sometimes it's better to copy and paste some code only to make each copy diverge more and more over time (somewhat like a starting template) as opposed to intro

sometimes it's better to copy and paste some code only to make each copy diverge more and more over time (somewhat like a starting template) as opposed to introduction an abstraction to generalize some slightly different behaviors only to use said abstraction twice. this makes even more sense when the code will live on in different programs there's a point when incurring the cognitive overhead costs of the abstraction become worthwhile, probably after the 3rd time. but my point is that it's also important to consider that the abstraction introduces some coupling between the parts of the code.