I'm all for the first 2 proposed changes. They would very welcome by almost everyone. But that 3rd idea.... oh boy. > It should be a standard configurable op

I'm all for the first 2 proposed changes. They would very welcome by almost everyone. But that 3rd idea.... oh boy. > It should be a standard configurable option in every Markdown implementation that you can switch on or off depending on the intended audience. I hope Atwood never actually tries this. Markdown should not have any configurable options. Any attempts to augment Markdown like this should be clearly labeled as such. One way or the other the spec should make a single choice and stick to it. If someone wants something different they should create something different and use it, rather than confuse people who use "Markdown" on several sites and have to remember which options each has. ... yuck!