[tiddchristopher]

Designer here. I recommend aligning your bullets with the paragraphs above and below for inline text, and hanging to reinforce the grid when you have blocks of content next to each other horizontally -- say, two paragraphs and a list.

I hope this makes sense.

[Jare]

I had the same doubts as the parent poster, and I couldn't make sense of your example. I'm very intrigued, and would appreciate further details.

[tiddchristopher]

This is an example I threw together to demonstrate:

http://i.imgur.com/0z73s.png

I hope it helps explain.

Also, lbotos posted an excellent example of hanging quotes and other non-bullet punctuation.

If you find yourself liking typographic details like these, consider checking out The Elements of Typographic Style by Bringhurst. Old editions are cheap, and it's the best book on typography I've come across.

[Jare]

That is perfect, thank you very much!

[nmcfarl]

I was also confused - and this clears it up nicely.

[lbotos]

I think this makes perfect sense and is excellent advice! Typography and typographic style do not have rigid rules that exist in isolation but merely guidelines to better display and define groupings.