In defense of the single flexible function, I think the hypothetical business requirements are pathological. Or perhaps the hypothetical developer is taking a p

In defense of the single flexible function, I think the hypothetical business requirements are pathological. Or perhaps the hypothetical developer is taking a pathologically literal interpretation of them. Who would want pagination in one view but not another? As for the profanity filter, that should probably be a preference of the currently logged-in user which is applied to all feeds which that user views. (It should probably be enabled when an anonymous user is viewing any feed.) I suppose some developers don't have the freedom of suggesting alternative specified behavior that is nicer to implement. In some cases I have not had that freedom. But in this hypothetical case, when pressed, the person setting the requirements ought to value consistency. My own experience has been that I tend to do copy-and-paste because it's easier, but then regret it later. I don't think I've yet erred too far on the side of trying to follow the DRY principle.