Hot take: good riddance.
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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/
It's frustration by the community using GNOME as they feel their interests aren't considered in the development process. This is a natural outcome in sociology.
When you use something, you typically have a vested interest in the prosperity of it. People tend to get frustrated when they feel ignored and some are passionate enough about it to voice their discontent.
I did the very same with you previously regarding paywalling your community.
*Edited.
@vkc@linuxmom.net -
@vkc it has been so long since I have had a three button mouse (with no scroll wheel) I forgot about that default from ancient history… back when the middle button was not also the scroll wheel it worked for me.. but not in .. the past 25 years?
@scanner it trips my scroll wheel all the time, I'll be scrolling and I'll suddenly accidentally insert some text from who knows where into a form field or something.
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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 I suspect there is a weird conspiracy theory, which sounds similarly like this.
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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 I never had a problem with the middle click till I got a Thinkpad, but boy, oh boy, is it ever annoying me now. Pastes all over the place.
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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.
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.
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@scanner it trips my scroll wheel all the time, I'll be scrolling and I'll suddenly accidentally insert some text from who knows where into a form field or something.
@vkc Yeah, I can totally see that. The world has changed when the scroll was added (and is also a button)
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@vkc it has been so long since I have had a three button mouse (with no scroll wheel) I forgot about that default from ancient history… back when the middle button was not also the scroll wheel it worked for me.. but not in .. the past 25 years?
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@vkc I never had a problem with the middle click till I got a Thinkpad, but boy, oh boy, is it ever annoying me now. Pastes all over the place.
@trezzer ugh that's the worst!
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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 maybe they got bored of ranting about Apple
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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 not when you have muscle memory going back to the 1980s with middle click
not when the distro(s) you like have it as the default desktop
not when the other desktops are just a heap of no
Gnome tried to get rid of icons on the desktop a few years ago. User pressure brought them back (admittedly through some pretty foul shell hacks)
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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.
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?
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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 it's framed in obvious inflammatory rhetoric, and also "because X11 did it that way" is a total non-reason for nuking a feature common to graphical unices since the 1980s. But yes, I agree, they're free to do whatever they want in their little playground! GNOME has been pushing through the boundaries of sensible user interface design for quite a while now. Nothing new there.
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@vkc maybe they got bored of ranting about Apple
@thomasfuchs UnUSaBLe
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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.
The combination of "newlines in pasted text will trigger messages sending in some chat clients" and "the middle mouse button is millimeters away from the spacebar on some laptops" is awful behaviour. I have had mortifying accidents because of it, where multiline text automatically sent to people I was speaking with- because I have human motor skills and hit the middle mouse button by accident.
I admit it *can* be useful, I guess... but it's behaviour I would happily get rid of.
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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 the fear is that after being disabled by default, it will eventually be removed entirely.
I can understand being frustrated by accidental triggering, especially with the new fast scrolling super clicky mouse wheels.
I specifically buy a mouse that doesn't do this because I'm left-handed and copy paste almost exclusively with the middle button.
As a lefty, middle-click paste is a godsend. Otherwise, I have to move off the mouse to the keyboard and back.
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@vkc not when you have muscle memory going back to the 1980s with middle click
not when the distro(s) you like have it as the default desktop
not when the other desktops are just a heap of no
Gnome tried to get rid of icons on the desktop a few years ago. User pressure brought them back (admittedly through some pretty foul shell hacks)
@scruss no. Don't get emotionally charged about it.
It's a design choice. Your emotions shouldn't matter, just choose something different. Run a command to add the feature back.
I'm not saying don't have opinions. I'm saying, emphatically, that getting emotionally charged about it is, in fact, a bad thing.
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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.
@vkc
if you say so -
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
Like, give it a week and an extension to bring back middle click will be published, and harmony will be restored
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@vkc it's framed in obvious inflammatory rhetoric, and also "because X11 did it that way" is a total non-reason for nuking a feature common to graphical unices since the 1980s. But yes, I agree, they're free to do whatever they want in their little playground! GNOME has been pushing through the boundaries of sensible user interface design for quite a while now. Nothing new there.
@theodric it's just a desktop, no need to get insulting
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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 True that! Having said that I'd like to spend a disproportionate amount of time, not to talk, but to argue with you about rounded corners
