I don't see why it defeats the purpose at all. You get to have your one-character-width indentation, while other devs will being able view it with more indentat

I don't see why it defeats the purpose at all. You get to have your one-character-width indentation, while other devs will being able view it with more indentation width and spend less time dispairing at issues of readability for them. This seems like exactly what tabs are good for.