> It would be great if this could be done...
codesushi42 would have said (emphasis mine):
> It would be great if this would be done...
Not that I think it was incorrect as it was, just a little ambiguous, I guess.
Also, I would agree more with your point if the parent said "It could be great if this could be done..." instead of "It would be great if this could be done". The first "would" seems to indicate to me pretty clearly that the parent was talking about a request rather than ability.
in the case of something like the glass of water, "could" makes the sentence more indirect, and more polite.
the original post is "it would be great if [huge task undertaken by unspecified persons] could be done". this native speaker would not attempt to polite-ify a request for something like that (and i don't think other native speakers would either), so the original post can't be making a request. it is expressing a hope that the thing is possible. mburns (reasonably) then explains that it is possible. then codesushi42 sort of goes on the rails, and i can't figure out what they're attempting to convey at this point.
Context is important. Why bother decompiling a game if you have the source already? Of course I meant decompiling games for which there is no source code available on any machine. Nintendo has the source for SM64.
What a ridiculous load of pedantry.
A misunderstanding occurred. The misunderstanding was clarified, acknowledged, and explained. I'm not sure it contributes anything to make accusations of pedantry.
That's why I said I didn't think it was incorrect, but merely ambiguous. The use of "could" could also be interpreted as talking about the physical ability to perform the action. That was precisely how mburns seemed to have interpreted it. My comment was merely trying to clarify your explanation with a simpler version that tried to eliminate the ambiguity that was probably the source of the confusion.
I got an upvote for that comment. Maybe it was them and it did work.
> "It could be great if this could be done..."
That sounds like one wouldn't be sure if it would be great or not. I don't think anyone meant or interpreted that.
Old style: "If I had tried, I would have succeeded."
New style: "If I would have tried, I would have succeeded."
The extra "would" style used to be restricted only to adding strong emphasis, as in "if you would just LISTEN to me...". Slowly, this extra "would" has crept into other areas, like replacing the subjunctive as in the example:
Old style: "It would be great if this were done."
New style: "It would be great if this would be done."
The new style is "incorrect" English as of a couple of decades ago, but its usage is increasing. It still sounds terribly wrong to my ear, but what determines whether grammar is "correct" is the way in which people actually speak.