> If it's something like a spelling error, then that's worth fixing.
My take on this is that if it's worth fixing it's not a nitpick. Small problems are still problems.
Automated stuff, if not automated, is also an issue that should be fixed.
Teaching opportunities are also not nitpicks, as teaching is important.
For me the acid test for a nitpick is that if I wouldn't add a commit just to fix it, it is not worth a comment. I'd add a commit to fix a spelling error, but not to tweak some variable name. This is assuming a real commit and not something you're planning on rebasing away.
If you define "nitpick" as "something that's not worth fixing" then by definition nitpicks are worthless.
I've heard the term nitpick usually used to mean "small comment", "my preference", or "very minor".
> Teaching opportunities are also not nitpicks, as teaching is important.
Preference usually isn't a teaching opportunity, it's just a minor disagreement. It's trying to make your code look like I (the reviewer) wrote it. For example maybe you like more terse names than I do. We can argue about every point of personal preference, but that's not a great use of our time.
> If you define "nitpick" as "something that's not worth fixing" then by definition nitpicks are worthless.
> I've heard the term nitpick usually used to mean "small comment", "my preference", or "very minor".
Those are all things that are not worth fixing/changing and so that is just a different way of restating it. I.E. "small comments", "my preference", "very minor" things are all worthless in a PR. They might be interesting when hanging out and chatting, but for a productive workflow they are just noise.
Same with preferences... if you are just relying a preference, not worth it. If you are teaching a better idiom or similar, then it might be. This is not hard and fast, just that in general most "nitpick" types of PR comments are a net loss.
My take on this is that if it's worth fixing it's not a nitpick. Small problems are still problems.
Automated stuff, if not automated, is also an issue that should be fixed.
Teaching opportunities are also not nitpicks, as teaching is important.
For me the acid test for a nitpick is that if I wouldn't add a commit just to fix it, it is not worth a comment. I'd add a commit to fix a spelling error, but not to tweak some variable name. This is assuming a real commit and not something you're planning on rebasing away.