Thanks all for the warm welcome!
My favorite switch so far would be original Topre 55g, although I must admit I've only tried them in a keychain tester. The Topre clones in my RoyalKludge board are lovely though, and I'm happy to stick with them until the day Topre lowers their prices
Buckling springWhile I love the build quality, styling and retro charm of vintage IBM boards, I am actually not such a huge fan of buckling spring switches; maybe it's the pingy sound, maybe it's the travel, or maybe it's just that I've never learned to touch-type. And sound-wise, I would take blue Alps or amber Omrons over buckling springs any day.
ClickyFor clickies, like I said, it's Omron or blue Alps (and that includes several of the clones) all the way for me. None of the clicky Cherry MX switches I've tested feel as smooth or sound as good as the Alps mount ones.
Still, this is mostly speculative, since I haven't yet had the chance to use amber Omrons (or blue Alps, for that matter) in a full keyboard, so I don't know if I could live with them. And I'm positive that neither my girlfriend nor my coworkers would approve.
LinearLinear switches in my mind should be buttery smooth, on the heavy side, and preferably fitted with big, bold keycaps. I could really go for that. Light and linear is not an option.
TactileBefore I got the chance to play around with a bunch of different switches, I thought I'd love Cherry MX browns. The idea of a solid mechanical tactile switch with a good 'bite' to it sounded exactly right to me. So I was surprised to find that I hated every single 'brown' switch I tried. They feel wobbly, messy, like they have multiple poorly-defined tactile 'steps' instead of a single, unmistakable one -- a 'clickless click' was what I wanted, and the browns were not it.
I still haven't found exactly what I want in a tactile switch, but the Topres may be as close as I'll get.