[Libbum]

> they should never be used for showing code in an public or explanatory context

This I can definitely agree with.

The readability issue, in my opinion, is fine and coarse grained.

If I'm scanning my own code, having ligatures on is quicker for me to understand and is ultimately more readable. But (and this is a large but), when editing my own code, ligatures are useless and in the way. Thus I set my editor to remove all ligatures on active/highlighted lines.

[OJFord]

I do this too, and with other 'prettifiers' like indent line characters.

I use vim, so I find it great to have them in normal mode, and then disabled (set conceal =0) on entering insert mode.