Meta Update VII
Putting on the rose tinted glasses and looking back on all that has transpired in the last year, I realize that this article is just one stiff cocktail and some memorable theme music away from really nailing the nostalgia trip that I am shooting for in my head. I don’t think it quite needs something like ‘YouTube Rewind’ levels of music, but something subtle like the backdrop music in those Secret Base documentaries or Summoning Salt videos. (Would you believe that I, of all people, would listen to dozens of hours about games I’ve never played or the entire history of the Atlanta Falcons?) Unfortunately, however, I am a bit limited in my ability to implement music as a function of the medium that I choose to operate in so I’ll have to improvise a little bit. In order to meet my goal, I’ll need you to please hum along with whatever tune feels fit as I share with you that this website is officially five years in the making as of today. Another year has came and went and I’m somehow still here writing about switches with more words, photographs, and measurements than last year and every year before that. I’m sure the ‘me’ from previous years would be stranded at the intersection of shocked and horrified to think that the review from just a few days ago came in only a little above average at just shy of 10,000 words and 30 pages of work. Alongside my growth in content and verbosity, though, I too am continuing to grow as a real, actual person as well. New hobbies have came and went, my significant other moved into my apartment only a handful of months ago, and I’m finally solidifying my impact in my new R&D role at my company I picked up a bit over a year ago as well. It’s been quite an eventful year and to be honest I’m just glad that I have a project like this that I get to continue to work on and contribute to year over year. The readership and support that you all have shown me is just icing on that cake. Speaking of cake, as is tradition for the start of these Meta Updates, let me go ahead and wheel out some potentially copyright infringing cake for all of us to enjoy as we continue reading.
Figure 1: Yeah I'll admit that the giraffe is probably a bit much but the oranges and yellows in the frosting stood out to me more than any other cake I could find.
Given that the majority of you all likely choose to celebrate your milestones and birthdays with a fair bit less ‘Type A’ flair than I do, I feel inclined to give you the ground rules and proceedings of my party as it exists here. After all, it’s my party and I’ll choose to write if I want to. Rather than gifts, piñatas, or cookouts, I tend to celebrate things as such in the only way that I know how – by sharing way too many words and details that not many, if any of you asked for. Meta Updates are my annual check-in articles where I sit down and lay out the numbers regarding content, readership, changes made in the past year, and a loose set of expectations that I attempt and succeed at following up on about as well as the average New Year’s resolution. In the earliest iterations of this format in Meta Updates I and II, these updates were structured around notifying my smaller audience at the time about life and content changes as I did not have any broader social media accounts for my website until the day that Meta Update II was released. As my readership and social media platforms have grown substantially in the years following that update, I’ve morphed this article into a sort of yearly recap article that is appreciated by some but criminally under-read by most. (There’s a lot of incredibly interesting details in these Meta Updates that give a glimpse into what I get to see and think about on the other side of the page!) For those of you who are familiar with the Meta Update articles and like the excess numbers and details as much as I do, you’ll see that this loosely follows and builds upon the format of Meta Update VI and those before it.
A Year In Review
Note: There was a time in which I was making content prior to the existence of this website. Thus while this is the true 5th birthday of the website, I have classified 6 separate years of content by their associated dates.
Long and Short Written Content
Full Length Article Content
Year 1 – (Nov. 11th, 2019 – Mar. 10th, 2020)
10 Total Articles Released
- 6 Reviews
- 3 Historical/Compilation Articles
- 1 Meta Update (I)
Year 2 – (Mar. 11th, 2020 – Mar. 10th, 2021)
30 Total Articles Released
- 24 Reviews
- 2 Guides
- 3 Historical/Compilation Articles
- 1 Meta Update (II)
Year 3 – (Mar. 11th, 2021 – Mar. 10th, 2022)
28 Total Articles Released
- 24 Reviews
- 2 Historical/Compilation Articles
- 1 Discussion Article
Year 4 – (Mar. 11th, 2022 – Mar. 10th, 2023)
25 Total Articles Released
- 23 Reviews
- 1 Meta Update (IV)
- 1 April Fools Content – Ultraclearine Switch Review
Year 5 – (Mar. 11th, 2023 – Mar. 10th, 2024)
23 Total Articles Released
- 20 Reviews
- 1 Technical Article - On Differences In Linear Switches
- 1 Meta Update (V)
- 1 April Fools Content – NOVELKEYS X KAILH BIG DARK YELLOW SWITCH REVIEW
Year 6 - (Mar. 11th, 2024 - Mar. 10th, 2025)
25 Total Articles Released
- 22 Reviews
- 1 Technical Article - A Better Beginner’s Guide to Force Curves
- 1 Meta Update (VI)
- 1 April Fools Content - My Special Chocolate Dipped Nixie Recipe
For Year #5 of the website, the top five performing articles for the year are, in order:
#1. A Beginner’s Guide to Switches
#2. Gateron G Pro 3.0 Yellow Switch Review
#3. Holy Panda X Switch Review
#4. Gateron Melodic Switch Review
#5. Ball Bearing Blue Switch Review
As of today, the website has had a total of 3,165,115 page views across its entire time live.
