[LAC-Tech]

Maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but is the loudness of your keyboard really a big deal in office environments?

Like I get if where you work is as quiet as a library, but in most places people are on voice calls, talking to each other over your head, etc. Any one complaining about clicky keys in that kind of environment can get stuffed as far as I am concerned.

[lproven]

Exactly. I started out in my first job in an open-plan office where everyone had Model F and Model M keyboards because we were an IBM dealer and that's what IBM shipped. We made calls, talked to customers, talked to clients in the office and so on, no problem, because we were used to it.

The biggest such environment I worked in circa 1993 had about 40 people in it. No problem.

I carefully kept a bunch of those keyboards as people were throwing them out in the late 1990s and early 2000s and I have about 5-6 original IBM boards. I still use them. Yes in open plan offices, in the last decade. Including in crowded workplaces. I let people try my keyboards, encourage them to pick them up and feel them. I let my younger colleagues marvel that I type on a keyboard older than they are.

Nobody minds. I've had like 2 complaints this century. It's not that bad.

And it's also worth noting that I don't have RSI, I think because I use stiff mechanical boards with long travel and my fingers get a workout, even if the rest of me doesn't.