Today marks 2 years @ Geekhack as a member. (I lurked a bit before I signed up)
In this time I have seen quite a few things, good and bad and thought I would start a thread based on spamrays suggestion.
Things to be aware of before reading all of this:
It is my
opinion on the last 2 years. It includes a few topics that some people are not going to like. But it is my opinion.
Before R00tw0rm there was a member named ripster:
Once upon a time there was a member named r.i.p.ster. He was a very intelligent man that contributed quite a bit to the site in the name of "keyboard science".
Over time he became upset with us for one reason or another (rework caused by rollbacks and arguments with other members mostly).
He found a exploit posted somewhere that the old forum software (phpbb) "had" a limitation that could cause the site to crash if a single users post count exceeded 65535 posts (it is the highest number which can be represented by an unsigned 16 bit binary number. which is the datatype assigned to the integer value in the mysql db or something like that
)
So attempting to hit the post limit became his primary goal. He also tried to post as many pictures as possible to increase the storage requirements of the site.
eventually he said the wrong thing to the wrong person and they had enough and so he was banned from geekhack and eventually deskthority.net also.
He went on to shape /r/MechanicalKeyboards/" into what it is now. For better or worse.
Regardless of his trolling and attempts to kill geekhack sometimes he was helpful and did help start my addiction to geekhack.org.
Thanks ripster.
My first mechanical keyboard purchases:
I first bought a white kbt race le and normal race from qtan and mechanicalkeyboards.com both mx reds. Qtan has excellent service on his site. The stuff always takes quite a while to ship from him in china to my door but it is always a positive experience. Same goes for mechanicalkeyboards.com ( my review of them
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=36256.msg680034#msg680034 )
I also bought a bunch of counter strike keysets from feng and some pbt sets from qtan at this time.
R00TW0RM:
A hacker group took over the site and deleted everything including the backup drives.
It was a sad time, but we were provided a "refugee" area on Deskthority.net until the entire site was rebuilt from scratch and brought back online again. Everyone on deskthority was/is very friendly. All of the group buys and vendor discussions proceeded like nothing happened. I still try to stop by there from time to time but it does not have the traffic that GH has. Deskthority has a massive Wiki that is very useful in researching and obtaining the answers to my quest for the perfect keyboard. Thanks Daniel Beardsmore @ DT!
After R00TW0RM: Geekhack is Back!
Once Geekhack came back online I determined that the new themes hurt my eyes and that the site still needed some fine tuning to get it back to the level of functionality that the phpbb site had. Our very hardworking developers and moderation staff at that time worked very long hours to get the site back on track and made it possible very quickly.
Big Thanks to rknize, alaricljs, reaper, and iMav and all the other developers and moderators that made this possible!
More Keyboard Purchases!
At this time I bought a filco mj2 tkl and a cm storm qfr both with reds. Eventually I sold both of the kbt race's or traded items for them. This was due to the very limiting keycap arrangement and sizing. Thanks Qtan and Feng!
Phantom Project:
I loved the phantom project and really wanted to join the GB but at the time I did not have the funds to drop on it. The idea to make a pcb that will fit in most tenkeyless cases was exceptional. I loved the completely programmable nature of the device and layout choices. 7bit layout ftw! Thanks bpiphany, litster, 7bit and everyone else that worked on the project!
Ergodox:
Dox made the coolest ergonomic keyboard design that I had ever seen. At this time I still could not justify the cash to drop on a fully custom keyboard so I choose to help dox with his Solorized inspired css theme.
http://ergodox.org/Contributors.aspx I still have not chosen to purchase a ergodox because of my lust for the 60%.
Thanks Dox!
GH60:
The Geekhack 60% keyboard project was started to follow the same basic principles as the phantom and I was hooked from the begining. when the first rev a. prototype pcb's made it out I decided that I would create my own website to sit on top of the tmk firmware to allow users to dynamically build firmware via the web and it would save the hex file to the site for everyone to share and download. Whitefiredragon sold me a rev a pcb and I have been using it to write most of my posts from then on. I am still working on the project to make this site as I discussed with WFD. and I can not wait for the gh60 rev c pcb's to be shipped ^_^
Thanks JDCarpe, WFD, and most of all KOMAR007!!!!!!!!!!
Someone source some stabilizers for us please!
Dolch DSA: WALL OF TEXT
I really wanted my gh60 to have the max keys layout and have a proper complete keyset for it in dolch colorways. DSA seemed like the best bet at the time because dolch was only available from the pac systems on ebay and it is very expensive. I decided that I would start a secondary GB to facilitate the primary dsa groupbuy so that it had ISO keysets and the other keys that would be required for complete a gh60 in non poker layouts.
This turned into a nightmare from the start. The interest check went well but the scope creep because insane. Soon I was running multiple blank sets and rgby dsa sets with my GB. Then after the invoicing was complete only about 40% of the people that dedicated to it actually paid up so we were not going to hit the tiers promised. I make pretty good money and my (at this time girlfriend) did not really care how I spent my money so I desided that I would try to find the rest of the GB myself.
Then Druger went crazy(not expanding on why he was eventually banned from gh). Because of druger, members were backing out demanding refunds like crazy. I could not finance an entire group buy all by myself so I was left to refund everyone else. I am still refunding people because at some point the amount from the fees involved with the paypal transfers because insane. I have about 20 people remaining to refund and hope to have there money back to them in the coming weeks after I get paid again. the original money already went back to everyone but some cash out of my own pocket is required because of the fees paypal takes.
Thanks everyone again for being patient with me and understanding. I have tried to communicate with everyone the current status of this GB as much as possible and I believe that is why even though this GB failed it has not received the level of hatred as some others (primary dsa gb, phantom gb's, led color changers, you name it I have lost a lot with everyone else in these.)
Keycap making:
I have been very interested in the process of creating custom artisan keycaps every since I saw my first click clack. His work is that of a perfectionist and has recently been the target of copycats. shame on them! binge, nubbinator, and quite a few other people started creating there own keycaps as well and so I thought that I would give it a go as well. I invested quite a bit of money into the equipment to produce my own keycaps and the materials required. Then winter hit and I live in a humid climate. that means I have to wait until it is not as humid to complete work in my garage again. Expect TF2 Pyro keycaps in the next few months. these will probably only be given out to a select few people that already know who you are. (do not ask)
To thank for this are: Binge, Mkawa, nubbinator, brobots, boost, and many others that have had many failed attempts to tell me what not to do
somewhere in here I also bought a complete set of CC MX candy corn wasd, arrows, 2x esc and a tricolor from a few members
These will go with the originative charred orange set on gh60 #1
I have a leopold fc660c at work that I basically only bought to test my custom topre keycaps on but decided to use it at work because it is pretty quiet. I have a model F that has a teensy 2.0 attached with soarers mod on it. It stays in my closet in my home office because it is to loud and everyone hates it.
in my collection is also this pink superhero keycap that boost made
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=40538.0grey and orange topre binge angry moose
https://bingecap.com/product/orange-on-gray-mx-angry-moose/Octopink "Toast" mx CC
a green nubinator keycap
a bunch of bunnylakes glitter caps
a geekhack.org t-shirt
many keycap sets mx switches and other stuffs.
TLDR: I has been a interesting 2 years. Hopefully a fun 2 more years ahead.
I still intend to hopefully make the girlshark, pyro, and imav keycaps Soon™