In addition to simply posting these longform articles, the following changes to their formatting and design have been implemented or largely worked on over the past year:
- The background sections of reviews, and especially those recently, have taken on a stronger contextual, almost story telling-like role that they simply did not in recent years. While reviews like that of the Akko Mirrors, Glorious Mako Ultralights, and Sillyworks x Gateron Type R switches did categorically cover the other switches released by their respective vendors/designers, there have been quite a few other switches that have more of a meta-heavy rationale behind my interest in them. Switches such as the BSUN Agarwood, Kinetic Labs Turtles, and Gateron Dual-Rail Magnetic Oranges have all served to highlight more wide, overarching trends in switches that I feel like the community is seeing but perhaps not fully realizing in the front of the collective mind.
- Reviews are thinning a bit in their ‘Appearance’ section word count in favor of increasing numbers of photographs that directly show the phenomena being discussed. This is of course not as true for switches with technically interesting designs and odd structures which have not been covered before.
- The concept of ‘Linearity’ and its associated plots had only shown up in one review prior to the release of Meta Update VI and I’m happy to say that it has continued to show up in every full length linear switch review since then.
‘Shorts’ Content
At the start of 2022, I added a new tab to the website banner titled ‘Shorts’ with the explicit intent of publishing 1-2 short length articles per month in addition to my other written content. While I think that was a bit of a lofty goal given the sheet amount of increasing effort being required of full length reviews, I would ultimately like to actually see that through some day. For now, the implementation has been better than it was in previous years and I’ve both published more articles and with increasingly better subject matter over the last year. The vast majority of Shorts posted in Year 6 were incredibly well received from the feedback I saw from the community and readers.
Year 4 – (Mar. 11th, 2022 – Mar. 10th, 2023)
2 Total Short Articles Released
Year 5 – (Mar. 11th, 2023 – Mar. 10th, 2024)
4 Total Short Articles Released
Year 6 - (Mar. 11th, 2024 - Mar. 10th, 2025)
7 Total Short Articles Released
Off-Site Content
Starting at the tail end of 2022, I was approached by Drop to begin writing short form content on specifically switches for their guides section of their website. That soon thereafter grew to be accompanied by Kinetic Labs and Dangkeebs as well, giving me the bulk of the off-site content that I’ve written in recent years save for a few one-off engagements. Over the course of the last year of writing the direction and scope of this all has changed, with most notably Dangkeebs stopping their monthly article requests and Drop allowing me to expand out into other keyboard topics beyond switches. The sum total of work produced for all platforms may be found linked under the ‘Archive’ tab of the website and will only ever be hosted on their respective platforms. Content ideas, edits, etc. are subject to their approval and modifications as part of our agreements set out in advance.
While I am a bit saddened to have had Dangkeebs drop from this list of places that I was publishing to, I still very much enjoyed the content that I produced for them over the years and continue to publish for Kinetic Labs and Drop. The adjustment away from just covering switches for Drop, as well, has both been incredibly well received by readers and thoroughly enjoyed by me during the article preparation and writing process. As stated in the last Meta Update I find that these articles allow me to flex my writing muscles a bit and push my work in a direction that is a bit more restrained (read: not verbose and meandering) as my normal switch reviews that I publish here. I thoroughly plan to continue publishing on these respective sites (and maybe some others) in the coming year if they’ll continue to allow me to as I feel like it’s been one of the more personally refreshing and community appreciated initiatives I’ve taken up in recent years.
