Hacker News Reader

Honestly, I think it comes from the need to pad resumes. "Rewrote motd system" sounds a lot better than "Reviewed existing motd system, couldn't see any need for improvement"

Because they have different needs ? Maybe they do want to see how many processes are running, who's connected, and some simple status on the machine, contrary to OP ?

Their fault is not so much in complexifying motd, it's in removing the simple options for the majority of people who don't need the added configurability.

Complex problems sometimes require complex solutions. I get it. But this implementation, where all are suddenly thrust into the complex solution for something that the collective memory determines to be simple, is a net negative.

I have the same complaint about what has happened to Xorg.conf, or grub2. Yay, they are more flexible and dynamic. But they also run contrary to Unix philosophy of simplicity

Because complexity lets them keep their jobs for longer. :-)

This, more than anything else, is why I've come to truly detest web development generally and open source CMSs in particular.

Are they paid? If so, how is their productivity measured? Sometimes complexity is one such measure.

"all these"?

A. Corner-cases.

B. Paternalism.