[cnf]

A flavor is a slightly different syntax, a renderer is the software that outputs format x from markdown. So flavor A can only be rendered by renderer A, but vanilla markdown can be rendered by all renderers. Different renderers can produce different output based on the options you give them, though

[samatman]

Sure, and Markdeep handles vanilla Markdown just fine. It also offers some extensions, which can't be standard by definition. I don't see a problem with that, and I definitely don't understand the distinction the grandparent was trying to make.