[_ikke_]

Lots of criss-cross merges make it really difficult to follow history, making it less useful.

Note that merge vs rebase a false dichotomy. After rebasing you still have to merge your branch anyway, either fast-forward or with an explicit merge commit.

In the end, it's about commutating your changes effectively. The less noise there is, the better you can communicate. That takes effort from both sides, but many persons put all the burden on the receiving side.

[gcarvalho]

> After rebasing you still have to merge your branch anyway, either fast-forward or with an explicit merge commit

You can push directly to the target branch.

git push origin my-branch:master

If your branch is a direct continuation of master -- which is often the desired result of rebasing -- then no merge and no force-push are necessary.

(I'm not saying this is a good workflow, btw.)

[_ikke_]

Which is the equivalent of a fast-forward merge. Same result, different mechanism.