I've got some exciting plans for 2012 regarding new sinklist items :

1. Since the Topre keychain got lost in the mail ( sadly ) I'm working on a new one. I'm thinking of a wasd cluster like Ceesa is doing with his switch try list.



Participants :
Ascaii ( Germany )
Fossala( UK ) ( REMOVED )
Trax ( Belgium )
Nathanscribe ( UK )
Hoggy ( UK )
TheDuke ( Germany )
RC-1140 ( Germany )
Kaen ( UK )
mhinsch( UK )
dfxdx ( UK )
cowabunga( Germany )
carter ( Germany )
usopia( Germany )
zeeko ( Germany )

2. The Switch Try Numpad version 2 is ready -> Cherrys and Alps together in a functionally working bundle! ( This one is done together with Ceesa ). Both MX and Alps and as a bonus the cherry ML!


Participants:
Tyrox ( Germany )
wtzOlt( Ireland )
Gulfar( spain )
Circlepit ( Germany )


3. An all ALPS functional keypad with 4 different kinds of ALPS keys.
Participants:
Gulfar( SPAIN )
mhinsch ( UK )
cowabunga ( Germany )
RC-1140 ( Germany )
Hoggy(UK)

4. A dedicated European Cherry Switch Try Numpad ( The US already has two of them running ( http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?23914-Cherry-Switch-Tester-Holiday-Tour-2011! ), this was already started in the past ( with the switch try numpad ) but that list ended and I thought Europe should not be left in the cold ...
Participants:
Kaen ( UK )

5. The two switch try bags. US and EU with switches : Cherry MX, Alps, Topre, BS, monterey blue
Participants
EU:
Kukuschi( Germany )
Vax ( Germany )
Iknorite( Sweden )


US:
FAHall

I'll also work on a website to track and maintain the different sinklist items. It will show a trace of the sinklist item route and optimise the distribution process ( So, no first come first serve anymore ) based on location/transportation costs.

As of today I'll take subscriptions to the different sinklist items. Send me a mail with your prefered sinklist item ( so 1,2,3 or 4 ) or a combination of them and I'll register you. Please specify an email where you can be reached and your location( Country ).

EDIT :
Additions to switch try bags :
Topre keyswitch
Buckling Spring
MX grey
MX darkgrey
Monterey Blues
Soft landing pad
Firm landing pad
Keytronic ergoforce KT2001 switch
Hall Effect switch
Black acer
KPT switch

Additions to switch try numpad :
Soft landing pad
Firm landing pad
MX grey
MX darkgrey

Additions to ALPS switch try pad :
monterey blues ( If they fit )
blue alps

Video of Topre and BS switch try keys :



UPDATE:

All try before you buy items will be shipped with a so called 'Surprise Bag' inside.

I'll fill them with something nice for the first ones to receive the items. If you receive one, I ask you to fill it with something the next in line would appreciate. It doesn't have to be big or expensive, just something nice and preferably keyboard related.

emailed.

Ascaii wrote:emailed.

Put you on list 1.

Wow thats epic sir!
Id love to try a topre switch

Mrinterface wrote:

Ascaii wrote:emailed.

Put you on list 1.

huzzah ill be the first to try the topre <3

trax wrote:Wow thats epic sir!
Id love to try a topre switch

Send me a mail with your email and location.

PM sent.

I'd love to try Topre!
PM on it's way.

PM Sent. Cherry Numpad.

Hi Mrinterface, PM send. Switch try numpad version 2.

thanks

Just sent an email for lists 1 and 3. Exciting!

UPDATE :

I'm currently looking into how I can create the opensink.com website to track the different sinklist items. I'd like to have the website ready before I start sending the different sinklist items around. I feel that I've reached the limit of what a forum can handle regarding these sinklist items.

It's going to be made in Drupal. Currently I'm trying educating myself in PHP/MYSQL/Javascript/Drupal so I can build it, but I'd really like others to help me out here as well.

So, if you have experience in one of these : PHP/MYSQL/Javascript/Drupal/Theming or you are willing to learn it and help me build it, please contact me.

Note : this is all voluntary work, but if this idea of spreading around sinklist items for others to share experiences catches on you will gain much more than just programming experience

Regards.

Progress :



As you can see at the top : the two keypads for cherry keys and alps keys have arrived.....

The IBM model M has to wait till I get some proper equipment to open it up.

The Topre realforce 103UB has been selected as being the one to deliver the topre goodies.

A slight change will be made to the two switch try bags circulating the world : they will both receive a topre and IBM model M switch so the try collection would be more complete.

Regards.

