[krapp]

Funny enough, pg did it that way to stick it to the W3C and its recommendations about the proper use of tables.[0]

[0]http://paulgraham.com/arc0.html

>pg: "Arc embodies a similarly unPC attitude to HTML. The predefined libraries just do everything with tables. Why? Because Arc is tuned for exploratory programming, and the W3C-approved way of doing things represents the opposite spirit.

>(...)

>Tables are the lists of html. The W3C doesn't like you to use tables to do more than display tabular data because then it's unclear what a table cell means. But this sort of ambiguity is not always an error. It might be an accurate reflection of the programmer's state of mind. (...)

... and yes, that decision is baked into the server, web app, HTML and forum code (which to my knowledge have never been changed in the standard Arc distribition,) making it a de facto requirement for all Arc based webapps and a PITA to change.