Terms Governing Terminal Command Reread
The binding terms under which a developer may reread a correctly typed command before executing it.
Article I: Definitions
1.1 "The Command" refers to any terminal instruction which, if executed incorrectly, produces an outcome the subject would prefer not to produce.
1.2 "The Reread" refers to the act of reading The Command again after having already typed it correctly, having verified it once, and having obtained it from a trusted reference.
1.3 "The Subject" refers to the developer who has reached the point of no objective reason for further verification and is verifying anyway.
Article II: Grant of Rights
2.1 The Subject is hereby granted the right to reread The Command as many times as necessary to achieve a subjective confidence threshold the Subject cannot quantify in advance.
2.2 This right is non-transferable. A colleague's confirmation that The Command is correct does not satisfy The Subject's threshold, as the colleague did not type The Command and therefore has no standing on the specific instance under review.
2.3 A small workaround is created for terminal command reread. The workaround produces a second check designed to confirm the first one worked. The second check's results are accepted or queued for a third check at The Subject's discretion.
Article III: Limitations and Conditions
3.1 The system can prove one thing mechanically. That proof is insufficient. Human suspicion requires a second form of evidence, which the system cannot provide because it has already provided everything it has.
3.2 Under the governing rule, terminal command reread may continue indefinitely once everyone knows how to work around it. The workaround is pressing Enter anyway once the rereading produces no new information, which it has not produced since the second read.
3.3 The ordinary action now has a parallel administrative system built around it. The parallel system has no formal name. Its existence is acknowledged by all developers who have encountered a destructive command and chosen to read it one additional time before proceeding.
Article IV: Governing Principle
4.1 Terminal command reread must be repeated whenever the uncertainty it once reduced appears again. The uncertainty will appear again. The terminal will be there. The command will be typed correctly. The Subject will read it once more.
4.2 These Terms are accepted by continued use. No signature is required.