The *Ping*

[ohaimark]

Sponsored by:

Vote in the final round of this category to win carrying cases and a GH60 package from FalbaTech!

Nomination rules:
Use this category to name the worst keyboard or input device related experience after Thursday 3 December, 2015. Anything goes. You must provide a short explanation for each suggestion. This category is named after the infamous Summer of Ping. You cannot nominate yourself.

To answer a question posed by /u/JarateKing:

Worst as in bad "I typed this on a piece of dog poop with keycaps on it", or as in bad-in-a-cool-way "check out my Dance Dance Revolution pad keyboard?"

C: All of the above. Lampoon away!

Current suggestions:

• The Fold-2000 flexible keyboard | Chyros' video explains everything.
  Spoiler:
• The Lenovo Yoga Book | Most useless keyboard on any 2-in-1.
• The Apple Touch Bar | When aftermarket escape keys are manufactured for your product, you know you've screwed up.
• Razer | For "combining the best of mechanical and rubber dome keyboards" (their words) in the Razer Ornata.
• The Model M | It's essentially the MY/G81 switch of IBM.
• Cooler Master | For discontinuing the NovaTouch.
• berserkfan | For his majestic, poorly executed sale that may have been a scam.
• The Smith-Corona XE 1600 | For feeling awful according to Chyros.
  Spoiler:
• IvanIvanovich | For a group buy scam unfortunate miscommunication in financial transactions that shocked that mildly interested GeekHack keyboard people, some of who may or may not visit particular sites.
• The Cherry MX Board 9.0 | For being uglier than any other Cherry keyboard.
• The KFC Tray Typer | For not making it to the final round of the 2015 Ping.
• 92u | Hes memes r 2 dank foar us.
• iss | For disappearing during his 62/60 keyboard project.
• The IBM M2 | For being worse than a Model M.
• The i-Rocks Alps-like switch/keyboard | For bad marketing and not feeling like an Alps switch.
• Key Tronic Foam & Foil | For being a miserable key switch.
• Alps Plate Spring | For popping apart during keycap removal and a mushy feeling when typing slowly.
• Realforce | For creating a glowing monstrosity nobody actually wanted.

The first round ends on Saturday 26 November, 23:59:59 UTC.

[PollandAkuma]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXxDb_F1tCY

Fold-2000 flexible keyboard... Chyros's video explains everything

[ohaimark]

That's ugly, even for a foldable!

[PollandAkuma]

Watching this review again at almost 2am just makes me laugh out loud... hahaha!

[Spharx]

At first I wanted to nominate this: Playing [Overwatch] with a Microwave, but that dude just tapes buttons on the microwave.
While searching for this video I found this unconventional input device idea. This ridiculousness will be my nominee.

[ohaimark]

It's outside of the date range, unfortunately...

[Spharx]

Ahh deng it, didn't read that part.

[bhtooefr]

I'm going to nominate the Lenovo Yoga Book, for having the most useless keyboard on any 2-in-1, and that includes the Microsoft Surface Touch Cover.

[Hak Foo]

Really? Nobody's mentioned the Apple Touch Bar? When the world is manufacturing aftermarket Escape keys for your machine, you did a stupid.

[Chyros]

I second the Fold-2000. It's so bad even my colourful descriptions really can't do it justice.

[Ail]

Watching this review again at almost 2am just makes me laugh out loud... hahaha!

"Gurgling spunk trumpet"

[Findecanor]

I nominate Razer for "combining the best of mechanical and rubber dome keyboards" (their words) in the Razer Ornata.

Apparently, Razer thinks that the best things with a mechanical keyboard switch are its loudness and subtle tactile feedback, and that the best thing with a rubber dome switch is that it requires you to press the keys all the way to a mushy bottom to actuate.
Because that is what they have done: by adding a click leaf to a bog-standard rubber dome/membrane switch.
Moreover, they completely missed the point of making a switch clicky: to provide feedback to the user at the point of actuation so that the used would not have to press down harder.

The keyboard also costs slightly more than a Razer BlackWidow Ultimate 2014. (local pricing right now on prisjakt.nu)

When the world is manufacturing aftermarket Escape keys for your machine, you did a stupid.

