URLs with underscores

[Alastair Rankine]

John Gruber wrote:


>>3. Change the behaviour of Markdown.

>>

>>Obviously this isn't the right forum for 1 and 2, but I wanted to get 

>>feedback on 3.

>>

>

>I have two ideas about how this could be addressed:

>

>http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/markdown-discuss/2005-May/001253.html

>

I can see I arrived just a little too late for this discussion, but am 
pleased to see that this issue is being thought about.

John, I like your ideas but I have one of my own for you to ponder. What 
if we were to disable mid-word emphasis (ie pass underscores through 
unchanged) if any _other_ punctuation was encountered in the word?

http://foo_bar_baz.com      =>  http://foo_bar_baz.com
foo_bar_baz.cpp             =>  foo_bar_baz.cpp
foo_bar_baz()               =>  foo_bar_baz()
path/foo_bar_baz            =>  path/foo_bar_baz
un_fucking_believable       =>  un<em>fucking</em>believable
_freeway_                   =>  <em>freeway</em>
_three_way                  =>  <em>three</em>way


Following the thread from the above-referenced message I particularly 
liked Michel Fortin's comment:


> If we want Markdown to be used in comments then I say this should be  

> addressed, either by changing the Markdown syntax, or by creating a new  

> Markdown-For-Comment syntax. This is because you can't expect every  

> commenter to read the syntax prior posting.


So this is changing, or possibly augmenting, the stated goals of 
Markdown. Obeying the principle of least surprise for those unfamiliar 
with the syntax is not an explicitly-stated goal currently.

FWIW I think this goal is compatible with the current goals of Markdown 
and that a Markdown-for-Comment syntax is not required.