It's a matter of what use cases are catered to by default, and what use cases are possible. For example, having debug symbols on by default makes it easier to start using the language and debug your applications, at the cost of more disk space and having to configure your project if your needs are different. I think the discussion would have more merit if the defaults weren't configurable. But of course, the choice of defaults is one that will be contentious no matter what. It should still be done following the Hippocratic Oath of "first, do no harm". And some of us need to accept that our usecases are more niche than others, including mine.