On text editor related topics, you should have thrown down the gauntlet and been explicitly clear that emacs rules, vi sucks, spaces are supreme, tabs are terrible, and mixing them is miscegenation. That way you only offend evil people, so their downvotes are delightful. Revel in them instead of whining!

Since you enjoy beautiful machinery, here are some classic clockworks:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44633225

https://donhopkins.com/home/documents/EmacsRedisplayAlgorith...

https://donhopkins.com/home/archive/emacs/skull-and-crossbon...

https://donhopkins.com/home/archive/emacs/mw/display.c

https://donhopkins.com/home/code/emacs.ps.txt

https://donhopkins.com/home/archive/NeWS/news-tape/utilities...