HN does not often add new features. I assume this is the main reason HN has not added Markdown.
I would prefer that HN continues to NOT support Markdown. After all, the entire point of Markdown is that it should be readable in its unprocessed form [1]. Therefore, Markdown obviates its own utility: Why not just present the source text of a comment as-is? Why confuse non-savvy users with behaviour like collapsing line breaks [2]?
[1] "The overriding design goal for Markdown’s formatting syntax is to make it as readable as possible. The idea is that a Markdown-formatted document should be publishable as-is, as plain text, without looking like it’s been marked up with tags or formatting instructions." https://web.archive.org/web/20040402182332/https://daringfir...
First, the processed form is more readable than the unprocessed form. And second, when I write a comment here in Markdown, what is displayed is worse than unprocessed Markdown. For example lists:
I would prefer that HN continues to NOT support Markdown. After all, the entire point of Markdown is that it should be readable in its unprocessed form [1]. Therefore, Markdown obviates its own utility: Why not just present the source text of a comment as-is? Why confuse non-savvy users with behaviour like collapsing line breaks [2]?
[1] "The overriding design goal for Markdown’s formatting syntax is to make it as readable as possible. The idea is that a Markdown-formatted document should be publishable as-is, as plain text, without looking like it’s been marked up with tags or formatting instructions." https://web.archive.org/web/20040402182332/https://daringfir...
[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22677936