I find Tony's argument quite compelling:
Doing it the other way leads to the same mess that <verbatim> had. (Even if
it was only 20 lines of code. :-) )
Frankly, I don't think <param> is worth the bother of an extended
debate. Is there anyone who thinks the current situation is unlivable,
a "show-stopper"? If you feel that way, if the choice was between
leaving it as-is or nuking the construct altogether, which would you
prefer?
Leave it as is. I'm happy with it. Maybe just a couple of words about
whether commands inside nest or whether the parameters end at the </param>
(this later one is my preferred option).
Cheers,
Rhys.