[tnolet]

This is XML without the < and >

[Diti]

Yeah, why not go directly the route of custom HTML elements in Markdown anyway, since HTML inside Markdown is valid?

[mbreese]

My guess is parsability. It’s easier to look for sentinel ``` blocks as opposed to building an HTML processor. An XML processor would have been easier, but people like Markdown. So, here we are.

At least, that would’ve my rationale.