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Comment by tharne | Hacker News Reader

Mechanical keyboard user here. Most of us use mechanical keyboards because they're a lot more fun to type on. That's it. Because if you're not having fun, what's the point?

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I don't know, typing?

Else, something like Mai Tais on the beach sounds more fun, maybe it's just me...

but mai tais on beach don't get you money, and if you are going to type on something, its better to make sure its comfortable for you.

But inconfortable for others. Surely you all know it bothers a good amount at least some of your colleagues, right?

Well, not everybody works in an open plan, a shared office, or in an office building.

Obviously the comment discusses a shared space. If you have your own room you can let your fart rips and sniff them for fun, pull out your dick and piss in a bottle for fun, clank on your loud toys for fun, all the things you should never do with other people around that you might find fun for whatever reason. No one cares. But don't do these things to other people around you, it's anti-social.

> Surely you all know it bothers a good amount at least some of your colleagues

Quiet switches for the office, clicky switches for home. Not exactly a hard problem to solve :)

But isn't one of the reasons for using mechanical switches to be able to not bottom out, hence avoiding the repetitive shocks on the fingers? This is what I do with my tactile keyboards, and I'm actually quieter when I type quickly than my colleagues who bottom out on their cheap hollow HP keyboards like no tomorrow.

Is it? I've had a few mechanical keyboards, and follow some of those webpages devoted to different switches etc (not obsessively though, once in a blue moon), and I don't recall seeing "bottoming out" and "shocks" as any major benefit mentioned.

I also remember typewriters and old IBM style mechanical keyboards beeing quite heavy to activate, subjectively needing more pressure than some chiclet style "shock" (which I can barely feel).

Mai tais on the beach don't let you signal what a cool hacker you are. When the point of a thing is signaling, normal arguments don't apply.

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