Destructive vs nondestructive discussion

Here is another bit of user feedback which I hope you will find helpful:

There are 4 basic editing operations:

  1. Cut
  2. Copy
  3. Paste
  4. Delete

An editor that does not fully support these 4 basic editing functions is not fit for purpose and no use to me.

Why do you need things to be deleted destructively?

  1. When working with long tracks, destructive trimming removes unnecessary portions permanently, reducing the saved project size.
  2. Large projects with many large audio clips can strain system resources. Trimming excess audio, can improve processing efficiency.
  3. Destructive trimming ensures that unwanted sections cannot be accidentally restored.
  4. When making loops, precise trimming is essential, and destructive trimming ensures that the loop is not accidentally extended.
  5. In collaborative projects I may need to delete sensitive information from a track.
  6. If I have no need to retain a section of audio, keeping it in the project is unnecessary clutter.

I already have two excellent DAW applications, both of which are much better DAWs than Audacity, so I don’t need another one. I only have one audio editor, and it is rather old (a customised Audacity 2.4.2 with updated Nyquist). Perhaps you could suggest a modern audio editor for Linux to replace it.

So, what you need is reduced project size, and a way to get rid of hidden data permanently. I don’t see a reason against having this, in a similar vein to the existing mix and render actions.

Why do you keep mentioning “Mix and Render”? An audio editor should be able to delete audio without requiring mixing down the track.