RE: display value of links in mini-buffer (was: Re: bug archiving policy)

[Drew Adams]

> This speaks to a prior long thread about the user-friendliness of emacs
> to new users, in that the keybinding hints are useful to new users and
> a nice reminder to experienced users who have stepped away from use long
> enough to forget, but once the keybindings are learned the keybinding
> hints lose ALL value for that user and Yuri's type of suggestion for
> supplemental information becomes more useful.

Your general point may make some sense.  Certainly
repeated use of something makes reminders about it
less useful.

But it's true not only just case by case for a
given user, but case by case for specific contexts.
For example, a `mouse-1' action reminder in Dired
is different from the same elsewhere, whether or
not the action itself is similar.  And even for a
given user, things change over time, including use
patterns/habits and awareness.  They can change not
only in the direction of less need of a reminder.

The answer to this kind of thing at a general level
is to provide more user control.  There are various
ways of doing that, from providing feedback levels
(degrees) to providing customization of specific
kinds of feedback.

One size may not fit all, but for now we have one
size, and it should fit most, and in particular most
who are not too familiar with the given context.