Year 4 – (Mar. 11th, 2022 – Mar. 10th, 2023)
12 Total Short Articles Released
Year 5 – (Mar. 11th, 2023 – Mar. 10th, 2024)
27 Total Short Articles Released
- One off release for Artisancollector.com
Year 6 - (Mar. 11th, 2024 - Mar. 10th, 2025)
28 Total Short Articles Released
- One not included ‘That Windy City Keeb Meet’ Panel Video
Supplementary Content
Scorecards and the Github Repository
While the scorecard system was first introduced in Year 2 and at the beginning of this year featured 286 scorecards, it has drastically expanded and changed since then. The amount of scorecards released as well as their changes includes the following.
Year 2 – (Mar. 11th, 2020 – Mar. 10th, 2021)
67 Total Scorecards Released
- 34 Linears
- 18 Tactiles
- 4 Silent Linears
- 3 Silent Tactiles
- 8 Clickies
Year 3 – (Mar. 11th, 2021 – Mar. 10th, 2022)
87 Total Scorecards Released
- 51 Linears
- 32 Tactiles
- 0 Silent Linears
- 0 Silent Tactiles
- 4 Clickies
Year 4 – (Mar. 11th, 2022 – Mar. 10th, 2023)
69 Total Scorecards Released
- 35 Linears
- 21 Tactiles
- 5 Silent Linears
- 2 Silent Tactiles
- 6 Clickies
335,541 Total Views on GitHub
Year 5 – (Mar. 11th, 2023 – Mar. 10th, 2024)
63 Total Scorecards Released
- 29 Linears
- 13 Tactiles
- 6 Silent Linears
- 5 Silent Tactiles
- 10 Clickies
341,719 Total Views on GitHub
Year 6 - (Mar. 11th, 2024 - Mar. 10th, 2025)
69 Total Scorecards Released
- 35 Linears
- 16 Tactiles
- 6 Silent Linears
- 5 Silent Tactiles
- 7 Clickies
171,791 Total Views on GitHub
Figure 2: Daily Scorecard Repository view count. (171,791 total for the year)
Force Curves and Github Repository
Perhaps the single largest data driven project on this website has been focused on continuing to document force curves for as many switches as possible and storing those in the Force Curve Repository hosted on GitHub. Started in May of 2022 after Drop graciously gifted me an Imada FSA-MSL-0.4 Portable Force/Displacement Tester, which is a professional piece of lab equipment for the record, it has since expanded to include over 1,700 different force curves of well over 1,500 different switches.
At the onset of this project, I had stated that I was largely focused on getting force curves for as many distinct switches as possible and was not so much focused on getting replicates of single switches at that time. While my philosophy on this has largely remained the same, I have begun doing replicate measurements of any switches which are getting full reviews written about them. This was done in large part to allow for a ‘best representative’ curve to be chosen without potentially misconstruing my larger reading audience over one bad force curve.
Year 4 – (Mar. 11th, 2022 – Mar. 10th, 2023)
568 Total Measurements Live
47,655 Total Views on GitHub*
- *Repository started in end of May, 2022
Year 5 – (Mar. 11th, 2023 – Mar. 10th, 2024)
1102 Total Measurements Live
- 534 New Measurements Added
95,310 Total Views on Github
Year 6 - (Mar. 11th, 2024 - Mar. 10th, 2025)
1727 Total Measurements Live
- 625 New Measurements Added
57,153 Total Views on GitHub
Figure 3: Daily Force Curve Repository view count. (57,153 total for the year)
Composite Measurement Sheet
One of my lesser known forms of content that I have is the Composite Measurement Sheet I use to track the caliper-based measurements of stem dimensions and switch components that I display in my full length reviews. Much like with all other supplementary content, this sheet also includes many more switches than what I just review at length and this is usually updated on my ‘off weeks’ in between written reviews. This, like all of my other extraneous content, can be found under the ‘Archive’ tab of the website and links to a Google Drive containing the excel sheet with the measurements and an update log. Note: In order to properly view the box and whisker plots for comparisons between brands you must download the sheet for Excel, as Google Sheets is a piece of shit software and should be scrubbed from existence.
