The author delves into an investigation of collaborative editing algorithms for Moment’s text editor, expecting solutions but finding systematic issues with popular algorithms such as CRDTs and OT. Offline editing is problematic due to unintuitive conflict resolutions leading to data corruption. However, there is optimism in recent research shifting focus to UI/UX problems, with a call to reevaluate collaborative editing. The post presents a game-like scenario of conflicting edits to highlight algorithmic shortcomings. Despite failed expectations, there is hope in treating offline editing as a UI/UX challenge rather than solely an algorithms problem. The author acknowledges input from various experts and invites readers to explore other entries in the Moment devlog.
https://www.moment.dev/blog/lies-i-was-told-pt-1