Progress looking good.
Mrinterface - if you need a hand with the website I can help. I usually only have time at the weekends but would be willing to contribute where I can. I have never done any dev work with Drupal but I should be able to give you a hand with the PHP and MySQL. I should be able to muddle through the JavaScript.

dfxdx wrote:Progress looking good.
Mrinterface - if you need a hand with the website I can help. I usually only have time at the weekends but would be willing to contribute where I can. I have never done any dev work with Drupal but I should be able to give you a hand with the PHP and MySQL. I should be able to muddle through the JavaScript.

Great!

And you even know calculus.. The math of the Universe

I'll contact you as soon as I have some dev env setup.

Regards.

Update :

1. I got my hands on a second hand KB-5181 with monterey blues which I am going to harvest. These keys are going inside the switch try bags and possibly inside the ALPS numpad.
2. The Model M is opened up but the keys need to be extracted : currently looking for ways to extract keys properly so I can add them to the switch try bags.
3. I got a really cheap deal on a cherry MY keyboard ( 3 euros ) : keys from this one will be put inside the switch try bags and might be put inside the cherry MX numpad tester.
4. The Topre keyswitches still need to be extracted. Somehow this hurts a bit
5. Cherry whites have been ordered from conrad.nl : they are only available in May though. They will be put inside the switch try bag and the cherry MX numpad tester. This prompted me to tentatively set a start date for my many switch try sinklists : end of May.
6. Ceesa sent me the STBv2( the functional switch try board with cherrys AND alps ) -> I'm going to make a video of it and put it online.

I am also diving deep into Drupal so I can finally start building the site ( also with the help of dfxdx )

Furthermore : I also got an idea regarding the 'trustworthiness' of anyone applying for a sinklist : in order for you to receive any of these sinklist items , you need at least 1 person to vouch for you. The more (positive) vouches you get , the higher the sinklist ranking you will receive and hence the earlier you'll receive the sinklist item. You can get positive or negative vouches. If the sum is negative you will be excluded from the sinklist. When doing so, the risk of malfeasance or improper handling will be lowered since the risk is 'spread'. Note : if you vouch for someone and that someone misbehaves in some way, your vouch weight drops as well, this means the weight of your future vouches decreases....

Regards.

Mrinterface wrote:Update :

...

Furthermore : I also got an idea regarding the 'trustworthiness' of anyone applying for a sinklist : in order for you to receive any of these sinklist items , you need at least 1 person to vouch for you. The more (positive) vouches you get , the higher the sinklist ranking you will receive and hence the earlier you'll receive the sinklist item. You can get positive or negative vouches. If the sum is negative you will be excluded from the sinklist. When doing so, the risk of malfeasance or improper handling will be lowered since the risk is 'spread'. Note : if you vouch for someone and that someone misbehaves in some way, your vouch weight drops as well, this means the weight of your future vouches decreases....

Regards.

Hmm, that means that newbies (such as me) will either have no way of entering a sinklist since they will have no one to vouch for them or if they can they will be at the very end of the list.
Two ideas: a) give one free trust point to everybody (i.e. only people with at least one negative point will b excluded); b) let people paypal you a deposit that they will get back as soon as they have successfully sent on the switches.
And I really dislike the ranking by vouches. It's your switches and thus your call of course, but this makes it effectively a game for an elite ingroup of people...

cheers
Martin

mhinsch wrote:
Hmm, that means that newbies (such as me) will either have no way of entering a sinklist since they will have no one to vouch for them or if they can they will be at the very end of the list.
Two ideas: a) give one free trust point to everybody (i.e. only people with at least one negative point will b excluded); b) let people paypal you a deposit that they will get back as soon as they have successfully sent on the switches.
And I really dislike the ranking by vouches. It's your switches and thus your call of course, but this makes it effectively a game for an elite ingroup of people...

cheers
Martin

Thanx for your feedback Martin.

Granted : the sinklist priority ranking based on vouches might not work as I intended. I might not implement it that way since I already am certain to partition the members on the list according to country because this would improve the overall throughput time and cost drastically.

Regarding your ideas :
a) Everybody gets 1 vouch point : Most people will only participate once -> this means anybody would be able to participate without a vouch. I don't think the system would work properly that way -> you should always be able to at least ask one person to vouch for you. This person doesn't even need to be a deskthority member.
b) paypal deposit : ceesa and I already were thinking in this direction for the STBv2, but the amount of overhead ( paperwork and financial ) would cost more than the gain. Also : some people don't use paypal anymore ( ask sixty for instance... )

All in all I am toying with ideas to get a better/safer spread of the sinklist items so any input/feedback is welcome. I already lost the STBv1 and Topre Keychain due to sloppy sinklist members and would like to circumvent this from happening with the next batch of items.

