Totally fair. I’m a 40s & 1800s user, so I tend to want to buy pretty much every kit they offer in order to maintain compatibility. The extra couple dollars there is just a nuisance.
My real complaint is aftermarket or in-stock, when it becomes a headache to track down one of the 75 numpads in a 1k basekit buy.
I mean, we’re already spending a ton on this hobby. I’m all for the $170 basekit that looks like dmg r1.
I understand how frustrating it can be to track down obscure kits, as a 40’s user, I’m very used to it, but that just exacerbates my desire to pay less for a base kit that I effectively need only for the alphas, 175 shift, and some 125 mod keys.
Same here. It may have little effect for people that are already in it anyway. But even if it’s just a $10 discount for a base kit without a num pad. Imagine drop selling it with the discount. I am sure it will attract a good chunk of new buyers.
Oh I know, Doc. Your model-v is awaiting my campsite. 
I’ve been reading this conversation and I’m the opposite… I mentioned my issue with the lack of a clear image with height / width indicators for the keys… I tend to buy kits that have enough key caps in it so I can use it with numerous layouts: 71 key, TKL, 98 Key, 104 key…
I get it that not everyone needs all the keys in a set - but this splitting off of mods into extra kits seems to me to just be a way for vendors double and triple the prices of their sets, when they already produced the set and can sell it for the price of their base kit.
It’s like Aesop’s tale of the miller, his son, and the donkey
Paraphrased refresher: When both walk beside the donkey they are criticised for not riding it. When the father rides, he is blamed for making his young son walk; when the son rides, he is blamed for leaving his elderly father on foot. When both ride, they are berated for overburdening their beast.
There won’t be a kitting that pleases everyone, and probably won’t be as long as we have the diversity of layouts that we do. And even when all the kitting is completely modular (like those KAM/KAT sets with 50 kits haha), you’ll see comments about too many options or about being overwhelmed.
I think the designer/vendor should just choose the kitting that matches their vision. It may not work for everyone, but that should be ok. Geekhack has a pretty good system (and good people) for commenting on kitting in IC, and it usually works for catching mistakes and keeping up with trends (e.g., alice/arisu boards becoming more common or basic 40s support).
PS: I’ll add to this that some vendors have enough sales data to extrapolate the demand for different kits, and the inclusion/exclusion of numpad may be influenced by this data/demand analysis
PPS: Here’s the full text of the fable.
Hee’s one that has been getting more and more on my nerves lately… Websites that don’t allow you to filter or search by category for switches, key caps, etc.
Personally, I don’t give a how many switches you have…I don’t want to wade through the list of 100 tactile and linear switches on your site to find the 2 sets of clicky switches you have that are out of stock. Let me select the key cap profile I want, let me filter out the out-of-stock and group buy sets, let me select ABS, PBT or both… This goes for keyboards too.
Basically just do a good job of organizing your website, and give me the tools to drill down to what I am looking for as quickly as possible. The lower the friction between me and your website, the more likely I will be to buy something.
Along the lines of what @UnattributedCC wrote, my pet peeve is keycap sellers who don’t provide easy-to-read sizes for all the modifiers or make you jump through hoops to find them or have an image that’s too tiny to read and forces you to find the URL for the image and play with the dimensions in the query string until you can read the numbers. Not naming names but it’s RAMA.
On the other hand, NovelKeys absolutely nails the UX for both keycaps and switches. I love that they include all the variations for some commons switches on the same page along with force graphs and everything.
Dust on BoW Keycaps… Just ARGHH! It’s so visible in contrast to the white and really annoying to have to dust can it.
This is going to be very petty but mine is the phrase “preference”, it’s being used too much and in the wrong way.
Every time this phrase brought up it’s either some youtuber being apologetic about his opinion/parts choice, giving zero info or some low effort comment in the worst community for MKs (let alone in general, can you guess which?) that contributes nothing.
