[this] as a synonym for [this][]

[John Gruber]

Michel Fortin <michel.fortin at michelf.com> wrote on 03/30/05 at 10:57pm:

> Can you see the problem? When reading, how do you know what is a link 
> and what really is square brackets? As the writer you know (if you can 
> remember), but as a reader you must look everywhere in the document to 
> ensure there is no link reference with that name.

Good point.

My counter-argument would be this: If you're writing a document
where you're going to be using literal brackets in your text, and
you're concerned about making it easy for thee reader (of your
Markdown plain text) to tell which brackets are for links, and which
are literal brackets, then you should avoid this new shortcut syntax
for that particular article.

In other words, use the `[this]` syntax in articles where most or
all occurances of `[` and `]` are as link delimiters; use `[this][]`
in articles where `[` and `]` are also being used literally.

This is, obviously, not a rule. It's a recommendation.

-J.G.