Greetings, Keychatterers!

I’m Seth, and I’m proudly and happily assuming the mantle of Editor In Chief of Keychatter. I plan to continue the great work that Andy, and Aaron before him, put on these pages.

You may have noticed that the site has gone a little silent in recent months. That’s because Andy moved across the country and took up a demanding new job. (If you’ve never done that, just know that it is, if nothing else, massively time consuming.) Andy will still be an important part of things here at Keychatter, but he can now focus on the stuff that he has time to enjoy rather than having to deal with all the ins and outs of running a publication and constantly putting out content.

Instead, I will be dealing with all the ins and outs of running a publication and constantly putting out content. Expect plenty of news and reviews, features on keyboard technologies and happenings I find interesting, testing data, and more.

I’m bringing with me years of experience in the tech journalism field, from my early-career magazine days (as in the ones they used to print on paper) to my years running the news and peripherals reviews for Tom’s Hardware.

It was there, at Tom’s, where my mechanical keyboard origin story began…and it probably explains a lot about my relationship to the whole phenomenon. We were trying to figure out which switches were on a particular keyboard. Oddly, the company did not state publicly what they were. The product rep wouldn’t tell me on the phone, either, but he offered to send me one of the keyboards so I could find out for myself. A couple of days later, I had the keyboard in hand, popped off a keycap, and took note.

While I had the thing, I figured I may as well whip up a lengthy hands-on article about it. I ran the finished piece past our Managing Editor, who sagely replied by saying, and I quote, “This is too long to not be a review.” (That was his whole email, actually. He was very much into the whole brevity thing.)

So I sought to make a full-on review out of it. And that sent me careening down a path of discovery, lurking in the the online mech communities, researching everything I could about the underlying technology, and figuring out a review format and testing procedures that achieved objectivity on such a subjective topic. It was that quest for knowledge that got me hooked on these irresistible things. I’ve never recovered, and I don’t want to.

Is…is that weird? I feel like most people get into mechanical keyboards because they’re hunting for a better tool, and then they see or type on something that makes them fall in love. And then…well, you nerds know the rest. It’s that intense fandom. The need to jump into yet another group buy. The relentless pursuit of endgame (which is, of course, a myth).

Anyway, I’m prattling on. But I can do all the prattling I want, because I’m the Editor In Chief, so there’s no one to stop me. See, I can even do this: Efw0JFWfwdc wc ew 4ro34#$#$fnodw. I’m just going to leave that gobbledygook right there, and no one can do a thing about it.

Except…you can choose not to read it. But I hope that you do read, and watch and listen and comment as this site and its content evolve. I’ll evolve, too. I believe I have much to offer you in the way of experience and expertise and perspective and storytelling, but I have much to learn, as well.

I hope much of that learning comes from you folks. I always want to hear from you, not just to glean expertise and insight, but to know how we’re failing or succeeding, what you want to see more or less of, etc. Comment on articles. Bug me in the Slack channel. Email us (seth [at] keychatter.com). Shout on social media.

After all, if you’re a reader, this is your site. Keychatter is back, and it is now, as it has always been, by and for mechanical keyboard enthusiasts.

Xoxo,

Seth Colaner

Editor In Chief

Keychatter.com