Re: Recentish C-s M-y change

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: "Alfred M. Szmidt" <ams@gnu.org>
> Date: Fri, 01 Jan 2021 06:14:40 -0500
> Cc: larsi@gnus.org, juri@linkov.net, rms@gnu.org, emacs-devel@gnu.org
> 
>    More and more (my impression), things, even major
>    things, are getting changed through just bug reports.
>    Dunno whether that's intentionally to avoid wider
>    discussion, but it has that effect.
> 
> I share that impression as well, it does seems that the modus operandi
> is to change first, discuss later.

I think this impression might be skewed.  Many people feel the
opposite: that we discuss too much, and moreover, that starting a
discussion on emacs-devel almost invariably leads to stalemate that
blocks the proposed changes.

If someone wants to be intimately involved in the Emacs development,
he or she should subscribe to the bug list, because many issues are
discussed there (as they should be), and sometimes the conclusion is
that we should make changes.

People who cannot afford subscribing to the bug list still have the
usual means: submitting bug reports about behavior changes that annoy
them or are in their opinion wrong.  (But please note that we don't
promise to agree with every single objection or protest against a
change that was installed, we have our judgment and pour opinions.)

It is impractical to expect that every potentially annoying or
problematic change will be detected before it is committed, so I urge
people not to develop such unrealistic expectations.