[yu-carm-kror]

If I need something to look good as text without any rendering I write text (a .txt file). Even the most basic features of markdown (inline code, italics, etc) look pretty nasty without post rendering.

[OJFord]

I strongly disagree with that, they're about as clear and unintrusive as I can imagine, what else would you do?

Personally _I_ even sometimes use them when markdown isn't available, as in won't be rendered.