Where to Get More Mechanical Keyboard Buying Help Beyond the "Is this good?" Wiki

Updated

The "Is this good?" guide points readers to a few concrete places for further help: the MechKeys Discord (including its help and buying-advice channels and pinned messages), your own web search engine, and YouTube — with the caveat that YouTube information should be taken "with grains of salt." You can also contribute back to the guide itself by filing pull requests or issues for information you want added, or for complaints. The guide frames itself explicitly as a starting point and supplement, not a sole source, so these channels are meant to be used alongside it rather than instead of it.

The MechKeys Discord

The guide names the MechKeys Discord as a primary place to continue after reading. Two channels are called out by name:

  • #kb-help — for troubleshooting and general questions.
  • #kb-buying (buying advice) — for purchase decisions.

It also points to the server's pins as a source of information, alongside the guide itself. One practical note from the guide: read the relevant sections before asking, because people helping in #kb-help or the buying-advice channel may go "from passive to aggressive" if you skip that step. In other words, the Discord is the follow-up channel, but the guide expects you to arrive with the basics already covered.

Search engines and YouTube

The guide says it is "a supplement to a set of information I am confident that you can find on your own with reasonable use of your favorite web search engine" and YouTube. The caution attached to YouTube is explicit: take information from there "with grains of salt." Treat video content as one input among several rather than a verdict.

Contributing back to the guide

The guide invites readers to "file pull requests or issues for information you wish to be added, or political complaints." If you find a gap — a part category, a compatibility note, a product that fits a niche the guide doesn't cover — that's the route for suggesting it.

What to keep in mind when using these channels

  • The guide has a revision date. The author warns that "certain aspects to the keyboard meta may be out of date by the time you read this," so cross-check anything time-sensitive against current discussion in the Discord or elsewhere.
  • It is folk knowledge. The guide describes itself as based on first-hand reports from the author and co-writers plus second-hand reports from trusted friends, and says it should be "taken with a grain of salt."
  • It is not comprehensive. It is "not a complete guide to be solely relied on" and doesn't cover all aspects of the hobby, though it aims to be "enough for most new people to get started."
  • It won't tell you what's "good." The guide's position is that "there is no good and there is no bad; there are merely different products that fulfill different needs and niches." Expect the Discord and other sources to help you match parts to your needs, not to hand down a verdict.

A practical sequence

  1. Read the relevant section of the guide (use Ctrl/Cmd-F and the table of contents — the document is long).
  2. Check the MechKeys Discord pins for the topic.
  3. Ask in #kb-help or the buying-advice channel with your specific need and what you've already read.
  4. Supplement with search and YouTube, weighing video claims accordingly.
  5. If something is missing from the guide, file an issue or pull request.