[maxxxxx]

I recently got one and I admit it's really loud. But this shouldn't be an issue in a decent workplace. I have several guys near me who have loud voices and talk a lot. That's worse than a loud keyboard. Open office plans are the problem, not keyboards or loud people.

[drewolbrich]

I am distracted by your loud keyboard. Frequently, I find myself wishing that you had a quiet keyboard like everyone else in the office. I am particularly irritated by the noise of your keyboard each morning when you write long emails or posts. When you are coding and there are frequent long breaks when you are thinking, it is not quite as distracting, but I still don't like it.

I agree with you that open office plans are the problem, but your keyboard makes that problem worse.

[maxxxxx]

"I am particularly irritated by the noise of your keyboard each morning when you write long emails or posts."

My E-mails are pretty short :-). However, I don't enjoy you telling your coworkers about your weekend every Monday morning.

Open offices are just stupid. They cause conflict where there shouldn't be.

[drewolbrich]

In my parallel universe, you're also the one telling your coworkers about your weekend every Monday morning, but I agree with your point. :-)

> Open offices are just stupid. They cause conflict where there shouldn't be.

Yes.

I would kill someone for a walled office, even if there was a high risk of life imprisonment, as long as there was some assurance that the prison cell would have walls.

[s73ver]

At the same time, other people being inconsiderate doesn't excuse you being inconsiderate as well.

[seanmcdirmid]

I was using a Model M when working in an open office in China. No one really cared, because the guy in the cubicle next to me had a sunflower/watermelon seed habit. Damn, no one should be de-shelling seeds in an open office! Or in the afternoon we would have fruit, and pear day everyone would be smacking and slurping (Chinese pears are much more watery than western pears, I hate pear day!), or everyone talking/arguing/whatever. Turns out my keyboard wasn't weird in what was already a high noise environment.

I had to invest in a pair of Bose noise cancellation headphone a long time ago.

[rhino369]

I won't even use my model M and I have a personal office (that I usually leave the door open to). It's loud as hell. I'm skeptical nobody cared.

But typing on a model M is pure sex.

[seanmcdirmid]

Trust me, when your office mate is chomping down on watermelon seeds, no one cares about your Model M.

[softawre]

This is true. But, if you're in an open office, don't you think the decent thing to do is to not speak loudly (and therefore not use a loud mechanical keyboard)?

There are mech keyboards with more quiet switches. At least use one of those.

[mindcrime]

But, if you're in an open office, don't you think the decent thing to do is to not speak loudly (and therefore not use a loud mechanical keyboard)?

No, that just shows tacit acceptance of the situation and exacerbates the problem over time. If you work in an open plan environment, the best thing to do is use the noisiest keyboard you can find, wear headphones that intentionally leak noise and listen to your music loud, do as many personal phone calls as you can from your desk, etc. And then, when people complain, point out that you didn't ask for an open plan office, and ask them to go to their manager and explain how horrible open plan is.

Worst case, you get fired. Big deal, now you have a chance to look for a place to work that isn't brain dead.

[Declanomous]

Pretty much every mechanical keyboard will be loud. I use a board with Cherry Red switches at work, and while it's much quieter than my board with Cherry Blue switches that I use at home, it is still louder than the rubber dome keyboard it replaced.

It doesn't bother my coworkers, but I also have an actual cube, so there's at least a little bit of fabric-covered foam inbetween us.

[nsxwolf]

If someone is complaining about Cherry Reds, I think they're asking for too much. Perhaps they should look for work in the library sciences.

[_jal]

Heh. I had a former cow-orker who hated by Topre board. I told him if he'd (a) keep his computer volume off and (b) not hold impromptu, non-work meetings as his desk at bar-volumes, I'd try to use a crappy board for him.

He was offended. I kept my board.

Again, the root problem is the veal-fattening pens.

[abritinthebay]

Cherry Reds are quiet for mechanical keyboards but they're still louder than most decent non-mechanical.

Also way louder than a MBP keyboard, for example.

[kps]

  > they're still louder than most decent non-mechanical.

They're louder than all decent non-mechanical. They're also quieter than all decent non-mechanical.

[maxxxxx]

Sure. It's good to be courteous. But in the end it comes down to the fact that open offices are just plain stupid. I don't know what the motivation behind them is but it's certainly not to make a productive workplace.

[tomjen3]

I agree with you that open office is the problem, however my old mechanical keyboard is louder than most people with a loud voice and it would probably be used more often.