spaces and newlines before list markers (was: evolving the spec)

[Vinay Augustine]

>  However, we should also consider that those might be "bugs" in the

>  current spec, in the sense that simple, email-like writing gets turned

>  into markup in cases where the users would not want or expect it.  I

>  think there are a few cases where Markdown is a bit trigger-happy.

>  Numbered lists are one such things.  My suggestion would be to

>  actually restrict the range of what is turned into ordered lists,

>  either by requiring that ordered lists start with "1.", or that they

>  have at least two items with consecutive numbers, or even to require

>  both.  I frankly don't see a point in allowing the user to number

>  their list items starting with an arbitrary number if those the list

>  will start with "1." when displayed to the viewer anyway.  But again,

>  the idea is not to tighten the spec, but to find a solution for a

>  "bug" that Joe described.

>


I can think of an obvious use-case against this: what if I type an
ordered list up, and then decide to cut & paste to re-order it or add
items to it? Now, in the optimal case I would want to go through and
change the numbering of all the elements. In the meantime, though, I
think it's great that I can rapidly reorder my list and markdown will
*do what makes sense*.

-V