> The spec currently indicates that there must be a space after the
asterisk; the asterisk alone is not enough. I'd like to express support
for the spec as it stands (space required), as asterisks have been in
common use for plain text emphasis for as long as I've used the internet.
Since many people compose their gemtext by hand, allowing the space to be
omitted would likely cause quite a few accidental lists.
I stand corrected. This is exactly why it would make sense to not have any spaces.
Ariane client I use extensively thinks that #, ## and ### must be followed
by a space to be deleted. Many headers are missing the first letter. As
you see, Oppen was confused. I was confused.
If we cared about a minimal and consistent way to deal with this, we would
_not_ require spaces anywhere. The corner case of misusing * for
emphasis (not in the spec) should not force everyone to insert and
transmit billions of spaces from now till the end of time (I am an optimist).
It would be so much easier to not require spaces. It would eliminate the
silly assumption that people actually put spaces there, as well as having
to delete them for a 'nicer' rendering.
Gemini will be remembered as a minimal protocol with maximally
inconsistent rules. We have five linetypes: headers, bullets, quotes,
links and preformatted text. We have five different delimiters: space for
a single-character *, no space for a single-character >, no space for a
one-, two- or three-character header #s, an optional whitespace(!) for a a
two-character link, and a global toggle for a three-character
pre-formatted text. On the positive side, I can fit that into a paragraph.
I'd like some of what solderpunk was smoking on that day! Not even
sarcastically - I want some.
Having said that, I love Gemini and will support whatever spec is adapted.