So what am I doing to get into merlyn's beep mode? I'd end up there all the time when I tried using vim and if I hit escape enough times ( which was always more than I thought I had to - I think six or seven times was about right ) I'd get back to "nav" mode. Heck, nano is nicer than that!

I also never figured out how to backspace a newline off and had to resort to typing everything from the next line onto the end of the previous line again because newlines at the end can't be deleted.

Also, also, really long lines just truncate (visually only, mind you) so I'd have to cursor over to see the entire thing and only the bit that fit into the 80 character window.

So why is this so popular anyway?

A late addition... I had another thought - is this like Umberto Eco's intention with the first two hundred pages of The Name of the Rose? I recall it was something along the lines of keeping all the readers who weren't willing to slog through two hundred pages of book just to get to the good bits out. Is that vim's mode?

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