D15739: [Places panel] Don't show Root by default

[David C]

davidc added a comment.


  I strongly advise against this. This change goes against Plasma's brand identity and will provoke a strongly negative reaction from our core audiences.
  
  Plasma is strongly associated with powerful tools and high utility. Users also love having many options. Every time GNOME is criticized for "removing features," or not listening to feedback, we win big. Plasma is frequently praised for being the desktop environment that makes an effort to listen to its users.
  
  I asked for some preliminary feedback on a large Discord server for Linux users. I made sure to specify that the change only applied to the Places link, and Root would remain visible in Devices.
  
  Within **two** minutes of asking:
  
  - 4 users came out strongly against the change
  - 1 person was indifferent because they mostly used the terminal for most things outside of Home.
  - 2 people suggested removing the desktop link from Places instead of root.
  - 1 user asked for the removal of the Devices link to root
  - 1 person had never noticed root was listed under Devices
  
  Only the terminal user believed the Places link presented a safety risk to GUI users. Three people said there was no safety risk because Dolphin does not allow the editing of system files.
  
  Two users mentioned proprietary operating systems which provide a direct shortcut to the root directory.
  One user said this change would make him **"mad,"** and one person asked if the team thought **users were stupid.** One user said it sounded "like something GNOME would do, not KDE."
  
  This was a quick 5 minute survey, but the feedback was very strong and even emotional.
  
  My personal opinion aligns with many of these comments, and I too find this change out of character for Plasma.
  I contribute to Promo and I am certainly not the most technical person here. I use this Places link many times a day. I consider the Devices link to be conceptually different, and it's much less convenient because my root partition is in the middle of my Devices list. I don't ever feel in danger of a misclick because Dolphin prevents any editing or deletion of system files.

REPOSITORY
  R241 KIO

REVISION DETAIL
  https://phabricator.kde.org/D15739

To: ngraham, #dolphin, #vdg, tcanabrava
Cc: davidc, tcanabrava, ndavis, romangg, bruns, davidedmundson, abetts, svenmauch, broulik, acrouthamel, kde-frameworks-devel, michaelh, ngraham
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