If improved enough, maybe we could get to a point where they could actually be used; otherwise why the heck did we let the feature in the database in the first place? I think all these "use a lookup table, you silly!" answers are missing the point.
1. I thought ENUMS were not needed in the first place. I still do.
2. I never called anyone silly, nor was I derogatory or dismissive. I offered, my solution to this problem because ENUMS are a pain in the butt and have been since the original implementation. I have yet to see a valid reason to use them instead of a lookup table. I have even written articles about the three basic solutions:
The one nice thing about enums is that you get two concepts in one column - a human readable label and a system used ordering.
i.e., "SELECT enum_value FROM tbl ORDER BY enum_value" actually
gives you a meaningful order without having to carry around, or relink to, a lookup table to get an ordering column.
Now, this is a bit overrated since you immediately lose that ability if you export to a Spreadsheet program, or otherwise lose the ordering nature during a convert-to-text operation.