My thinking aloud (open to corrections and suggestions):
The Problem
Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after me
Sanitised filenames (with no blank spaces, upper case letters, special characters etc.) are a safe bet.
The alternative can come back to bite you, especially when things become less-than-ideal (software, hardware, and network bugs). Syncing across multiple computers and locations only increases the chances of problems.
In other words: things going “less-than-ideal” is not a matter of “if”, but “when”.
Potential Solutions
No good deed goes unpunished
One way to create sanitised filenames is to add some sort of metadata field into every .md text file that would be interpreted as the “user-visible note title” (different than the actual filename).
However, if Obsidian were to list the nice user-visible note titles, it would need to read every .md file to get that data.
Alternatively, it would need to save some index (and update it regularly upon every title or filename change).
The first option kills speed, the second option kills simplicity.
A third option would be to list filenames (in this case they would be sanitised), but enable tooltips on mouse hover (for those who think smartphones and ipads are a good idea… well… reconsider your life choices LOL - joking).
Finally, this feature could be implemented as a “core plugin”, so that users can enable or disable it based on their preferences.
Looking Ahead
This year will have been better than the next!
I’ve read that Obsidian will introduce “Multiplayer” soon:
“Share notes and edit them collaboratively.”
It looks like a promising feature, making Obsidian challenge Notion at what Notion is still better at (while hopefully, if done right, preserving all the pros of Obsidian).
But that could cause major problems if filename sanitisation isn’t handled properly.
Relja