While this sheet and its contents remain largely the same as they did at this time last year, one thing worth noting is an expansion to include SWK, HMX, and Keygeek as manufacturers as per my 2024 Manufacturer Update short article.
Year 3 – (Apr. 18th, 2021 – Mar. 10th, 2022)
100 Total Measurements Live
Year 4 – (Mar. 11th, 2022 – Mar. 10th, 2023)
275 Total Measurements Live
- 175 New Measurements Added
Year 5 – (Mar. 11th, 2023 – Mar. 10th, 2024)
461 Total Measurements Live
- 186 New Measurements Added
Year 6 - (Mar. 11th, 2024 - Mar. 10th, 2025)
680 Total Measurements Live
- 219 New Measurements Added
Artisan Addendum
Debuted on May 8th, 2023 as part of my one-off contest article submission to Artisancollector.com, the ‘Artisan Addendum’ project is a parallel Excel sheet of caliper-based measurements that aims to measure the widths of the keycap mounting posts on various MX-style switches and is available in the same spot as the Composite Measurement Sheet. While it initially started with 250 different switches measured, it has since grown over the past few years and is being regularly updated alongside the Composite Measurement Sheet regularly.
Year 5 – (Mar. 11th, 2023 – Mar. 10th, 2024)
442 Total Measurements Live
Year 6 - (Mar. 11th, 2024 - Mar. 10th, 2025)
717 Total Measurements Live
- 275 New Measurements Added
Linearity
The concept of ‘Linearity’ and my Excel sheet tracking such was barely a week old as the time of posting the last Meta Update before this one. As first covered in my non-review, full length article titled ‘On Differences In Linear Switches’, this concept aims to quantify differences in slope and linearity (or straightness) of various linear switches to highlight the subtle differences between them. (This is also available in the same place as the Composite Measurement Sheet and Artisan Addenum.) After one year of growth this project is progressing quite quickly and is likely to encompass all linear force curves I’ve ever collected by this time next year. As well, these details have made excellent additions to the reviews of linear switches.
Year 5 – (Mar. 11th, 2023 – Mar. 10th, 2024)
219 Total Measurements
Year 6 - (Mar. 11th, 2024 - Mar. 10th, 2025)
908 Total Measurements
- 689 New Measurements Added
Social Media
Given that my various social media accounts were opened sometime during Year 2, there is no Year 1 statistics as seen below.
Year 2 – (Mar. 11th, 2020 – Mar. 10th, 2021)
- 1570 followers with 79 posts
- 850 followers with 413 tweets
- 20 patrons at the end of the year
Year 3 – (Mar. 11th, 2021 – Mar. 10th, 2022)
- +4172 followers with 102 new posts
- 5742 followers total with 181 posts overall
- +1374 followers with 388 new tweets
- 2224 followers total with 801 tweets overall
- +12 patrons at the end of the year
- 32 total patrons currently
Year 4 – (Mar. 11th, 2022 – Mar. 10th, 2023)
- +1173 followers with 91 new posts
- 6915 followers total with 272 posts overall
- +850 followers with 456 new tweets
- 3074 followers total with 1257 tweets overall
- +2 patrons at the end of the year
- 34 total patrons currently
Year 5 – (Mar. 11th, 2023 – Mar. 10th, 2024)
- +181 followers with 96 new posts
- 7096 followers total with 368 posts overall
- +118 followers with 385 new tweets
- 3192 followers total with 1642 tweets overall
- -3 paid patrons at the end of the year
- 45 total patrons, 31 paid currently
Year 6 – (Mar. 11th, 2024 – Mar. 10th, 2025)
- -46 followers with 92 new posts
- 7050 followers total with 460 posts overall
- -10 followers with 283 new tweets
- 3182 followers total with 1925 tweets overall
- +1 paid patrons at the end of the year
- 65 total patrons, 32 paid currently
While this first year over year loss in subscribers does seem a bit defeating on the surface, I want readers to recall that both Twitter and Instagram have changed their algorithms heavily in the past year to favor video content over that of photographs which I normally share. This mixed with the uncertain financial times the US is facing and the increasing awareness of the ill effects of social media can more than explain this small decrease.
