GNU bug report logs - #46783
Catch mistaken (query-replace "a" "a")

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Message #24 received at 46783 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Richard Stallman <rms <at> gnu.org>
To: 積丹尼 Dan Jacobson
 <jidanni <at> jidanni.org>
Cc: 46783 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#46783: Catch mistaken (query-replace "a" "a")
Date: Sat, 27 Feb 2021 11:10:23 -0500

[[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider    ]]]
[[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies,     ]]]
[[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]

  > (query-replace "a" "a") should ask "Are you sure?"
  > Better yet: "Are you nuts?"...

Emacs should not say such mean things to users.
It should follow the Kind Communication Guidelines.

It could say, "Are you serious?"

But that has a flaw: it fails to say what the concrete issue is.  We
can't assume the user will figure this out from a vague expression of
doubt, whether kind or not.  Emavs must inform per.

So it could say, "FROM-STRING and TO-STRING are identical -- are you serious?"

-- 
Dr Richard Stallman
Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)

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