Shrimple – A Simpler, Nicer Markdown

A tiny new writing format called Shrimple has entered the chat, promising a cleaner, nicer alternative to Markdown, the plain-text system millions use to format notes, docs, and readme files. Its pitch is simple: make text files look neat even before they’re turned into web pages, with tidy footnote-style links, strict indentation rules for lists and code, and a few extra tricks for notes and highlighting. In theory, it’s the kind of project that says, “What if the old standard, but prettier?” In practice? The community immediately turned it into a popcorn-worthy debate about whether the internet really needs yet another format.

The loudest backlash was brutally practical. One commenter flatly declared that requiring indents for code blocks is a “non-starter,” arguing that copying and pasting code becomes annoying and that the familiar triple backticks already solved this problem. Another came in with pure exasperated energy: “Leave markdown alone.” Ouch. And then came the inevitable meme cannon: multiple people invoked the legendary xkcd standards comic, aka the universal internet signal for “Congratulations, you invented one more competing standard.” That joke basically became the thread’s unofficial mascot.

Still, not everyone was totally dismissive. One commenter admitted the raw text does look great, even while warning that the benefits may be too small to justify another format in an already crowded field. Another asked how Shrimple compares to older alternatives like reStructuredText, turning the vibe from roast session to “haven’t we seen this movie before?” The result: a classic tech-community spectacle where a modest formatting tool sparked a much bigger identity crisis about standards, convenience, and whether “simpler” things ever stay simple for long.