We are using the discourse-footnote plugin, and Adroit requested something which showed them inline. I tried out the display_footnotes_inline feature, but it hides the below-post footnotes. The preference would be for everything to look the same as when this is disabled, but add hovertext to the superscript numbers.
That sounds like a feature request to make, but for now, which way do we want this set?
Overall I prefer inline. While I have written posts intending for the footnotes to be read in order at the end, most of the time I’d rather have the post be shorter/less intimidating up front.
edit: …and for anyone who prefers them at the bottom, you can always disable javascript 
Me too. I’d prefer a smaller/less boisterous icon for the [1] button, but even as is, inline is definitely an improvement because I always read footnotes inline anyway (otherwise I’d have to re-read for context) and reading them in the footer often involves a jarring amount of up-down scrolling.
Example footnote. Well, more like just “note”, now. ↩︎
I have a strong memory of requesting this years ago when we were first setting up Discourse. But I can’t find it. At the time, I don’t think it was an official plugin. I originally was asking that we figure out how to add it from markdown-it before any Discourse plug-in was made.
Anyway, yes, I’m all about the idea of having the hover without losing the actual foot note at the end.