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How To Know Too Much About Keyboards

Feb 19, 2025123 VIEWS

Every now and then, one of the questions I’ll get from a reader of my articles circles around trying to figure out why I know seemingly way too much about mechanical keyboards. “Where did you learn all of this information, Goat?” While having been around as an active part of the community for several years now and talking with other people in various places has certainly helped me learn quite a bit, the simple answer that I usually toss to people who ask that question is that I read… a lot. Yes, that’s right, reading. Given that the modern mechanical keyboard scene started around 2007-2008, and with vintage enthusiasts having interests that stretch multiple decades backwards from there, a lot of the core, fundamental knowledge base of this keyboard community was carved into stone in the form of solo written articles, blog posts, and forum arguments. In fact, I’d go as far as to argue that a good majority of the history and foundational knowledge that makes up this hobby is in the written form, despite what the newest enthusiasts who joined us in the pandemic-led explosion of keyboard YouTube and TikTok content may think. If you want to really learn the deep history and all of the fun stories of the early days of mechanical keyboards, or if you just want to understand how we ended up where we are today, you’ve got to go back to these original resources and read them as they were written. However, I recognize that people are forgetting these resources more and more as time goes on, and so much so in fact that most new users have probably never heard of some of these websites. So in an attempt to help you help yourselves a bit, here’s some of the resources that I have used in the past, still use today, and will likely continue to use to learn about mechanical keyboards long into the future. Classic Modern Keyboard Forums - Geekhack and OTD

Figure 1: I wonder if iMav ever thought this thing would still be around in 2025...

Two of the best resources for learning what the infancy and earliest days of the custom mechanical keyboard hobby was like and discovering the origins of some of the biggest names who have impacted the trajectory of the hobby are a pair of old forums – Geekhack and the now defunct OTD.KR. Geekhack, which is actually still active and posted on daily, was initially founded by a self-described “techie” by the name of iMav back in 2007 as a forum for discussing all things technology related and especially prebuilt mechanical keyboards at the time. While iMav is no longer the owner of this website as Drop (yes this Drop) took control of it several years ago when it was put up for sale, photos, rants, and even some of the very first documented frankenswitching attempts are still all accessible and easily able to be read if you do just a tiny bit of digging. As well, famous keyboard designers, artisan makers, and even some vendors like Zeal and Keycult can trace their histories back through their original posts on Geekhack. OTD, on the other hand, was formed at about the same point in time as Geekhack, but as a Korea-focused forum for technology enthusiasts as well. Unlike Geekhack, though, OTD is most known for their hosting of sales for and information related to the very first custom mechanical keyboard brand “OTD” whose boards are still sought after today. While OTD has since gone defunct over the years, glimpses of its past and very humble beginnings are still accessible by way of a diligent archive collected by photekq, who is also discussed below for yet another contribution. A Bit of Everything Outdated – Deskthority Wiki and u/Ripster55

Figure 2: There's never been switch science with a name as catchy as the 'Rip-O-Meter' since he left.

u/Ripster55 on Reddit is one of the least known and most influential members of the modern mechanical keyboard scene as he was responsible for founding and supplying the earliest documentation for the r/mechanicalkeyboard subreddit. Despite a lot of this documentation and his passionate “switch science” not holding up to the information that we all have access to today, the step of founding the subreddit in response to a ban from “geekWhack” as he referred to it has grown the community and its reach further than he could have ever anticipated all of those years ago. Similarly outdated but fundamental to growing the footprint of the mechanical keyboard community online is that of the Deskthority Wiki – a community led passion project of a few thorough documenters which serves as the most complete single source of keyboard knowledge the community has ever seen. While the Deskthority Wiki has become increasingly inaccessible in recent years due to being sold multiple times to questionable owners who have refused to maintain it, it is still generally accessible on good days or through the few backups of it that exist out there. Despite its difficulty in being read, the documentation there about keyboards and switches was among one of the very first places I ever learned about mechanical keyboards and I continue to read pages from it whenever I can. It has always been and forever will be one of the most underrated compilations of knowledge this hobby has ever seen in my opinion, due in large part to the contributions of individuals like Daniel Beardsmore of Telcontar, who is also mentioned again below. Vintage Cherry and IBM Keyboards – Photekq, Louison, and Sharktastica

Figure 3: I feel like I've dreamed this exact front page and keyboard on multiple different occasions.

