RE: display-buffer cleverness - how to tame?

[Drew Adams]

> > It's a joke, right?  Emacs adding DWIM now means that if 
> > you want the simple, straightforward behavior of old you
> > need to write it yourself?
> 
> If almost nobody actually does, then that's not a problem, right?

That's sorry logic. The fact (unproven, BTW) that few people will actually go to
that trouble is no proof that almost nobody would appreciate such a result.

The fact that few people actually build an energy-efficient car themselves from
scratch is hardly proof that no one would appreciate such a car.

If the new `display-buffer' approach is so complex that just describing a simple
way to get back the old behavior is too difficult (even for the implementor!),
then, yes, I think we have a problem.

Introduce cleverness, if you must, but please give users a simple way to return
to the simple. "Write your own Emacs, if you don't like the new, improved
version" is one, knee-jerk response. It's not a very good response, IMO.

By a simple way, I mean, for example, just customizing a user option or two -
not implementing complex functions. It is merely punting to provide just a
function-valued option `do-it-yourself'. When DWIM -> DYI, something is amiss.