Other Points of Note
Sponsors
Over the span of the last year, there hasn’t been really any changes to my loyal, core group of sponsors who have been with me for several years now. I have added Kailh and Keebz N Cables to this list and hope to keep them around for many years as well as they have tons of great switches on constantly updating basis!
Sponsors/Affiliates
Mechbox UK
- A wonderful UK based operation which sells singles to switches that I’ve used above in my comparisons for collectors and the curious alike. Matt has gone out of his way to help me build out big parts of my collection, and buying something using this link supports him as well as my content!
KeebCats UK
- A switch peripheral company based out of the UK which sells everything switch adjacent you could ask for, they’ve been a huge help recently with my film and lube supply for personal builds, and they want to extend that help to you too. Use code ‘GOAT’ for 10% off your order when you check them out!
proto[Typist] Keyboards
- An all-things keyboard vendor based out of the UK, proto[Typist] is a regular stocker of everything from switches to the latest keyboard and keycap groupbuys. While I’ve bought things from the many times in the past, they also are a sponsor of my work and allow me to get some of the great switches I write about!
Divinikey
- Not only do they stock just about everything related to keyboards and switches, but they’re super friendly and ship out pretty quick too. Divinikey has been a huge help to me and my builds over the last year or two of doing reviews and they’ll definitely hook you up. Use code ‘GOAT’ for 5% off your order when you check them out!
ZealPC
- Do they really need any introduction? Zeal and crew kicked off the custom switch scene many years ago with their iconic Zealios switches and the story of switches today couldn’t be told without them. Use code ‘GOAT’ (or click the link above) for 5% off your order when you check them out!
MechMods UK
- A rising vendor based in the UK, Ryan and crew have been a pleasure to work with and have nearly everything you’d need to build your first or fourteenth keyboard. Go build your latest or greatest one right now with them by using code ‘GOAT’ at checkout for a 5% discount!
Dangkeebs
- A longtime supporter of the website and the collection, Dangkeebs has quite possibly the widest variety of switches of any vendor out there. Not only is their switch selection large, but it rotates and is constantly adding new stuff too. You’re going to need 5% off your order with my affiliate to save off the cost of all those switches!
SwitchOddities
- The brainchild of one my most adventurous proxies, SwitchOddities is a place where you can try out all the fancy, strange, and eastern-exclusive switches that I flex on my maildays with. Follow my affiliate code and use code ‘GOAT’ at checkout to save 5% on some of the most interesting switches you’ll ever try!
Cannonkeys
- Does anybody not know of Cannonkeys at this point? One of the largest vendors in North America with keyboards, switches, keycaps, and literally everything you could ever want for a keyboard always in stock and with an incredibly dedicated and loving crew. Follow my affiliate link above in their name to support both them and I when you buy yourself some switches!
Kinetic Labs
- One of the most well-rounded keyboard vendors out there, Christian and crew have been supporters of all my switch and switch-adjacent needs for some years now. I’m honored to have them as an affiliate and think you should check them out using my affiliate link above to support both them and I when you check out their awesome products!
Keebhut
- Want to try out some switch brands that fly under most vendor’s radars? Keebhut is always seeking out that next latest and greatest and has been super helpful in hooking me up with new brands over the past year. They are all about sharing that love as well, and want to give you 5% off your next order with them when you use code ‘GOAT’ at checkout!
Kailh
- No, you’re not mistaken – this is actually that Kailh that manufactures switches. As one of the longest running manufacturers in the hobby, they have a massive variety of switches available over on their website at any point in time. I’m lucky to be affiliated with them now, and so consider using my affiliate link above when ordering some Kailh switches to support me!
Keebz N Cables
- Australia and Oceania’s very own is now a part of the sponsor list here and I couldn’t be happier to add this long time supporter of the collection to it. They’ve always got an amazing selection of switches (and other keyboard parts) in stock and they want to share the love that they’ve shown me with you all too! Use code ‘thegoat’ for 5% off your first order when you visit!
Switch Collection
As of today, I’ve officially catalogued 3,500 different unique mechanical keyboard switches. Mind you, this does not still include the vast majority of the world’s largest vintage switch collection behind me which I’m still only just now starting to dig into and add to the collection. As well, all of the combinations of both the Tecsee Ice Cream and Wuque MM switch parts as seen on their respective testers below are only counted as 1 single switch each. With three new testers purchased as of last year, I’m quickly running out of real estate to store these testers!
