[DragonMaus]

Vi(m) has had a bad reputation for abstruseness for so long that it's become enshrined in meme culture, and nowadays it's unlikely that sites like this are created out of any legitimate frustration or difficulty.

What I don't get is why did this reputation arise in the first place? The mnemonic for quitting Vi* is actually quite straightforward, and makes a lot of sense if you put the five seconds into understanding the modal model being used, whereas the Other Editor has a complex and unintuitive chorded sequence that I can quite literally never remember, no matter how many times I look it up. Is it control+alt? One sequence or two? Was it 'x' for "exit", or 'q' for "quit", or something else entirely? Why is it so difficult to navigate the documentation? The mind boggles.

[meepmorp]

> makes a lot of sense if you put the five seconds into understanding the modal model being used

You've answered your own question. People don't understand the modal model, especially if they're dropped into vi without warning because something launched $EDITOR.