Hot take: good riddance.
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The way the article is written. The way the comments talk about it.
Why do people make it sound like GNOME is some sort of secret cabal of Linux haters?
It's a freaking desktop environment, they have every right to build it however they want, and you have every right to use something different. There's zero reason to get emotionally charged about it.
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But I've read some reports of accidental pastes when trying to use some 3d related (web)apps so IMO it makes sense for the browser to do something about it. Personally I agree with firefox's general stance of respecting upstream/distro settings. I'll leave it enabled because it literally halves my clicks when filling forms (yeah I'm lazy to reach for the keyboard), and on some stupid sites that literally block ctrl and right clicking, usually this method still works.
2/2.
@vkc@linuxmom.net @gravemind@fosstodon.org not even just 3d ones! I do most of my design work in Figma (never got around to moving things to penpot or anything else) and my design files are sometimes littered with random strings because I forgot to disable middlemouse.paste in about://config on Firefox.
middle click paste is legacy behavior from a bygone era of computing and I think the only people making use of it are people who were making use of it 35+ years ago too. I don't think it has a good place in a modern desktop, especially with tools available to make it possible to maintain several copied items (like one of the 3 different clipboard manager extensions for Gnome) -
The way the article is written. The way the comments talk about it.
Why do people make it sound like GNOME is some sort of secret cabal of Linux haters?
It's a freaking desktop environment, they have every right to build it however they want, and you have every right to use something different. There's zero reason to get emotionally charged about it.
@vkc I use it and find it quite helpful.
Bashing changing the default so it's more accessible to new users to the platform, and hyping the rage up for a clickbaity title, and defending that as "more engaging"?
I've unfollowed the author and muted mentions of The Register links.
It's been going bad for a while, but that's not the energy I need in my life in 2026.
They get to pick their audience, but I'm not it.
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The way the article is written. The way the comments talk about it.
Why do people make it sound like GNOME is some sort of secret cabal of Linux haters?
It's a freaking desktop environment, they have every right to build it however they want, and you have every right to use something different. There's zero reason to get emotionally charged about it.
@vkc while I fully share your sentiment regarding the article, "people can just use something else" is kind of a cheap way out imo. Linux has had a lot of influx lately with MS repeatedly shitting the bed, and I assume by now we have a decent percentage of users for which a desktop switch is beyond their capabilities. I by the way love middle click, and am currently using gnome, and I also would prefer them not moving goalposts without consideration for people who liked it the old way.
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@vkc while I fully share your sentiment regarding the article, "people can just use something else" is kind of a cheap way out imo. Linux has had a lot of influx lately with MS repeatedly shitting the bed, and I assume by now we have a decent percentage of users for which a desktop switch is beyond their capabilities. I by the way love middle click, and am currently using gnome, and I also would prefer them not moving goalposts without consideration for people who liked it the old way.
@vkc I have a multi-dimensional hate-love relationship with linux at this point, I also don't like wayland for a multitude of things, still I'm too lazy to go back. I fully understand people being frustrated because they feel like between a rock and a hard place, and if these people are writing, it's no surprise that things are not always "neutral"
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@vkc@linuxmom.net @gravemind@fosstodon.org not even just 3d ones! I do most of my design work in Figma (never got around to moving things to penpot or anything else) and my design files are sometimes littered with random strings because I forgot to disable middlemouse.paste in about://config on Firefox.
middle click paste is legacy behavior from a bygone era of computing and I think the only people making use of it are people who were making use of it 35+ years ago too. I don't think it has a good place in a modern desktop, especially with tools available to make it possible to maintain several copied items (like one of the 3 different clipboard manager extensions for Gnome)@inderix @vkc Well considering my age, I don't think it's only older folks who're using it. Sure it doesn't work for all workflows but having a toggle for it should suffice. Now the question of whether to keep it on or off by default is a different thing. One person's preference of something default can be another's annoyance. I'm happy with it being off by default.
I guess browsers can have an override for this as well. Personally I'm happy as long as fox respects my settings in KDE to use it.