Figure 4: Collection family photo as of 3/11/25 with 3,500 unique, different keyboard switches.
Upcoming Year Plans
Much like in the Meta Reviews of the past, I hold absolutely zero promises on actually following through on any of this content as the plans that I make today may not be feasible nor hold up well in a week, a month, or a year down the road when I write another one of these updates. This is simply a short list of ideas and projects that I think would be neat to attempt over the course of the next year.
Content
- I am shooting to continue to post my normal range of content on the normal schedules in which they are posted. This includes full length reviews every other week, Scorecard Sundays on the off weeks, and maildays and social media posts each week in and around there. The pacing, variety, and flavor that each of these modes of content bring continue to hold my interest and will continue to well fill out the library of resources I’m trying to amass.
- I want this upcoming year to be the year that I finally quantify tactility. I know that I’ve previously spoken on this idea many times over the course of the past few years but I really think I am at a point in time (and head start on the actual tough work) to make that a reality. I know that it won’t be a perfect system but it will sure hopefully be better than any other one that exists today.
- I would like to continue to strive for consistency and continuity in all of the different types of projects that I’ve started here. After five straight years of writing on more or less this schedule, there are some weeks where it is not as easy to want to sit down at the computer as others. These resources will continue to grow in their functionality and impact but only if they are integrated with increasing amounts of data and depth.
Supplementary to Content
- I am toying around with the idea of branching out into mechanical keyboard related content that is not just switches. Artisans, meetups, and more general beginner guides have all been things that I’ve enjoyed writing about for contracted articles in the past few years and I have been kicking around the idea of developing some more content of my own that fulfills those niches. I imagine my readers may also appreciate some increased variety over what I’ve normally reviewed.
- I really need to try and do more with the vintage switch collection that I obtained several years ago at this point. This will take some sincere, dedicated effort on my behalf but I really think that this could be the year that I find a good, thorough way to make these switches more shareable and accessible by the community at large.
- Another goal of mine is to continue ‘increasing the lead’ on the supplementary data repositories such as the component measurements, artisan addendum measurements, and force curves. While I’m not competing with anyone directly in this space nor seeking out competition, more data for more people always makes me more happy.
Personal Life Updates
If you read the very beginning of my articles whenever they’re posted then I have no doubt that you have some sense of how my life is going and some of the various changes that have taken place over the last 12 months. However, I also recognize that these introductions may come across a bit more free flowing and less coherently than I intend for them to most weeks. Regardless of whether you try and muddle through those sections and my chaotic state of the mind by the normal time of the week I start writing or you instead skip these sections altogether, I always like to include a few personal updates here in this Meta Update as it directly impacts both me and the work that I’m doing here.
- As of about four months ago my girlfriend of well over a year moved into my apartment and now occupies part of the keyboard switch writing office alongside me. Her transition into this space has not only gone over incredibly well but she’s also very supportive of the work, the collection, and has even learned a thing or two about keyboards in that span of time. Additionally she’s pushing her hobbies onto me and so now I am being enriched by things like hiking, fishing, and birdwatching – all things I don’t think I could have ever imagined myself doing a few years ago. So far this arrangement has not only been great for both of us as independent individuals but also appears to be helping us both grow and become more well-rounded, educated, and strangely informed individuals. There’s not a keyboard or bird in line of sight that we probably can’t identify at this point.
- Sometime towards the middle of last year I discovered a small arthouse movie theater only a short drive from my house that has reinvigorated my enjoyment of cinema, movies, and anything that can be put up on the silver screen. With a killer membership program that nets me extremely reduced price tickets and free popcorn, there’s a good chance that I’m there on weekend nights once review writing on normal weeks gets wrapped up. As of writing this update I believe that I’m up to over 27 different movies watched so far spanning from the late 1940’s to present and way more foreign languages and cultures than I’d have ever been exposed to otherwise.
