Why the hate on text files? Every now and then someone proposes moving away from them but I can think of nothing better. Every time a wysiwyg does something dum

Why the hate on text files? Every now and then someone proposes moving away from them but I can think of nothing better. Every time a wysiwyg does something dumb I wish I could just write plain old text. Give me a preview window on the side if applicable but I want to control every single character without ambiguity and without being restricted to a particular editor.