Comment 1 for bug 1740156

I am not sure I follow everything here, but I have filed a separate bug report (#1740646) for an appcrash in GAL that hit when exploring (due to your current report) the local ratnests. Also the local ratnests did not display in GAL (with Windows nightly 2017-12-29 revision 93683d002) when footprints were selected; I guess that is what you also observe, they do display when you move as you say, but this is standard behavior also without that icon selected.

I agree that the "Visibility Render tab’s Ratsnest checkbox" seems redundant, but it does not hurt to have an additional location to turn this on and off where everything is in one place?
So I do not agree to "a) Eliminate LHS ratsnest toolbar button entirely.". The Render tab’s Ratsnest checkbox is normally not visible and will be difficult to find for new users and requires additional mouse clicks.

In classic canvas where local ratnests are working, the selection is cumulative instead of selecting one net at a time, so one has to turn it off again by toggling the LHS before selectively looking at another local local ratnest. I am not sure this is the best approach, but one can probably live with it. Each approach has its merits.

Certainly the local ratnests selection in GAL is in need to be looked at.