Subject: bug#28263: [O] bug#28263: bug#28263: 24.5; Org: `C-c LETTER' keys

From: Allen Li <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2017 12:09:08 -0800

On Wed, Dec 6, 2017 at 7:23 AM, Drew Adams <[email-masked]> wrote:
> [paraphrased] Org should not suggest user reserved key bindings

I agree with you in general.  However, when I first started using
Emacs for Org mode years ago, I found the documentation very helpful.
Furthermore, I did not find the documentation misleading about the
fact that these keys are not standard.

For users that are not accustomed to Emacs, the ability to bind keys
freely is paralyzing.  I had no idea what keys would be okay or not
okay to bind.

This could be solved by instead linking to the Emacs key binding
guidelines and pointing out ranges of keys or example keys that would
be safe to bind. I interpret the current documentation as suggesting
such example keys.

For comparison, calendar.el et al do not suggest global key bindings
for their commands.  However, Org mode is different because it is one
of Emacs’s "killer apps".  It is something that a non-Emacs user would
start using Emacs for.  No one is going to switch to Emacs to use
calendar.el, but there are many people that switch to Emacs to use Org
mode.  Therefore, there is a benefit in adding some tips for very new
users.

As a matter of practicality, I suspect many users are just blindly
copying Emacs Lisp code from various guides online, so there is no
good way to fight de facto standards from emerging.  Projectile is a
particularly blatant offender, a popular package that reserves the C-c
p key for its minor mode.

However, the Emacs documentation is quite clear about key binding
rules.  All built in libraries follow it, including Org mode.  I do
not interpret the Org documentation as implying otherwise.