> This is a classic XY problem. The issue isn't the data format, it's the fact that your organizational processes allow random code pushes at 2am that can break

> This is a classic XY problem. The issue isn't the data format, it's the fact that your organizational processes allow random code pushes at 2am that can break the whole thing. I feel like your comment is a nitpick. Crap getting broken for whatever reason happens. Having human readable things can be helpful for development or fixing things. Of course, this isn't always the top priority-- other things, like being able to round-trip non-human readable data, or performance, or data density, may win.