I’ve seen similar sentiment in a few places, so this prompted some thoughts I’ve had.
I sympathize and I want Obsidian to succeed and have a strong individual identity. I actually think most of the community here is pretty great at respecting the vision and values of Obsidian too, it’s awesome.
Which is why I don’t feel we need to be so wary of, “becoming a Roam clone” when people suggest elements that Roam (or other tools) have. There are features & UI design that bring value to people, if it’s technically possible & doesn’t infringe on anyone or the stated Obsidian values, then they should be encouraged & considered on their merit without being weighted down with fear of association.
The idea of the backlink search results showing the full line of text is a fairly subtle UI decision - conceptually speaking. It just so happens that Roam does this in a way that brings a lot of value to people. I don’t see how a fairly straightforward UI tweak like that warrants us needing to worry about Obsidian loosing it’s identity.
I understand the concern, but I don’t think it will happen because Silver & Licat are strong developers & the community respects the vision they’ve laid out.
We should remember the key values of Obsidian is flexibility/extensibility/personalization - as long as it is doesn’t break markdown and create lock in. It’s also about supporting & utilizing connections between ideas.
This is a Beta, plus networked writing apps are still fairly novel for most users in general - so this is the time to excitedly consider all kinds of feedback on how to get the most out of an app like this.
As for the refugee, if Obsidian brings value, then they’ll come, but if they bring some methodologies & habits that can work in Obsidian, then shouldn’t those be welcomed? Shouldn’t their transition be as seamless as possible?
Both commercially speaking to retain them as users, but as well as part of Obsidian’s values of personalization and imposing as few limitations to your note taking as possible?
Just some thoughts I’ve had on things, I know this is kinda long, so hopefully it doesn’t come off as rude or harsh.