[have_humility]

> The end is the same result (no feature) but with a bit more comfort for both parties.

I don't think this is true.

Same result? Agreed. More comfortable for the developer? Okay, sure (if being dishonest/disingenuous is no discomfort). More comfortable for the requestor? It depends on the person. I would loathe this, for example, and it would evoke in me a far worse feeling than a flat out "no" would; these kinds of responses abound in plenty of other areas of life, and they're very much one of those things that contributes that kind-of-kills-me-a-little-on-the-inside feeling. I suspect that I'm not alone.

But then, I'm not the kind of person who's going to be harrassing anyone over feature requests. I also suspect, though, that the inference that lots of the intended targets will be placated by this kind of response is probably overstated.

EDIT:

To give an example, an acquaintance of mine listed a room for rent last year. He got about, I dunno, a little over a dozen responses of varying quality; some were from people who essentially put in the least effort possible, while others had both indicated that the author had actually put some thought into considering whether it would be a good match and provided relevant info about themselves for review. His response to almost all of them? To treat the best of them with the worst; they got no response. The result as I'm gazing over his inbox? That slightly-less-optimistic-about-humanity feeling.

[coldtea]

>More comfortable for the requestor? It depends on the person. I would loathe this, for example, and it would evoke in me a far worse feeling than a flat out "no" would;

The key here is that the requestor doesn't "deserve" anything, and the developer wants to be fucking left alone...

[have_humility]

Weird use of quotes here, considering I used the word "deserve" nowhere. But on that note, I think every person does deserve to be not automatically lied to because of cynicism. See my comment about treating the best with the worst and the multiple times I point out the diminished-enthusiasm-for-a-humanity-filled-with-humans-that-don't-see-the-humanity-of-other-humans feeling.

"No, leave me alone" is much a better response than, "Sure, I'll think about that!" when the latter isn't true, the recipient would've been okay with the former, and hasn't given reason for you to believe otherwise.

Note also that I didn't bring up the comfort of the requestor; I mentioned it only because iaw specifically brought it up and said that lying would comfort them...

I wouldn't have written my comment at all if iaw had said, "The end is the same result, but it's more comfortable for the developer, and it gets the requestor to fuck off." But that's not what (s)he wrote.