Comment by throwaway74628
6 hours ago
My guess: taking personal responsibility for the functionality, readability, and sanity of the change proposed, both atomically and in the context of the wider code base (adhering to existing conventions and patterns), to the best of the author’s ability.
"taking responsibility" doesn't actually mean anything, it's just empty words
Putting any specific string in an "author(s)" or "committer" field is likewise a token gesture that doesn't affect or alter the content. The impact, just like promises of responsibility, would still solely be in biasing the reader, clouding the evaluation.
Unless you believe there is substance in social interactions over time, like trust. But then it would be a socially weird move to dismiss promises of responsibility out of hand instead of picking up the invitation to build trust if that's what's perceived to be lacking.