The 20 character thing is a quite silly and sometimes annoying “feature”. Instead of adding a post just to say “thanks” it probably works better to click on the “like heart”. It’s quicker for you, and it also helps the other user in “upping his experience level” (according to the discourse forum software).
As this has settled in my head a bit I recalled what spurred the original question and this may be a bug in the version of KiCad I’m using . I indeed have Automatically place symbol fields turned on. However, when I edit a part click “Change Symbol…” the new parts come in and the fields are not automatically placed but are stacked how they are laid out in the Symbol Editor if the “Update field”'s check boxes are checked.
Likes also help with automatic level elevation. I thought it was annoying at first but it does seem to help keep things more civil by a gentle nudge and suggestion. So…