While the Cherry Archive and Admiral Shark’s Keyboards are each more than deserving of their own sections, I’ve lumped them together here because of their extreme focus and dedication on singular (or few) brands of mechanical keyboards. The Cherry Archive by Photekq and Louison, two extremely dedicated vintage keyboard collectors and documentarians, is among the most complete singular resource on Cherry keyboard products in existence and has more documentation, photos, and general knowledge than I could ever summarize in any singular sentence. Similarly, Sharktastica is a very live and working repository of all things related to buckling spring keyboards and really all devices made by the likes of IBM, Lexmark, Unicomp, Lenovo, and Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions. Having been actively writing articles and documentation for this website for over a half decade now, Admiral Shark is someone that I am lucky to consider a friend and also someone who I would consider to be the single best shining example of an active keyboard documentarian in 2025 and I shudder to think about the day he eventually hangs it all up. If you could only pick one of these websites on this list to go visit right now, it should absolutely be his. Artisan Keycaps – ArtisanCollector and Keycap Archivist

Figure 4: While Artisan Collector has more words than the Archivist, rmendis still has some insanely good graphics and photos!

Despite Geekhack already being a half decent source of artisan keycap history and knowledge if you’re willing to crawl through pages and pages of dust-filled ancient history, there are two other more polished and shiny resources about artisan keycaps that I frequent – ArtisanCollector and the Keycap Archivist. The Archivist is perhaps the single most useful repository of images in the keyboard hobby and serves as a compendium of artisan keycap makers and catalogues of all of the sculpts, colorways, and designs that they’ve released over the years. While it is far from complete or truly technically exhaustive since it is maintained by the community at large, its value was more than recognized by the community when it was first started as ‘The Hatchery’ by keycap maker Beehatch. For more modern, nuanced takes on artisan keycaps that have more words given to them, ArtisanCollector is a website that was started by well-known artisan collector and community moderator rmendis and has provided written articles and insights on the artisan side of the hobby that we’ve been sorely lacking for years. While I’m certainly a bit biased towards this website as I have written a (quite good) article there myself, it is without doubt an objectively good source to learn from. Keyboard Switches – Telcontar and ThereminGoat

Figure 5: The parting few words of this introduction keep resonating with me further as the years go on...

While I’m certain that Daniel Beardsmore would actively despise me and be pissed off for the rest of the day for me lumping the two of us together in this article, the two sources we’ve written and worked on comprise the bulk of written knowledge that exists on vintage and modern keyboard switches to date. Telcontar, Beardsmore’s personal website that he updated alongside the original Deskthority Wiki, was a long running passion project of his that documents vintage switches and keyboard brands in a compact, concise, and overly thorough nature that I’ve simply had nothing but sheer admiration for over the years. Despite him no longer being an active documenter of mechanical keyboard knowledge and having given away his vast collection of switches (to me), Telcontar still serves as one of the subtle, off the beaten path sites where I have gained so much of my knowledge about switches. As for modern, MX-style switches that were produced beyond 2017, I begrudgingly have to throw myself onto this list. While there have been several other individuals who have written switch reviews over the years, I feel rather confident in saying that none of them have done so with as many words or with nearly as many interesting switches as I’ve been fortunate enough to do over the last five years. However, I do feel inclined to put myself last here on this list of great documentarians and document repositories as I can only ever hope to have as big of an impact on the mechanical keyboard community and its knowledge as all of the sources and individuals I’ve shared above.

So if you just take a couple of months off of work and spend every waking (and sleeping) moments you have reading the resources I’ve linked above, you should know entirely way too much about the rich history of mechanical keyboards and this hobby. It really is that easy. However, if all of that feels a bit abstract or you do need a break from going through all of those various resources, consider checking out some of my other short, informative articles on the keyboard hobby here on Drop such as ‘How To Ask for Help When Buying A Keyboard’ or ‘Keyboard Meetups: It’s More than the Boards!’.

(Edited)

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Feb 19, 2025

Thoroughly enjoyed this article. It was exactly what I was looking for as a noob in this hobby. I have found a little here and there, but nothing that so eloquently and informatively gives me a reason to search deeper. Thank you!

HubertTheMad

283

Keyboard Club Member

Feb 19, 2025

I think this is a great nod to those that have contributed so much to the hobby (including you!) and thank you for shining the light on some lesser known individuals like Ripster! While keyboard forums are still around in this day and age, it must've been so much fun to have been "in" that golden age of Geekhack and Deskthority. I can't imagine how much fun and how active those places used to be compared to today.

Feb 19, 2025

Hoff, I need a time machine! So many influential people and events that happened in the past in the hobby... Diego was saying the other day on his stream that he misses the days of Geekhack being super active. I'm sure those days had their issues, of course, but it would've been so cool to have seen what the community was like 10 years ago!

HoffmanMyster

3319

Community

Feb 19, 2025

HubertTheMadMan, peak geekhack was soooo good. Many a night was spent just bumming around the forum and chatting with folks. I see you over there keeping the dream alive! Honestly all this discord fragmentation has really been getting to me lately, I might just hop back to geekhack for a while and see how that goes. :D

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