Seth Larson highlights a recurring issue with how developers respond to deprecation warnings in programming. He points out that many people ignore these warnings, which can lead to significant problems when the deprecated features are eventually removed. A prime example is the `response.getheader` method in Python’s `urllib`, which has been deprecated since 2023. By the time it was removed, a lot of existing code broke because developers hadn’t acted on the warning. Larson suggests that current deprecation strategies fail to communicate urgency effectively. He proposes a novel approach: gradually making deprecated functions return incorrect results. Initially, these functions would work correctly, but over time, they would start to return wrong results with increasing frequency. For instance, after a few months, they might return incorrect results once every million calls, then ramping up to once every thousand calls as the deadline approaches. This strategy would make it clear to users that they need to address the deprecated functionality, as relying on it would lead to obvious bugs. The idea is to make the economic impact of ignoring deprecation warnings more immediate. By introducing gradual failures, developers would face a clear incentive to maintain their code. Larson emphasizes that traditional warnings and signage have proven ineffective in driving change. By incorporating a tangible consequence for inaction, the proposal aims to foster better planning and quicker responses to necessary updates in the codebase.