Do you have a link? It must be too recent to show up in search results because I can't find it.
I can find several articles on how to remap Escape to the Caps Lock key though ... (Must have been posted by VI users )

[Wodan]

I nominate the IBM Model M. Once you tear one apart, you can see it's literally the MY/G81 switch of IBM.

Hopefully the Model M/F will finally push the Model M out of the enthusiast scene.

[andrewjoy]

I would like to nominate coolermaster for discontinuing there best product by far .

Sure the keycaps are crap but they could have fixed that.

MX mount topre is now no longer as easy to get hold of in a nice format

[davkol]

I'd like to nominate the user berserkfan for his majestic scam sale.

[seebart]

I'd like to nominate the Smith-Corona XE 1600 (SC leaf spring over membrane);

according to Chyros one (if not the) most horrible feeling keyboards of all time:

review-f45/smith-corona-xe-1600-review- ... 13917.html

[lot_lizard]

Has the IBM PC Jr. chicklet ever been nominated? It is easily the most horrible typing experience of my life

[vivalarevolución]

When did IvanIvanovich disappear with the money from three group buys? Was it after Dec 2015? I nominate that massive scam.

[WASD_Greg]

I nominate the Cherry MX Board 9.0 for being the ugliest keyboard yet to carry the Cherry logo.

[Findecanor]

Wow. Not just one but two sponsors to the award being nominated for the Ping Award.
I think you are a bit sensitive... There must have been worse things than discontinuing the Novatouch. That and Cherry making a gaming-styled keyboard: both decisions probably make sense for them relative to the market/sales figures they have.

Then let me nominate a third sponsor: Tesoro for using an ARM-based microcontroller instead of a Zilog Z80 in a keyboard that they dare name "Spectrum". (I'm kidding, of course)

And BTW, I don't think a decades-old keyboard should be eligible for this category, not even if the rules above say "experience" and someone has typed on one in the recent year.

[bhtooefr]

The KFC Tray Typer not making it to the final round of the 2015 Pings, which is specifically stated as being allowed here per webwit: post271175.html#p271175

The reasoning being that it should have made it, and KFC needs a Ping somehow.

[webwit]

If that doesn't work, you can nominate it next year for failing to win in two consecutive years.

[Hak Foo]

Do you have a link? It must be too recent to show up in search results because I can't find it.
I can find several articles on how to remap Escape to the Caps Lock key though ... (Must have been posted by VI users )

https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyb ... or_my_new/ looks to be someone actually doing it, but there were plenty of photoshop mockups of it shortly after the announcement.

I think someone also made an app where you could tether an iPhone to the machine and it would display a large "Esc" button

[bhtooefr]

If that doesn't work, you can nominate it next year for failing to win in two consecutive years.

By then, the horse will have fully been beaten into a slurry, and the joke will have gotten so old that most people on here probably won't even remember why KFC gets nominated for pings.

[webwit]

You could nominate that people forgot why KFC gets nominated for pings. Flogging dead horses is customary at the Awards.

[kbdfr]

I nominate 92u for the *Ping* award for first nominating himself for the DT award and,
after having been told self-nomination is not allowed, begging for someone else to nominate him:
call-for-nominees-f99/the-deskthority-t ... ml#p339652

[ohaimark]

Okay. The reference to memes sold me. Too dank for me.

XMIT should also get a nomination for his self-nominations and the resulting scolding from Mrs. XMIT. If someone seconds that I'll put it in.

[Rimrul]

I'll second both of those (self) nominations.

[seebart]

Okay. The reference to memes sold me. Too dank for me.

XMIT should also get a nomination for his self-nominations and the resulting scolding from Mrs. XMIT. If someone seconds that I'll put it in.

It was uncalled for and not appreciated by XMIT!

[Ratfink]

I nominate the IBM Model M. Once you tear one apart, you can see it's literally the MY/G81 switch of IBM.

Sure, combining things into one molded piece, using membranes, and putting it together with plastic rivets is just for cheapening the product. But M2 is always the real Cherry MY of IBM.