Excerpts from internet.ietf-822: 15-Feb-93 Re: Text/Enhanced straw man
John C Klensin(_at_)infoods(_dot_)m (915*)
(By the way, is it possible to write an SGML definition (DTD?) geared
towards the *...* syntax? Are SGML's syntax rules *that* flexible?)
I doubt it. If nothing else, I've seen a few SGML parser systems
that develop severe sicknesses if one departs signficantly from the
reference syntax so, even if you could make this work in theory...
And my intuition is that you would have trouble making it work in
theory, given the difficulties of distinguishing end tags and start
tags, e.g., figuring out what _foo*bar abc_def* means.
I have to say that at this point I think this is a GOOD thing. I think
the resemblance of text/richtext to SGML, which was well-motivated, has
only worked to the detriment of richtext, as it has led to unreasonable
expectations about what richtext is and can do....