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@vkc I have two professional mentors who both insist on using Enlightenment like it's still 2003. I don't know how or why, but that's the beauty of Linux that you can.
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@inderix @vkc Well considering my age, I don't think it's only older folks who're using it. Sure it doesn't work for all workflows but having a toggle for it should suffice. Now the question of whether to keep it on or off by default is a different thing. One person's preference of something default can be another's annoyance. I'm happy with it being off by default.
I guess browsers can have an override for this as well. Personally I'm happy as long as fox respects my settings in KDE to use it.
@inderix @vkc I meant override as in GUI toggles. Not obscure about:config booleans or registry-esque dconf or whatever they're using nowadays.
Overall I think, for better or worse, a sizable number of people use it now (feels similar to XKCD 619 and 1172).
P.S. looking back at the proposals, IDK if it was intentional or not but calling it x11ism and that Goodbye X11 phrase certainly didn't help with the negative reactions, especially with some people's preconcieved notions about GNOME
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Hot take: good riddance. I dislike the middle click thing. Trips me up all the time as someone who accidentally clicks it when scrolling.
I think the right move is to make this (undoubtedly useful to some) behavior opt-in, not opt-out.
A lot of the gripes I see are just people being mad because GNOME makes choices they don't like. I don't understand why people write like this about GNOME, if you don't like it don't use it, your emotions make you look petty, etc etc.
https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/07/gnome_middle_click_paste/
@vkc Definitely not the usual tongue-in-cheek Register article, that's quite disappointing actually. GNOME of all communities spends time and focus on good UX. I agree that the Register journalist reported this issue rather poorly. Third wheel functionality never worked for me when they introduced the wheel instead of the middle button.
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Hot take: good riddance. I dislike the middle click thing. Trips me up all the time as someone who accidentally clicks it when scrolling.
I think the right move is to make this (undoubtedly useful to some) behavior opt-in, not opt-out.
A lot of the gripes I see are just people being mad because GNOME makes choices they don't like. I don't understand why people write like this about GNOME, if you don't like it don't use it, your emotions make you look petty, etc etc.
https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/07/gnome_middle_click_paste/
@vkc@linuxmom.net Peoole write like this about Gnome because GNOME developers are specifically being really annoyingly smug about it.
They could've made a normal issue where they say "We changed a default here's why".
But no, Gnome developers will intentionally use provoking language like calling it just a weird " X11ism" and implying you're stupid if you actually want this feature.
This attitude from Gnome a lot of people because this attitude causes Gnome to become software that is literally unusable without third party plugins and gnome tweaks.
They are high in their own farts. -
Anyway, if you like GNOME and their design concepts, you're awesome and totally a valid user of Linux.
Sick of the absurd nonsense that says otherwise.
If the issue is choice and the point is "if you like it, use it; if you don't, don't," then there's no problem.
The problem, as almost always, is that a select group of people decides they no longer like or find a feature useful, and therefore, no one should like it...
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I try not avoid making assumptions that aren't already save or measurable empirically. I was elaborating on the the cause and effect of GNOME, their actions and how they are received by the larger FOSS community.
GNOME are free to act in accordance with how the foundation and the collective from which it is composed wish to manage the development of their software and surrounding community. There are social consequences however, to neglecting the needs and interests of the people using it.
Telling someone to go fork the software or go elsewhere is not a reasonable response nor conductive to keeping a healthy community and userbase. It only communicates that you are not interested in considering external output which will rightfully make the people who use and are invested in GNOME and its ecosystem rightfully frustrated.
That is why my previous post outlines and urges the necessity of listening to your community and move in lock step with them or else you'll end up in the same circumstance that GNOME currently is.
@DiogoConstantino@masto.pt @vkc@linuxmom.net@Saorsa @vkc I argue that what you call larger FOSS community might not be as supporting of FOSS and freedom as they believe they are.
I'm not saying all that "FOSS community", but many (I can't say most, and I don't think empirical observation is fair for that), only recognize the freedom when it's freedom for others to do what they want, and not what the others want.