- Work, as a whole, is developing in a strange and meandering pathway. While I am continuing to develop in my role and have had direct, large financial impacts on the company with my projects and work that I’ve completed in the last two years, it itself is facing a decent amount of internal office political drama that makes it hard to want to be there some weeks. It does make me mildly appreciative of the switch reviews some weeks as those feel like escapes from some of the more brutal, demanding weeks that I’ve encountered as of late. I’m hopeful that we are nearing some change to this office environment though, for what its worth.
Final Conclusions
Previous years of my life since I started this website have always been fairly chaotic and inconsistent from month to month as a result of schooling, academic research, endless bouts of moving apartments, and job searches. Just a brief scroll back through the introductions of the catalogue of reviews makes that more than apparent to me. And yet this year is the first year in a very long time in my life which has felt more or less like the one that came before it. Sure, some details and finer aspects of life have changed this last year, but I’m still working at the same place, living at the same place, and enjoying more or less the same hobbies. While I by no means think my life is “slowing down” in the grandiose sense as I am only 27 as of the time of writing this update, it does feel as if it is somewhat leveling out and steadying itself in this moment with its lack of wide swings in plans, employment, or physical location. As a result of this steadying out, which I feel incredibly uncertain and awkward about for what it is worth, I more or less echo the sentiments that I espoused in this portion of the previous Meta Update. My previous takes on continuity, longevity, and striving to keep something I care so deeply about alive are all things that I’ve always believed deeply though it feels odd to have to reaffirm those without them being put at constant threat from life altering change for once. To build beyond that and try and show personal development as an individual, I want to stretch beyond just saying the word “continuity” and reinforce this work as part of the routine and schedule of my life that is becoming admittedly a bit more routinized than it has in the past. Other hobbies are fun and will occasionally peak my interest on some weeks more than switches, but I always return to writing about, documenting, and collecting switches as it has an attached feeling of not quite being enough yet. I still want to do more. Not ‘more’ in an increased rate of publishing or some massive overhaul to my content, rather I just want to continue to add on to what I feel is a pretty great body of work and make sure that I continue to amass more and more details, documentation, and information that will continue to support the community out there. I’m not entirely certain that I’ll ever feel as if I’ve done enough when it comes to this website or all of the work around switches that I’ve completed, but I think I can reasonably guess that I’ll feel a bit better about all of that work after six straight years of work than I do today. Maybe at six years I’ll want for seven. The only way I’ll know for certain is to start working on the next year’s work.
I didn’t just want to send off this Meta Update with a “get back to work” sort of message to myself as I feel like that would be really selling the impact that you all have had on this website throughout its journey a bit short. While it certainly feels personally satisfactory to briefly acknowledge the moment and move along, five consecutive years of any project is not something to scoff at. This website was originally started as a result of readers like you telling me that just pushing PDF publications of reviews to a shared Google Drive folder wasn’t cutting it. The improvements in photographs, the scorecards, the increased use of force curves, and so much more are all features that are quite emblematic of my reviews now but once started as suggestions, comments, or slightly mean criticisms from you all. And today it is continuing to get supported, updated, and expanded because of you all choosing to come back and read it week in and out. You’re all just as complicit in this as I am. So while I’ve had many kind words shared via Discord servers and DMs over the years, and many thanks handed out under social media posts and in person at meetups too, I want to instead turn them all back and thank you all for continuing to read, support, push, and help grow this website and my work. Documentation projects are certainly something that can be done in a vacuum and away from the public eye, but they take on an entirely new life when they’re being written for people who have active feedback in shaping the direction of those reviews. (That is when I eventually comply and decide to listen to the advice.) Thank you all for continuing to let me expand your horizons of mechanical keyboard switches as a result of your feedback. I wouldn’t be here without those words (kind or otherwise), my sponsors, my Patreon donors, and really any and every single person who decided to click onto ThereminGoat.com, be it on purpose or on accident. I hope that you’ll continue to visit here over the course of the next year and continue to engage me about the work and what is being done. Your push to keep me cranking out more reviews, to keep me upping my quality, and to keep me continuing to feed into the valuable resources that I’ve set up will make year six go just as smoothly as the first five have. Maybe it’ll send me along the path of five more years. I’m not entirely certain what it will all look like moving forward. All I know is that there will definitely be another switch review coming in about two or so weeks and I hope that you’ll be there to see it.