When I was younger, we had a term for programs that produced some sort of impressive display but were otherwise useless: eyewash. Such programs were produced for the benefit of the suits and visiting firemen. There’s a faction of Emacs users who have their own form of eyewash. They are obsessed with making Emacs pretty and are sure doing so will solve all the problems with finding new Emacs users. Another faction believes, as I do, that pretty is as pretty does.
Vivek Haldar belongs to the latter group.
Prettifying #emacs is like blinging out a monastery.
— Vivek Haldar (@vivekhaldar) March 7, 2021
There’s nothing evil or corrupt about liking bling, of course, it’s just that some of us would prefer that Emacs developers’ energy be focused on making Emacs more useful.