I think Shoobs has led several people toward light tactiles with his love of MX Browns. He’s one of my favs, cursed hands and all.
Anyway, it makes sense to me to talk about light tactiles alongside regular length poles since they both seem off-trend but with devoted enjoyers, and maybe both are slowly gaining traction as people seek something different or discover the downsides of their opposites with extended use.
While I like the feel, though less than linears, I personally cannot handle the popular Holy Panda-level large tactile bump from an ergonomic standpoint. Even with a sub-60g spring, the bump itself seems too much for my left ulnar nerve. So these are super interesting if I ever want to experience a tactile (which I do).
Until the topic comes up, it can seem like everyone wants big tactiles, 63.5-65g springs, extra long stems, but the reality is far more diverse, as you all are demonstrating. I’m coming away with more options than I knew existed.
Regarding this realization, that is interesting, and it rings true, but I feel like not everyone is seeking a softer bottom out necessarily in using a plastic plate? I just mean that in some cases the potential for a softer feel from POM or PC may be secondary or corollary to seeking a certain sound or aesthetic from the switch/plate combination. You may just like the combo on its own terms.
Lacking the history of the hobby having developed plastic plates for comfort when stiffer mounts were more common, say, someone like me comes in, in the past year or two, and just sees 5-6 common plate options and thinks “I’m gonna try the lot of them.” They all become equal material for experimentation, which I guess is the march of time and experience.
In the last year, my first board was PC plate, and I actually gravitated toward long poles because they thwacked really nicely in a muted build. Now, that sounded like a keyboard to me.
Then came FR4, and now I realize I actually just like aluminum and was ready for a board with better acoustics (though I still like those others, too)!
What’s old is new. Part of the fun for me is then learning from people like yourself how, for example, brass got so popular as a plate material partially because it’s durable and was easier to make when manufacturing expertise was still developing. Maybe this last part is off topic.
Ever see how Keybored (Scott?) creates ranking charts like this at the end of his switch videos?