Re: [NonGNU ELPA] New package: llm

[Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>]

[[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider    ]]]
[[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies,     ]]]
[[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]

  > What you are saying is consistent with the GNU coding standard.  However, I
  > think any message about this would be annoying,

I am sure it would be a little annoying.  But assuming the user can
type SPC and move on from that message, the annoyance will be quite
little.

                                                    personally, and would be a
  > deterrent for clients to use this library.

If the library is quite useful I doubt anyone would be deterred.
If anyone minded it the message enough to stop using the package, perse could
edit this out of the code.

This issue is an example of those where two different values are
pertinent.  There is convenience, which counts but is superficial.
And there is the purpose of the GNU system, which for 40 years has led
the fight against injustice in software.  That value is deep and, in the
long term, the most important value of all.

When they conflict in a specific practical matter, there is always
pressure to prioritize convenience.  But that is not wise.
The right approach is to look for a compromise which serves both
goals.  I am sure we can find one here.

I suggested showing the message once a day, because that is what first
occurred to me.  But there are lots of ways to vary the details
of the compromise.

Here's an idea.  For each language model, it could diisplay the
message the first, second, fifth, tenth, and after that every tenth
time the user starts that mode.  With this method, the frequency of
little annoyance will diminish quickly, but the point will not be
forgotten.

As long as we do not overvalue minor inconvenience, there will be
good solutions.

-- 
Dr Richard Stallman (https://stallman.org)
Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)