Bikeforums are full of arm-chair scientists who have some whacked-out love of 4130 and Reynolds 531 steel (basically the same).

Carbon, aluminum and steel forks are all fine, all will fail given the proper circumstances. If you are looking at the eBay aluminum forks I assume your are looking at the Morsso (sp??) brands that are aluminum and aluminum wrapped carbon. I have looked for reviews on these and they are sparse. They are pretty cheap, and not that price = performance/quality, I am not sure if I would trust those on my bike. I would be more inclined to get the Ergon full carbon forks on eBay for $200.

I have been riding carbon forks for 10+ years, aluminum ones before that, and steel before that. My dad who rides cross country every year runs a carbon/Ti frame, Carbon fork, carbon wheels, and carbon bars. He has probably 30k miles on that bike.... you know what failed? His steel spindle Dura Ace pedals.... that's it. He is not a small dude and I would venture to say he rides way crappier roads and farther than most on this forum.

I run lots of carbon, and lots of aluminum with no issues. I also have a steel 1x1 Surly.... which is why I am also looking at a replacement fork. The stock one is a tank at > 2 lbs.

You will benefit in terms of handling and speed from any rigid fork. And all forks, Steel, Carbon, Aluminum will transmit way more vibration than you have with your suspension fork. But suspension forks sap energy from your pedal stroke, are heavy, suck at steering, and gernally are useless on the road IMHO.

If you have true issues with your hands (like carpel tunnel or the like) then I would stick with a suspension fork (I like fox floats the best because they have the abilty to be setup to absorb small bumps and be locked out if you want). But I would also ensure you are using decent grips (Ergon and Oury come to mind {I use Oury on my MTB SS}) and also that you are using decent gloves which allow you to maintain a lighter grip but still have full control of the bike.

All this "steel is real" / "steel is the best" crap on this forum makes me feel like I am in the SS/FG forum. People do realize that failures of aluminum and carbon are because people hit things right??? When you hit things, they break.