Dennis Hackethal

I can take this opportunity to replace manual markdown with a proper text editor. Then there’s no need for autopaired brackets.

The editor will need to support:

• Automatic links to ideas like #123
• Links to @mentions like @dennis-hackethal
• Safe link formatting
• Disabling of turbo links
• Namespaced footnotes
• Custom blockquote format
• Protection against XSS

I can take this opportunity to replace manual markdown with a proper text editor. Then there’s no need for autopaired brackets.

The editor will need to support:

• Automatic links to ideas like #123
• Links to @mentions like @dennis-hackethal
• Safe link formatting
• Disabling of turbo links
• Namespaced footnotes
• Custom blockquote format
• Protection against XSS
• Retention of formatting when pasting

The difficulty of finding volunteers alone means that jury duty must be mandatory.

Not necessarily. It might just mean that courts suck at persuading people to be jurors.

The difficulty of finding volunteers alone means that jury duty must be mandatory.

Not necessarily. It might just mean that courts are bad at persuading people to be jurors.

… if it were voluntary, it wouldn’t be fair for those who did serve.

By that ‘logic’, we never could have abolished slavery. What a stupid argument.

… if it were voluntary, it wouldn’t be fair for those who did serve.

By that ‘logic’, America never could have abolished slavery because freeing the next generation would have been ‘unfair’ to slaves. What a stupid argument.

Why does John Doe deserve your best effort? He’s a random stranger to you. Why should you care what happens to him? What has he done to deserve your effort and consideration?

This sounds like sacrifice/altruism.

https://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/sacrifice.html
https://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/altruism.html

Why does John Doe deserve your best effort? He’s a random stranger to you. Why should you care what happens to him? What has he done to deserve your effort and consideration?

This stance sounds like sacrifice/altruism.

https://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/sacrifice.html
https://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/altruism.html

You want people who don’t care. You need neutrality.

You actually want people who don’t care. You need neutrality.

I’ve asked Gemini to explain it:

1. Auto-Closure (Insertion State)

When the user inputs an opening delimiter, the system immediately injects the corresponding closing delimiter and places the caret (cursor) between them.

Input: (

Buffer State: (|)

Logic: insert(openingchar) + insert(closingchar) + move_caret(-1)

2. Type-Through (Escape State)

If the caret is positioned immediately before a closing delimiter that was autopaired, and the user types that specific closing delimiter, the system suppresses the character insertion and instead advances the caret.

Context: [text|]

Input: ]

Buffer State: [text]| (Not [text]])

Logic: if (nextchar == inputchar) { movecaret(+1); preventdefault(); }

3. Atomic Deletion (Regression State)

If the caret is between an empty pair of delimiters, a backspace event deletes both the opening and closing characters simultaneously, returning the buffer to the pre-insertion state.

Context: (|)

Input: Backspace

Buffer State: |

Logic: if (prevchar == open && nextchar == close) { delete_range(caret-1, caret+1); }

4. Selection Wrapping (Transformation State)

If a text range is selected (highlighted) and an opening delimiter is typed, the system wraps the selection rather than replacing it.

Context: |selected_text|

Input: [[

Buffer State: [[selected_text]]

Logic: surroundselection(inputpair)

5. Markdown-Specific Heuristics

Obsidian applies context-aware logic for Markdown syntax (e.g., * or _). It often checks word boundaries to determine if the user intends to bold/italicize or use a bullet point.

Context (Start of line): | + * + Space -> Bullet list (autopair disabled/consumed by formatting).

Context (Middle of line): word | + * -> word | (autopair enabled for italics).

I’ve asked Gemini to explain it:

1. Auto-Closure (Insertion State)

When the user inputs an opening delimiter, the system immediately injects the corresponding closing delimiter and places the caret (cursor) between them.

Input: (

Buffer State: (|)

Logic: insert(opening_char) + insert(closing_char) + move_caret(-1)

2. Type-Through (Escape State)

If the caret is positioned immediately before a closing delimiter that was autopaired, and the user types that specific closing delimiter, the system suppresses the character insertion and instead advances the caret.

Context: [text|]

Input: ]

Buffer State: [text]| (Not [text]])

Logic: if (next_char == input_char) { move_caret(+1); prevent_default(); }

3. Atomic Deletion (Regression State)

If the caret is between an empty pair of delimiters, a backspace event deletes both the opening and closing characters simultaneously, returning the buffer to the pre-insertion state.

Context: (|)

Input: Backspace

Buffer State: |

Logic: if (prev_char == open && next_char == close) { delete_range(caret-1, caret+1); }

4. Selection Wrapping (Transformation State)

If a text range is selected (highlighted) and an opening delimiter is typed, the system wraps the selection rather than replacing it.

Context: |selected_text|

Input: [[

Buffer State: [[selected_text]]

Logic: surround_selection(input_pair)

5. Markdown-Specific Heuristics

Obsidian applies context-aware logic for Markdown syntax (e.g., * or _). It often checks word boundaries to determine if the user intends to bold/italicize or use a bullet point.

Context (Start of line): | + * + Space -> Bullet list (autopair disabled/consumed by formatting).

Context (Middle of line): word | + * -> word *|* (autopair enabled for italics).

As of c08f508, the footer automatically hides and shows based on scrolling behavior.

Try it out and let me know if this doesn’t help.

As of 9087189, the footer automatically hides and shows based on scrolling behavior.

Try it out and let me know if this doesn’t help.