I support this PR 1000%, and thank Hoshinova for proposing it.
The situation with FakeUser is not good, and while I would prefer the solution be dealt with at the data management system - seriously, this debate goes back years and there’s absolutely no reason to believe that there’s much interest elsewhere in resolving it in the near future in that way.
This proposal was excellent. It’s been 18 months, with no forward progress than I can see. Perhaps one day someone will care very much about this, and change code… but for the present, it appears not. I prefer that the current solution not be “bad UX, because no time to rewrite data core.”
Yes, it adds visual elements to the Preferences… so what? I think the last place we should be concerned about cluttering is the preference window. How much time are people spending in their preferences all day, instead of actually using the program…?
UX should always take precedence over that window layout, and the fake user UX is not good at all. I believe most users would prefer they not lose their materials and data due to the shield icon, compared to a few more preference checkboxes.
Should it be on by default? I’ll say yes - it should, and others will just as forcefully answer NO. It’s better for new users for it to be activated, but I hope that this point will not turn into another debate that lasts for 5 years, while the problem remains completely unsolved. If “default OFF” gets this PR across the finish line, so be it.