RE: [External] : Re: Why is goto-address-mode not enabled by default everywhere?

[Drew Adams]

> > Is there a problem with making urls in comments clickable by default?
> > It's just useful to conveniently visit some documentation url.
> 
> It interferes with moving point using the mouse, which might be too
> intrusive.  Maybe we could enable goto-address-prog-mode by default,
> but in turn disable mouse-1-click-follows-link, so that the user would
> need to use mouse-2 instead.

(I'm not arguing for or against linkifying URLs
in text by default, here.)

IMHO, we never should have let
`mouse-1-click-follows-link' default to non-nil.

We should have kept just `mouse-2' for following
links in Emacs, by default.  `mouse-1' in most
Emacs contexts should be for setting point etc.
- and not only by holding it for some period of
time before releasing it.

That's an ugly hack that affects user behavior,
even if experience Emacsers have by now become
habituated to it.  It makes using `mouse-1' in
Dired and similar buffers with large expanses
of links almost unusable.

We should now reverse the default behavior.
`mouse-2' is a much saner choice for Emacs.

AFAIK, the only reason we switched to letting
`mouse-1' follow links by default was because
that's the behavior in other apps, in particular
web browsers.  Those contexts are quite unlike
most Emacs contexts, which are about moving
around plain text, and often even editing it.

No, don't bother to say "That ship has sailed."
That ship should now be sunk, and a new ship
set to sail - a ship designed for use with
typical Emacs contexts.