Lose the tagline (permanently)

[Abraham Lee]

Dear Dev team,

I don't know if this discussion has come up before, but I thought I'd bring
something up that's been on my mind. I'd like to propose that we remove the
tagline variable (or at least its default value). For a while now (and
spurred on by some recent comments on other forums), I've felt that the
automatic presence of the tagline "Music engraving by LilyPond
X.Y.Z--www.lilypond.org" is annoying, a little bit cocky and a real
turn-off to those who don't use LP. Naturally, it attracts attention, but
shouldn't the engraving quality of the score speak for itself?

In any new score I create, it has become second nature for me to set
tagline = ##f because it gets in the way of the finished product. I don't
even think about it anymore, I just do it. I think this is also true for
most other power users. However, for those who are new, those who use it
occasionally, casually, etc., they may not think to turn this off in their
scores and users of other programs don't take them seriously. Instead of
the LP user implying "My score looks better than yours because I used LP to
do it," I'd rather have it be the non-LP user thinking "Wow! That looks so
good! What program did they use?" and then come to learn it was done with
LP. I say that because I've experienced both and the latter is way more
fulfilling (and door-opening) than the first.

Am I the only one who feels this way? I realize that the tagline has had a
specific purpose, but I don't really think I've seen another program do
anything like it--and for good reason. As a comparison, if LibreOffice
(which I use all the time), or better yet, Microsoft Office, automatically
put in their own tagline at the bottom of the last page of a document, I'D
GO CRAZY and immediately search to find out how to turn it off permanently.
I wouldn't want to have to turn it off for each document. That would get
old real quick. Get the program out of the way and let the music do the
talking. That's all I'm saying.

I'm not saying we should necessarily do away with the variable altogether,
but just have no default value unless the user wants one there like all the
other header variables. I can see that having something like the current
default value printed to the page during regression tests could be useful,
but really, what's the point anywhere else? I'm not sure what prompted
Han-wen or Jan or whoever to set a default value to it, but I wonder if
it's time for it to go?

Just some thoughts. I love the quality of LP scores. Removing the default
tagline value would make it even more professional (to me, at least), even
for the budding new users. Feel free to shoot now. What do you all think
about my proposal?

Best Regards,
Abraham