An Observation

[Rob Reed]

This is starting to seem like a daddy issue. Papa Gruber is never
going to show Markdown the attention many of us think it deserves. The
reason doesn't really matter. Maybe because Markdown works well enough
as-is. Maybe because he has better things to do. Maybe because
Markdown is perfect.

One thing he has done is make it perfectly clear where he stands on
the issue(s). The question is where to go from here.

Personally, I'd like to see someone fork it, label the new project
'markdown-like', and get on with it. Given the way Markdown is
written, the idea of perfect compatibility isn't practical, and
arguably not even desirable anyway. Steer clear of co-opting the
original syntax outright, and you're fine.

Technology evolves. I don't know why lightweight markup syntaxes
deserve some special exception. In fact, with all due respect, it's
more than a little arrogant for anyone to insist that they got it
perfect the first time (1.0.1).

The idea of Markdown, not the implementation, is what's special. The
existing syntax is serviceable and so should be kept.

If someone released a new project with a markdown-like syntax, people
familiar with markdown would know what to expect. If the edge cases
differed, well that's to be expected. (It's not Markdown after all).
People unfamiliar with Markdown wouldn't know the difference.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. I've been on this list for literally years.
During that time I learned how to program and even went to school and
picked up a grad degree in CS, and this debate hasn't budged a bit.

I'd like to thank everyone who continues to think about Markdown for
their time and efforts.

Cheers,

Rob


On Tue, May 17, 2011 at 4:44 PM,  <bucephalus.org at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear Markdown enthusiasts,

>

> As a pretty new member of the Markdown society, I'd like to make use of a

> nice newbie privilege, namely to ask a naive question:

> Wouldn't it be nice to have an (open) organization/committee/authority that

> is able to fix a current recommendation on the language?

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