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Comment by seanmcdirmid | Hacker News Reader

How acceptable are mechanical keyboards in open offices? In China, I used a model M since our office was loud anyways, but in the states I went with something with cherry brown switches even though I really wanted the louder cherry blue ones. Is there some kind of standard etiquette to follow?

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Having a loud keyboard anywhere where other people are working is really obnoxious... don't do it. People may not confront you about it, but they will hate you internally.

Yah, don’t.

I’m constantly flabbergasted by peoples’ lack of awareness when it comes to noise in the office. It’s up there with other attention seeking behaviors like whistling in the office. WHYYYYYYY

(Sorry, venting)

Standard etiquette might just be empathy. If you have ever felt annoyed by audio you could not control, then you should strongly consider a quiet keyboard for your office.

Please don't. It's super distracting when trying to focus.

I'm surprised when people think it's ok to assault my sense of hearing when I'm trying to focus on my work.

We have other senses, and people are offended when those senses are assaulted. Why is sound not considered?

I would for once love to work in an office where the sound of your keyboard is the biggest concern when it comes to noise... :-(

Open offices aren't acceptable. I'm so spoiled at this point that having to go back to a shit keyboard would be the end...

It's not always a problem depending on how open and how quiet your office is. If you type better with less wrist pain when your keys click, you can probably convince your officemates to be okay with it. Don't get me started on how disastrous those newest Apple keyboards are for wrist health. Buckling spring all the way.

open offices are a clusterfuck you have no option but to wear headphones anyways, I don't know anyone who doesn't have headphones handy in an open office.

1. People having meetings at their desk cos conf rooms are never available.

2. People talking random non work related stuff in groups.

3. Keyboard noises.

4. Food smells.

In China, there was some guy in the next cluster over who would often snack on sun flower and watermelon seeds. Oh, and he had a chronic cough. Also, succulent pear day (we got fruit every afternoon) would lead to an hour of slurping unproductively.

I would guess those wouldn’t be a problem in the states but...

I have a keyboard with cherry browns, and other than a bit of lighthearted ragging no one seems to mind (we have much bigger noise issues—meetings being held in open areas, etc.).

My keyboard is my primary physical interface at work, and I use what I find most comfortable. But I try to not be a jerk about it.

In my open-office experience it ends up not mattering. There's always someone who will take it on as their mission to percussively disassemble whatever keyboard they're given.

Get the browns.

Don't listen to anyone here who tells you no. Get yourself the browns. They really aren't that loud.

also consider o-rings.

“Is there some kind of standard etiquette to follow?”

Hm, I don’t mean to be glib, but what do you think the etiquette is?

Seems to be divided. Some say “never” sone say use the brown switches, other say it depends on the office culture.

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