GNU bug report logs - #73544
smerge key bindings awkward

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From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
To: Daniel Colascione <dancol <at> dancol.org>, Stefan Kangas <stefankangas <at> gmail.com>, Andrea Corallo <acorallo <at> gnu.org>, Stefan Monnier <monnier <at> iro.umontreal.ca>
Cc: 73544 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, dmitry <at> gutov.dev
Subject: bug#73544: smerge key bindings awkward
Date: Sun, 13 Oct 2024 21:58:47 +0300

> Date: Sun, 13 Oct 2024 12:57:01 -0400
> From: Daniel Colascione <dancol <at> dancol.org>
> CC: monnier <at> iro.umontreal.ca, dmitry <at> gutov.dev, 73544 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> >Sure, but you can customize it according to your needs.  It's been the
> >default for the last 24 years, so I think reversing it after such a
> >long time would need a lot of complaints.
> 
> It's a defect in the user interface. Going NIMBY on the core is no way to make great software. We need to be able to add new key bindings, new features, and sand down high friction parts of the UI, even if they've been bumpy for a long time. 
> 
> After a certain point, customizing the program to work around all the terrible inherited defaults the maintainers refuse to change becomes tantamount to maintaining a fork. I guess that's why Doom exists.

How do we know that this is indeed a defect in the UI?  The only way I
know of is to hear the same complaints from enough users.  Without
that, it could be your personal opinion -- to which you are entitled,
of course, and maybe it is even correct in some sense, but flipping
the default based on your single opinion runs the risk of annoying a
lot of people who maybe happen to like the current default.

That said, I don't use SMerge enough to object to this change too
strenuously, so if others (CC'ed) don't mind to make the change, I
won't mind.

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