The key ring you think may not be perfect, this time let me reveal all of it, so that you can understand a whole new world from scratch

Due to the impact of the recent epidemic, our entire community has been closed. It is really boring to stay at home without going to work, so this time I will simply write a long article with a little investment and not so perfunctory, and talk about my own from the bottom of my heart.

I have been writing custom or mechanical keyboards in Aunt Zhang for the fifth year, and I have written more than 300 articles, close to 400,000 words. It seems that the data is enough, but I have to be honest, most of the articles are not Completely calm down, some are just dealing with errands. In fact, this is also a question I have been thinking about recently, whether I should write for the sake of writing, and do it for the sake of doing.

After struggling for a period of time, I decided to sink down first, and resolutely cut off the continuous update of the 86-week article. Then I also thought about it this time. From now on, my own articles will no longer pursue quantity, but pursue quality. Even if I write one article a month, I must pursue the most authentic thoughts in my heart, write the article well and completely, and let myself No regrets.

OK, back to the topic.

I think when it comes to the key circle, most players may feel that it is very beautiful inside. All kinds of high-end products are dizzying, and all kinds of senior bosses are praised. This kind of thinking also makes many friends full of enthusiasm for this circle. admiration and longing. Indeed, at the beginning, this circle was really simple and beautiful, and people were talking about excellent design, exquisite appearance, and innovative styles. However, with the continuous influx of various forces, the circle gradually became turbid, dirty, and even unbearable. Maybe this is the law of the development of things. All birds have "tragedies." (The picture above is from 1s)

Then this time I will talk about my personal experience in the past few years, as well as what I heard, thought and felt, and uncover the bright and beautiful skin of the key ring.

This stalk comes from an online match between the personalized keycap brand ZOMO and the player Chitong Yao.

The reason is that ZOMO's very famous white cat's claw keycaps indicate that the white anodizing process is used in the product description, but some players find that the paint on this keycap has peeled off after using it for a period of time. As we all know, if the anodizing process is used, there will be no problem of paint falling off, which means that ZOMO has false propaganda. In order to maintain the brand image, ZOMO launched a fierce confrontation with Chitongyao on zfrontier, believing that Chitongyao maliciously placed an order and then returned it, and incited group friends to maliciously hype, which led to a decline in its reputation. The red pupil demon believes that ZOMO confuses the electrophoresis process with the anodizing process, which is unprofessional and unreasonable, and deceives consumers.

The final result of this alignment is that ZOMO changed the product information and changed the white anodizing to white anode.

And dropped a very famous stalk in the key ring " ZOMO is not a customized circle brand, this circle does not exist ”。

Does the customization circle really exist?

In my eyes, this circle actually still exists. After all, so many players gather here and so many products are placed there. Especially in the past two years, many mass production manufacturers have begun to try to customize products and try to popularize the customized model, so customization has also attracted more consumers' attention.

But everything has two sides, the more people, the more things, the more problems. Next, I will talk about all kinds of wonderful things in this forest.

Fake is the most important thing in this circle. It has to be said that because the customized keyboard itself is not too technically difficult, as long as there are drawings and CNC machines, copying and bonding is easy.

But I still have to explain here, there are two types of Fake, one of which clearly tells you that I am Fake, you can buy it if you like it, and don’t buy it if you don’t like it. For example, Jialan is such a person. Its customized kit Tiamo copied Matrix 8xv 1.2, and Orion copied Matrix Vita. But Jialan also boldly admits plagiarism. To put it bluntly, "a dead pig is not afraid of boiling water", so Jialan has always been called "the man" in the customization circle. Jialan is awesome and Jialan is silly X.

Then there is another situation that is to completely imitate the original product, and then make consumers unable to distinguish the real from the fake or directly sell the fake as real. For example, Qichen Canoe, Matrix 1.0 and other events. Of course, such Fake is immoral, especially some novice players are very easy to be fooled.

