Quoting t and nil in docstrings (was: [Emacs-diffs] master b952385: Revert "Fix typo in add-hook doc string")

[Stefan Monnier]

>     Revert "Fix typo in add-hook doc string"
[...]
> -This makes the hook buffer-local, and it makes it a member of the
> +This makes the hook buffer-local, and it makes t a member of the

This is as good an opportunity as any to question our long-standing
convention that the symbols `nil` and `t` are treated specially in
docstrings in the sense that we don't surround them with the customary
`...'.

FWIW, I don't find this exception to be beneficial here, nor in cases
like:

    `foo' means ...
    `bar' means ...
    nil   means ...
    t     means ...

Or when a sentence starts with "nil" (where the lack of capital letter
looks like a typo).

I think we could at least change our convention to say that nil and
t don't have to be quoted rather than to say that they should not
be quoted.


        Stefan