There's this subculture in the computer world, the pinnacle of which is arguably still Eric Raymond's Jargon File (http://catb.org/jargon/html/) which I could never connect with it.
"The Story of Mel" and "Sussman Attains Enlightenment" are stories I come back to every so often.
There's similar stuff here: http://www.thecodelesscode.com/contents
I sure hope the jargon file isn't the pinnacle. Not because of any problem with it, I just hope we will surpass a collection last majorly edited 30 years ago.
So, yes.
Modal editing is fundamentally-insane UX.
:q! works in command mode, but obviously not in insert mode. <ESC>:q! works in insert mode and incidentally also in command mode, but not in ex mode (extended command mode)! And so on, a longer and longer command is built that neutralises the current mode and whatever side effects that the key combo itself causes.
echo "cd /system1/pwrmgtsvc1; reset" | ssh -T ADMIN@<BMC-IP>
`Ctrl-Z, kill -9 %1`