Here I still want to mention the most famous Matrix 1.0 Fake event in the customization circle. The two parties are the dotted line, the manager of the ALF customization team, and Cain, the manager of the Matrix brand.

The reason was probably that Cain was going to recall the two ancient kits, Matrix 8xv1.0 and Matrix 8xv1.2, but found that there were a lot of fakes in them, and the fakes were super realistic, almost exactly the same as the real ones. After searching, it was found that its source was actually done by another customization team ALF, so a violent explosion occurred in zfrontier.

I won't go into details of the outbreak, but in the end, the conflict ended with the dotted line never entering the customization circle.

In fact, I have known Douxian for a long time, and the relationship has always been pretty good, so I also know that Douxian is not fake for the little money to sell kits.

The above counterfeit incident also brought out another problem in the customization circle and even the whole society—— Do people need design 。

I also discussed it in my previous article. At that time, I took Aifei keycaps as an example, "Do players need original design keycaps with a price of thousands of dollars, or do they like to copy keycaps that are very similar but only sell for more than 100?" I think the vast majority of consumers will like good design, but they don't want to pay for this part of the design cost, so driven by contradictions, counterfeit products will naturally breed.

The customized keyboard will also have such problems in the current environment. It is true that compared to counterfeit keyboards, the price of original keyboards is generally higher, but has anyone calculated the added value of the design? (Except for the malicious hype of bad guys and scalpers), so once it enters the design reverse cycle, people buy fakes and crack down on originals, and fewer and fewer people want to design. One can imagine.

Of course, regarding the current situation, I'm just talking about it, and I have no ability to change it. However, I believe that with the improvement of people's consumption level, such problems will gradually be improved. Therefore, here I still call on everyone to support originality and original editions within their own capabilities, and turn it into a positive cycle, so that real designers can get corresponding benefits and respect.

In addition to the above-mentioned problems, another big "stubborn disease" in the customization circle is the sales method of customized kits. That's right, in the customization circle, buyers and sellers are almost unequal, or consumers have no ability to protect themselves, which is also the root cause of conflicts.

Then let me first introduce how the customized kits are sold.

First, the customization team will release the IC on the forum or website. After soliciting opinions, it will make a sample according to the requirements of netizens. Through continuous modification and debugging, the final sample will be made. After that, consumers will check the sample online and confirm it. Large-scale group buying is possible. Note, here comes the key point, because many customization teams will not help you pay for the production cost of the pre-kit, so if you want to buy this kit, you need to pay the full amount to the account of the customization team first , and then the team will go to the factory for production according to the number of payers. (The picture above is from ALF X3)

So what problems will such a payment method cause?

1. Your money has already fallen into the hands of others before you see the real thing. Once the real thing does not match the picture or has defects, you need to adjust with the seller. Will not come back. 2. Since most of the customization teams go to foundries or do not have their own processing capabilities, the production time of kits cannot be guaranteed. In many cases, a customized kit takes half a year, a year or even a few years. Make you physically and mentally exhausted.

Then you may ask, can't you sell the spot directly?

Of course, some powerful customization teams can do this. After all, no matter how much stock is in stock, they can be sold out, but some small customization teams do not have this brand effect. . So it can be seen that the problems caused by customized sales methods are still very serious, which also leads to contradictions and conflicts in the customization circle.

Then I will introduce a very famous "weak bird 60" incident.

At that time, the team leader of this kit started group buying by purchasing other people's 3D modeling drawings, and after simple proofing. As a result, after the group purchase, someone broke the news that it did not give the money to the foundry for production, but directly used it for high consumption and rewarded the female anchor. After this incident broke out, many players who bought group purchases refunded their money one after another, and the entire customization circle was full of trouble. (picture from 1s)

Of course, the things mentioned above are just the tip of the iceberg. There are many cases where the delivery is not on schedule, the payment is received, the sample does not match the real thing, and so on. As a person who has been playing customization for so long Naturally, I have been cheated several times, so here I still want to give a piece of advice to novice friends who play customization, Don't be greedy for cheap, choose a more stable big team.