In my eyes it basically says “I don’t know what I’m talking about/have nothing to expand, so I’ll say preference instead”.
Maybe I haven’t heard this misuse you are referring to, however “preference” is a synonym for the word “choice” (at least in noun form), As such it generally stands that there doesn’t need to be rational reason behind someone making a personal choice.
I won’t disagree that there are YouTubers that I feel bring little value to the mechanical keyboard community. Your cryptic reference to “…in the worst community for MKs…” I don’t a clue about.
I guess where this comment is going is to say that I don’t understand your comment. Without solid context for the misuse of the word “preference” it’s a pretty slim allegation.
Yup. Youtubers learn eventually that avoiding controversy is easier than desensitizing oneself which comes with its own bag of not so great consequences. And Cluess Youtubers are just mimicking what more popular folks have learned through nasty experiences.
Sure “preference” is an answer, but such a low effort one, bringing zero value.
It’s a reply for the sake of replying, things doesn’t always boils down to personal preference.
In my eyes it’s just another way for people to be AHs.
Without naming names…Reddit… sadly while being the biggest community with everything major flowing through it, is one of the worst I’ve seen.
In the end what I’m trying to say is, it makes sense to say it’s personal preference when someone asks “what’s the best X”, but often the case I’m seeing is people asking for opinion or experience and being replied with “preference”.
Such a numbing habit, all it does it create gate keeping mentality and limits the general knowledge.
I see it like this: People have preferences when they start out, and preferences can change (easily). As they stick around longer and try more things, preferences become philosophies, which have more inertia.
Most people (including me) haven’t had enough experience (time/variety) to develop philosophies, so we still have preferences that change 
Anyway, I know your peeve is about the way the word is used as a discussion killer or cop out (Don hit the nail on the head), but I figured I’d present this dichotomy I’ve been mulling over. FWIW, most redditors and commenters in streams are likely squarely in preference territory (vs. philosophy territory).
@donpark I’d say that is a bit of a simplistic view on YouTubers. There are a lot of external forces that go into what content creators are making over there. There is audience pressure, there is peer pressure, and there is pressure from YouTube itself (via their algorithm and metrics, etc.)
There is another possible reason for it: avoiding conflict. It’s not unusual that the moment someone says one thing they will be inundated with people calling them idiots, or saying something else is better, etc. Sometimes saying that something is personal preference is really more of a way of saying: “it’s none of your business” or “I don’t want to debate”.
I figured that was it. No disagreement. In fact, I can say, it’s not limited to any one subreddit… It seems that finding a decent subreddit is more the exception than the rule.
I like this a lot, although I might put it a bit differently. When you start out you have a concept of what you like, but you don’t have knowledge or experience in how to achieve that goal. Over time you build knowledge and experience, and can then approach things using a methodical, goal oriented process. With that in place, you can develop a philosophy.
True. I tend to rely on simplistic views and stereotyping as a form of handle on slippery subjects. I know models are not full nor fair representation and useful only up to point although knowing where that point is tricky.
You know when you slowly actuate the spacebar, or any switch really, and you can sometimes hear the stem legs rub against the metal contacts? I hate that and admittedly usually only hear it if I’m purposely trying to reproduce it just so I can complain about it. Lol. Like I know it’s there, but I tell myself to just forget about it.
You must have exceptional hearing.
I think my hearing is at the very least very good, and I’m bothered by small kinks and even I can’t hear what you’re talking about.
I think it happens when the metal contacts put too much pressure on the stem legs OR the legs have little imperfections which snag and scrap along the contacts. Whichever it is, I hate it. I mean you spend all this time lubing and fussing over wobble and smoothness, only to be bamboozled by a scuffed metal contact or stem leg.
Kind of related to this…
Apart from stem-leaf interaction, there are some switches I swear I can hear and/or feel the contacts engaging / disengaging each-other.
Sometimes it’s just like a little “dink” of the metal pieces coming into contact, or maybe a noticeable change in texture after the leaf and stem separate.