Regards.

Mrinterface wrote:
...

b) paypal deposit : ceesa and I already were thinking in this direction for the STBv2, but the amount of overhead ( paperwork and financial ) would cost more than the gain. Also : some people don't use paypal anymore ( ask sixty for instance... )

I certainly understand people not wanting to use paypal (if only there was a good alternative...). One solution could be to daisychain it, i.e. you get paid by the first member who gets the money back from the second, etc. This way people can use whatever payment options work for them (bank transfer, paypal, bitcoin, cheque, ebay, etc.). But I can see that the amount of overhead might be too much...

cheers
Martin

Let people pay an insurance price of something like 10 EUR, to be payed by paypal or IBAN. If the items get lost, you collect the insurance. If not, you can use it to finance the next run or donate it to charity, whatever. Advantages are: simple system with less overhead, unlike deposits where you have to transfer back the money; a lower barrier of entrance (10 EUR to try all switches), covers all cases of loss/damage without guilt question (did the last person, the mail or the current person damage/misplace it?). Bit less powerful concerning personal responsibility. One could keep the items for just 10 EUR.

webwit wrote:Let people pay an insurance price of something like 10 EUR.....

Thanx, I'll let that simmer for a while. It might work...

Got several other ideas to reduce sinklist item lost count :

SInklist Applicants are interviewed over IRC. These interviews can be nice stories next to the reviews of the switches themselves telling more about the person who does the review. The interview will try to answer questions regarding keyboards like : what keyboards have you tried until now, what keyboards would you like to try etc. Using this method the sinklist participant gets a 'face'. My guess is that one can judge the applicant to see how serious he/she is about keyboards. It shows the amount of dedication to the project when one participates in this manner.

Another idea : sinklist participants need to enter a phone number where they can be reached. The site will send an SMS upon receiving an application with a code, this code needs to be entered in the registration process. This way, when something is wrong I can place a phone call to find out what's up. This works better than email.

Any feedback on these is welcome

Regards.

Like and like.

Mrinterface wrote:It shows the amount of dedication to the project when one participates in this manner.

This is about philosophy and you should do as you please, but I think this is a fundamental mistake. You care about the project and process, the participants will mostly not, they just want to try some switches. They don't join to try a sinklist. Therefore the process should be as far out of the way as possible.

webwit wrote:

Mrinterface wrote:It shows the amount of dedication to the project when one participates in this manner.

This is about philosophy and you should do as you please, but I think this is a fundamental mistake. You care about the project and process, the participants will mostly not, they just want to try some switches. They don't join to try a sinklist. Therefore the process should be as far out of the way as possible.

The process optimization cost should be as low as possible, I agree. The quest for the proper balance here is a difficult one

I guess just a short story telling your keyboard switch history could be mandatory. ( Something like a keyboard CV ) If you would not be able to produce this simple thing you should not be applying for a sinklist. This would be a great complement to the switch reviews themselves....

Regards.

Mrinterface wrote:(...) SInklist Applicants are interviewed over IRC. These interviews (...)

IRC? What's that?

kbdfr wrote:

Mrinterface wrote:(...) SInklist Applicants are interviewed over IRC. These interviews (...)

IRC? What's that?

Press the IRC button on the top of this webpage to see what it is

I like the phone idea. Alternatively we can place a gps locator in the package along with a remote control killswitch if someone decides to scam the switches. {/sarcasm]

Seriously, I think we are heading towards a complicated, over-engineered solution to a simple problem.
To me, the sinklist has always been about mutual respect, trust, and fairness, and I reject the thought of the 99% of good apples in the barrel being disadvantaged due to the 1% of bad ones. Maybe a GPS locator would be the least invasive method...but If we have a deposit, interviews, application processes, and all other bureaurocratic bullshit that make our goverments function as well as they do...im out.
I simply don't believe making the life of the majority harder to deter a few asshats (take a guess how I stand on the TSA issue or *gasp* net criminality and piracy).

It would go against my principles to take part in an "open sinklist" run in the way currently being discussed.

I am all for supporting the project and respect the commitment, both financially and in time spent on it. Should the worst case happen, and the items get lost/stolen, I know I, and many others, would stand together to ease the financial burden of the lost items in the interest of everyone.

Mrinterface wrote:

kbdfr wrote:

Mrinterface wrote:(...) SInklist Applicants are interviewed over IRC. These interviews (...)

IRC? What's that?

Press the IRC button on the top of this webpage to see what it is

Got there, got connected, didn't find out how it works (and honestly, am not interested in finding out).
Just left the page by closing the window, don't even know if this way I stay connected.
I'm definitely not going to use that.

And I do support everything in Ascaii's post.