a lose.

Now, do you believe there are comfortable keyboards and keyboards that are not comfortable? If so, are you prepared to sort them out and enjoy the improvement? If not why?

[Larry Dallas]

My dad's a mechanic, too, and I feel sure that getting a mechanical keyboard would boost his typing speed from about 10 wpm to about 17, or so.

[jblack801]

Most of my friends at work understood, or didn't care really. Luckily I got a bonus from work before purchasing my first mechanical keyboard, so my wife didn't really complain, she just didn't understand. Then I let her type on it for a weekend and she agreed and now I believe she wants one for her work computer.

[IvanIvanovich]

everyone that has had the chance to use my mechs soon understand their worth. it's all the extra modding that makes people shake their heads. "you bought another keyboard just for the keycaps?" "why would you make your keyboard with no letters, how do you know which key to press?" i do try to keep the keyboards from outnumbering the computers though.

[Surly73]

The problem with equating our tools to those of professional drivers is that our performance does not depend on our tools.

Sure it does.  Increased comfort, reduced fatique, reduced errors, greater speed - all benefits of finding a quality board that aligns with our preferences.  Rainbow keycaps does nothing to increase performance, but finding the right switch does.  PBT or DS keycaps can make an investment last longer, though, by not succumbing to pad printed or laser etched wear.

[Surly73]

everyone that has had the chance to use my mechs soon understand their worth. it's all the extra modding that makes people shake their heads.

Exactly.  Getting a mech board with the layout and switches you want goes so far down the "quality experience/tool" line of thinking.  The bling is just that - bling.  Do kids still say "bling"?

With that in mind I can't believe I spent money on round 3 doubleshots

[nadvil]

I'm hoping I managed to avoid developing an obsession.  The information here led me to a first choice that fit my preferences, and I'm happy with it.  When this one breaks, hopefully many years from now, I'll see what's available then.  Well, back to real life - wish me luck!

[curzen]

with a total of one mechanical keyboard they don't think anything. I might get a raised eyebrow when keycaps arrive in the mail though.

[RiGS]

Exactly.  Getting a mech board with the layout and switches you want goes so far down the "quality experience/tool" line of thinking.  The bling is just that - bling.  Do kids still say "bling"?

With that in mind I can't believe I spent money on round 3 doubleshots

 
Leaving geekhack would be the wisest choice at this point.

[RiGS]

I'm hoping I managed to avoid developing an obsession.  The information here led me to a first choice that fit my preferences, and I'm happy with it.  When this one breaks, hopefully many years from now, I'll see what's available then.  Well, back to real life - wish me luck!

 
Leaving geekhack would be the wisest choice at this point.

[Zet]

There's two distinct things with keyboard following, and a lot of these concepts apply to any area of interest.  In pretty much any area you look, there's good stuff and there's crap.  For a lot of people, keyboards are tools.  They aren't just the thingy that let's you type your facebook updates on your crappy appliance-grade computer in the corner of the kitchen.  We make our livings typing on keyboards, even if not programmers.  Professional mechanics usually buy good tools - not the cheapest thing from the local made-in-China mart.  Dentists have very expensive tools.  Professional racing drivers pilot cars which are a significant investment.  Even non-professionals bother to spend money on good tires for their car.

I've always thought that one should have good peripherals.  Peripherals are how we interact with our computer (and all of the applications and people we interact with using it).  What's the point in having kick-butt hardware but $5 speakers and a $50 display?

You made a point that I as a former programmer and happy project manager now, didn't note before. Thanks for posting man ^_^

[Zet]

Leaving geekhack would be the wisest choice at this point.

rofl xD yeah, totally.

Look at me, I haven't been able to order my first one, and I already feel addicted

[Tony]

I try hard to keep my total number of keyboards at ten. People are not octopus to use so many keyboards.

[ricercar]

I try hard to keep my total number of keyboards at ten. People are not octopus to use so many keyboards.

If God didn't want eight keyboards per CPU, why did She invent the KVM?

[The Solutor]

If God didn't want eight keyboards per CPU, why did She invent the KVM?

 
To connect 10 cpu to a single keyboard

[Zet]

You know whats funny? I readed this whole thread, and started to think about it. I speak about keyboards everyday to my future wife, since I don't have my own mechanical keyboard yet, I was wondering if she already was thinking I had an obsession or something to what she answered:

I see you, getting a mechanical keyboard worth 200usd, not as a waste, but as an investment, that keyboard will last a life time and will help you feel better at work and while you are on the computer playing

to what I asked back:
what if later on this year, or another time I get another one?

she said:
although you said the one you were getting was the white unicorn of mech keyboards, I would think a better model got out

I love her so much, ^______^
what everyone else's says I don't care

[TacticalCoder]

They usually see my Model Ms lined up and think I'm crazy.

 
I see what you mean: I've got 4 Model Ms, two of which are used daily (I also have a Dell AT102W but I really never use that one).

I bid 450 Euros for the Industrial Model M space saver yesterday (missed it, it went for 510 Euros to someone else).  My girlfriend is very cool with it: she followed the auction with me even though she's really not nerdy.  She just said: "if I had that amount of money to throw away, I'd buy really nice leather boots".  Ah, women and their obsession with shoes

[kaiserreich]

You should buy her the boots

[The Solutor]

Ah, women and their obsession with shoes

Exactly what I'm used say to my friends. "mice and keyboards are for me like shoes for most women".

Btw, I'm like a woman, not an obsessed woman. I will never spend 500€ for a keyboard nor collect 20+ of them

[noodles256]

mech keyboards are more useful than shoes because they can be shoes.

lets see a shoe become a keyboard

/thread

[Tony]

Money was earned to spend on things that have lasting impression and endurance.

Mech keyboards fit the bill.

[brkim1324]

I guess it's just matter of hobby. Like a collector.
If you can afford it and be happy with it, I guess that is fine.
No matter what people say. There are people who collect shoes, watches, bottle caps. It's same thing I guess.
My friends once asked me why I am buying all these keyboards so I just answered, "I like keyboards. And these are one of the bests "
And they understood me.
I currently own not that many keyboards so I guess it's still okay
But if you think it's a problem too that you are spending too much money that you actually need for other things,
I guess you could try to resist from spending too much again.
But if not, don't listen to others! It's your hobby and everybody has different hobby

[noodles256]

everyone has diff hobbies.

among mine are eating, breathing and sleeping. all i do very often.

[kaiserreich]

mech keyboards are more useful than shoes because they can be shoes.

lets see a shoe become a keyboard

/thread

For a while there I thought I read it as NKRO

[noodles256]

lol nkro. gimme