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@Saorsa @vkc I argue that what you call larger FOSS community might not be as supporting of FOSS and freedom as they believe they are.
I'm not saying all that "FOSS community", but many (I can't say most, and I don't think empirical observation is fair for that), only recognize the freedom when it's freedom for others to do what they want, and not what the others want.
@Saorsa @vkc The users who usually have a voice that is recognized by developers and other organization leadership are users which are contributors in other ways other than development and are directly engaged with the development project. This is natural, and others will have a hard time to make their opinion to be recognized.
While I think this is natural, I also believe projects should try to have programs to expand the relation with those other users, and to listen to them as well.
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@Saorsa @vkc The users who usually have a voice that is recognized by developers and other organization leadership are users which are contributors in other ways other than development and are directly engaged with the development project. This is natural, and others will have a hard time to make their opinion to be recognized.
While I think this is natural, I also believe projects should try to have programs to expand the relation with those other users, and to listen to them as well.
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@Saorsa @vkc I do think your opinion about the fork is a bit exaggerated, making a fork doesn't, doesn't have to be a drama, and doesn't even have to lead to a community break.
Users have different and conflicting opinions. It's simply not possible to make them all happy about everything. It's also not fair that users who don't contribute in any way define technology as much as those who do. So forking is inevitable and should be welcome without drama by Free Sofware lovers.
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@Saorsa @vkc I do think your opinion about the fork is a bit exaggerated, making a fork doesn't, doesn't have to be a drama, and doesn't even have to lead to a community break.
Users have different and conflicting opinions. It's simply not possible to make them all happy about everything. It's also not fair that users who don't contribute in any way define technology as much as those who do. So forking is inevitable and should be welcome without drama by Free Sofware lovers.
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In this period, in this timeline, at this moment, maybe, just maybe, we shouldn't talk about *desktop environment design disagreements* like they're causing deep emotional harm?
@vkc I have all desktop environments installed on my pc. I switch whenever I like. We should celebrate all competition as ultimately it leads to more choice for users, that is a core philosophy of linux, choice and complete ownership!
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Hot take: good riddance. I dislike the middle click thing. Trips me up all the time as someone who accidentally clicks it when scrolling.
I think the right move is to make this (undoubtedly useful to some) behavior opt-in, not opt-out.
A lot of the gripes I see are just people being mad because GNOME makes choices they don't like. I don't understand why people write like this about GNOME, if you don't like it don't use it, your emotions make you look petty, etc etc.
https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/07/gnome_middle_click_paste/
I use middle-click-paste all the time, and I would miss it. As you say, this is not a life-or-death thing. We just gotta have our drama.
I use Plasma, so, A) This conversation doesn’t apply to me, B) There certainly would be (or maybe already is) an option to turn it on/off.
As an aside, I flip off my work laptop frequently. It’s Windows 11, and it’s hateful.
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Hot take: good riddance. I dislike the middle click thing. Trips me up all the time as someone who accidentally clicks it when scrolling.
I think the right move is to make this (undoubtedly useful to some) behavior opt-in, not opt-out.
A lot of the gripes I see are just people being mad because GNOME makes choices they don't like. I don't understand why people write like this about GNOME, if you don't like it don't use it, your emotions make you look petty, etc etc.
https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/07/gnome_middle_click_paste/
if you don't like it don't use it
You can like something as a whole and dislike aspects of it. And isn't this the case with a lot of things in life? If I stopped using something over disliking just a few parts of it, I wouldn't be able to use anything at all because nothing will ever be a 100% fit. -
The way the article is written. The way the comments talk about it.
Why do people make it sound like GNOME is some sort of secret cabal of Linux haters?
It's a freaking desktop environment, they have every right to build it however they want, and you have every right to use something different. There's zero reason to get emotionally charged about it.
@vkc possibly easier to complain well-serviced software into compliance than setting up an unserviced fork - that's definitely more energy-intensive. as we can already see from the browser landscape.
