Not all mechanical keyboards are loud. Some people like an audible click with each key, and so will buy a keyboard with a switch like the Cherry MX Blue[1]. Some don't, or work around other people and are considerate, and choose a Cherry Red or Brown, or equivalent from other manufacturers. (Red has a very linear feel, while brown has a sort of a 'bump' when it activates, similar to the ones that click, but not as extreme and without the noise.) These don't make much sound at all, unless you hit the key hard enough that the actual plastic key cap bottoms out. That can easily be solved though, either by typing more gently and not bottoming out (which will allow you to type faster and with less stress on your fingers) or by putting O-Ring dampeners around the keys[2].
I use a Leopold FC750R with brown mx cherry switches[0] at work. It uses a sound dampening pad and is no louder than a regular membrane keyboard. My coworkers were hesitant about me using a mech at the office when I first got hired but now have no complaints after realizing not all switches and keyboards sound like a type writer. Btw I absolutely love that keyboard and Leopolds in general, I have 3 of them... Bottom line is some mech keyboards are extremely loud, especially if you bottom out on every key press, but there are many options for noise reduction; use brown switches, use a keyboard with a dampening pad, install o-rings on each switch, don't bottom out.
No I don't think it does that either. What it dampens is the vibration caused in the steel plate due to the switches - aka the dreaded "ping" - bottoming out can be a factor of course, but so are switch springs moving back into position or even just banging the keyboard.
I haven't had any complaints from my fellow coworkers in the past six years I've been working at The Company (I brought in a True-Blue IBM Modem M keyboard to work (six years ago, still using the same one)---I have about half a dozen in storage just in case). Sturdy construction and they keep on working.
If you work in one of these (misguided) open-plan offices, ask you co-workers if the noise bothers them. Whatever they say, take your mechanical keyboard home and play with it there. There's no good reason to inflict that noise on your co-workers. They'll appreciate it even if they won't call you out on it.
That's funny, some of my co-workers have cherry blue keyboards but the sound doesn't bother me. Most people in the office have one of those Microsoft Ergonomic keyboards though, and the sound of those drives me absolutely mad. I hate it. Maybe I should lay hints or ask them to take their keyboard home and play with it there...
That's a good point: typing [1] may be fine background noise for some; speaker-phone conversations, giggles, farts, and expletives for others. Being conscientious by considering and adjusting one's volume level when typing, speaking, farting, or swearing will help us survive our open-plan dark age as we await the facility-clerics' re-discovery of ancient door and wall technologies.
I would do that, if they would not inflict their rambling speaker-phone conference calls on me.
The root of the problem is trying to pack people into a room like sardines and expect them to get any work done. But forcing people to use substandard equipment doesn't help anything.
Yes, open-plan dogma is at the root. I'd gladly give up free dog-boarding, massages, and meals for walls and a door.
Retaliation and escalation aren't solutions. Conscientious self-noise-reduction sets the example for others & makes it easier to politely ask the loudies to take their noise pollution out of the common area.
