Linear history vs branching

There are two ways to organize a project:

Some people like merges, but they are ugly and stupid. Rebase instead and keep linear history.

Linear history:

5 master
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1 first commit

Branched history:

7   master
|\
| \
6  \
|\  \
| |  |
3 4  5
| |  |
| /  /
|/  /
2  /
| /
1/  first commit

Here commits 6 and 7 are the so called "merge commits":

Which type of tree do you think will be easier to understand and maintain?

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You may disconnect now if you still like branched history.

 Ancestors (10)