  Context. The Spectroscopy Made Easy (SME) package has become a popular tool
for analyzing stellar spectra, often in connection with large surveys or
exoplanet research. SME has evolved significantly since it was first described
in 1996, but many of the original caveats and potholes still haunt users. The
main drivers for this paper are complexity of the modeling task, the large user
community, and the massive effort that has gone into SME.
  Aims. We do not intend to give a comprehensive introduction to stellar
atmospheres, but will describe changes to key components of SME: the equation
of state, opacities, and radiative transfer. We will describe the analysis and
fitting procedure and investigate various error sources that affect inferred
parameters.
  Methods. We review the current status of SME, emphasizing new algorithms and
methods. We describe some best practices for using the package, based on
lessons learned over two decades of SME usage. We present a new way to assess
uncertainties in derived stellar parameters.
  Results. Improvements made to SME, better line data, and new model
atmospheres yield more realistic stellar spectra, but in many cases systematic
errors still dominate over measurement uncertainty. Future enhancements are
outlined.