Through the above situation, you will also understand that the reputation of a person or a team is very important in the customization circle, which is why the products launched by a large customization team will get more attention from consumers. You will also get more premium opportunities. And unless a small team has a very amazing product, it will be even more difficult to develop.

Here will also lead to another problem, that is, due to the difference in reputation among players, the development of customization will become slower and slower. Small and new teams cannot develop, large teams are unwilling to innovate vigorously, seek stability, and seek no mistakes. In addition, consumers' demand for customization and freshness decrease, making the entire customization circle gradually dull. Slow and lacking energy.

Having said that, reputation is naturally very important to the customization circle, and I think this is also one of the principles of life. It's a pity that there are too many cases of violating reputation after the circle grows, which also makes players suspicious and alienated from each other. Now searching for melon fields on zf, it is estimated that 70% to 80% of the problems in it are related to reputation. The price of any seafood market has risen, ignoring requests for refunds, picking stabs and finding knives has become a daily routine inside. Most of the time, no one cares about the products displayed on zf and the high-quality posts that are photographed, while all kinds of melon posts are full.

Hahaha, the reality is such a mockery. In this era of information explosion and short video impact, people's pursuit is no longer to savor and consider word by word, but to stimulate, brainwash and excite information. , coupled with the mentality that watching the excitement is not a big deal, the whole atmosphere has become more and more crooked.

So in the end, is reputation worth money?

Indeed, it is very valuable, not only in terms of personality, but also in traffic.

Seeing this, many friends who want to enter the pit customization may have begun to be timid.

"The customization circle is so unbearable and chaotic, I still don't want to enter the pit",

If you think this way, it can only be said that you are not passionate about mechanical keyboards, and you are not persistent in yearning. Although there are various problems in the customization circle, there are always two sides to everything. Where there is right there is wrong, and where there is good there is evil. In fact, most people in the customization circle are very friendly. So here I still want to give some suggestions and references to newcomers, hoping to help you have fun and have fun.

1. When purchasing a customized kit, choose a more reliable large team, at least the quality and construction period are guaranteed.

2. It is best to see the real object or sample before deciding whether to sell it, and don't have any illusions about the rendering.

3. When buying or selling in the seafood market, you must check the other party's reputation, comments and other information.

4. Keep the video information when buying or selling, and make a good record. Once something happens, this is the most powerful evidence.

5. Don't chat for too long with someone who is jiggling, because even if this person gets it, there is a high probability of finding trouble. Don't say the same thing, and those who directly order transactions should also remember to communicate and understand the matter before taking the next step, and don't be lazy.

After paying attention to these details, it will be much easier to enter the pit again, avoiding some detours and less troubles.

Many people may not understand, spend thousands of dollars to buy a keyboard? The brain kicked the donkey!

In fact, I also understand the thinking of these people, because in their thinking, a customized keyboard is just an ordinary keyboard, a tool that can be used for typing. But if you change your way of thinking, maybe you can understand, "That is, the customized keyboard is actually a kind of toy, just like Lego, figurines, and Gundam, but it just happens to add the attributes of the keyboard, that's all." So in my point of view, customized keyboards and mass-produced keyboards are two completely different things and should not be confused.

Although this time I talked about all kinds of chaos and embarrassment in the customization circle. However, I still love this small circle, and I always hope that someone will understand customization, get in touch with customization, and even become a player of customization. From the beginning of writing to the present, this is the only thing I continue to create in Aunt Zhang. motivation. (picture from ^Aime^)

I am not famous, and I am unknown in the circle. There are no masterpieces, no rare kits, no post bars, and no group chats. I just share everything I know and experience silently. I think this is enough. .

Having said so much, the last thing is okay. I hope that more and better customized works will get attention, and more players will be happy and joyful.

Well, the above is the whole content of this article, thank you for your attention.