Comment # 4 on bug 1094452 from David Rankin

The console should blank and powerdown, with defaults of 10 min (600s) and 12
min, respectively. Servers are NOT headless as used to justify the change in
the "intended behavior" link - that is a boneheaded assumption to justify
crippling /sys/module/kernel/parameters/consoleblank to mask other problems
that should have been fixed instead of swept-under-the-rug by disabling default
console blanking and powerdown -- that has worked flawlessly for the past 15
years.

What kind of defect in reasoning makes it OK to break default behavior? None.
If there is a problem with X due to some change in X or vt reordering that now
makes blanking /dev/tty0 a problem for X users -- then fix X, don't break
default vt blanking and powerdown.

The type of backwards reasoning in
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/kbd/+bug/869017?comments=all that
suggests breaking defaults instead of fixing the actual problem is what leads
to a proliferation of unnecessary kernel parameters passed at boot or forces
the creation of unnecessary startup services just to restore basic default
terminal blanking and powerdown. That strikes me as completely unacceptable and
a complete abdication to insure simple default features -- just work. 

I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but fix the problem, don't break default
behavior. This type of fundamental behavior by the console should just work as
it always has, not be something users now have jump through hoops adding
startup files or passing kernel parameters just to restore simple, basic,
default power-saving features.